Elissa Blankenship, on June 21, 2022
Keeping a clean pipeline for your sales team provides incredible insight into several areas of your sales department. It takes a particular discipline to stay on top of the pipeline, and it is well worth the effort.
To start, you need a tool that will allow you to access your pipeline at any time. At The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS), we use HubSpot. The deal stages provide tremendous insight into seller activity and success and show signs of potential derailments to a deal.
Beth Sunshine, on June 20, 2022
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
You’ve probably heard that wise Chinese proverb before. In the business world, the best time to start recruiting was before you had a job opening, but the second-best time is now.
If you're a hiring manager, recruiter, or HR professional tasked with recruitment and selection for a sales team, your number one priority involves making sure you have the most talented people in the right places on your team. There is no doubt that matching talent to a task in this way will determine the success, or failure, of your sales organization.
Amanda Meade, on June 17, 2022
Although we’re finally moving out of the pandemic, remote work is here to stay. Global Analytics reports that 25 – 30% of employees will continue to work from home even after the last reminders of the Coronavirus pandemic are long behind us.
That means that those in the remote management role need to find ways to make their role productive, sustainable, and valuable to their organizations.
In this article, we’ll go over everything you need to know about remote management, including the pros and cons of the role, traits of successful managers, and 15 best practices to help remote managers be the best they can be. >>> READ MORE
Matt Sunshine, on June 16, 2022
You found someone's email address online. Someone you've been looking to get in touch with for a long time. Now, it's up to you to write an email that'll get opened.
A cold email can be effective depending on your target audience's communication preferences. Follow these four approaches and you'll increase your chances for success — and your open rate.
Dean Moothart, on June 15, 2022
Having a robust sales pipeline may help the sales team, sales managers, and the C-suite sleep better at night. But if there’s little or slow movement of those deals through the pipeline, everyone will spend more time counting sheep than counting money.
After all, opportunities in the pipeline don’t pay the bills. Only closed/won deals produce revenue.
So generating leads is only part of the equation for successful sales and marketing organizations. Keeping those leads moving through the pipeline and shorting the sales cycle is equally important.
Tirzah Thornburg, on June 13, 2022
Productivity refers to moving the sales cycle forward, improving application numbers, and increasing booked volume. Productivity measures how well you're able to meet the goals and objectives of your company, regardless of whether these are short-term or long-term goals.
On a day-to-day basis, if you write out a to-do list at the start of the day and are able to cross off most or all of the items by the end of the day, then you can consider it productive.
On a bigger scale, if you're able to meet the goals and objectives you have established for your company, then you're seeing productivity. Increasing productivity means that you will come closer to your goals. Remember, some people are more natural at this than others based on their talents.
Amanda Meade, on June 10, 2022
We obsess over deal velocity. How quickly can I find deals, close them, and move on to the next one? It infects the rest of our work: BDRs batch and blast outreach to book more meetings. Reps fill out their calendars only half-prepared for the meetings. Managers ask weekly, “When’s this deal coming in?” >>> READ MORE
Jim Hopes, on June 9, 2022
Research with our client base, practical experience, and many years of consulting sales organizations of all sizes makes one thing abundantly clear: the biggest single problem salespeople experience in securing high-value appointments with key decision-makers. If you agree, keep reading.
Over the years, I have written nearly 100 sales meeting kits for managers, and more than 20 of them deal with some aspect of securing a quality appointment.Today's technology not only allows prospects to delete your voicemail messages and zap your emails, but Internet access is also allowing customers to gather most of the information they need about your product, how it works, and how your clients feel about it.
Matt Sunshine, on June 8, 2022
There are two underrated ways to quickly improve sales skills, grow networks, and grow both personally and professionally.
The first way is to read more quality books – and you can find several on this list.
The second way is to invest in yourself and attend conferences and events. Events designed specifically for sales professionals will not only help you grow and develop, but you’ll gain insight into the future of the industry.
Listed in order by date, here are some upcoming virtual and in-person events for all sales professionals to attend in 2022.
Stephanie Stoll, on June 7, 2022
Work and career are areas that are ever-evolving.
New ways of working emerge, skill sets and experiences change, and employee expectations shift. As a leader, it's important to understand where your priorities need to be and how you can position yourself to help your employees grow.
