My years of working in a blended role—as part seller and as part consultant—keeps me grounded and attached to the needs of sellers as well as customers and new business prospects.

Here’s some advice that I’m using in my sales role and passing along as a consultant: during this time of turmoil one of the most important things you can do is listen and demonstrate empathy. You will have plenty of time to sell in the future (post-turmoil). Also, if you listen closely enough, you will discover business needs unknown a couple of weeks ago.

- MOTIVATION -

"Every strike brings me closer to a home run."

-Babe Ruth

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

If your sales meetings are typically focused on reviewing the budget pacing numbers and other housekeeping notes, then WOW are you missing a great opportunity. Sales meetings are a great place to do sales training or sales warm ups.

While most sales managers agree with this, they often share that one of the reasons they don’t do that sort of activity is because they don’t have time to prepare. Clients of The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS) often use one of the “sales meeting kits, ” but not everyone has that available to them. So, if you're looking for some content to enliven your next sales meeting, here are four TED talks that we recommend.

Years ago, companies gave little to no thought to pre-boarding— engaging with a new hire between the time they accept your offer and their first day. Once a candidate was hired, they were given a firm handshake and a start date. 

As a relatively new concept that often gets confused with the traditional onboarding process, pre-boarding is completed before an employee’s first day and includes informal interactions between the company and the new hire. It’s a crucial step in the onboarding journey that has a lasting impact on employee engagement and retention.

How many open positions are on your team?  Open positions are an opportunity to improve the talent level. You want to make your goals more attainable and hiring top-shelf people is the best way to do that. 

However, building a high-quality sales team isn’t easy. It typically requires a lot of time and money to assemble a team of top performers. What if we told you that there’s a proven system that would help you get a list of great people to interview? Would you be interested?

For many sales managers and account executives, working from home is a brand-new concept. And like any emerging work style, those who've had more in-office job experiences feel skeptical about remote work.

The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS) has embraced the work from home lifestyle. Our entire 40-person company has worked from home for 38 years- and we excel at it too! To help ease this sudden transition into the remote work world, here are some tips from our experts on how to stay in touch with clients and prospects.

- MOTIVATION -

"Quality performance starts with a positive attitude."

-Jeff Gitomer

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

From reduced revenue to poor employee morale, there’s one situation that creates heightened anxiety among sales managers and CEOs, and that’s an open position that goes unfilled for too long.

“Somebody is better than nobody”—we’ve all said it when it comes to our sales team. There’s pressure to fill open jobs quickly, and with good reason, but what brings us to this point of desperation? Hiring quickly and rushing through the recruiting process often leads to a bad hire, and a bad hire leads to costly damages.

So that you’re not hiring out of desperation, you need to learn how to build a strong talent bank. Here’s how you can start today.

The job of a sales manager is a challenging one. One of the biggest challenges they face is how to keep their salespeople motivated and producing quality results.

Some of the best ways to help salespeople become more productive doesn't include spending a fortune or sending them through another training class. A few of the best ideas are ones that help to reduce administrative burdens and increase time in the field or on the phone. 

“People don’t leave jobs; they leave managers.”

“I quit.” It’s what a record-breaking 4,478,000 workers told their employers in August 2019. The reasons for quitting varied from compensation to lack of engagement, but one in two employees left their job to get away from their manager.

At one point in our life, we’ve all worked under a superior that could make or break our day. When it comes to sales leadership, there’s a big different between being a boss and a leader. Which one are you?