The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

We’re so proud to be celebrating Women in Sales Month once again.

For each week in October, we have an amazing slate of women sales leaders who will be sharing their unique insights. From offering advice for sales managers new and more experienced to surveying the anticipated landscape of sales in the years ahead, when it comes to Improving Sales Performance, these ladies know how it's done.

Today, we are joined by Giovanna Savorgnan, Director of Sales at WFAA.

Gio shares so many amazing observations, such as:

• Why it’s important for everyone, from the top down, to fully believe in the mission of the organization.
• How the best managers are as good at coaching as they are teaching.
• And, lastly, why really great sales leaders have to lean into the unknown.

We’re so proud to be celebrating Women in Sales Month once again!

For each week in October, we have an amazing slate of women sales leaders who will be sharing their unique insights. From offering advice for sales managers new and more experienced to surveying the anticipated landscape of sales in the years ahead, when it comes to Improving Sales Performance, these ladies know how it's done.

Today, our guest is Lauren Cooley, Chief Revenue Officer at ExpertVoice. Lauren brings so many awesome points to the table, such as:

• How the pandemic challenged us and changed us for the better.
• Why you shouldn’t want a team of “you,” but, instead, a team of people who are authentically themselves.
• And, finally, how, even with the rate at which the world is changing, there’s still no substitute for spending time with your people.

In this episode, we’re wrapping up our season-long coverage of The Center for Sales Strategy’s latest Talent Magazine.

Today, we’re taking some time to discuss a group of people who too often get the short end of the “development stick.” That’s right; we’re talking about leaders.

Joining Matt to uncover the ways in which leaders can most effectively tap into their innate strengths is Beth Sunshine.

Beth makes so many awesome points, like:

• How 360 Executive Coaching allows leaders to see both where they are using their strengths as well as areas where they could stand to develop their strengths even more.
  
  
• Why, even if you have raw talent, you still need to focus on developing it into an actual skill.
  
  
• And, finally, why leaders who aren’t intentionally focusing on their strengths are missing out on opportunities to develop not only themselves but the teams they manage as well.

In this episode, we’re once again consulting the latest Talent Magazine by The Center for Sales Strategy.

Today, we’re focusing on Engagement with Kate Rehling and Deborah Fulghum, joining Matt to help break it all down. Kate and Deborah both provide super valuable insights, like:

• How a company culture is like a garden. If you regularly tend to it, what you plant will flourish. If you don’t, weeds will start sprouting in no time.
• Why the success of your organization doesn’t depend on WHERE you work but HOW you work.
• And, finally, why engagement and satisfaction are in no way the same thing.

In this episode, we’re taking a good look at the Development section of the latest Talent Magazine from The Center for Sales Strategy. Here to help Matt determine the best ways to go about developing your people are Stephanie Downs and Kelly George.

Together, Stephanie and Kelly highlight some amazing points to think about, like:

• Why employees want to be coached rather than managed.
• How AI tools may soon be helping leaders build personalized learning paths through the identification of employee skill gaps.
• And, finally, why you should never assume that development is solely for new hires alone.

In this episode, we’re continuing our season-long deep dive into the latest Talent Magazine from The Center for Sales Strategy.

And today, Emily Estey and Tirzah Thornburg are here to help break down the latest facts and trends when it comes to selection.

Together, Emily and Tirzah bring so many great points to the table, such as:

• Why it pays to do the stressing BEFORE the hire, not after
• How talent banks are a great tool for hiring both internally AND externally
• And, finally, why holding out for talent, even when the candidate pool is tight, is always the right decision.

In this episode, we’re kicking off our season-long exploration of The Center for Sales Strategy’s latest Talent Magazine. In other words, we’ll be diving into exactly how you should go about recruiting, selecting, developing, and engaging your people.

Each week, Matt will be joined by experts from here at The Center for Sales Strategy to help break it all down.

In today’s episode, Trey Morris and Mindy Murphy are here to discuss the latest facts and trends relating to Recruitment, and they both share a ton of awesome insights, like:

• How the leaders who have the most success in recruiting almost always use multiple recruitment methods
• Why you won’t find as many Millennial and Gen Z job seekers on LinkedIn or Indeed anymore
• And how making recruitment part of your weekly routine is one of the best ways to avoid the dreaded “desperation hire.”

• How can sales managers better communicate and express their optimistic industry outlook to engage and inspire their teams?   
• What can sales managers do to turn a less-than-ideal company culture into one that their salespeople would evangelize about? 
• What is causing such different perceptions of what the ideal hybrid model should be? 

This season on Improving Sales Performance, we’re analyzing the findings from our latest Media Sales Report. With data collected from surveys conducted in Q4 of last year, the responses from sales managers and salespeople alike will help us chart a solid path forward through the media sales landscape.  

In each episode, Matt will be joined by a rolling roster of outstanding experts from our team here at The Center for Sales Strategy.

Here, Matt is breaking down the Sales Enablement section of the Media Sales Report with VP/GM at LeadG2 by The Center for Sales Strategy, Dani Buckley, and Senior Consultant, Emily Hartzell.

Together, Dani and Emily give their take on some top questions that arise from the report, like:

• What would you tell those sellers and sales managers who feel as though their sales collateral pieces are lacking?
• What are the first features of a website that you look for in order to most easily communicate who your company is and what problems you solve?
• How would you suggest building a better bridge of communication between marketing and sales?

Click here to listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform or keep reading as we break down the conversation from this episode. 

This season on Improving Sales Performance, we’re analyzing the findings from our latest Media Sales Report. With data collected from surveys conducted in Q4 of last year, the responses from sales managers and salespeople alike will help us chart a solid path forward through the media sales landscape.     

In each episode, Matt will be joined by a rolling roster of outstanding experts from our team at The Center for Sales Strategy.   
 
Here, Matt is breaking down the Sales Process section of the Media Sales Report with VP/Senior Consultant, Alina McComas and Senior Consultant, Michael Mayer. 
 
Both Alina and Michael have such awesome takeaways on some top questions that arise from the report, like: 

• Why do you think appointments are becoming harder and harder to secure? 
• With 41% of salespeople telling us that finding qualified leads is only getting harder as well, what do you think is causing this? 
• What would you say to sales managers that are having a tough time with CRM adoption amongst their team?

Click here to listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform or keep reading as we break down the conversation from this episode.