The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

“I had a really good meeting! But. . . I can’t get the prospect to call me back!” or “I had such a great meeting, but I never got an answer to the proposal.” I hear statements like these frequently when working with salespeople. They return from a meeting telling their manager how great it was, but then nothing happens. Wishful thinking sets in. Calls get made to the prospect on a weekly basis, managers ask about it in their weekly meetings, and salespeople start saying, “I don’t know what could have happened—the meeting went so well!”

What does “I had a really good meeting” really mean? For some, it means the meeting was long. For some, it means the prospect opened up and talked a great deal. For some, the client nodded and sounded interested. This list could go on and on.

I bet when you read "Killing your KPI's", your first thought was this was going to be a blog about sales high performers, right?

Not really!

I'm literally telling you that you should KILL your KPI's. As in buried and dead. As in no longer around.  

Ok, that might be a little over the top, but I fear that if I don't push the envelope, you won't get my point about why you shouldn't be basing your sales success on just Key Performance Indicators.

We hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. 5 Skills Every Sales Development Rep Needs to Master in 2018 — HubSpot

To be successful next year and beyond, sales development reps need to think outside the box. With the right skills, they’re more valuable than ever before. Here are five skills to focus on gaining or honing. And if you’re a manager, here’s what you should be teaching to your team.

If you put a bad apple in a bushel of good apples, the bad apple won’t become good. In fact, when a bad apple starts to rot, it emits a gas that can indeed start to rot the good apples. But even if the bad doesn't completely rot the good apples, it's important to lock on to the fact that the bad won't get better by being with the good.

Over time, organizations can begin to lose performance. It can start to feel like the organization is missing a beat, not hitting on all cylinders.  If it was your car, you'd take it into the garage and get a tune-up, but what do you when it's your sales team? 

How about a sales tune-up for your organization? 

A sales tune-up is the perfect way to assess your sales organization through a comprehensive, analytical sales diagnostic. It's a time to step back and assess your organization in a factual and objective manner. A sales diagnostic allows you to dive deep into your numbers, your processes, and your people and objectively determine what is working and what isn't.

We’re all familiar with Ego. If someone says you have a “big ego,” you know that’s not a compliment. At least not in most circles. Your Ego is about your survival. At its best, your Ego is simply your awareness of your own identity and how you interact with the outside world.

Let’s look at five strategies your Ego may be using that may be interfering with the way you interact with business prospects and partners.

We hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. 6 Soft Skills Every Salesperson Needs to Get Ahead — HubSpot

To know how successful a salesperson is, just look at their numbers. Understanding why they’re succeeding is trickier. In sales, success is a reflection of two things: The strength of their hard skills and the strength of their soft skills. Here are the six soft skills every rep needs to get ahead -- and more importantly, how to develop them.

Pilots learn that the best way to land a plane is to look long toward the horizon, not directly beneath them. Great sales leaders do the same thing. They focus on the horizon, not just what's right in front of them.

Pilots learn that when landing, you are better off looking down the runway at the horizon than the ground rushing up underneath you. You need to balance keeping your eyes focused on the horizon, while peripherally watching your height above the runway to achieve a smooth landing. We have all felt the runway slam when a pilot gets this wrong.

If salespeople are generally optimistic (I think we can all agree they are), then the words “sales manager” may as well be Greek for God of Optimism. We have to believe to achieve! In sales, the glass is always half full. But these three optimistic phrases will actually hold you back, so be careful not to let your optimism trip you up.