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The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Weekly Roundup: Managers Are Forgetting This Priority, Reducing Turnover + More

Managers Are Forgetting This Priority, Reducing Turnover

- MOTIVATION -

"What you do has far greater impact than what you say."

-Stephen Covey

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

1 Top Priority About Remote Work That Most Managers are Forgetting Inc.

We're quickly approaching the one-year mark since the global shift to remote work. According to Upwork, remote work has seen an 87% increase since before the pandemic.

Organizations around the world grappled with the logistics of running a remote company, ensuring that employees had what they needed to remain productive while working from home. Unfortunately, while trying to keep their businesses afloat, many leaders and owners keep neglecting an important success factor: company culture. >>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

6 Things the Best Salespeople Never Do

6 Things the Best Salespeople Never Do

So much has been said and written about what top sellers do to set themselves apart from the average and low performing salespeople.

Let’s look at this from a different angle. What things do they make certain to NEVER do?

In order to fully understand what makes a high performing sales person, it’s helpful to recognize behaviors NOT exhibited by this elite group.

Topics: Needs Analysis Sales sales accelerator

In Order to Become the 1%, You Have to Do What the Other 99% Won't

In Order to Become the 1%, You Have to Do What the Other 99% Wont

How would it feel to be part of the 1%? You have a flexible schedule and have a reliable, dependable, top-performing sales team. To many, that life will only ever be a dream.

That's because the 1% are willing to do things that others aren't. From creatively improving sales performance to being a leader and mentor, here's how you can join the 1% as a sales manager.

Topics: sales performance

Challenges of Coaching a Remote Sales Team

Challenges of Coaching a Remote Team

According to research, over $5 billion is spent solely on sales training and sales improvements every year in the US. If your remote sales team is not up to speed with the latest sales strategies and techniques, you could be costing your business a lot of money in missed opportunities.

Coaching a remote sales team has its perks, you have less overhead because there is no brick and mortar location, plus, everyone has a bit more freedom and flexibility.

That being said, there are also many challenges of coaching a remote sales team, including the lack of connection and distance. 

So the problem is knowing how to lead a remote sales team effectively so that you can increase your sales and get a major ROI on your sales training costs. The last thing you want is to spend a lot of money on sales training and not have it be well-received. 

Thankfully, we've created this article to solve those problems, keep on reading to learn more.

Topics: sales performance remote sales team

The Imperfections of Last Click Attribution

The Imperfections of Last Click Attribution

When it comes to digital marketing, there's a heightened focus on analytics to determine success.

Many businesses continue to place a heavy reliance on last click attribution models to determine which of their digital marketing tools are driving results. Last click attribution gives 100% of the credit for a conversion or a sale to the last click a visitor made before he or she arrived on the website to complete that action.

It's a model that has been used for years, but can be flawed if it's solely used to determine which digital marketing efforts are really driving results.

Topics: digital marketing sales performance

Weekly Roundup: How To Get Your Employees Performing Better, Sales Opportunities + More

How To Get Your Employees Performing Better, Sales Opportunities

- MOTIVATION -

"What you do has far greater impact than what you say."

-Stephen Covey

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

How To Get Your Employees Engaged, Motivated, and Performing BetterGrowth Institute

When your team is full of engaged and performing employees, everything just works.

The job gets a little more fun. Your meetings become more healthy and productive. Issues on the team are brought up, discussed, and promptly dealt with.

Even more, this level of productive energy spreads throughout the entire organization to drive even more value and impact for everyone with a stake in your vision.

If this is what it’s like to work on your team, then congratulations! Only 15% of the world’s employees are actively engaged employees - and it looks like many of them are on your team.
>>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

A Simple Secret to Leadership That No One Talks About

A Simple Secret to Leadership That No One Talks About

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

John Quincy Adams

1 out of 3 employees say that the boss doesn’t care about the staff. Until recently, leadership has always been about position and power rather than empowerment.

