We all want to listen better. So why do we find it so hard to do? We are often either thinking too much about what we want to say next or talking too much. 
Let’s look at 6 things we need to remind ourselves to do in order to be a better listener.
Greg Giersch, on March 16, 2016
We all want to listen better. So why do we find it so hard to do? We are often either thinking too much about what we want to say next or talking too much.
Let’s look at 6 things we need to remind ourselves to do in order to be a better listener.
Brian Hasenbauer, on March 15, 2016
The topic of sales productivity was introduced to me early on in my career when I was a Senior Financial Analyst at EDS (now HP). I can remember putting together the quarterly Strategic Business Unit (SBU) scorecards and having to come up with the sales headcounts and revenue per salesperson. I was always impressed by one business unit in particular that was able to keep their sales headcount down while maintaining a higher profit margin than any other division. The division was headed by one of the younger SBU leaders, and one late evening after reviewing his numbers I asked him how it was he could keep headcount down and sales up. His answer was very revealing.
Beth Sunshine, on March 14, 2016
For years we heard that the Millennials joining the workforce were chasing adventure. They wanted to work for cool start-ups, collaborate with other Millennials, and change the world!
Surprisingly, a new Inforsys and Future Foundation study of 16-25 year olds shows that this may not be the whole story. It appears that a large portion of this group of fresh faces is craving security and stability rather than spontaneous adventure in their jobs.
Knowing this, you might wonder, "If they want stability in their work, why do we have a retention problem with Millennials in our workforce? Why aren’t these younger workers settling in for the long-haul?" Good questions! A 2015 Gallup Poll found that Millennials are the least-engaged cohort in the workplace, with only 28.9% saying that they are engaged at work.
LeadG2, on March 11, 2016
We've come to another Friday, and it's time for us to share what we've been reading online this week. Here are our "best" from around the web.
This guide will walk you through the fundamentals of qualification, five different frameworks you can use, and provide pointers on disqualification and conversational tip-offs to listen for during your sales conversations.
Tina Rice, on March 10, 2016
This morning, I walked into my daughter’s room. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, pondering which earrings to wear today.
There was only a few minutes left before leaving for school, and she still needed to collect her books, pack her laptop, and put on shoes and socks. But these priorities weren’t on her radar yet. They had been entirely eclipsed by the earring selection process.
It reminded me of my own time management skills challenges during junior high, and of a story I heard from our first online course: Customer Focused Selling.
“We need to hire more sales people!” “We need to hire better sales people!” These are the cries that I hear every day from managers and executives.
While the strategy to hire more and better salespeople might be a good one, you and I know it’s just not that easy. If you are the one responsible for the hiring process and the on-boarding of these new salespeople, you are probably left wondering how you are going to get that accomplished. You are not alone!
Here are 3 things you can do today to jump-start your hiring process and begin hiring more (and better) sales people right now:
Brian Hasenbauer, on March 7, 2016
For most sales organizations, your sales team most likely represents a wide range of personalities, experience levels as well as performance levels. Organizations typically have top performers or “all stars” as well as those that struggle each month to meet their sales quota or budget for the month. If your organization has determined there are some areas where your sales team can perform better and resources of time and money are available, where do you invest these limited resources? Do you focus on coaching up your bottom performers, do you bring in new talent, or do you focus on maximizing the performance of your top performers?
LeadG2, on March 4, 2016
Here we are at the end of another week, and it's time for us to share what we've been reading online this week. Here are our "best" from around the web.
What do you base your decisions on, as a leader? Opinions or facts? This post provides a quiz to help you determine if you need to use more data in your decision-making process.
Emily Estey, on March 3, 2016
Imagine this. You'll be watching one of the many NCAA basketball games in the next few weeks. One particular game you'll flip to seems really out of control. It looks a little like playground basketball. Not much passing or rebounding, no plays being called, looks of frustration and fear from the players, and lots of fouls. The camera scans the benches, and something strikes you:
Loretta Lage, on March 2, 2016
We’ve seen many pictures posted that show that some people actually resemble their pets. That prompted a thought that I have noticed many salespeople with traits of either dogs or cats. And everyone knows how different dogs and cats are!
Cataloging repeatable behaviors that are part of the DNA of our pets can reveal how we view each other. Noticing behaviors that fire instinctively in humans and animals are guidelines to better understand their nature and each other. Here’s what I found that made interesting intersections between people and dogs and cats:
