The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

- MOTIVATION -

"Without hustle, talent will only carry you so far."

-Gary Vaynerchuk

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<< If you only read one thing >>

Whether it's in the gym or on the field, athletes like Michael Jordan and Tom Brady are known for being the hardest workers during practice. And, as the greatest athletes of all time, they're not out there trying to learn something new—they're simply practicing the basics.

Josh Kaufman, author of The Personal MBA, writes that to go from “knowing nothing to being pretty good” actually takes about 20 hours of practice—that’s 45 minutes every day for a month. As leaders, we're accustomed to being great at what we do. But in order to learn something new and help your salespeople get better, everyone must practice. 

To remain competitive, organizations must invest more time and effort into the selection process. If you’re curious why so many companies fail to fully activate the talents of their people, take a closer look at how they make their hiring decisions. 

Regardless of what your company does, there is only one way to build a top-performing organization. You need to make sure you get both the talent and the culture fit right with every single hire you make.

If you lead a sales team or if you’re in sales yourself, then you know that closing business is a key part of the job. Yes, there are also other very important parts of selling, such as:

• Conducting a quality discovery meeting
• Overcoming objections
• Keeping your promises

But, in the end, if you’re not closing sales — you’re not going to make it. As a general rule, when it comes to closing business, you might adopt this saying that we’ve been using for quite some time— "Slow down the proposal and speed up the sale."

From profitability and revenues to client experience and talent acquisition, employee engagement affects your entire organization. Offering competitive pay and benefits are essential to attracting and retaining quality employees. Still, employers often struggle to find additional low-cost, creative ways to appeal to employees throughout the year.

According to our Media Sales Report, 40% of salespeople don’t feel as though they’re always being supported by their sales manager, and 46% of salespeople don’t feel as though they’re always valued.

While there are several simple and inexpensive ways to increase employee engagement, there’s one way that will also address these critical issues.

- MOTIVATION -

"To sell well is to convince someone else to part with resource — not to deprive that person, but to leave him better off in the end."

-Daniel Pink

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

As sales consultants, trainers, and coaches, we absolutely love when the sales teams we work with shares successes they’ve had as a direct correlation to the advice, tips, and tactics we share. 

Our company culture encourages innovation and creativity, which allows us to discover new trends, and figure out what works and doesn't work, so that we can share advice with our clients. Video is a tool and tactic that we've explored and had the opportunity to get creative with. 

If you're wondering how you can use video as part of your sales process, keep reading! 

Are you looking for ways to create a company culture that will help you accomplish your business goals?

If so, you may have read about Zappos corporate culture and its ten core values. You know that core values determine the priorities of the company, and they’re what support the vision of your company and help shape the culture.

Here’s why the most successful companies have core values in place and pay attention to culture fit when they hire new people.

Historically, the term sales collateral referred to one-sheets and brochures that often hung on a wall, and when the sales team met with a client or prospect, they would grab a one-sheet to help build their case—and it worked great! In the 21st Century, you need more.

At The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS), we teach a very specific process that is customer-focused and designed to help sellers identify a prospect or client’s needs. We teach concepts like:

• Active listening
• Asking questions
• Digging deeper in order to uncover an assignment or desired business result

We coach sellers to strive to become trusted and valued so they can form true client partnerships. A seller that clients begin to rely on because they can help them grow and improve their business. A manager and seller relationship should be modeled in a similar way, and here’s why.