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The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Weekly Roundup: Inbound Prospecting Matrix, Creating a Sales Culture + More

Inbound Prospecting Matrix, Creating a Sales Culture + More

- MOTIVATION -

"How you sell matters. What your process is matters. But how your customers feel when they engage with you matter more."

-Tiffani Bova

 

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

The Inbound Sales Matrix: What It Is and What It Can Do for You–HubSpot

How do you know how much effort you should put into pursuing a specific prospect? How can you prioritize one contact over another? Those scenarios aren’t always easy to navigate.

Prospecting is a spectrum. There are going to be sales opportunities worth pursuing to different degrees for different reasons. But, how can you tell what those degrees and reasons actually are? The sales matrix is a tool you can use to make sense of different opportunities. Let’s take some time to establish what a sales matrix is and how you can use one to improve your prospecting efforts. >>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

A 10-Step Guide to Building an Account List Management Strategy

build an account list management strategyWith a new year in full swing, it's time to perform some routine maintenance to ensure a strong first quarter (Q1) . A great place to start is taking a second look at your account list. Follow these ten steps to get your sales organization’s account list cleaned up and ready for a successful year!

Topics: key account growth account list analytics account list management

7 Traits Great Sales Managers Possess - As Told by GIFs

Sales managers are superheroes that possess special traits that help them save the day and lead their team to improved sales performance. Here's a few traits that stand out most about these savvy business leaders (as told by GIFs). 

5 Daily Phrases Great Sales Leaders Say

5 Daily Phrases Great Sales Leaders Say

What we say and how we say it matters. The language used with prospects impacts your capability to excite and encourage them about the deal at hand. Certain words prompt predictable behavior, and every word or phrase you choose to use will generate an emotional response.

Sales leaders who understand the psychology of communication and language learn to upgrade their vocabulary quickly. They discover the right words and phrases that help develop positive associations with their brand, products, or services. To be an effective leader, you need to think, act, and talk like a leader—here’s how.

Topics: sales managers sales phrases

Weekly Roundup: Expert Advice From B2B Sales Leaders, Optimize LinkedIn Profiles + More

Experts Advice From B2B Sales Leaders, Optimize LinkedIn Profiles + More

- MOTIVATION -

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

-Gary Vaynerchuk

 

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

Here's Where Sales Leaders Should Focus in 2020, According to Experts– LinkedIn

Being a leader is exciting but exhausting. Teams constantly look to their leaders for direction, motivation, and inspiration. It all comes with the territory, and most wouldn’t have it any other way, but at times, leaders themselves could use a cue to follow.

Luckily, no one is going it alone. As a sales leader, you can tap into the advice and insight of top thinkers in the field, especially your peers who are facing similar challenges, hurdles, and opportunities. Here's the perspective of five B2B sales leaders on a number of focal points, from coaching to productivity to data and beyond. >>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

What Will You Do This Week to Help Your Salespeople? [VIDEO]

 

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. 

Topics: sales strategy sales process prospecting account list management

Hiring for Culture Fit—The Secret Weapon

Hiring for Culture Fit—the Secret Weapon

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.

Topics: hiring salespeople company culture culture

Do These 5 Things to Close More Business

Do These 5 Things to Close More Business

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:

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."

Topics: sales strategy close a deal

Weekly Roundup: Bring a Dead Deal Back to Life, 10 Signs You Have a Great Team + More

Bring a Dead Deal Back to Life, 10 Signs You Have a Great Team

- 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 >>

How to Bring a 'Dead Deal' Back to Life for Your Sales Team– HubSpot

When a deal stalls, it's tempting for the salesperson to unknowingly put themselves first. We've all been guilty of it at one time or another. You might repeat the close, not-so-subtly threaten the prospect with an expiring discount, or roll several asks into one conversation.

These tactics are a surefire way to turn stalled deals into cold ones. Before we dive into how to revive a dead sales deal, let's get clear on what dead deals are, and why they happen.>>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

Why the Most Successful Companies Hire for Culture Fit

Why the Most Successful Companies Hire for Culture Fit

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.

Topics: company culture culture

4 Essential Pieces of Sales Collateral for the 21st Century [VIDEO]

 

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.

Topics: sales process prospecting sales collateral

Weekly Roundup: Handling Objections, Automation in B2B Sales, + More

Handling Objections, Automation in B2B Sales,  More

- MOTIVATION -

"Become the person who would attract the results you seek."

-Jim Cathcart

 

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

The Ultimate Guide to Objection Handling: 40 Common Sales Objections and How to Respond – HubSpot

Every prospect you speak to has sales objections, or reasons they're hesitant to buy your product. Why are sales objections unavoidable?

Because if the buyer didn't have reservations about your solution's price, value, relevance to their situation, or their purchasing ability, they would have already bought it.

To be successful, reps must learn how to both discover and resolve these objections. >>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

For the Sales Veteran: Stop Training, Start Coaching

For the Sales Veteran Stop Training, Start Coaching

If you have—or have ever had—a veteran salesperson on your staff, you know they bristle at training. The mere suggestion of it can set them off—and for good reasoning! 

Most of us were once salespeople, and we were good at it. And we too would sound off on why training wasn’t for us, why we wanted simply to be left alone to perform. Here's a list of reasons why sales veterans hate sales training, can you add to the list?

20 Bold Sales Predictions for the 2020s

20 Bold Sales Predictions for the 2020s

The world of sales has rapidly changed as new technology evolved and became more accessible to businesses and sales teams. Over the last decade, the major trends in sales have included ideas like inbound marketing, social selling, and implementing sales enablement tools.

From companies becoming more intentional about building a culture of engagement to sellers mastering the art of shared-screen conversations, predictions in sales trends for the next decade take a slightly different approach. Improving sales productivity and the overall sales process are still top priority — but there’s more! Here are our predictions for the next ten years in sales, sales management, and sales marketing trends.

Topics: Sales