The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

John Quincy Adams

1 out of 3 employees say that the boss doesn’t care about the staff. Until recently, leadership has always been about position and power rather than empowerment.

A simple secret to leadership that no one ever talks about is that if you genuinely care about your people, everything else will take care of itself.

Showing empathy and compassion doesn’t classify you as a pushover. It doesn’t mean you’re not focused on results, sales, and company growth. What genuinely caring for your team means is that you prioritize your time to ensure you focus on communication.

It takes time and attention, but the impact is worth it.

A heartbreaking ending, but a beautiful journey. If you’re a Cleveland Browns fan, then you’re like me, still brokenhearted after watching them lose yet another winnable big game.

Over the years I’ve written a few posts about this hapless team, and I’ll give the team credit for improving during the past season.

One thing still alludes the Browns, and that is winning the winnable big game. In short, something always gets in the way and they walk away with a loss.

Is your sales team winning the winnable games in the face of COVID and all the other obstacles that are thrown in their way?

Review the list below of winnable games—the games within the game of improving revenue performance and exceeding goals—to see how you are doing. The list also includes ideas on how to move from the losing side.

Can you say yes to each of these statements?

• We hire much better salespeople than our competitors.
• Our sales management team is a clear strength of our organization.
• Every member of our team is a solid performer…a keeper.
• We have a clear succession plan for every person for whom it is appropriate.
• Currently, all of our salespeople are performing at or above expectations.

If you answered no to any of these, it’s possible you have some talent issues to address.

Managers often reach out to us looking for creative ways to recruit top-talent to their companies.

Unfortunately, most wait until they're in need, when in reality, consistent searching and recruiting to keep their talent banks full would not only prepare them for the future, but also save them money and time when the time comes to fill a position on their team.

- MOTIVATION -

"The secret to getting ahead is getting started."

-Mark Twain

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There's certainly a lot of banter these days about how many contacts a salesperson must make in order to secure an appointment. We all know it takes more than 2 or 3 calls, but how many does it really take, and why?

The pandemic affected more than just the health and daily lives of people across the world. It affected behaviors and perceptions—including how media is used.

With media plans reconfigured and millions of dollars’ worth of ad budgets shifted - to say the rug was swept out from under the advertising industry is an understatement.

In case you missed Episode 8 of the Improving Sales Performance series, here’s a breakdown of the conversation that host, Matt Sunshine and guest, Gary Pizzati had on how many traditional clients are buying and selling in 2021. Plus, recruiting and selecting top talent, the impact of technology, and how to keep a sales culture alive during these unprecedented times.

"I see the value in spending time with my sellers in the field coaching them, but I just don't have the time."

We’ve heard this a lot from sales managers over the years, pre-COVID and during COVID. Finding time to watch sellers in the field is a challenge to time-starved managers. The average time to coach a seller on a typical 30-minute, face-to-face appointment is actually around two hours when you factor in things like travel time to and from an appointment.

One of the positive outcomes of COVID is the ability for managers to sit in on appointments with sellers when they conduct virtual meetings with customers. These virtual coaching opportunities—also known as Zoomalongs—provide an extremely efficient method of coaching at a fraction of the time of a face-to-face coaching call (30 to 45 minutes versus two hours).

Here are some thoughts and tips on how to get the best ROI on virtual coaching opportunities.

- MOTIVATION -

"I never lose. I either win or learn."

-Nelson Mandela

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