The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Active buyers in today’s market have immediate and pressing issues that couldn’t be foreseen earlier this year. Business owners have more distractions than ever, and there’s no roadmap for dealing with the economic changes that are still occurring.   

Putting yourself inside the mind of these buyers will help you gain access to them. Understanding who they are is critical to understanding how you sell your products and services to them. We call this tactic defining your target persona. 

Good salespeople know that you can’t close a deal without the prospect feeling good about it.

What is not as obvious is that what they feel has more to do with what they say than with what you tell them.

Why? Because what they really need is to feel understood, listened to, and reassured. And to do that, you have to actually listen to them.

How much is too much talking versus too much listening? After analyzing over 25k sales conversations, studies found that top-performing sales professionals speak an average of 43% of the time, while their clients speak for 57% of the conversation.

This is called the 43:57 ratio, the "golden talk-listen ratio," and Gong.io found that sales reps who achieve it see an improvement in their sales performance.

Sales teams are the backbone of any successful business, and their performance can make or break a company's bottom line.

But with so much competition in today's marketplace, it's becoming increasingly difficult for sales reps to stand out from the crowd and close deals. That's why it's important to revamp your sales strategy and implement unique prospecting methods and tools to give your team a competitive edge.

We're going to explore five innovative prospecting methods and tools to help your sales team boost their performance and close more deals. From using AI-powered chatbots to leveraging social media platforms, we'll cover practical tips and strategies to help you stay ahead of the curve and achieve your sales goals.

Have you ever tried to make chili by throwing all the ingredients together in a giant pot, stirring, and then slowly cooking all day?

If you had, you’d know that is NOT the best way to cook chili! First, you brown the meat. And if you were an onion lover, then you’d add onions during this stage to get the most flavor. 

After the meat is browned and fully cooked, drain the fat (if healthy eating is important to you), and add the chili seasoning, followed by the rest of the ingredients, which could vary depending on where you’re from and personal preferences. If you were to rush through the process and skip browning the meat first, you’d find the results are remarkably different. 

When you change the process, you change the results.

In business, change is necessary to adapt and grow to meet the needs of prospects and clients. Many companies and business executives tend to resist change - because change is hard and uncomfortable.

As a salesperson, you probably have some good ideas to help your company achieve its goals. Maybe you want to implement inbound marketing or add webinars or videos to your marketing mix. But how can you sell your ideas to management?

Proposing your change can be a daunting task, and rightfully so—only 54% of change initiatives succeed. To increase the chances of your idea for change to be successful, use an organized change management system.

As the second quarter continues to move in quickly, sales managers and business leaders may feel pressured to balance their short-term goals with long-term initiatives.

The complex demands often result in burnout as leaders attempt to juggle competing priorities while meeting deadlines and preparing for upcoming tasks. To help navigate this challenge, we have compiled a list of effective tips to assist sales managers and business leaders struggling to prioritize during Q2.

From allocating time management appropriately within your team or department to understanding which tasks require additional resources, you will find all the necessary information here that is needed for meeting individual and organizational goals during the second quarter.

For any sales manager, it's incredibly frustrating when their salespeople don’t seem to be able to close the deal. A successful sale often depends on the product and customer knowledge of the salesperson, but what happens when the hard work isn’t translating into results?

Let’s take a look at some of the top reasons why your team may not be closing deals - from common hurdles like difficulty establishing credibility and understanding client needs to more nuanced issues like forgoing preparation time before meetings or failing to ask questions throughout conversations.

Here's our breakdown on how you can help your team move past these sticking points and finally start seeing those eagerly awaited closed deals!

If you're like most sales managers, driving revenue consistently and efficiently can be a daunting task. But there are ways to maximize the success of your sales efforts through managing each stage of the funnel properly - from top to bottom.

In this blog post, we'll discuss how proper management at each stage of the funnel is an essential part of developing a consistent pipeline with reliable and successful returns. You'll learn how incorporating targeted activities related to each step in the process can help ensure more satisfying results for everyone involved.