The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

- WHAT'S MOTIVATING US THIS WEEK -

"IN ORDER TO GROW BETTER, YOU NEED A CULTURE

THAT PUTS THE CUSTOMER FIRST."

-DHARMESH SHAH 
At Hubspot's Annual Conference, #INBOUND18

- WHAT WE'VE BEEN READING THIS WEEK -

<< If you only read one thing >>

How to Respond When Prospects Ask For Customer References: 12 Strategies — Hubspot

Customer references can make the difference between a closed sale or a lost one.
But there's a time and a place to introduce your prospects to your customers. It's not in the beginning of the sales process, when many prospects ask. It might not even be in the middle of your process if you haven’t already done a good job addressing their concerns.

Measuring the results of an ad campaign or a marketing push is important. How else will you know if the effort was a success, and if the investment produced a profitable return? In the past, it was often tough to measure, causing uncertainty and frustration among both buyers and sellers.

In the digital age, I could argue that it’s gotten too easy to report campaign metrics.

My family and I love to take advantage of a weekend getaway with a fun road trip, but that also means we need to be ready to pack up and leave when the moment presents itself! So, even though I "maintain" my car by manufacturer standards on a regular basis, I still take my car in for a thorough inspection before every road trip. 

Just like I have a trusted and experienced mechanic examine my car prior to road trips, the same type of detailed inspection should be performed on your sales department and its performance. 

What came first, the chicken or the egg?
No doubt you have heard this question. No doubt the debate continues.

Here’s is the chicken-and-egg version as it relates to sales:
What leads to more cash, more appointments, or more assignments from set appointments?

In a previous post, Matt Sunshine, managing partner at The Center For Sales Strategy, shared six characteristics of an industry thought leader. The thought leadership position is certainly an advantageous position to have, as it can help with generating sales, lead generation, recruitment and retention, and new business opportunities. While sometimes this thought leadership position will come about completely organically, many times it is part of an overall sales strategy, and much time and consideration has been put in to developing the plan to make this happen. 

- WHAT'S MOTIVATING US THIS WEEK -

"THE PEOPLE WHO ARE CRAZY ENOUGH TO THINK THEY
CAN CHANGE THE WORLD ARE THE ONES WHO DO."

-STEVE JOBS

- WHAT WE'VE BEEN READING THIS WEEK -

<< If you only read one thing >>

Four Ways to Get Video Right for Social Selling — SellingPower

When LinkedIn revealed that video posts now get three times the engagement of text posts on their platform, it sent shockwaves through the social selling community. Knowing that video provides such a significant engagement advantage means creating more video – and creating video with the best possible quality – is critical to making social selling initiatives effective.

When was the last time you asked for a referral? Go ahead and fill in the date here ______________.  If the answer is yesterday, congratulations. If you can’t remember any time recently, you should stop and figure out why you are not doing this.

Think about it. When you are looking to hire a professional what do you do? Of course, you ask people you know and trust who they would recommend, right? Well, a referral is an implied recommendation. Clients who give you the name of someone to contact feel comfortable about the expertise you bring to the table and its potential to help the business or person they are referring. So, again, how often do you ask satisfied customers for a referral? I bet you are thinking, “Not often enough.”

SCENARIO:

Your top-performing, seasoned seller just turned in their notice. You are prepared because you were diligent and have a full talent bank with well-qualified candidates. But even with all of this prep, you realize how overwhelming the task of examining the candidates in your talent bank can be.

Where do you start? The job title is the same, but the challenge is different each time.

Technology has disrupted the traditional techniques we have used to approach prospects. Today, the most successful developers of new business have a smart and focused prospecting strategy.  They concentrate their efforts on a disciplined strategy that provides more appointments and more revenue. 

The shotgun approach of yesteryear is dead. Before technology disrupted our approach, we could sit down and call 100 prospects and get ten appointments. Any mention of not having enough appointments was met by your manager with “This is a numbers game! Sit down with the phone and don’t quit calling until you get ten appointments.”  Today that strategy is total folly. 

As I’ve mentioned before in previous blog posts, I’m a long-suffering fan of the Cleveland Browns. My team loses more games than they win. The Browns are also infamous for something else: the team has started 28 different quarterbacks since 1999! Many of these poor souls were drafted by the Browns and then thrown into the fire before they were adequately prepared, only to fail.