Alina McComas, on November 5, 2018
Campaign recaps have become an expectation of doing business in the digital marketing era, but they often become a delivery report instead of reporting on the performance of a campaign. The goal of any recap should be to sell the results of that campaign in an effort to retain and grow the business. Over the years, I’ve seen some really good recaps, and I’ve seen some bad ones.
Shaye Smith, on November 2, 2018
-THOMAS PAINE
You can’t think of your database as just a list of names and contact information. It’s so much more than that. This data represents what’s possible for your business. It’s your future customers and referral sources. It’s next month’s closed deals and next year’s revenue. A company’s database can be the lifeblood of its revenue growth strategy.
Greg Giersch, on October 29, 2018
Deepak Chopra was an interesting pick as Keynote speaker to open the Inbound 2018 conference. Deepak brings to mind meditation and alternative medicine more than cutting edge marketing techniques. But he had a few insights that we can apply to business within his message of consciousness and healing.
Shaye Smith, on October 26, 2018
-CHRIS GROSSER
Is cold calling dead? Let's be honest. That answer is "No." Cold calling used to be one of the best -- and only -- prospecting strategies salespeople could use. But in the past 40 years, a variety of more effective alternatives have emerged.
Beth Sunshine, on October 25, 2018
If you have hired a salesperson that is younger than 36 years old, you hired a millennial. And you may sometimes feel like many of the other sales managers I talk to every day…
As a Talent Analyst, I spend a lot of time identifying people’s innate sales talents and helping managers make smart selection decisions. Once each hire is made, I work with the sales manager to turn talent into ever-increasing performance by maximizing each seller’s strengths and working around their weaknesses.
So my attention is sharply focused on two things: Talent and Fit.
Jim Hopes, on October 24, 2018
Picture this. You are seven weeks into the quarter and pacing behind last year, and significantly behind your budget. Your manager and your manager’s manager are nosing around to find out what is going on and peppering you with questions about your plan to fix this. Your sales team is growing increasingly frustrated as orders get canceled and prospects fall through. This scenario is hypothetical, of course, but perhaps you have been there. So, how does a sales manager deal with this?
Kurt Sima, on October 23, 2018
Proposals come in all shapes and sizes. Some are highly-technical and data-focused, while others are more detail-driven. Some are filled with fluff, while others are pretty worthless. The best proposals are a combination of data, solutions, and detail.
Trey Morris, on October 22, 2018
I was listening to a sports radio station in town last week, and it had breaking news that the Major League baseball team had just fired their manager.
It wasn't a big surprise. The team had underperformed for the last couple of years, but what was surprising was the reason the club gave to the media.
His style wasn't connecting to his players.
What? His style? They didn't mention his performance, his attitude, or even lack of confidence by management. Nope, it was that his "old school" style didn't connect with his young(er) players. He didn't know how to connect with his millennial or Gen Z players.
One of the radio hosts said that he was too much like John Wayne. He was tough, to-the-point, and not very touchy-feely. He wasn't very caring, emotional, or even friendly with his players. To him, it was all business. They weren't friends. He was their boss!
Shaye Smith, on October 19, 2018
-ZIG ZIGLAR
Like just 17% of salespeople think they're pushy -- compared to 50% of prospects.
And along similar lines, only 3% of buyers trust reps. The only professions with less credibility include car sales, politics, and lobbying.
Ouch. Luckily, not all sales-related data will bum you out. This list of sales statistics has invaluable nuggets of wisdom on everything from which words to avoid in your email subject line to the optimal number of questions to ask during a discovery call.
Alina McComas, on October 17, 2018
Media sellers today have more capabilities than ever to drive results for their clients. With all of the potential options, you would think that it has gotten easier to build a solution that will drive results, right? Nothing could be further from the truth! If anything, the sheer number of solutions has made it more challenging to determine when to use what when. And with all of those capabilities, their presentations have also become longer – many filled with a multitude of product one-sheets and then a laundry list of recommended products in the recommended solution.
That is a struggle that I hear from salespeople that I work with all over the country. It’s not just determining what should be in the solution, but how to present it in a truly integrated format where it is clear why all of the components are critical to a successful result.
