The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Taking refuge from the coronavirus, several salespeople have joined the estimated 8 million employees already working from home. Sales managers and salespeople alike are learning new skill sets that will help increase productivity, maintain relationships, and generate revenue to keep their sales pipeline strong.

Below we've gathered ten GIFs that all salespeople working from home can understand. Share these with your team or on social media the next time you need a good laugh to make a point.

Even though using social media to sell has been widely adopted in many industries, the 2019 Media Sales Report revealed that social selling is currently more hype than reality. Only 12% of sales managers surveyed saying their salespeople are using social media effectively to set appointments with prospects.

Research indicates that sales leaders still aren't convinced of social selling's value. And many salespeople simply don't know how to go about becoming a social seller. If you still need some encouragement when it comes to your social selling initiative, use these statistics for inspiration.

“People don’t leave jobs; they leave managers.”

“I quit.” It’s what a record-breaking 4,478,000 workers told their employers in August 2019. The reasons for quitting varied from compensation to lack of engagement, but one in two employees left their job to get away from their manager.

At one point in our life, we’ve all worked under a superior that could make or break our day. When it comes to sales leadership, there’s a big different between being a boss and a leader. Which one are you?

Your sales team has goals. In order to evaluate the activities that are being performed in pursuit of those goals, you need measurable indicators known as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Aligning your team with the right KPIs increases productivity and enhances performance, but it also allows you to monitor the overall health of your organization and team. With KPIs, you can:

• Measure progress
• Analyze patterns over time
• Make adjustments when necessary
• Solve problems
• Tackle opportunities

The hard part is choosing the KPIs that are most relevant to both your industry and goals. Here are some tips on how to select sales KPIs that align with your business goals.

The majority of participants that attend a “typical” training program or workshop will forget 70% of what they were taught within two weeks. Our goal for the Talent Focused Management (TFM) workshop is to provide clients with strategies and tactics that they can actually put into practice immediately.

Here are some takeaways from sales managers that will enlighten The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS) clients, as well as others, as to why —and how—not all workshops are created equally.

The sales pitch is delivered, objections are resolved, and the contract is sent. Now, you patiently wait for the prospect to sign, and you’ve sealed the deal. But then — the email comes through, and suddenly you’re scheduling a sales negotiation.

Even if a salesperson has properly qualified a prospect and correctly managed their expectations through the sales process, they still can find themselves shifting gears from consultant to negotiator. And while negotiations can go in an infinite number of directions, honing-in on these six sales negotiation tactics will help close the deal.

What we say and how we say it matters. The language used with prospects impacts your capability to excite and encourage them about the deal at hand. Certain words prompt predictable behavior, and every word or phrase you choose to use will generate an emotional response.

Sales leaders who understand the psychology of communication and language learn to upgrade their vocabulary quickly. They discover the right words and phrases that help develop positive associations with their brand, products, or services. To be an effective leader, you need to think, act, and talk like a leader—here’s how.

Authenticity is a buzz word in business.

Today’s consumers are independent; they don’t want salespeople – or anyone – telling them what to do or how to think. Instead, they want a personalized experience and value a company that stays true to who they are, what they do, and who they serve.

Using not-so-catchy sales phrases and the wrong language when meeting with prospects will drastically reduce the chance of getting another meeting. Here are 10 common sales phrases to bypass if you want to seal the deal.

Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Gen X-ers (1965-1979), and Millennials (1980-1995) have been the core generations that sales managers have long tailored incentive and engagement programs to. All have very different goals, needs, and work styles that require accommodation in order to improve sales performance, reach sales goals, inspire, and motivate.

Entering today’s workforce is the fourth generation, labeled Generation Z. Gen Z are individuals born between the late 1990s and 2010 that are starting to graduate college and join the sales world as independent adults.

We know that Boomers are incredibly loyal, Gen Xers are independent, Millennials seek reassurance and collaboration, and Gen Zers are more diverse than ever. How can you possibly motivate and manage such a multigenerational sales team?

It’s the time of year where competition is in the air. Not only is a little fantasy football floating around the office, but we’re about to tackle the end of another fiscal year. We’re all going for the “Hail Mary” pass with, what feels like, only seconds remaining on the clock.

Similar to having a successful season on your fantasy football league, having a great sales quarter takes strategy, skill and taking advantage of every opportunity that comes your way. It’s nearing the beginning of the fourth quarter, so let’s kick it off with motivation for a strong finish.