Alina McComas, on October 4, 2017
As a student of Florida State University in the 90’s, I fell in love with the sport of football. It has been great to see my alma mater be relevant again in the world of college football, but I have always been a fan of the sport—whether it is college, professional, or even just well-done football movies. One theme that flows through all football successes is strong leadership, talented players, and a vision/philosophy that every person must believe in, to be a part of the team.
Jim Hopes, on October 2, 2017
As a sales manager and a sales consultant, I have witnessed literally thousands of sales calls with competent and hard-working salespeople—professionals who have done their homework on the prospect, prepared thought-provoking questions that make it obvious they know something about the prospect’s business, and who pose questions with a genuine interest in hearing the answers. Sometimes it is magical and they help the prospect clarify a specific problem that needs to be addressed or an opportunity on which they would really like to capitalize. And, sometimes, all they do is get their questions answered and move on. Too bad.
What makes the difference between an interactive conversation that engages the prospect and one that is rote and turns into simply an information-gathering exercise? Follow up questions. Good follow up questions are never scripted. Good follow up questions show you were listening, that you are interested, and that you really need to learn more about the headline the prospect has just shared. Some simple open probes can reveal a lot of context and detail you need to know about a problem or opportunity—information you will probably never get if you simply move on to your next beautifully-crafted question. For example:
LeadG2, on September 29, 2017
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.
Conversion funnels are complex. There are lots of pieces that need to be moved to create a system that consistently turns web visitors into leads and leads into customers. But opportunity lies in each element: landing pages, form fields, design, copy, etc. If you make some small tweaks to optimize these individual elements, guess what happens? They will come together to create a leaner and more efficient conversion funnel. Here are 10 key steps that will take you about 10 minutes each to implement.
Kurt Sima, on September 28, 2017
It is the time of the year for sales managers to finalize their business plans for the upcoming year. Plans will soon be approved by the cheese (boss) upstairs or the cheese (VP of Sales) in the tower miles away. Most agree that it’s smart to develop a business plan with details on how to exceed goals—some call them a roadmap to success.
By now, most business plans (encased in a binder) have made their way to a shelf, tucked away for safe keeping like a roadmap in a glove box. Roadmaps are pretty worthless these days, especially if they are tucked away in a glove box—kind of like a business plan in a binder on a shelf.
Travelers know there is a better way to keep from getting lost than a roadmap; it’s called a GPS. It’s about time managers figured out how to keep from getting lost by transforming their annual business plans from a roadmap to GPS. Following are 5 ways to help in this process...
LeadG2, on September 22, 2017
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.
Consumers have come to trust the opinions of their peers or other online experts far more than brands. Here are three tips on how you can establish valuable social proof.
Kurt Sima, on September 21, 2017
Surprises are fun when they are part of a birthday; not so much when they are involved in selling. Salespeople should do their due diligence to minimize surprises during the sales process, especially when presenting and closing proposals.
Salespeople can improve their closing ratio and improve customer results using a no-surprise proposal (NSP) technique by clarifying these five things before they build and present a proposal:
Kim Alexandre, on September 20, 2017
It’s not uncommon for a salesperson to want to be a sales manager. In fact, one could easily see a promotion to sales manager as an indication that one has excelled in his or her sales career. If you’re thinking you should pursue a position in management because you are a successful salesperson, I’d like to propose an alternate idea: being a great sales manager has much more in common with being a parent of small children than it does with being a great salesperson.
At The Center For Sales Strategy, we have proof that not all salespeople are meant to be great sales managers. The talents required to succeed in each position are very different. It’s a big mistake to think that just because you have been with your company for a long time and have “paid your dues," you will be happier if you were suddenly promoted to manager.
Ask yourself: On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the highest), how do I rate my desire to do the following?
Jim Hopes, on September 19, 2017
We all know how powerful testimonials and success stories are as a tool to open doors with prospects who don’t know you yet. But, capturing such information has traditionally been time consuming and difficult. How many times has a client promised to write a testimonial letter for you and then never did it? It's usually not because your client is insincere; more likely they just got too busy with other things that were a higher priority. Besides, who writes letters today anyway?
LeadG2, on September 15, 2017
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.
Here are eight unexpected (and counterintuitive) ways to squeeze more out of your workday.
Trey Morris, on September 13, 2017
$112,500 is in flames every single time that you lose a salesperson and have to hire a new one!
Yes, over $112K!
How do you figure that dollar amount? Easy. The average cost of turnover for an employee is 1.5 times annual compensation. So, if your salesperson is earning $75,000 per year when they leave, it will cost your organization $112,500.
So, what if your top salesperson is making $150,000 per year? Then the cost of losing that sales rep and replacing them will cost your business $225,000! So, what is your turnover ratio? 10%, 25%, 50% per year? Then start adding up the cost of your turnover.
How does that affect your EBITA? Cash Flow? Net Profit?
A recent study from Bersin by Deloitte estimates the cost of turnover from 1.5 - 2.0 an employee's annual compensation. And a report from Maia Josebachvili, VP of People at Greenhouse, argued that retaining a salesperson for three years instead of two, along with better onboarding and management practices, yields a difference of $1.3 million in net value to the company over a three year period.
$1.3 Million?!?!
Yes, turnover is a big deal for your organization. A really big deal.
So, how do you "fix" turnover? Well, it's simple, but not easy. It's a process that can take months and in some cases even years to slow your rate of turnover in your sales organization, but here are 5 ways that you can reduce turnover:
