<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

Emily Estey

Recent Posts by Emily Estey:

The Disconnect Between Sales People and Sales Tools

The Disconnect Between Sales People and Sales Tools

Many organizations rely on sophisticated sales tools to automate sales activities, manage sales pipelines, communicate better with leads, close more deals, and improve their sales team’s performance.  

That said, some businesses still struggle with adopting software for sales. The reasons vary, but most of the time, it’s due to a disconnect between their AE’s and these innovative sales technologies.

Why does this disconnect happen? What are the consequences? How can businesses improve sales tool user adoption? Let’s find out the answers in this post.

Topics: sales tech

Where to Find Great Needs Analysis Questions in Preparation for an Appointment

Where to Find Great Needs Analysis Questions in Preparation for an Appointment

So, you've got the appointment for your Discover meeting. Good for you...now what? The Discover meeting is a critical part of the selling process, so “winging it” should never be your strategy. 

Most sellers understand that the goal of the Discover meeting is to uncover an urgent need that they can help solve, and then leave with an assignment. To accomplish this, you must ask great questions.

By “great” questions, I mean ones that: get the wheels turning inside their head, make them glad you asked, allow them to talk about what’s hot from their point of view, and make you seem valuable. Remember, every question you ask will either enhance or detract from your credibility.

Topics: Needs Analysis getting appointments

The Best Recession-Ready Talent Strategy

The Best Recession-Ready Talent Strategy

During a recession, businesses must strategize their talent management to weather the economic downturn. 

Here are some of the best recession-ready recruitment tactics as it becomes harder to find talented people.

Topics: recruitment talent bank

5 Recruiting Challenges and How to Overcome Them

5 Recruiting Challenges and How to Overcome Them

In the past year, recruitment has been an issue that has been part of every client call I have. It seems the biggest challenge is where to find the best people and how to attract them to leave their current position and join your team.

Here are some recruiting challenges I consistently face and some tips to overcome them.

Topics: recruitment talent bank

9 Tips to Lead Your Sales Team in 2023

9 Tips to Lead Your Sales Team in 2023

As a sales leader, it’s your job to analyze the market and make decisions based on the data available. You must then pass your wisdom and experience to your sales team to develop their skills and motivate them toward success. 

Sales leaders must understand product fit, as well as the company vision, mission, and culture, to lead their teams to success. 

Here are nine tips to help lead your sales team to success in the coming year.

Topics: leadership sales leadership

Sales Leaders Have Two Jobs Related to Sales Process

2 jobs

Only two jobs? Most sales managers will meet that headline with an eye-roll but stay with us.

Great sales leaders individualize their coaching while they manage a standardized sales process. The first job of a sales leader is relatively easy - the second takes more discipline. The two jobs sales managers have related to sales process are:

  • Install a process that everyone on your team uses
  • Keep the team focused on the process at all times
Topics: sales process IMPACT

Why Good Salespeople Leave

Why Good Salespeople Leave

According to a DePaul University study, the average turnover cost per Account Executive (AE) is $97,690 when you add up recruiting costs, training costs, and lost sales. So, if you lose five AEs in one year - you’re close to losing nearly a half a million dollars. 

Couple that with the fact that in a Glassdoor survey, only 19% of AE’s have no immediate plans leave their companies, but 68% of AE’s plan to look for a job within the next year.  

Why do sales reps leave? And what can your sales organization do to stop your top sellers from leaving?

Topics: sales process sales structure IMPACT

Financial Challenges That Are Top of Mind for Decision Makers

Top 5 Financial Pain Points of Businesses in Q4

At The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS), we’re big proponents of thinking like an owner — in other words, getting into the minds of the decision makers and decision influencers you call on. 

One of the many ways to do that is uncover and understand what financial challenges are top of mind for them, especially as we head into a new year.

Topics: sales process annual plannning

Turn Stale Leads into New Business and Re-Engage Old Leads

Turn Stale Leads into New Business and Re-Engage Old Leads

Are you one of the 63% of businesses that have problems getting traffic and leads? Or are your salespeople part of the 44% that give up after one rejection?

It happens to everyone in sales. You connect with a prospect, conduct a needs analysis, maybe even give a stellar presentation, but something happens along the way, and the prospect stalls. Do you know it takes six to eight follow-ups for sales leads to convert to paying customers?

Before moving forward after a stalled account, evaluate where you went wrong. How do you re-engage stalled accounts? Well, it all depends on where you’re at in the sales process.

Topics: sales process prospecting

The Comeback Kid: 20 Weeks to Change Your 2020 Story

The Comeback Kid 20 Weeks to Change Your 2020 Story

We all have a choice to make. That choice is what we’re going to do for the next 20 weeks of the year. We can continue to worry, fret, blame, and sit on the couch (if you're not doing any of those things - hurrah for you!). But we can also take the opportunity to be the Comeback Kid

Twenty weeks is a long time. That's 100 working days, with a few holidays thrown in. We encourage you to continue the activity that got you where you were before this pandemic struck. And, while we always encourage you to visualize the win, it's the plays in between that are really important. How can you win each day? What activities should you do to get you to the finish line? And, are you doing those activities to the best of your ability?

Topics: sales performance sales process COVID19 Resources