The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

It has become almost cliché among professionals who are no longer content with their level of success or income:  “I’m ready to take things to the next level.” 

The Center for Sales Strategy turns 30 years old later this week , and for about 29 of those 30 years we’ve been proselytizing against cold calls. So it should be no surprise that I read with delight author Jeffrey Gitomer’s recent rant about cold calls.  (Oh, and maybe Gitomer’s enthusiastic endorsement of my book Close Like the Pros gives me another reason to appreciate his good judgment!) 

My younger daughter started school this week and brought home her Friday Folder with what I thought was a very interesting assignment she completed. Her teacher had her class complete an assessment on their behaviors themed with animals and illustrated in an age appropriate way. This was fun for my daughter; she loved learning about herself and discovering what she knows she's good at but what she should also look out for. Turns out, my daughter is an Otter.

After wrapping up four days in Boston at the INBOUND conference, our team left filled with tips and tricks, insights and inspiration – all aimed to make us better inbound marketers and even better teachers of the strategies that so many companies are utilizing to connect online with their customers, best prospects, and biggest fans. Plus, you can check out a great recap on all the keynotes here! 

It's been a big week for inbound marketing, with the HubSpot INBOUND13 conference taking place in Boston and a variety of new product announcements made that affect thousands of marketers. However, with all this buzz about inbound marketing you might still be wondering what exactly it is and whether or not it can truly help you reach your revenue goals.

Yesterday was the first day of HubSpot’s INBOUND conference, a gathering for some of the top inbound marketers, writers, speakers, and thought leaders in the industry – and it became evident very quickly to our team in attendance that there was an underlying theme to this year’s event.  

Congratulations! After all of your creative efforts to stand out, establish credibility, and demonstrate expertise, your prospect has finally agreed to meet with you. Considering how many other salespeople likely call on them in your market, this is a huge win! However, what you do next could make it all worthwhile… or simply a waste of time.

Tomorrow is the first day of Inbound 2013 in Boston, the international headquarters of Hubspot, who is the undisputed world champion of inbound marketing software.  It’s Hubspot’s all-in-one marketing software that powers the inbound marketing efforts of many very successful businesses. 

Learning how to dig deeper and gain a better understanding of each of your client and prospect's needs is a very popular topic on our blog. We've taken a look at some of our popular articles that will help you to conduct an effective needs analysis meeting so you can focus on developing customized solutions for your clients.  

I was in a department store looking at big screen TVs and the sales representative approached me and asked if he could help me with something. I told him I was just browsing (but I was really interested in buying).

This week I had the pleasure of running a meeting with a group of department heads. The topic of our discussion was All About Meetings. Prior to the meeting, one of the b2b sales managers did the math to determine how much it costs (time off the streets) to have all of the salespeople on his team attend an hour long meeting. The title to this blog post doesn’t even begin to cut it – the cost was in the $60,000.00 range – for one hour. 

Facebook is taking lessons from the NFL. According to Bloomberg.com, Facebook plans to charge $1 million to $2.5 million a day for their new TV style 15 second ad units, but will users really be willing to watch?

You just had what seems like a great meeting with a b2b sales prospect. You're excited because early on in the conversation you came across a need that was clearly actionable by you and your company. Cool.

“Back to School” is a highly anticipated event for both students and parents alike, albeit for different reasons… but highly anticipated nonetheless! As a kid I remember feeling a sense of nervous excitement the night before the first day of school. I couldn’t wait to see all my friends, share summer stories, wear my new clothes, find out if my best friends were in my classes, meet my new teachers, and since I grew up in the 80’s… show off my fabulous “big hair.” 

Sales managers should be preparing for the inevitable adaptation of mobility for their b2b sales departments. CTOs of today’s companies, both large and small, believe that enterprise mobility is a must for their organization. A recent report published on MarketingProfs indicates that 94% of CTOs are embracing mobile. In addition, 65% view more mobile support for employees as a critical priority and so should you.