The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Given the sudden health and economic crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the phrase, “Never waste a good crisis,” has surfaced quite a few times. Noted public figures ranging from Machiavelli and Winston Churchill to Barack Obama have all invoked the phrase in times of trouble.

It’s often viewed as an opportunist looking to advance an agenda during an unfortunate circumstance. The reality is the phrase is more accurately a challenge to commit to doing things differently and better as a result of what we experience. And that’s the challenge we have for you.

- MOTIVATION -

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right."

-Henry Ford

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When you try to engage in a serious conversation via email, you will generally find the recipient calling you on the phone to have the conversation. If you meet other people for a living—aka work in sales—verbal communication is usually the best form of communication.

To people like us, we only prefer written text when confirming dates or answering 'yes' or 'no' questions. Most salespeople are more effective when they have a face-to-face opportunity than when they depend on their writing abilities. With those face-to-face meetings now temporarily on-hold, we need email to help us reach people we don’t know. You need to stand out from all the other emails, and here's how.

Taking refuge from the coronavirus, several salespeople have joined the estimated 8 million employees already working from home. Sales managers and salespeople alike are learning new skill sets that will help increase productivity, maintain relationships, and generate revenue to keep their sales pipeline strong.

Below we've gathered ten GIFs that all salespeople working from home can understand. Share these with your team or on social media the next time you need a good laugh to make a point.

- MOTIVATION -

"Be the kind of person who dares to face life's challenges and over them rather than dodging them."

-Roy Bennett

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Most people would agree that their world feels as though it has recently flipped upside-down! In this brand new world of social distancing, we’re scrambling to figure out how to be productive in an unplanned work from home environment—and also remain engaged.

Even in a strong business climate (like we had just weeks ago), company culture and employee engagement are vital to the success of an organization. They have a direct impact on revenue, employee turnover, and key account retention. 

During these uncertain times, however, when most of us are forced to work in dramatically different ways than we normally would, it is paramount!

Many clients at The Center for Sales Strategy are essentially in the business of helping companies grow their business. 

In order to do that effectively, we teach salespeople how to think like a business owner. Thinking like a business owner takes the focus off what you sell (your products) and puts your focus on how to help your client or prospect achieve their desired business results. 

The better a salesperson becomes at thinking like a business owner, the better they will be at asking questions, establishing credibility, and ultimately becoming trusted and valued.

There are endless amounts of podcasts out there on business development and new ones being released daily. This article isn’t about all the great business podcasts hitting the market, but rather a handful of the best podcasts that we feel will help salespeople improve their business acumen and encourage salespeople to help their clients and prospects grow their business.

Most of us have joined what Time calls "the World's Largest Work-From-Home Experiment." Without proper preparation, the COVID-19 outbreak has prompted business leaders everywhere to tell their team to work remotely until further notice.

Sales managers—your direct reports need your individualized coaching more than ever! The best managers have always individualized their coaching, but doing so remotely requires greater focus and intentionality. How can you help your team cope, adjust, and sell in the midst of our new normal?

If you could start one new thing this month that increased the open rate of your sales emails by 5Xs and improved your open-to-reply rate by 8Xs, would you do it? The obvious answer is yes, but sadly, once most of you realize what it is, you’ll come up with at least one of these excuses as to why you won’t do it and still avoid it.  

Video. Yes, video! Video has the power to not only get your emails opened but replied to! Across platforms (not just email) it’s proven to help get higher response rates, inspire more action, and help sellers reach the C-Suite (source).

- MOTIVATION -

"Leadership is not a position or a title, it is action and example."

-Donald McGannon

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Do Millennials simply have less sales talent than prior generations?

After conducting tens of thousands of sales talent assessments, we here at The Center for Sales Strategy can assure you that’s not the case.

In part one of this two-part series, we shared four key differences in how the Millennial generation was raised, insight that was gained from Brad Karsh in an never-ending quest to learn more about how to activate Millennials. These differences explain much of the enormous disconnect between many Millennial workers and their managers today.

Amidst the worldwide pandemic and historic economic shift, sales managers and business leaders everywhere are busy trying to adjust business models. A majority of business owners are re-inventing their business operations in a time where most people are "sheltering-in-place" and can no longer physically visit their place of business.

Once you figure out what this new world order entails for your organization, it’s time to re-examine your marketing strategy—not just your advertising and commercial messaging. COVID-19 is shifting consumer behavior and media habits, and we all need to make sure our strategy changes with them.

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"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."

-William James

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In addition to generating revenue and keeping their sales pipeline strong, sales managers are also tasked with running effective remote sales meetings. In our current work-from-home world, managers need to stay connected with sellers to conduct the following types of meetings:

• Sales meetings
• Training sessions
• One-on-one meetings (revenue development focused meetings)
• Meetings with clients

Below are some technical tips used by world-class managers to deliver a high-quality virtual experience. When the following guidelines are observed, you’ll run an effective remote sales meetings that will produce positive experiences for the entire team.