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The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Native Ads are the Buzz in Digital Marketing... What are They?

Native ad are the buzz but what are they and why Consumers have long told marketers to be relevant and non-disruptive with respect to advertising. Some answers to those demands in the past have been through online creative and digital technology, such as viral video content like Jeff Gordon's Pepsi Max Used Car Salesperson scare, or behavioral targeting and retargeting.

Topics: digital marketing Digital

If Your Sale Has Stalled, Use This Magical B2B Sales Tool.

sales strategyOkay, so we’re all moving very quickly.  I get that.  You get busy, decide to cut a couple corners, and maybe skip a piece of paperwork here and there.

Topics: sales strategy Sales

What Every Media Company Needs to Know About Inbound Marketing

inbound marketingThose of us that work in or around the media industry know that radio, TV, and newspaper are far from becoming dead advertising vehicles. Instead, the best and most innovative media companies have learned that it’s about evolving and finding new ways to not only get the attention of readers, viewers, and listeners but to uncover new methods of attracting and retaining advertisers as well. 

Topics: digital marketing Inbound Marketing

What You Need to Know About Lead Generation and Lead Nurturing

Lead NurturingThe search for qualified, sales-ready leads is a challenge to almost all sales organizations and as technology continues to advance and all of our lives (and our prospects lives) become busier, the need to uncover and nurture qualified leads becomes increasingly more important.

Topics: Lead Nurturing Lead Generation Inbound Marketing

Two Ways to Tackle Price Negotiation in B2B Sales

Sales Strategy“Is the price negotiable?” There are really only two ways to tackle this question.  

Topics: Needs Analysis sales strategy Sales

How to Stop the Excuses For Not Having a Digital Marketing Strategy

Digital MarketingI'll start by saying that many marketers are indeed doing digital, but even if you are or know of a business owner or marketer who is, ask yourself if they are doing the best they could be with their digital marketing efforts. Chances are you or they would say, "No." Even with the number of business and brands using digital, I still come across a number of stories where I hear about a marketer not willing to try digital, whether it be social, mobile, desktop display, or search.

Topics: Needs Analysis Digital media snacking

What People Are Reading This Week To Help Sales Performance

sales strategyHere at The Center for Sales Strategy we know how busy life can get. We know you can't read every single interesting b2b sales article you come across online, so we like to help our readers out every now and then by pulling together some of our most popular blog posts — just in case you missed them!

Topics: sales performance Inbound Marketing Sales

It Never Killed a Salesperson!

It never killed a salesperson!Are you curious about what has “never killed a salesperson?”  Are you curious, period?  I hope so.  It's one of the best traits a salesperson can carry into the field.  Perhaps curiosity killed the cat, but it’s as healthy as a 60-minute workout for those of us who sell.

Topics: sales performance Sales

Is There Really a Single Cause for Missing B2B Sales Numbers?

Is There Really a Single Cause Missing Revenue NumbersProbably not! It’s only a slight exaggeration. After 21 years of consulting sales organizations of all sizes, both here in North America and overseas, I can tell you there is one thing that executives and sales managers keep getting wrong.

Topics: sales performance

Top Five B2B Sales Resources of 2013

Top Five!

Topics: Inbound Marketing Sales

Is It a Sales Strategy, or Is It a Solution Strategy?

Is it a sales strategy   Or a solution strategy If you’re a client of The Center for Sales Strategy, this message could be akin to “singing to the choir.” But even the greatest practitioners of customer-focused selling can benefit from a reminder, from time to time.  

Topics: sales strategy Sales

Your Best Decision After You Lose a Customer or Client in B2B Sales

describe the imageAnyone who’s ever participated in sports, coached sports, or watched sports knows the object of the game is to win! We keep score throughout the game, because when the game is over we want to know who played the best and who deserves to be crowned the winner!  Salespeople in B2B sales are pretty much the same. They keep score by evaluating their new business conversion rates, by regularly analyzing their budget vs. goal numbers, by measuring renewals, and by consistently making sure they’re meeting their customer’s goals and ROI. When all of these things are positive… they consider that a win.  

Topics: business development sales performance Sales

What Makes You Valuable in B2B Sales?

Why Would Someone Want To See You Some say that salespeople are a dime a dozen. Basically, they have very little value.  On the contrary! In b2b sales, great salespeople can literally be worth millions of dollars to their clients’ business.

Topics: customer satisfaction valid business reason Sales branding

Increase Your B2B Sales with These Five Sales Blog Posts

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Topics: sales strategy sales performance Sales

Lessons from the 4th of July: Victories Deserve Celebrations!

describe the imageDuring the American Revolution, July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved and signed by the Second Continental Congress setting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom with the resolution of independence from Great Britain. Two days prior, John Adams wrote these words to his wife Abigail:

Topics: business development holiday Sales

A Tough Question Every B2B Salesperson Should Ask Themselves

a tough question every salesperson should ask themselvesHow’s your “Surprise/Enterprise” ratio these days? When you get right down to it, there are only two types of new business you can write as a b2b salesperson:
  1. Surprise Business! – This is new business that comes your way because of your company’s great reputation, your connections in the community, or simply “being in the right place at the right time.”
  2. Enterprise Business! – This is new business that you developed from scratch, business that would not have existed anywhere but for your efforts. These are prospects you specifically selected and then worked hard to get in front of. Once in front of these prospects, you nailed an important assignment during your needs analysis meeting, which led to the development of a tailored solution.

We all work hard and deserve a few surprises over the year, but if we don't have some enterprise accomplishments too, are we really selling?


Topics: business development sales strategy Sales

Digital Marketing: Social Media Can't Do These for Your Business

Top 3 Things Social Media Can't Do For A Business Or Brand"Things were so much simpler before Apple," says my 11 year old daughter after a recent panic attack over the thought of losing her Instagram followers and pictures. Her iPod Touch was a lemon and luckily under warranty, but the time between her device crashing and her logging back into her Instagram app was pure torture… for both of us!

Topics: Social Media content marketing content strategy digital marketing setting expectations Digital

Happy Birthday! Today, the Recovery Turned Four Years Old

happy birthday recoveryIf you’re in sales, it is not unusual to run into people (prospects) who tend to focus on the negative. In fact, some of us still run into people who consider the economy to be on the shaky side… as if we are still in the grips of the Great Recession. 

Topics: business development setting expectations Sales