The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

We have all been there. You walk into your new office. You’re excited, maybe a little nervous, but ready to take on this new challenge. And…no one is expecting you. The receptionist says, “Oh, was that today?? No one told me. I’m not sure where to have you start…” Bad first impression, sure, but what’s the big deal?

The big deal is that in today’s market, qualified job seekers have choices. Chances are that from the time you agree to hire them to the time they walk in your door, they have had multiple other requests for interviews and maybe job offers. You spent time finding and qualifying just the right person for this position. Do you want your new employee to walk away on that first day, thinking about finding a better job?

OK, seriously, what is pre-boarding?! For most of us, pre-boarding has always been the handshake you get from the hiring manager with the words, “Welcome aboard.” And then, a few weeks later, you start work. That’s it. Nothing fancy, just, "You’re hired." But as most of us are well aware, the job market is changing with lightning speed. Blame it on technology, the Internet or millennials, but we all see the need to change with it. So, what is pre-boarding, and why is pre-boarding so important?

Storytelling is a vital part of the fabric of human interaction, and it has been since long before written language. Whether in the form of cave paintings or blockbuster films, stories transport the audience to constructed worlds and deliver powerful messages with startling accuracy.

A few months ago I was working with our client in Los Angeles and the managers were telling me they had a feeling their salespeople were not unearthing all the needs they should in their client needs analysis process. They cited a number of instances where the Account Executive did go deep enough and huge opportunities emerged for both the prospect and my client. They wanted to see that happening more often. After exploring the problem in more detail, I made several recommendations. One of those turned out to be particularly impactful.

The contact page is one of the most important pages on a company's website. But it's also one of the pages that receives the least attention from the company's marketing team. Several months ago, I wrote a post about how to optimize a website’s contact page to increase the number of leads it creates and to improve upon tracking contacts. Little did I know that the client that I had specifically recommended this approach to would have almost three-hundred new leads over a five month period from this new contact page.  

Many sales organizations miss revenue goals because they are understaffed and have open sales positions. This silent killer of productivity is a problem for many reasons: 

It’s not that annual reviews are bad… it’s just that they’re not enough! Whether the person you are managing is doing a great job, a terrible job, or performing somewhere in-between, waiting twelve months to let them know that information is damaging to them and to your company.

You've worked hard in 2016, built up your sales funnel, but 2017 is really going to be your year to shine. Perhaps you would like to get more high-quality appointments or try new prospecting strategies. The comfort zone is certainly a relaxing space, but nothing grows there. It's time to step outside and achieve your sales targets. Here's how.