<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=585972928235617&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">

The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

When Setting Appointments are You Seen as Trusted and Valued?

 When Setting Appointments are You Seen as Trusted and Valued

I often hear from salespeople that getting an appointment with a quality prospect is one of the hardest parts of the sales process and getting them to give your 30-45 minutes is almost impossible.

It is certainly true that decision makers have more requests for their time today than ever before, which makes breaking through the clutter harder. It is easy to get lost in the sea of salespeople who are contacting them and asking for their time if you simply communicate why you want to meet with them because that is what everyone else is doing too.

Topics: valid business reason

Encouraging Collaboration Between Departments

Encouraging Collaboration Between Departments

Every successful organization depends on the productivity of various departments and teams to achieve its overall mission and goals. But being a part of a team doesn’t mean teamwork happens naturally.

For departments and teams to be efficient everyone needs to work together to execute and finish projects and goals. And yet the reality is that, more often than not, employees find it challenging to collaborate and work together with ease and balance.

Topics: communication sales leadership

5 Ways to Show a New Business Prospect You Care

show a new prospect you careThe things you do are often more powerful than the things you say. 

New business prospects are more likely to increase their engagement level when they know a seller truly cares about them and their business. Think about your own buying habits—are you more likely to do business with someone who cares about you compared to a slick talking salesperson who only cares about making a sale? 

Topics: Needs Analysis sales strategy prospecting

4 Key Benefits of Restructuring Your Team

4 Key Benefits of Restructuring Your Team

Sales structure organization can bring new skills to light and help put tired and outdated concepts to bed. Just because a strategy worked for your team five years ago doesn't mean it will still bring out the best in each team member so that your team will flourish now.

Consider revising sales goals and implementing a new sales structure with new possibilities in mind.

Topics: sales structure

Eliminate Hiring Mistakes by Evaluating These 8 Fit Factors

using fit factors to hire salespeopleWorld-class managers understand this essential element of hiring salespeople: talent is meaningless without FIT!

As a hiring manager, considering fit as carefully as talent is critical to a successful hire. Unfortunately, some managers discover fit problems after they hire a seller. Avoid this problem by evaluating these eight fit factors during the hiring process.

Topics: hiring salespeople

Cleaning Up Your Sales Pipeline

Cleaning Up Your Sales Pipeline

Keeping a clean pipeline for your sales team provides incredible insight into several areas of your sales department. It takes a particular discipline to stay on top of the pipeline, and it is well worth the effort. 

To start, you need a tool that will allow you to access your pipeline at any time. At The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS), we use HubSpot. The deal stages provide tremendous insight into seller activity and success and show signs of potential derailments to a deal.

Topics: sales pipeline

The Simple Truth About Recruitment And Selection That Will Help You Start With Talent And End With Performance

The Simple Truth About Recruitment And Selection

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

You’ve probably heard that wise Chinese proverb before. In the business world, the best time to start recruiting was before you had a job opening, but the second-best time is now.   

If you're a hiring manager, recruiter, or HR professional tasked with recruitment and selection for a sales team, your number one priority involves making sure you have the most talented people in the right places on your team. There is no doubt that matching talent to a task in this way will determine the success, or failure, of your sales organization.

Topics: sales talent assessment talent bank sales talent

Weekly Roundup: Remote Management, Beating Gatekeepers + More

Remote Management

- MOTIVATION -

"A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit."

 

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

15 Remote Management Best Practices For 2022 – Yesware

Although we’re finally moving out of the pandemic, remote work is here to stay. Global Analytics reports that 25 – 30% of employees will continue to work from home even after the last reminders of the Coronavirus pandemic are long behind us.

That means that those in the remote management role need to find ways to make their role productive, sustainable, and valuable to their organizations.

In this article, we’ll go over everything you need to know about remote management, including the pros and cons of the role, traits of successful managers, and 15 best practices to help remote managers be the best they can be. >>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

4 Winning Approaches for Writing a Cold Email

4 Winning Approaches for Writing a Cold EmailYou found someone's email address online. Someone you've been looking to get in touch with for a long time. Now, it's up to you to write an email that'll get opened.

A cold email can be effective depending on your target audience's communication preferences. Follow these four approaches and you'll increase your chances for success — and your open rate.

Topics: email Sales prospecting

6 Ways to Improve Pipeline Efficiency

6 Ways to Improve Pipeline Efficiency

Having a robust sales pipeline may help the sales team, sales managers, and the C-suite sleep better at night. But if there’s little or slow movement of those deals through the pipeline, everyone will spend more time counting sheep than counting money.

After all, opportunities in the pipeline don’t pay the bills. Only closed/won deals produce revenue.

So generating leads is only part of the equation for successful sales and marketing organizations. Keeping those leads moving through the pipeline and shorting the sales cycle is equally important.