A simple secret to leadership that no one ever talks about is that if you genuinely care about your people, everything else will take care of itself.

Showing empathy and compassion doesn’t classify you as a pushover. It doesn’t mean you’re not focused on results, sales, and company growth. What genuinely caring for your team means is that you prioritize your time to ensure you focus on communication.

It takes time and attention, but the impact is worth it.

Topics: leadership sales management

Exceeding Your 2021 Revenue Goal by Winning the Winnable Games

You Can Win the 2021 Sales Super Bowl

A heartbreaking ending, but a beautiful journey. If you’re a Cleveland Browns fan, then you’re like me, still brokenhearted after watching them lose yet another winnable big game.

Over the years I’ve written a few posts about this hapless team, and I’ll give the team credit for improving during the past season.

One thing still alludes the Browns, and that is winning the winnable big game. In short, something always gets in the way and they walk away with a loss.

Is your sales team winning the winnable games in the face of COVID and all the other obstacles that are thrown in their way?

Review the list below of winnable games—the games within the game of improving revenue performance and exceeding goals—to see how you are doing. The list also includes ideas on how to move from the losing side.

Topics: sales performance sales talent

Is It Time For A Talent Checkup? Three Tips For Hiring and Developing Top Sellers

Three Tips For Hiring and Developing Top Sellers

Can you say yes to each of these statements?

  • We hire much better salespeople than our competitors.
  • Our sales management team is a clear strength of our organization.
  • Every member of our team is a solid performer…a keeper.
  • We have a clear succession plan for every person for whom it is appropriate.
  • Currently, all of our salespeople are performing at or above expectations.

If you answered no to any of these, it’s possible you have some talent issues to address.

Topics: talent bank sales talent

6 Creative Recruiting Ideas to Help Keep Your Talent Bank Full

6 Creative Recruiting Ideas to Help Keep Your Talent Bank Full

Managers often reach out to us looking for creative ways to recruit top-talent to their companies.

Unfortunately, most wait until they're in need, when in reality, consistent searching and recruiting to keep their talent banks full would not only prepare them for the future, but also save them money and time when the time comes to fill a position on their team.

Topics: recruitment talent bank sales talent

Weekly Roundup: How Sales Pros Are Adapting to Remote Work, Mastering Virtual Communication + More

Adapt to Work From Home

- MOTIVATION -

"The secret to getting ahead is getting started."

-Mark Twain

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

How Sales Pros are Adapting to Remote WorkSales Hacker

Nearly a year in and we’re still not ready to call it a new normal just yet.

With the shift to work from home, remote selling has become a cornerstone of successful sales strategies in 2020. And with a new year just around the corner, many sales leaders are wondering how to navigate the uncertainty of 2021.

Life is still very much in flux, so we decided to ask the sales community how they’re doing: what’s working, what’s not, and how WFH frontline reps and sales leaders are adjusting to moving into 2021.

Here’s a look at what they had to say. >>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

Let’s Get Real About How Many Contacts It Takes To Get An Appointment

Let’s Get Real About How Many Contacts It Takes To Get An Appointment

There's certainly a lot of banter these days about how many contacts a salesperson must make in order to secure an appointment. We all know it takes more than 2 or 3 calls, but how many does it really take, and why?

Topics: sales performance Sales sales process

Improving Sales Performance: Sales Leadership and Performance

ISP_Ep.8__ Cover Graphic

The pandemic affected more than just the health and daily lives of people across the world. It affected behaviors and perceptions—including how media is used.

With media plans reconfigured and millions of dollars’ worth of ad budgets shifted - to say the rug was swept out from under the advertising industry is an understatement.

In case you missed Episode 8 of the Improving Sales Performance series, here’s a breakdown of the conversation that host, Matt Sunshine and guest, Gary Pizzati had on how many traditional clients are buying and selling in 2021. Plus, recruiting and selecting top talent, the impact of technology, and how to keep a sales culture alive during these unprecedented times.

