The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Did you know that there are over 13 million people in sales-related roles across the US?

The sales industry is undeniably a large and prominent feature across the US workforce. With everyone from high school students to millionaire CEOs involved in sales, it spans a huge breadth of society and drives our economy.

But, there's a difference between working in sales and thriving in this industry. Your talent as a salesperson will influence how well you do in your role and the progress you can make up the ladder, and that often starts with ditching your ego.

Find out why selling without ego is so vital and discover some super useful selling tips in this guide.

- MOTIVATION -

"Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion."

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With the current talent shortage, it's difficult to recruit, select, and develop top talent.   

Hiring and developing superstars can be really hard, but there are a few steps you can take to bring the right people on board and develop their talents, so they stay with your organization.  

The best managers follow three important steps when identifying and developing top talent.  These are not the only steps, but these are three crucial steps.  

Technology has disrupted the traditional techniques we have used to approach prospects. Today, the most successful developers of new business have a smart and focused prospecting strategy.  They concentrate their efforts on a disciplined strategy that provides more appointments and more revenue. 

The shotgun approach of yesteryear is dead. Before technology disrupted our approach, we could sit down, call 100 prospects, and get ten appointments. Any mention of not having enough appointments was met by your sales manager with, “This is a numbers game! Sit down with the phone, and don’t quit calling until you get ten appointments.” 

Today that strategy is total folly. 

If you’re in sales, there’s a good chance that you will soon close another deal.

But why? Why do clients buy what you have to sell, and then, why don’t they buy?

First, you need to follow a logical process; ours is the Sales Accelerator, but today we’re going to look to Ancient Greece and what Aristotle believed were four main causes of how things come to be. In this case, how your sales or lack of it came to be.

For managers wanting to grow and develop high performing teams, there's one thing they should never do: micromanage.

Often cited as the top turn-off for new hires, it’s important for leaders to know how to coach their people in a way that is motivating, and not stifling.

- MOTIVATION -

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

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Perhaps you got excited when you read the first part of the headline.

I got excited too, wishing there was a list of “magical” questions that could be asked of any prospect with a great result. The problem is, such a list does not exist.

Sorry to burst your bubble.  

Have you ever heard a seller complain that there just isn’t enough paperwork to be completed?

How about that they wish your CRM was more complex?

Or that there aren’t enough departments involved in their sales?

As a manager, it's likely that you have heard the exact opposite from most of your salespeople. Hunters like to hunt, but many don’t really like to cook or clean up after their kill. What are ways that you can let your sellers sell and minimize the roadblocks they deal with?

BBQ and business acumen.

Traditionally, those two items don't go together, but for this story, one is the key to the other.

I started in sales in 1993, straight out of college. I didn't have a lot of work or life experiences that I could draw from as I worked with business owners helping them to improve their businesses' performance.

I did my best reading the Wall Street Journal, the business section of the local paper, and reading the latest business books to help grow my knowledge of business.

We're used to hearing “it takes a village” when we're talking about family, but what if that “village” theory is true in business as well.

Well, it sure helps!

Finding the right mentor can help you navigate your career and give you a village of knowledge instead of going at it on your own.

- MOTIVATION -

"Don't find fault, find a remedy."

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GOOD NEWS: 80% of professionals prefer to use email for business communication. 

BAD NEWS: With over 269 Billion emails sent every day, there's a lot of fierce competition flooding your prospects' inboxes.

So how can you, the stealthy salesperson, craft a genius prospecting email that warrants a response? 

We hear this question more than ever, "What makes a good leader?"

In the first 2022 episode of Improving Sales Performance, Stephanie Downs joins Matt Sunshine and guests Maryann Balbo and Fran Mallace of Cox Media.

Maryann and Fran are both Group Vice Presidents at Cox Media, and throughout the show, they discuss qualities of a good leader, leading in a 'people-first' company, and offer advice for sales leaders on company culture, sales management in 2022, and looking forward.

Tune in now or keep reading for a brief overview.

It’s often said that an organization’s most valuable resource is its people.

An increasing number of leaders are turning these words into action by investing in training and skill development for their workforce.

In fact, employee development is quickly becoming one of the biggest trends in the workplace for 2022. Companies who make it a cornerstone of their culture will be well positioned to hire and retain top talent in a competitive job market.

The pandemic has brought about numerous changes in the way we work and interact within our organizations, and it has also affected the way we develop, deliver, and assess employee training.

There has long been a push to incorporate more technology into training programs and the last two years have acted as the accelerant needed to push learning and development to new levels. Coupled with the new technologies is a shift away from more formal learning delivery and methods.

While many of these ideas were already in play, they have emerged as best practices in the virtual and work-from-home environment.

- MOTIVATION -

"Real listening is a willingness to let the other person change you."

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All sales managers know that it’s important to have a full staff of salespeople in order to hit your goals. But you know how risky and ineffective it is simply to hire anyone who can fog a mirror. It’s essential to hire only the right people. 

When searching for the right talents, skills, and experience, strong sales managers recognize that talent is primary.

In his book The Goal—author and business management guru Eli Goldratt—focuses on a concept called the theory of constraints.

This theory states organizations have constraints (or bottlenecks) that negatively impact performance. The process of identifying the most significant constraint and utilizing resources to eliminate the constraint is part of the process to improve performance.

Sometimes, showing, more than telling, is a better way to pitch ideas and new products to potential customers and investors. This way, you can give them graphic images and pictorial representations of your pitch, which is a more engaging way to sell yourself.

One of the ways to do this is through a sales presentation. It presents your product or service to clients professionally, informing, educating, inspiring, and motivating the customer or investor to take action in favor of your product. 

However, poorly-delivered sales presentations can defeat the purpose, sometimes even turning the client off from doing business with you. A sales presentation is carefully prepared by taking time, energy, dedication to create the perfect pitch. 

If you’ve ever wondered what makes pitching the perfect sales presentation to customers and investors so important, this article will tell you. We’ll also share tips to help you deliver the perfect sales pitch and wow your clients.

With the new year here,  many sales managers and executives are planning to make certain they have a plan in place to equip and prepare their sales teams for a good year.  

Certainly the changes in the selling environment we have all experienced in the last 20 months or so have exposed some areas for improvement as well added new expectations for how business is done. 

So, how can we best identify the needs of the sales team?  Here are two methods to consider.