The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

In just a couple of weeks, the LeadG2 team will be heading to Boston for INBOUND 2016—the yearly marketing conference hosted by HubSpot. As a Platinum Partner of Hubspot, we appreciate how HubSpot continues to lead the industry in research studies, thought leadership, and educating marketers. We learn so much each year at the conference.

Over four days, five keynotes, and hundreds of workshop sessions, we’ll be increasing our knowledge so we can better help our clients, and we’re looking forward to that! 

If you’re a B2B company, then it’s probably safe to guess that you are looking to generate more leads. Not just more leads of course, but better leads. The type of leads that you are excited to send to your salespeople, that your salespeople are thanking you for, and that are consistently converting into new customers.

However, sometimes your efforts can get a little stale. You're doing everything you're supposed to be doing: blogging two to four times a week, sharing on social media, and nurturing the leads you do have. But it’s not enough. While traffic might seem to increase, your leads aren’t.

Here are five things you can do today that will help you get more leads tomorrow!

From the moment I started working with the team at Zimmer Radio & Marketing Group, I had a feeling they were going to do a stellar job with inbound marketing. Then, once I met with them at their office in Columbia, Missouri for our Inbound Marketing & Sales Strategy Workshop, which kicked off our partnership, I was convinced.

Collectively, they “got it” and understood that because the advertising buyer’s experience has changed, the role of the media salesperson had to change too. As a LeadG2 and The Center for Sales Strategy Consultant, it’s always exciting to work with a company who not only wants the results but is also willing to invest their time and money to get the job done. And in this case, not only because they want to grow new revenue, but also because they care about their advertisers and the people they work with. They believe in educating them and being a true partner to small and large businesses alike. They understood that inbound marketing is more than a campaign here and there or a great keyword strategy. It’s about creating a conversation with potential and current customers. It’s about being a thought leader, making an impact in their industry, and reaching buyers appropriately in the sales process.

I’m not writing this article to simply brag about my awesome client (though they are pretty awesome). I’m writing this to let other media companies know they can improve the way they communicate with prospects, and they can get real, tangible results by implementing the right strategy and the right tools.

Every sales manager has, at some point, come to realize that sales talent isn't enough to reach revenue goals. The key is to hire talented salespeople and then help them optimize their performance. 

These 3 resources will help you, as a manger, turn sales talent into performance.

We recently spoke with Karen McCandless, market researcher at GetApp (a sales management software review company) about her latest study, which sampled 250 sales professionals and 200 consumers. The study sought to uncover today's key challenges for salespeople as well as what successful salespeople are doing to overcome those problems.

We have to give ourselves a little pat on the back, because last week we were featured in a prominent list of recommended sales blogs!

This is exciting for us to see, since our consultants and sales trainers are so dedicated to sharing their expertise and tips here. It's encouraging to see that we are making a difference! If you want to check it out, here are the details:

Merry Christmas to each of you! We hope you all have a very happy holiday, however you are celebrating! While you're kicking back and enjoying the time away from work, you can track Santa's progress! 

Radio Advertising Calgary was started by three account managers from Corus Radio Calgary. Together, Sherie, Jason, and Michelle bring over 35 years experience in marketing consultation and customized new media to their clients.

About a year ago, Sherie, Jason, and Michelle started realizing that traditional outbound sales methods like cold calling were no longer enough to bring in the advertisers they needed. They knew the buying process had changed, and they knew they could use their expertise and thought leadership to attract leads. After reading Matt Sunshine’s book, LeadG2: Getting Prospects to Raise Their Hands, they realized that they needed to craft an inbound marketing program to match the modern buyer’s journey.

Our sister publication, the LeadG2 blog, posts regularly about how to align sales and marketing for maximum results. Today, we're featuring the most popular sales strategy posts from LeadG2.

1. The Gap That Prevents Most Salespeople From Selling More

Most salespeople are pretty good at selling their products and services. They are usually proficient on sales calls—engaging prospects, discovering underlying needs they can address, and suggesting ideas and solutions that could improve a customer’s business. Companies invest significant dollars in training and systems to help their salespeople move the sales process ahead in a professional manner (and the should). But, there is one part of the sales sequence that often prevents salespeople from delivering their quotas, and that is the ability to get an appointment with a key decision maker in the first place. You’ve heard it said about many aspects of life thatbeing there is the most important thing. That certainly applies to selling.