The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

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One global pandemic, multiple lockdowns, and never-ending strains have reshaped the world — the way we live, the way we socialize, and the way business is done. COVID-19 was indeed the biggest disruption to work as well as life in decades.

Productivity prior to the pandemic was a well-defined metric across companies. Some measured productivity by time, some by deliverables, some by revenue, and most by a combination of the three.

The higher the close ratio of your sales team, the more sales you are making.

It can benefit your team and your company if you know what your close ratio is and how to increase it. Knowing where you stand and what your obstacles are is helpful when it comes to having a goal in mind.

Below are some questions that could help your team members (and you as manager) on the road to higher sales.

It looks like it’s shaping up to be another great year for job seekers and a tough year for employers struggling to find and keep their employees. The “war for talent” rages on.

Don’t let those negative headlines get you down, though. With a good recruitment process and retention plan in place, you will be able to build a thriving team.

Today we are going to focus on the 9-steps of strong recruitment and look at how you can consistently dedicate attention in a highly structured way to achieve big results.  

It starts with setting the stage for success.

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

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This post was originally published on Business.com.

Top sales managers don't just look for candidates when they need them — they keep in contact with potential team members to build an internal pipeline of interested and engaged salespeople.

The best products and services in the world don't hold up a company if no one buys them.

Most companies depend on salespeople to bridge the gap between production and purchase. When high-performing sellers leave, sales managers scramble to fill their roles. In the ensuing chaos, they usually hire the first competent person to walk through the door.

Every relationship has ups and downs, and that includes relationships between coworkers.

The members of your sales team might be going through problems at home that can cause problems at work.

There might be conflicts with other members of the sales team.

When problems exist in other areas of life, it can affect the accountability of the whole sales team or individual team members. Either way, it's possible to remedy the situation and make accountability a priority for your team.

Don't do it. I know you want to do it, but you can't.

Seriously!  STOP IT!

"Do what" you innocently ask?

Pitching your product or service in your first meeting with a new client.

"But…but…but," I can already hear your excuses. 

"We are SALES people!  We are supposed to SELL!" 

Technically, yes, you are "supposed" to sell, but not yet! 

Be patient.  Follow the process.  Trust the process.  We have to slow down the sales process so that we can speed up the sale!

While the dreaded days of cold calling may be over in the marketing world, it could be said that it merely switched mediums — from the telephone to chat apps. If your idea of 'B2B marketing' is sending unsolicited DMs, is that really any different from cold calling?

While cold outreach on social media is a popular technique in our modern world, it's not exactly the most productive, nor the most fruitful. As mentioned above, it's really just cold calling in a new medium, and while your salespeople don't have to deal with slammed phones, that doesn't make it any more viable as a sales technique.

Social selling is a modern approach to marketing that's built around existing relationships, and as such, it works much better. In this article, we’re going to explore the concept of social selling, how it fits into the sales process, and how you can leverage this sales technique to help your business thrive.

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"I walk slowly, but I never walk backward."

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Your sales team determines the success or failure of your operation.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to you, but if you're like other sales managers, you don’t start looking for new sales candidates until one of your salespeople leaves the company.

By then, it’s too late. You'll have to scramble to fill the role.

This chaos will often result in you rushing to find the right person or settling for someone who is just “good enough.” These hasty hiring decisions don't solve anything. You still need a great salesperson, and the person you just hired isn't likely to be that.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A new sales structure can help improve productivity. 

Sometimes it becomes necessary to go back to the drawing board. Remind yourself what your original goals were for your team.

• What objectives did you have that still have not been accomplished or that are no longer being accomplished the way they used to be?
• How can you fix problems and begin reaping the rewards you once had?

Often, a sales funnel and sales pipeline are confused. 

They are not the same, and both have a distinct purpose along the path to purchase. They both provide an incredible amount of intelligence when examined in part and as a whole. 

Marketers and sales leaders that collaborate closely will learn that ensuring the sales funnel and pipeline are both full, healthy, and clean defines some of the biggest indicators of revenue success. 

Our founder, Steve Marx, used to say that things should be no longer than they need to be, but also no shorter. Applying that to the sales process, it should take no longer than it needs to be effective, but also no shorter.

In the sales process, some prospects are traveling toward you; others are traveling away. It would seem that we should just pitch and close the ones that are traveling quickly toward us, right?

Steve’s advice would be that it should take no longer and no shorter than we need to accomplish our objective. In sales, that’s achieving their business objectives.

Every company strives to maximize its sales as much as possible. To do that you need to have a strong and competent sales team and a smooth sales process.

Given the current state of the economic and financial landscape, companies are also looking for ways to cut costs. For this reason, optimizing the sales process has become even more important.

When doing so, you have to consider two major aspects. Will you do it internally or externally? If you’ve chosen the former, then continue reading.

Social selling is the process of leveraging your social network to sell products or services.

In fact, 78% of social sellers outsell competitors who don't use social media. The most important thing to remember when doing social selling is that each platform is different. What works on one platform may not work on another. It’s important to understand how each platform works before trying to sell on it.

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"Quality performance starts with a positive attitude."

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