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The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

6 Top Apps for Salespeople

Mobile_Devices

Although in some ways technology has made salespeople’s jobs harder (think email auto-filing), in many ways it’s also made work easier. This list of the top six apps we recommend for salespeople definitely falls into that second category. We not only recommend these apps,  we also use them ourselves.

Topics: Sales

Interviewing Salespeople? 6 Traits You Can't Compromise On + More

 

social-business-connection

It's Friday! Hope you've had a great 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. Interviewing Salespeople? 6 Traits You Can't Compromise On — HubSpot

Hiring salespeople is a lot like qualifying a prospect. You have a position you need to fill, but if a candidate is a bad fit, it’s important to find out sooner rather than later so you can spend precious time on more promising applicants. This presentation suggests the top 6 traits that winning salespeople share.

Topics: Inbound Marketing Sales Wrap-up

How to Make a Sales Lead a Better Lead

Sales_Observation

Great salespeople are always on the lookout for leads and are weighing each lead against a list of criteria to see which leads are the better leads. This happens in organizations where salespeople are responsible for generating all their own leads and in those where some leads are provided to the salespeople.

Leads are good, but even better if they are good leads. One trick you can use as a salesperson to make sure your leads are better leads is to look more for opportunities as opposed to just looking for leads. We like to say that it’s more powerful to search for opportunities than it is to search for prospects.

Topics: Lead Generation Sales

If You Care About Culture, You Have to Hire for It From the Start + More

 Company_Culture

It's the end of another week, and we're sharing the top articles and resources we've read this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. If You Care About Culture, You Have to Hire for It From the Start — Inc.

More and more companies are beginning to realize the importance that culture has to their business. A strong company culture positively influences recruitment, retention, productivity and overall employee satisfaction. But if you want a stong culture, you have to hire people who reflect the culture you're working towards. This article explains how.

Topics: Inbound Marketing Sales Wrap-up

What Lemonade Stands Teach Us About Sales

Lemonade_Stand_Teaches_about_Sales

Each year on the first Sunday in May, over 150,000 elementary and middle school kids set up lemonade stands in 31 states for Lemonade Day. The founder of the program, Michael Holthouse, who was named Inc. Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year, developed Lemonade Day to help kids learn how to run a business. He had this idea that economic messes could be avoided if kids were taught basic business skills and financial common sense that they can use when they are running the country.

Topics: sales strategy Sales

3 Ways Salespeople Can Stand Out Using Social Media

Personal_Brand_Sales

Over the years, as sales and marketing has become more automated, it’s become increasingly important for salespeople to differentiate themselves from others and to provide value throughout the sales process. With control of the sales process having shifted from sellers to buyers, the B2B buyer now holds the cards, and does approximately 60% of his or her research before ever feeling the need to contact a salesperson.

Some of the ways that a salesperson can provide value throughout the sales process is by being seen as a thought leader and credible member of the industry that they are a part of. Social media has come to play a big part in establishing yourself as an expert in your field and having your profile elevated.

Here are three ways that salespeople can stand out using social media:

Topics: Social Media Sales

Are You Using Your Talents for Good? Or for Evil?

Good_vs_Evil

You already know that turning talent into performance requires a true understanding of talent. Spotting talent, hiring talent, developing talent, and coaching talent. . . it’s mission critical.

Here’s a little something you may not have thought about before, though: every innate talent at an extreme level of intensity, can have its downside. One of my clients recently observed, “Talent can be used for good or evil!”

  • Take charge and convincing is good. Bossy is bad.
  • Social and people-oriented is good. Long-winded, over-talking is bad.
  • Competitive and driven is good. Cut-throat is bad.
Topics: Sales

Grow From Your Strengths + More

 

Here we are at Friday, the end of another week, and we're sharing the top articles and resources we've read this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. Grow From Your Strengths — strategy + business

Most companies want to grow. But as this article points out, you can grow profitably and sustainably only from a position of strength. The author explains how to chart a course toward sustainable and profitable expansion by combining four approaches to growth. 

Topics: Inbound Marketing Sales Wrap-up

5 Ideas for Running Successful Sales Appointments

Successful_Sales_Appointments

When a sales manager asks, “What does the client or prospect expect from this meeting?” too often salespeople say something like, “I don’t really know, but I definitely need to ask them some questions about their business.”

We spend so much of our time working to get the appointment, and then we fail to make sure the appointment will produce a successful sales meeting. What a missed opportunity! 

Topics: setting expectations Sales

How You Can Get Ten Times Better at What You Do

Improve_Sales_Basketball_Analogy

John Wooden, one of the most revered coaches in the history of basketball, summed up one of the most powerful takeaways in strength management in one simple sentence: "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." That gem of an observation extends far beyond the court and deep into each of our lives.

As the head coach at UCLA, Wooden won 10 NCAA national championships in 12 years, including an unprecedented seven in a row. No other coach or school has won the NCAA tournament more than two consecutive years in a row so I’m sure we can all agree that the guy knew talent! He knew how to spot it, recruit it, and he certainly knew how to coach it.

John Wooden understood that we all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. And for every one of us, our weaknesses greatly outnumber our strengths. Whether we are talking about sports superstars, famous musicians, groundbreaking scientists, successful entrepreneurs, or people in your sales department, our weaknesses comprise the mountain that looms large over the tiny molehill of our strengths.