The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Sales organizations adapted quickly to the new reality brought by COVID-19. LinkedIn research showed that salespeople, suddenly working remotely, embraced virtual selling almost immediately:

• 77% of salespeople said they were holding more video meetings
• 57% said they were making more phone calls
• 51% said they were sending more emails

With conferences and other opportunities for face-to-face meetings sidelined in the current environment, LinkedIn’s new State of Sales Report 2020 found that COVID-19 is having more than a short-term impact. Our research indicates that seven long-term sales trends that were already in motion are accelerating in today’s economic conditions. Read on for a closer look at these seven enduring trends.>>>READ MORE

2020 has brought with it unexpected levels of stress, anxiety, and fear for people across the globe. As we can all probably attest, the boundary between "work" and "home" life is quickly shrinking.Of course, many of our remote life challenges are insignificant compared to the pandemic sweeping the globe — but the risks posed to mental health aren't minor at all.

For instance, 19% of fully-remote employees say loneliness is their biggest struggle when working remotely – and if that doesn't seem like a big deal, consider that loneliness has been proven as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Here's some helpful advice on avoiding burnout from too many virtual meetings, and finding gratitude even in difficult circumstances. >>>READ MORE

Whenever I have a conversation about digital selling, the discussion quickly transitions to topics like search engine optimization, Facebook Ads, or some other messaging related category. In other cases, social media marketplaces come up or even the latest progress someone is making in eCommerce. As much as I appreciate these hot topics, they are each connected to digital marketing.

Digital selling is different, and understanding the difference is critical to every organization that wants to maximize their selling efforts.>>>READ MORE

It’s clearer than ever that sales enablement, which we define as “the process of providing the people in your sales organization with information and tools they need to sell more effectively,” is becoming a vital component in any B2B sales strategy. For companies large and small, across all industries, it is essential to implement technologies and collaborative resources that can make teams more efficient and effective.

Adoption of sales enablement solutions has been strikingly swift. The latest CSO Insights Sales Operations Optimization Study found that 59.2% of companies now have a formal sales enablement person, program, or function in place, compared to just 19.2% in 2013. Falling behind on sales enablement means falling behind the pack. There’s no question that it should be an ongoing organizational priority.>>>READ MORE

You've been speaking with a prospect for a while and you have a sense of their goals and challenges—it seems like your offering is a great fit for their business. You're ready to set a date for a product walk-through and/ or talk price—but then, your prospect says something that stops you in your tracks.

"Can we talk about this next quarter? It's just not a good time for us to buy right now."

Sometimes there are valid and true obstacles such as resources and budget that are stopping a prospect from buying. But how can you combat this issue? By using timing objection responses, you can get to the heart of the prospect's hesitation.>>> READ MORE

In their fourth annual LinkedIn State of Sales report, U.S. edition, they've identified some of the sales trends that have emerged in these challenging times. They have also found that many trends that were present before the arrival of coronavirus—such as the embrace of sales technology and the reliance on data —are in fact accelerating in the current environment. 

The State of Sales report examines both the emerging and enduring trends impacting sales. The report also offers insights into how sales organizations can position themselves to leverage these trends in the economic recovery.>>> READ MORE

As The New York Times pointed out, allowing employees to work from home and creating a quieter and more private workplace will result in happier workers, which means they're more likely to remain engaged and even get more oomph (for you and for them) out of every hour that they work.

Regardless of how you feel about social distancing, it will make office workers far more productive than they were before the pandemic. How? By reducing, or even eliminating, three huge productivity sinkholes. >>> READ MORE