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The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

5 Words That Drive Revenue

words-that-drive-revenueAs a B2B sales consultant, I’m always looking for simple ways to help my customers get their heads around driving revenue. Here are five words I’ve been talking about a great deal lately:

  1. Talent
  2. Structure
  3. Concentration
  4. Activity
  5. Integration

Here are some simple tips tied to each word that will help sales organizations improve revenue in the upcoming year. Feel free to add this list to your sales consultant resources:

Topics: Partner Marketing

The Proven 7-Step Process to Recruiting Top Salespeople

best-way-to-recruit-salespeopleWhen it comes to recruiting superstars, some people just seem to have the magic touch! I have the pleasure of working with quite a few sales managers who have this gift, but one, in particular, stands out of the crowd. She rarely misses!

Topics: hiring salespeople

How to Protect Yourself From a Not-So-Great Valid Business Reason

How_to_Protect_Yourself_From_an_Idea_That’s_Just_Not_That_GoodThe other day, I was writing what seemed like a pretty smart piece for The Marketing Mind blog. That’s the site where we capture a wide variety of consumer and industry trends.

Our goal is to convert topical issues into valid business reasons to help sellers get appointments, and needs analysis questions that lead to meaningful challenges they can help their clients solve.

Topics: valid business reason sales process

How to Keep from Being a Buzzkill Boss

freelance-writers-help-with-contentThis was another great week in terms of content. We found a lot to love.

Here are the five articles that piqued our interest:

1. The Buzzkill Boss {strategy+business}

How can you avoid being a buzzkill boss? It's easy -- have a more rewarding home life. According to a study, when leaders feel a work-life imbalance, they're more likely to feel exhausted and cynical on the job.

2. Mozart on Creativity, and the Ideation Process {Brain Pickings}

Mozart writes about the creative process, flow, and how his music sounds uniquely his the same way his nose is hooked in its own way.

3. What Coke Can Teach McDonald's About Love {IMG}

Topics: Wrap-up

12 Essential (and Mostly Free!) Digital Resources for Salespeople

The ever-evolving world of digital media can be challenging to stay up-to-date with all of the changes, but if you are selling digital media and want to do it effectively, it is a challenge you must take! 

So where you do you start? There is so much information available and it can feel overwhelming. I would recommend that you find a handful of different resources that you turn to on a regular basis. I like to think about resources in categories – those that help keep me up to date on what is coming and what is changing in digital media, tools to gain insight about a company’s website and those that help me stay current on consumer trends.

Below are 12 of my favorite digital resources:

Websites:

websites

Topics: Digital

Sometimes Leaders Must Provoke a Crisis

leadershipI’m reading a book called “The Leadership Wisdom of Solomon,” by Pat Williams, Senior VP of the NBA Orlando Magic.

Topics: Leadership

Leadership Lessons from George Washington

leadership-lessons-from-george-washingtonThere's so much content on the internet that we can't even begin to consume it all. That's why we started curating some of the best pieces of writing we find each week.

Here are the five articles that piqued our interest:

1. Lessons in Leadership: How George Washington Abandoned His Ambitions and Won Big {Inc.}

What stood out is the challenge for leaders not to just rely on passion and drive because that alone can cause you to miss opportunities or drive you crazy while you blindly pursue a path you have in mind. The encouragement here is to blend that drive and passion with a surrender to what you see going on around you.  In other words, keep focused on your end game and vision and don’t easily give up, but watch for clues that tell you you might need to shift course or take a different route to get to your ultimate goal.

2. Cause Marketing Lessons from Mercedes {Karen Post}

This is a great story about how Mercedes made a lasting impression on the author by not only providing a luxury experience in the showroom but by partnering with a nonprofit that employs people on the Autism spectrum.

3. What do Kate Spade and J.R.R. Tolkein Have in Common? {strategy+business}

Topics: Wrap-up

10 Tips for Getting Past The Gatekeeper

10-tips-for-getting-past-the-gatekeeperIn the B2B sales process, the gatekeeper is typically a receptionist or an executive assistant or a designated person who is trained and responsible for keeping a prospect from being bothered by irrelevant callers.

Topics: appointment lab Sales sales process

Do You Wash a Rental Car? Thoughts on Ownership in a Sales Department

no-one-washes-a-rental-carMaybe you’ve heard the saying that no one washes a rental car. Think about it. Does anyone try to budget time on the way back to the airport to run through the car wash? Of course not. Even if they’re OCD and are obsessive about cleanliness, they still don’t wash that rental. They know someone at the rental car company will do it, and the thought won't even cross their mind.

Topics: Leadership

Proof That Old Saw About ‘Failing To Plan’ is Really True

planning-for-success“Those who fail to plan are guilty of planning to fail.”

Topics: Leadership