Topics: sales performance

Improve Sales Performance via Virtual In-Field Coaching

Improve Sales Performance via Virtual In-Field Coaching

"I see the value in spending time with my sellers in the field coaching them, but I just don't have the time."

We’ve heard this a lot from sales managers over the years, pre-COVID and during COVID. Finding time to watch sellers in the field is a challenge to time-starved managers. The average time to coach a seller on a typical 30-minute, face-to-face appointment is actually around two hours when you factor in things like travel time to and from an appointment.

One of the positive outcomes of COVID is the ability for managers to sit in on appointments with sellers when they conduct virtual meetings with customers. These virtual coaching opportunities—also known as Zoomalongs—provide an extremely efficient method of coaching at a fraction of the time of a face-to-face coaching call (30 to 45 minutes versus two hours).

Here are some thoughts and tips on how to get the best ROI on virtual coaching opportunities.

Topics: sales performance virtual selling sales coaching

The Center for Sales Strategy Announces Two Leadership Promotions

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Topics: press release

Weekly Roundup: Pandemic Proof Your Sales Organization, Increasing SQL's + More

Pandemic Proof Your Sales Org

- MOTIVATION -

"I never lose. I either win or learn."

-Nelson Mandela

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

Pandemic Proof Your Sales Organization for 2021Forbes

Many businesses are more than happy to see the year 2020 come to an end after facing the enormous challenges of pandemic, quarantine, recession, supply chain issues, and the list goes on.

Restoring growth in revenue and net income during the year ahead will require company leaders to fundamentally change the way they think about their Sales Organization. It's clear that the world isn’t just going to return to business as usual.

That doesn’t have to be a negative, as there are opportunities the pandemic has revealed that you can capitalize on if you are paying attention. If your business relies on a direct sales organization to drive revenue, consider these strategies to Pandemic Proof your Sales Organization. >>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

Five Ways to Create a Sales Culture

sales team cultureWhat is your sales culture? Do you even have one? 

We frequently hear from sales managers the need for a “sales culture,” but often they don’t really know what their own sales culture is or how to build one.

Topics: sales performance company culture

Generic Questions Are Costing You Opportunities: Here's How to Fix It

Improve Sales Skills

Imagine one of your sales reps has an important sales call with one of their biggest sales lead yet. You've coached them, doubled-checked to make sure their equipment works and they know what they need to about the offer.

But they get on the call, and it doesn't go so well. The prospect sounds annoyed and hangs up before your rep can fully explain the product or service.

Don't let this happen to your sales team! Keep reading to learn how you can use questions to improve sales skills and increase sales.

Topics: sales performance increasing new business

How To Give Effective Performance Feedback In the Work-From-Home Environment

How To Give Effective Performance Feedback In the Work-From-Home Environment

While all the guidelines that apply to productive performance reviews still apply in our work-from-home environment, there are certainly new dynamics in how and where this feedback gets shared. 

Because we’re invited into homes more often (thanks to video meetings), we know more about our people and their personal life. We see their home environment, interact with their kids and pets, and most importantly, we all share more about our own personal challenges because we have a common experience the pandemic. 

We all have stories about what we are and are not doing these days. This is one good thing that has come from the pandemic experience and it makes approaching the feedback process with empathy presumably easier to do.

Topics: sales performance reduce turnover feedback

Bold Predictions for 2021

Bold predictions 2021-1

Congratulations! You made it through 2020, and a new year is upon us.

Business is not going to look the same as it did this time last year. The pandemic hasn’t just caused pivots — it’s caused permanent change. But all change is not bad! 2021 presents significant growth opportunities for organizations that can Accept, Adapt, and Accelerate from the lessons this year taught us.

Below are predictions from our team of experts to help sales organizations remain agile and seize opportunities in 2021.

Topics: sales performance sales trends