Topics: sales pipeline

Are You Productive Or Just Busy?

Are You Productive Or Just Busy

Productivity refers to moving the sales cycle forward, improving application numbers, and increasing booked volume. Productivity measures how well you're able to meet the goals and objectives of your company, regardless of whether these are short-term or long-term goals.

On a day-to-day basis, if you write out a to-do list at the start of the day and are able to cross off most or all of the items by the end of the day, then you can consider it productive.

On a bigger scale, if you're able to meet the goals and objectives you have established for your company, then you're seeing productivity. Increasing productivity means that you will come closer to your goals. Remember, some people are more natural at this than others based on their talents.

Topics: sales performance sales productivity

Weekly Roundup: Deal Velocity, Developmental Goals For Leaders + More

Deal Velocity, Developmental Goals For Leaders

- MOTIVATION -

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."

 

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

Use These 5 Unconventional Sales Signals to Create Stickier Deal Cycles – Sales Hacker

We obsess over deal velocity. How quickly can I find deals, close them, and move on to the next one? It infects the rest of our work: BDRs batch and blast outreach to book more meetings. Reps fill out their calendars only half-prepared for the meetings. Managers ask weekly, “When’s this deal coming in?”  >>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

One Solution to the Biggest Problem in Sales: Setting Quality Appointments

One Solution to the Biggest Problem in Sales Setting Quality Appointments

Research with our client base, practical experience, and many years of consulting sales organizations of all sizes makes one thing abundantly clear: the biggest single problem salespeople experience in securing high-value appointments with key decision-makers. If you agree, keep reading.

Over the years, I have written nearly 100 sales meeting kits for managers, and more than 20 of them deal with some aspect of securing a quality appointment.
 

Today's technology not only allows prospects to delete your voicemail messages and zap your emails, but Internet access is also allowing customers to gather most of the information they need about your product, how it works, and how your clients feel about it.

Topics: business development

Upcoming Virtual and In-Person Events Sales Professionals Should Be Attending

Conferences

There are two underrated ways to quickly improve sales skills, grow networks, and grow both personally and professionally.

The first way is to read more quality books – and you can find several on this list.

The second way is to invest in yourself and attend conferences and events. Events designed specifically for sales professionals will not only help you grow and develop, but you’ll gain insight into the future of the industry.

Listed in order by date, here are some upcoming virtual and in-person events for all sales professionals to attend in 2022.

Topics: events

Priorities for the Modern Leader

Leadership-1

Work and career are areas that are ever-evolving.

New ways of working emerge, skill sets and experiences change, and employee expectations shift. As a leader, it's important to understand where your priorities need to be and how you can position yourself to help your employees grow.

Topics: sales leadership leadership development

Why Salespeople Are Quitting After 90 Days — And How To Prevent It

Why Salespeople Are Quitting After 90 Days — And How To Prevent It

During the first 90 days at a new job, the relationship between a new hire and their employer is as vulnerable as it gets: 20% of all employee turnover happens during those crucial three months.

Leaving a job before things really get going is becoming increasingly normal, especially for younger workers: Jobvite’s oft-cited annual “Job Seeker Nation” survey reports that 34% of them have, at some point in their young careers, left a job in the first 90 days.

Topics: sales talent assessment sales talent

Weekly Roundup: Sales Forecasting, Inflation + More

Sales Forecasting, Inflation

- MOTIVATION -

"There are four ingredients in true leadership: brains, soul, heart, and good nerves."

 

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Sales Forecasting: Which Is Best For You? – LinkedIn 

Forecasts are infamously difficult to trust. 

Does your weather app say it’s going to be sunny on Saturday? You still might want to have a backup plan for your picnic.

In sales, forecasting is a practice that’s been around for a long time, but its accuracy has often failed to escape the realm of long-range temperature predictions. >>> READ MORE

Topics: Wrap-up

A 5-Step Campaign Recap Template to Keep Customers Coming Back

campaign recap templateYou sold the campaign. You executed the campaign. Now get the credit you deserve! 

Creating a successful digital campaign designed to deliver desired business results takes time and expertise—not to mention a great deal of work! It makes sense to present a recap during the campaign—to make sure it is on track—and after the campaign, to get credit for a job well done.

The best way to do this is to create a campaign recap and present this to the customer. This process allows sellers to get the credit they deserve for a job well done as well as open the door to the next sales opportunity with a satisfied customer.

Topics: sales strategy sales process sales accelerator

Simple Things You Can Do to Make a Big Impact on Sales Performance

Simple Things You Can Do to Make a Big Impact on Sales Performance

Without sales, you don't have a business.

Your profits are directly linked to sales performance, so it's important to maximize sales wherever possible. There are a range of things you can do to improve sales, and if you're not doing this your business will never reach its full potential.

For a rundown of some simple things you can do to improve sales performance, keep reading.

Topics: sales performance