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The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Weekly Roundup: Strengthen Your Sales Management Techniques for 2019 + More

sales-feedback-manager-new-hire-750547-edited

- MOTIVATION -

"WELL DONE IS BETTER THAN WELL SAID."

-BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

 

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

Strengthen Your Sales Management Techniques for 2019  LinkedIn

As a sales manager, two of the best words you can hear are “thank you.” While it’s of course great to hear them from a customer who feels you went above-and-beyond, it’s even better to hear them from a sales rep for whom you’ve made a real difference. When your advice and input resonate, making a positive impact on another person’s career and livelihood, it’s a big deal, and helping your reps succeed can be an equally vital aspect of sales team management. >>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

Understanding What Your Customers Value Most

focus for highest ROIWhich of the following will generate the highest return?

  • More customers
  • Keeping customers longer
  • More revenue per customer

Any one of these can grow revenue. But one has been shown to consistently bring in a higher return on your investment. Most businesses say they are focused on these in the order of the list: adding more customers, than keeping them longer, and finally getting more revenue per customer.

The problem is that the research shows that a focus on more customers is the wrong path to maximize your return. And that it leads you to build the wrong solutions.

Topics: key account growth sales performance prospecting account list management sales accelerator

Ever Feel Like Your Salespeople Are Bad at Picking Prospects?

are your salespeople bad at picking prospectsWell, you wouldn’t be alone  I hear this from sales managers all the time. Here are the reasons I see that salespeople too often select the wrong companies to pursue:

  • They are opportunistic and therefore look for low-hanging fruit where getting access to decision makers is relatively easy. Sometimes that works out, but too often it translates into prospects that do not have the resources to be a key customer in your organization.

  • They let their own preferences dictate who they pursue. There might be particular categories they are comfortable with, or types of individuals they like to deal with that prejudice their thinking about who they should pursue as a prospect.
Topics: key account growth sales performance target persona account list management sales accelerator

Advertising Sales is Changing — 5 Tactics to Stay Ahead and Win

sales revolutionThe advertising game for traditional media is changing and evolving. In this case, change is not a good thing. It’s time for a revolution on your sales team. Are you ready? 

This sounds kind of dramatic, perhaps over-dramatic, but it is true. Some type of revolution needs to take place on your sales team in order for traditional media companies to stay in the game. 

Need proof? Here are some samples of reality:

Topics: sales strategy sales performance sales accelerator

Weekly Roundup: Close More Sales with Empathy + More

close more sales with empathy

- MOTIVATION -

"DON'T WATCH THE CLOCK; DO WHAT IT DOES. KEEP GOING."

-SAM LEVENSON

 

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

How to Develop Empathy with Your Prospects and Close More Sales  Hubspot

The robots are coming, and salespeople are afraid they're here to take their sales jobs. It might be true that technology can be integrated into many steps of the sales process. But, thankfully, it can't do everything. For now, there are a number of skills computers can't learn, and one of those is our human ability to create empathetic connections with prospects and customers. This is a key ability for the modern seller. >>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

How To Embed Personalized Video Into Your Hubspot Sales Emails

salesperson using video email in sales processThis post was originally published on the LeadG2 blog.

Recently, LeadG2 shared a post explaining how to send videos via email. Due to spam, security, and email hosting features, many email clients do not allow video embeds directly into emails, so with a few easy steps, marketers and salespeople can send video via email, just not with an actual embed. If you are a Hubspot Sales user at the Professional or Enterprise level, I have good news! Not long ago, Hubspot announced a feature that enables salespeople (or any Hubspot user communicating with a contact through the CRM) to embed videos directly into their 1:1 emails! 

Here are just a few reasons this exciting feature is valuable and vital to the sales process:

  1. Video creates a more personal and humanized sales experience.
  2. Sales reps that use video in prospecting, relationship-building, and sales emails see 5x higher open rates and 8x higher open-to-reply rates.
  3. Video can help to establish and build trust with a prospect that doesn't yet know you.
Topics: Video sales strategy marketing strategy prospecting account based marketing

How to Transform From a Reactive Manager to a Proactive Leader

proactive leader sales managerTethered to a mobile device, laptop, or desktop responding to emails and phone calls. Putting out fires like some help desk ninja. Drowning in reactive mode. Everything is important. Everything is urgent. Everything needs attention right now. Pronto!

Is this the role of a leader? I think not.

Many “leaders” spend too much time in reactive mode. Those who do this are not really leaders, they are highly paid help desk clerks. Don’t get me wrong, solving problems is a function of leadership; however, so is taking the time to disconnect and engage in proactive activities that produce the next big idea. The next big revenue driver. The next big thing that separates the team from the pack of reactive competitors.

Being a proactive leader requires taking a step back from the day-to-day operation to work on the business as opposed to working in the business. The business will not improve and flourish unless new thinking and new ideas evolve.

Weekly Roundup: Video, Video + More Video

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- WHAT'S MOTIVATING US THIS WEEK -

"IT'S NOT YOUR CUSTOMER'S JOB TO REMEMBER YOU. IT'S YOUR OBLIGATION AND RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE SURE THEY DON'T HAVE A CHANCE TO FORGET YOU."

