The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Serving up the ideal sales person for your team to increase sales performance is much like creating the ultimate masterpiece in the kitchen. Like a culinary chef, you must know the significance of each ingredient you are using, meticulously measure each one, and mix them together perfectly to prepare dishes that meet everyone’s needs. If one significant ingredient is missing, it can destroy the entire meal and leave everyone wanting more. Hiring sales people and coaching them is much like preparing your favorite dish. 

One of the industry newsletters I subscribe to comes from FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation), whose work is centered on lending and banking analytics. A recent issue warned against operational negation. That is, behavioral contradictions which can send the customer conflicting signals.

Whether you’re just getting started, or you’ve been involved with your organization’s lead generation efforts for years, at some point, you’ll hit the wall when it comes to content creation. It can be daunting to come up with something new to say every day. The next time you need something to write about, try one of these tips.

It's official. Google is giving users the opportunity to mute an ad and not see another one from that particular campaign within their display network. This is good news for both advertisers and those who sell digital advertising. Here's why the glass is half full:

If you sell media, buy media or run a business, you should read the The Face-to-Face Book, by Ed Keller and Brad Fay. Here are some highlights from the book.  

When it comes to conveying your message to your audience, you'll find the sweet spot when you combine the power of traditional media with digital media. The integrated marketing solution provides prospects and customers with both the spark of interest and the depth of information they require to make a buying decision.

I recently talked with a person in senior leadership who told me his company hired a salesperson six months ago who took an $80,000 pay cut to come to work for them. She left an obviously lucrative sales job in a bigger company because, despite her level of achievement and huge revenue contribution, she felt no appreciation for her accomplishments and, was being forced into a rigid sales structure totally foreign to what made her successful.

Even the best sellers have some level of call reluctance—the fear of having a conversation with a new business prospect or an existing client. Call reluctance can occur in the following situations:

You should.  Because five year-olds have an answer for everything:

The 99th Tour de France cycling race begins in just a few days. The Tour de France is arguably one of the toughest endurance contests that exists today. The quick facts: it includes 21 days of racing over a 23 day period of time, and it will cover 2100 miles with some of the most amazing uphill climbs on the planet. Twenty two teams, each with nine riders, will start the race with the plan to come out victorious. If the Tour were all about business, you could easily equate the winning of the Tour de France to that of closing a mega target account at mega key account level. So, let's look a few of the sales strategies we can take away from the Tour de France.