The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

There’s no doubt — lead generation that is clear-cut, clean, and specific is ideal. When we picture lead generation working at peak performance, most of us envision the salesperson being handed a lead that is pre-qualified and only a small step from closing. Smooth and easy!

But don’t fool yourself into thinking that every lead generated by inbound marketing will be so straightforward. That’s not reality, and if you allow tunnel vision to influence your ability to measure your inbound marketing ROI, you'll miss out on a lot of critical information.

The Pareto Principle suggests that 80% of sales come from 20% of clients. Alternatively, 20% of what you do represents 80% of that activity’s outcome.

Most of us know this rule, and we’re familiar with the labels – Key Accounts, Target Accounts, and Secondary Accounts – what we often fail to realize is the impact of what it’s like to lose a Key Account.

Understanding that most of your sales come from a relatively small number of clients, and having an Account List Management Strategy (ALMS) in place, realigns your organization's priorities, leading to an increase in revenue and sales performance.

The market's uncertainty has left many companies with an uncomfortable and frustrating bloated feeling in their sales pipeline.

Even before the pandemic, you could have easily convinced me that compensation plans changed radically and that people in sales were getting paid based on pending business. Every time I asked a salesperson how they were doing, I received the same response: "I’ve got a lot pending!”

Pre-pandemic, I reviewed over 500 proposals from various B2B sales organizations over the course of six months. These were all legitimate proposals, actually presented to a prospect or client. Based on those proposals, and the bloated pipeline many of you are experiencing today,  here's some valuable insight on how to close more business.

To establish the foundation for sustainable business growth, a solid sales structure must be built layer by layer. People, resources, and processes must align and work together to produce the best results for your organization.

In an earlier post, we identified the top challenges media sales departments face and a solution that addresses them all — changing your sales structure. Restructuring is easier said than done, but if you’re going to manage a successful team, the need for change eventually hits home. When thinking about restructuring, below are four important things to know about the modern-day sales structure.

Sales enablement. Is it a buzzword or just a misunderstood word?

DEFINITION OF SALES ENABLEMENT: Sales Enablement encompasses the technology, strategy, processes, and content that empower sales teams to sell smarter and faster. It’s about providing salespeople with what they need in order to successfully and strategically engage the buyer throughout the buying process. Why wouldn't you want it?

If your media sales department is facing difficulties, you’re not alone. Despite recent innovations, media sales departments are still missing budgets, not developing new business, and not retaining key accounts.

Many media sales managers are stuck in a vicious circle of recognizing challenges that hinder growth, but they tend to ignore them for various reasons. Failing to tackle these challenges continue to result in lost revenue and lost opportunities.

Below are five of the top challenges media sales departments face and a solution that addresses them all.

Grow, the sixth and final step in the Sales Accelerator Process is often-overlooked and underutilized—despite having hidden revenue-generating opportunities. Closing deals is the ultimate goal in sales, but it’s not where the work ends with clients. Salespeople should start to care about the renewal the moment they make the sale.

It costs five times more to attract a new customer than it does to retain an existing one. One of the biggest untapped opportunities for increasing sales and growing annual revenue is renewal and growing existing accounts. To do that, you set up regular meetings with clients to review campaign results and make adjustments along the way. You keep your promises, sell success, and grow the account.