The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Today’s sales leaders have to be much better at managing change than at any time in the recent past. It’s part of the job now. But just because change is more common and comes faster, doesn’t mean that people are suddenly much better at handling it. It still takes a gifted leader to help salespeople respond well.

How People Experience Change

I help a lot of companies manage change and I suggest 8 action steps leaders should take to help their team embrace change. Before I get to those, some thoughts on change:

There are several “change models” out there, but one that is familiar to most is:

• Denial
• Resistance
• Exploration
• Commitment

“For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.” — Benjamin Franklin

One of the biggest issues salespeople have is time management. We all feel busy, but busy doesn’t always equate to success. Salespeople often have the best intentions of working smarter, not harder. They talk about wanting to spend more time prospecting, setting up new Client Needs Analyses (CNAs) updating CNAs with Key Accounts, pre-selling Key Agencies, and building relationships with important contacts. These are the best use of their time.

Unfortunately, these things often get pushed to the back burner because a client needs something NOW, a mistake needs to be fixed, a manager needs a report, a collection call needs to be made, or a co-worker stops by his or her cubicle to shoot the breeze. Next thing you know, a whole day has gone by without any IMPORTANT work getting done.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It's Friday, so it's time for us to share what we've been reading online this week. Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. 7 Signs You Need a Sales Enablement Solution — SalesForce

Only one-third of sales reps meet or exceed quota, and only 10 percent are consistently high-performers. Sales enablement software can help to change that. Here are 7 signs that you should see what a sales enablement solution could do for you.

Yesterday I opened my mouth and my mom’s voice came out!

Excited to visit our twin daughters in college and spoil them a bit, my husband and I spent last weekend in a tornado of tailgates, football games, happy hours, sushi dinners, and fall shopping. At the same time, our girls were also juggling advisory meetings and spring registration. It’s that time of year.

After a discussion at brunch about course requirements and degree expectations, I noticed a pattern in their responses. “I’ll just wait and see what I need.” “We probably don’t need to worry about that yet.” “No need to spend time on something if we don’t need to.” 

One minute I was listening and nodding and the next thing I knew, I opened my mouth and my mom’s lecture on the importance of planning ahead came out. I even channeled my dad for a minute there, pulling out the old adage, “measure twice, cut once.” I watched their eyes glaze over. 

I get it. We’ve all been there. But it’s easier to see clearly from the outside looking in.

Happy Friday! We've come to 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.

1. Native Ads May Help Marketers Combat Ad Blocking — Media Post

Good content is more important than ever. Native ads, or sponsored stories, aren't just ads—they're valuable to the reader. As such, they don't get blocked the way display ads do. This article from Media Post explains the dynamics, and why native ads are the future of effective advertising.

Radio Advertising Calgary was started by three account managers from Corus Radio Calgary. Together, Sherie, Jason, and Michelle bring over 35 years experience in marketing consultation and customized new media to their clients.

About a year ago, Sherie, Jason, and Michelle started realizing that traditional outbound sales methods like cold calling were no longer enough to bring in the advertisers they needed. They knew the buying process had changed, and they knew they could use their expertise and thought leadership to attract leads. After reading Matt Sunshine’s book, LeadG2: Getting Prospects to Raise Their Hands, they realized that they needed to craft an inbound marketing program to match the modern buyer’s journey.

Here we are at the end of the week once again! It's time for us to share what we've been reading online this week. Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. 6 Bold Predictions for Digital Marketing in 2016 — Social Media Today

Chad Pollitt, industry thought leader and publisher of Relevance, puts forth six interesting predictions for where digital marketing is headed in the coming year. Check out what he has to say on Social Media Today.

Our sister publication, the LeadG2 blog, posts regularly about how to align sales and marketing for maximum results. Today, we're featuring the most popular sales strategy posts from LeadG2.

1. The Gap That Prevents Most Salespeople From Selling More

Most salespeople are pretty good at selling their products and services. They are usually proficient on sales calls—engaging prospects, discovering underlying needs they can address, and suggesting ideas and solutions that could improve a customer’s business. Companies invest significant dollars in training and systems to help their salespeople move the sales process ahead in a professional manner (and the should). But, there is one part of the sales sequence that often prevents salespeople from delivering their quotas, and that is the ability to get an appointment with a key decision maker in the first place. You’ve heard it said about many aspects of life thatbeing there is the most important thing. That certainly applies to selling. 

In a recent meeting one of the sales managers asked, “Is it still really valid for salespeople to take a customer-focused selling approach anymore?” At first I was taken aback, wondering what he believed the alternative was, but I soon came to realize that he wasn’t implying that salespeople shouldn’t have the best interest of their clients in mind. What he questioned was the process where you ask for the prospect's time to learn about his or her business so you can sell the right solutions. 

Prospects are no longer willing to give salespeople time to teach them about their business. And with what is now online, they shoudn’t have to.