The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Here at the Center for Sales Strategy, we are constantly asked to look at sales, sales management, and sales marketing trends, and to make predictions about what the landscape might look like in the future. At the end of each year, we make what we consider to be our bold predictions for the following year. This year, several people from our team participated. Special thanks to Dean Mootheart, Alan Vitberg, Shannon Delmarle, Trey Morris, John Henley, Kim Alexandre, Matt Sunshine, Dani Buckley, Brad Ramsey, Greg Giersch, and Beth Sunshine for contributing.

Don’t you love a good story? We all do.

Even before the days of romance novels, adventure movies, television shows, and Broadway productions, there was storytelling. The art of storytelling goes back thousands of years and served as the primary way for one generation to hand down knowledge and wisdom to the next. People learned about their culture, community values, and the most important life lessons through the meaningful stories shared by those who knew.

Stories help us to guide and teach, and they allow us to communicate our feelings in a way that can be very persuasive to others. So the question is, why do we not use storytelling in sales? It seems it would just make sense. 

There is an old saying that goes like this: When is the best time to plant a tree? 20 years ago, of course. When is the next best time to plant a tree? TODAY! 

That saying is the perfect way to describe what is going on with sales and marketing these days. So many organizations are tasking their salespeople with 100% of the lead generation as well as having them figure out on their own the very best way to pull prospects through the sales process. 

It happens every day in nearly every sales organization. Regardless of the industry, the size of the sales department or the complexity of the sale. It causes intense frustration for every salesperson and every sales manager. Know what it is?

It’s the uncomfortable meeting that takes place when a salesperson is not hitting their numbers. 

That meeting has to happen in order to get the seller back on the path to success, but it is filled with frustration.

• The sales manager is frustrated because her seller is keeping her from making the team goal, and consequently, her bonus.
• The salesperson is frustrated because he is not making as much as he wants to make and he knows that failing to make budget is not acceptable.

Those of us in sales and sales management know this situation and those frustrations all too well. You can probably guess how this conversation will go…

Raise your hand if you wish you had more quality appointments each week? My bet is that nearly 100% of you raised your hand. Almost every salesperson and sales manager that I speak to these days is talking about how difficult it is to get the quality appointment. Ironically, at the same time that getting quality appointments has become perhaps the most important activity for growing business, it has also become one of the most challenging parts of the sales process. The reasons for this are nearly the same in every market. They sound like some variation of the following.

Every week or two, in nearly every sales organization across the country, sales managers and salespeople sit down together for their regularly scheduled individual focus meetings.

You’re familiar with these meetings, so let me ask you... in your opinion, do your salespeople look forward to them? Are they anxious to share valuable information and discuss next steps in order to ensure they are moving business forward? For the most part, would you say they are a good use of everyone’s time?

Many will answer, “No.”

In my experience, both salespeople and sales managers often find themselves dreading these one-on-one meetings because they feel as though they are a waste of their time.

Recently I was having a conversation with a client about what “ROCKSTAR” salespeople do day in and day out. The type of things that really separate them from the rest. As we were talking, I was reminded of all the different versions of the "I am" commercials I have seen over the years and thought it would be fun to do one for salespeople…

For many of you, the thought of relying on technology to grow your customer base may seem awkward and  uncomfortable. I get it! But I also want to remind you… not that many years ago, using a mobile phone and email for business communications seemed awkward and uncomfortable too. Imagine if you didn't jump on that bandwagon!

Often the things that make us uncomfortable are also the things that grow us.

It's a fact. Using technology to assist in acquiring new customers is effective. But even more importantly, if you are going to survive, it’s essential! 

Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink. There are more businesses operating in America today than at any time in the past. Competition is sharper and the stakes are higher than ever, ensuring that marketing and sales challenges loom large for a great many of them. So why do both sales managers and their salespeople rate this the second-highest ranking item on their lists? Prospects shouldn’t be hard to find—there should be prospects everywhere they turn.