<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=585972928235617&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">

The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Sell Smarter with Social Selling on LinkedIn

social selling on linkedinSocial selling. It’s not just an industry buzzword. It’s a legitimate technique that salespeople should use to build and maintain relationships within a social network that a salesperson and their customers already trust.

Topics: Social Media Sales Brand and Connect personal brand

Tech We LOVE: 3 Must-Have Tools for the Top Salespeople

tools for top salespeopleI’ve heard many people say that selling is more of an art rather than a science, but what if science could increase the effectiveness and efficiency of that art? Today, we have access to a mass amount of technology and tools that not only enable us to get more done in a shorter amount of time, but that also allow us to be more competitive and just all around better at the tasks we have to tackle daily.

There are many different sales technology, software, and gadgets available to us, but here are a few tools we consider ‘must-haves’ for the top salespeople.

Topics: sales performance Sales

How to Hire a Salesperson Who Sells Integrated Solutions

hire a salesperson who sells integrated solutionsSales managers in the media space are faced with the challenge of hiring sellers who sell integrated solutions. No longer is hiring a one trick pony—a master negotiator who secures large shares of available opportunities—the recruitment and selection gold standard. Hiring great negotiators who can also develop business by selling integrated solutions is now standard operating procedure.

Topics: hiring salespeople integrated media solution

The Top 29 Sales Blogs Every Sales Professional Should Read + More

sales blog every sales professional should readWe hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

Topics: Inbound Marketing Sales Wrap-up

Removing Roadblocks to Sales Performance

removing roadblocks to sales performanceI was driving around downtown Tampa recently during a convention and found many roads blocked off as I was trying to get to my destination. I know downtown Tampa pretty well, and knew exactly where I wanted to get, which made it even more frustrating that I couldn't get to where I wanted to go. I was tempted to get out of my car and remove the roadblocks. I didn't, and ended up going in circles, not making the best use of my time.  

Topics: sales performance

The Secret to Finding Your Next Sales Superstar

finding your next superstar salespersonSuperstar salespeople have a unique combination of talents that lead to excellence, and this combination of talents is very rare. It can be tough to find the people with all of the right "stuff" who have the potential for greatness.

Topics: hiring salespeople Sales

How to Handle Difficult Sales Calls Like a Pro + More

iStock-909674626-193415-edited

We hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

Topics: Inbound Marketing Sales Wrap-up

Five Reasons Millennials Quit Sales Jobs

Millennials in SalesA client of mine recently told me about the departure of seven salespeople from his organization.  All seven of the sellers had been hired in the last year — all seven departed before their one-year anniversary. One other thing related to the departed seven; they were all millennials!

My client immediately came to the conclusion that there is something different about millennials that caused them to leave his organization. My client was partially correct and partially incorrect.

Below are five reasons millennials quit sales jobs:

A Key Piece in Successful Employee Engagement

Employee EngagementAs a sales manager, do you expect your sellers to conduct a Client Needs Analysis routinely with their clients? I’m sure you do. Because you know that customer needs change all the time. What a client focuses on this quarter may vary in the next. The only way to know their goals is to ask regularly.

That same focus on uncovering needs and goals applies to those you manage as well, as it leads to greater loyalty and retainment of your staff. How often do you take time to ask each person on your team what they want in their job, what they need from you, from the company?  Wouldn’t it be nice to know these things so that you can engage, develop, and retain them?

The Aha Moment: How to Know When to Pivot Your Sales Strategy

how to know when to pivot your sales strategyAs a successful salesperson, you’ve probably spent years perfecting your strategy. But picture this: You’re going on three discovery calls a day, and suddenly there’s no follow-up, no next step, and no sale.

Topics: sales strategy

How to Hire Better Salespeople and Decrease Turnover

how to hire better salespeople

Topics: hiring salespeople Sales talent dashboard

28 Surprising Stats About Prospecting in 2018 + More

iStock-865432742-228392-edited

We hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

Topics: Inbound Marketing Sales Wrap-up

My Confession as a Salesperson

my confession as a salesperson

I have a confession to make… I absolutely hated cold calling. It’s been a few years since I was in outside sales, but I still have flashbacks to some of my worst cold calling experiences. You know the ones where you’re treated like a complete nuisance, talked down to, or hung up on. 

Necessary Evil

Like most salespeople, cold calling for me was a necessary evil. It was evil because of those nightmare experiences, though pretty rare, but it was necessary because sometimes cold calling actually worked – especially if you did it often enough. Some of my best clients started with a cold call, or 10. While it was a numbers game, I found that the better I got at identifying the potential of a prospect and utilizing valid business reasons, the more success I would have. 

However, despite the “wins” that occurred on occasion – I spent a lot of my precious time cold calling, and if you’re in media sales or many other B2B sales industries then you probably do too. The downside to that was the fact that I wasn’t great at cold calling, I was great at selling. I was great at identifying needs, creating customized solutions, developing integrated marketing campaigns, and building relationships – yet I had to spend at least a quarter of my time doing the former. 

Topics: sales performance Sales

Replace HR with an HF Department

iStock-694855060-071225-edited

I wonder if we could all treat people better if we replaced human resources with a department focused on human flourishing (HF). People are certainly more human than they are resources, but I wonder if there is a better way to think of them than merely resources. One of the dictionary definitions of flourish is "to thrive or grow luxuriantly." Pretty cool way to think of your people.

Topics: Sales sales training

This Should Have Been An Email

coffemugAs an Account Executive, we hated when it happened.

As a Sales Manager, we might have done it a few times... ok... we probably did it a lot. 

We turned an email into a sales meeting (or for us older guys... a memo). 

Topics: successful sales meetings Sales

Your 2018 Not To Do List

2018 not to do listIt’s February. We’re well into the New Year, and your resolutions may have already fizzled out like most people. With a new year (or a new month), comes a time for new thinking and new habits. I suggest you start with a "not to do list." You might have one thing on it or a few, but the best way to make a meaningful change this year is to determine what you won't do and to make room for what you will do.

Topics: productivity

22 Things We Learned About the Sales Industry in 2017 + More

iStock-842868292-015076-edited

We hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

22 Things We Learned About the Sales Industry in 2017 — Hubspot

A lot has changed in the sales industry over the last year. Salespeople, processes, systems, compensation, and strategies have contributed to and changed the way we sell. Here are specific discoveries from thousands of data points about how the world of sales has changed.

Topics: Inbound Marketing Sales Wrap-up

How To Create A Ten-Year Experience In Two Minutes

delighting customers with lead acronymI think we’d all agree that long-term relationships are gold in the business arena, and long-term relationships begin with the very first interaction that delights a customer and are fed by every other interaction subsequently. 

Topics: Sales sales training