The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Costumes, Ghosts and Goblins, Spooky Spiders, and Candy are fun Halloween traditions. 

Each year, children dress up and go door-to-door, exclaiming “trick or treat” in hopes of getting a handful of candy to add to the stash they’ve already collected. To a child, there is no such thing as too much candy… in fact, the one with the most candy by the end of the night wins.

What’s interesting is while children give the choice… “trick or treat,” we all know that they don’t want to be tricked. All they really want is treats!  They want to be delighted with yummy, fun-to-eat candy.

One of the main reasons leadership is challenging is because you are managing a fast-moving conveyor belt of decisions. One decision after another is rolling off the conveyor belt: 

• Should I remove this non-performer even though I have two other open positions? 
  
  
• Do I shift the compensation plan to get the team focused on the right behaviors, knowing it could disrupt the culture and distract top performers? 
  
  
• I just announced our new hybrid work expectations, and now my top performer is asking for more flexibility because of a family situation—do I allow it? 

You can’t obsess over each one and slow everything down, but you don’t want to make knee-jerk decisions, either.

It's easy for sales teams to get busy, get into a rhythm, or get on a roll and just do things the way you've been doing them. Sales managers wear a lot of hats, and it's easy when things are working just to keep them going the way they are going.

Hey... nothing's wrong, right? Wrong. 

Ensure you and your team avoid these SPOOKY things to ensure everyone is effectively utilizing their time and efficiently managing their prospects and accounts. 

Wrapping up our Women in Sales Month episodes are Katelin Tinley, Vice President and General Manager at Cox Media Group, New York City, and Jaleigh Long, Vice President and market manager at Cox Media Group, Atlanta and Athens.

Together, Katelin and Jaleigh share a ton of essential observations, such as the significance of having an open and transparent relationship with your team, the power of going through the customer journey and knowing potential problems before the meeting, and the importance of being seen as a resource for your team and for your clients to help guide them through disruption.

Tune in now or keep reading for a brief overview.

Candidates are in and out of the job market quickly, particularly those with superstar talent. If you’ve adopted a “we’re always hiring” mentality to help you build and fill your talent bank, you’re likely conducting interviews more frequently.

According to LinkedIn, 83% of talent say a negative interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they once liked.

Selection is a two-way street. You’re interviewing the candidate, and at the same time, the candidate is interviewing your company. It’s important to maximize your opportunity to interview candidates while giving them a solid understanding of the job role and your company culture.

October is Women in Sales Month, and to celebrate, we recognize many talented and hardworking women who work in this industry, the valuable contributions they make to it, and their expert insights on the future.

Joining this episode of Improving Sales Performance is guest Stacey Kauffman, Regional Vice President from San Francisco and Sacramento at Audacy.

Stacey has many observations, such as prioritizing your focus amidst the flurry of data that is constantly at our fingertips (Hint, hint, don't beat chain to your desk), how Account Executives can no longer wear all the hats like they used to, and why you can't build a team of unicorns.

Tune in now or keep reading for a brief overview.

Women in sales have achieved great things for themselves and their organizations over the last decade. To celebrate Women in Sales Month, we’re talking with some amazing women sales leaders who share their unique insights, from offering advice for sales managers, new or more experience to discussing the anticipated landscape of sales and years ahead when it comes to improving sales performance.

In this episode of Improving Sales Performance, Kim Guthrie, Division President for iHeart Media, Florida, joins host Matt Sunshine and co-host Stephanie Downs to discuss the importance of forming developmental relationships with clients, the importance of building trust, being a sustaining resource for your team, and how it's necessary to always be recruiting new talent.

Tune in now or keep reading for a brief overview.

The remote and hybrid workforce offers opportunities and challenges that we may not have considered when working in a common location.

We take for granted the proximity to our coworkers and the ease with which we communicate and convey our emotions and intentions. Communication that we had in person tends to shift to digital and allows us to stay connected no matter where we are co-located.

However, we still need to be aware of the tone we are using, which in writing can be more complicated than spoken words (because our brain fills in the gaps when we lack information).

We’re honored to celebrate Women in Sales Month all October long by talking with some amazing women sales pros. In this episode, Katie Reid, SVP/Market Manager Bonneville, joins host Matt Sunshine and co-host Stephanie Downs to share unique insights and offer advice for both new and veteran sales managers.

Katie makes so many awesome points, such as avoiding surprises by keeping a watchful eye on your entire sales funnel, maintaining and fostering organic growth, communication, and coaching in a hybrid work environment.

Tune in now or keep reading for a brief overview.

Joining host Matt Sunshine and co-host Stephanie Downs in this episode of Improving Sales Performance are Jenn Scilabro, Senior Vice President of Local Digital Sales for Nexstar Digital, and Traci Wilkinson, Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

As female thought leaders, experts, and industry gurus, Jenn and Traci share their insights, tips, and knowledge on various topics that help companies improve sales performance.

Tune in now or keep reading for a brief overview.

The Center for Sales Strategy is excited to announce the premier of Improving Sales Performance, a podcast highlighting tips and insights that help sales organizations realize and maybe even exceed goals.

This season, host Matt Sunshine and co-host Stephanie Downs celebrate Women in Sales Month by talking to some amazing women sales pros.

When it comes to improving sales performance, these ladies know how it’s done. Tune in now or keep reading for a brief overview.

Increasing productivity and promoting teamwork in a hybrid workplace can be challenging, but a few simple changes can help people feel connected and allow them to contribute in a more meaningful way. 

As more companies move to remote and hybrid work, creating an environment that fosters teamwork is especially difficult, and many employees can feel disconnected and unmotivated when they’re not in the office. 

However, rethinking teamwork and changing how people collaborate and communicate can help ensure every employee is engaged and productive.

Selection is defined as the action or fact of carefully choosing someone or something as being the best or most suitable.

It's Monday morning, and a seller has just told you that they are resigning. Maybe that's a good thing, or maybe it isn’t, but either way, you find yourself with the need to fill a position.

But before you do that, you need to know what you are looking for in order to find it. The first step should be to have a job analysis process that clearly defines exactly what you need in your open position. To determine that, you may ask yourself these kinds of questions.