-PATRICIA FRIPP

 

- WHAT WE'VE BEEN READING THIS WEEK -

Today, we're changing things up to bring you content only focused on video and how it relates to the sales process and sales performance. Enjoy!

<< If you only read one thing >>

Can I Embed a Video in an Email?  LeadG2

Video is an important part of any marketing and sales strategies, and utilizing video in your prospecting efforts is effective and can be achieved with a few steps. This post shares how you can send video via email for sales or marketing efforts. 

If you're a Hubspot Sales user and want to learn how you can embed video directly into your sales emails to contacts in your database, check out this post that shares how to embed personalized video into your Hubspot Sales emails.

Topics: Wrap-up

Using The Consumer Journey to Sell Solutions

propose solutions around the consumer journeyAs sales professionals, we are trained to listen to our prospects’ needs and then create a tailored solution based on the products we have to sell. As managers, we coach our team on this daily, and as salespeople, we continually work to evolve and better this process. We present a solution, and then explain why these products make sense. But in today’s complicated world of marketing, there is a key piece we often forget — consumer behavior. What does your target persona do before making a purchase decision? 

Topics: Buyer's Journey

It’s OK to Say You Are Sorry

In fact, it’s better than OK. The reality is, in the course of any business relationship, something is going to go wrong at some time and it’s smart to get out front of it and to be very transparent.

Here’s a recent example of a problem we encountered in our own company we had to deal with, and an email we sent to the affected clients shortly following the incident as an apology: 

Topics: marketing strategy company culture

Weekly Roundup: Sell to C-Suite Execs + More

sell to c-suite executives

- WHAT'S MOTIVATING US THIS WEEK -

"THE ONLY LIMIT TO OUR REALIZATION OF TOMORROW WILL BE OUR DOUBTS OF TODAY."

-FRANLIN D. ROOSEVELT

 

- WHAT WE'VE BEEN READING THIS WEEK -

<< If you only read one thing >>

The Sobering Truth: Why You Can’t Sell to C-Suite Executives  Hubspot

Senior decision makers in general are becoming fatigued by salespeople’s questions. This post shares data that supports strategies to help you sell to C-Suite executives.

Topics: Wrap-up

Are You Using Your Sales Superpowers?

talent sales superhero

Sales superpowers? Yes, really. To understand what I mean, please take a step back from the world of selling and focus instead on the process of buying.

The easiest way to wrap your mind around this is to consider a few common business-to-consumer (B2C) purchasing processes like buying a car, remodeling a kitchen, or selecting a college. Looking through that lens, it is easy to see how different the process of buying is today than it was only 10 years ago. I’m sure you would agree that the most notable difference is the amount of time the consumer spends researching in advance.

This sort of pre-purchase work is just as prevalent in the B2B world! Whether an individual is shopping for office space or office supplies, or selecting a bank, an accountant, a lawyer, or an insurance agent, chances are they will do a lot of pre-work before they ever engage in a significant conversation with a representative from any company. And when they do finally begin that conversation, they will come loaded with information and expectations.

Topics: Sales Buyer's Journey

Want Your Sellers Focused on High-Quality Prospects and Clients? Try This.

account list management systemWe're partially through the 4th quarter of the year, and as planning is in the works for the following year, it’s a great time to do an account review with your team. After all, their success equals your success, so it’s vital that you help them set a strategy that helps them meet their goals.  

Decisions Made Easy: A Sales Manager's Strategic Cheat Sheet

sales manager strategic cheat sheetHow many decisions does a sales manager make in day? 10? 25? 50? That number probably varies, but most people would agree sales managers make a lot of decisions each day as they navigate changing conditions, corporate demands, and plenty of persuasion from their salespeople about doing what they want them to do. Better sales managers make good decisions more often than mediocre sales managers. So, how do they do that?

Topics: sales strategy sales performance

The Foundation of a Strong Campaign Recap

campaign recapCampaign recaps have become an expectation of doing business in the digital marketing era, but they often become a delivery report instead of reporting on the performance of a campaign. The goal of any recap should be to sell the results of that campaign in an effort to retain and grow the business. Over the years, I’ve seen some really good recaps, and I’ve seen some bad ones.

Topics: sales performance Sales customer service

Weekly Roundup: Inbound Marketing Data: An Often-Overlooked Intellectual Asset of a Business + More

inbound marketing sales data

- WHAT'S MOTIVATING US THIS WEEK -

"THE HARDER THE CONFLICT, THE MORE GLORIOUS  THE TRIUMPH" 

-THOMAS PAINE

 

- WHAT WE'VE BEEN READING THIS WEEK -

<< If you only read one thing >>

Inbound Marketing Data: An Often-Overlooked Intellectual Asset of a Business  LeadG2

You can’t think of your database as just a list of names and contact information. It’s so much more than that. This data represents what’s possible for your business. It’s your future customers and referral sources. It’s next month’s closed deals and next year’s revenue. A company’s database can be the lifeblood of its revenue growth strategy.

Topics: Wrap-up