The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

None of us fathomed that a year ago we could do business without traveling. No one imagined that we would exclusively have online events, online trainings, online meetings, online calls, and so on. Lessons learned in 2020 boil down to three words — Accept, Adapt, Accelerate.

• We’ve accepted that there’s a new reality for the way we do business
• We’ve adapted to the way we sell and talk to clients based on our new reality
• We’ve accelerated the sales process (and more) in order to improve

Although conducting business during a pandemic has been challenging, are all the changes we’ve made really that bad? Here are some lessons learned in 2020, straight from the mouths of experts at The Center of Sales Strategy (CSS), LeadG2, and Up Your Culture.

- MOTIVATION -

"People are influenced to change by people they trust."

-Mike Bosworth

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

At The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS), we’re big believers in talent. And nothing confirms our trust in talent more than when we witness a direct connection between the talent level of a given salesperson and the success they achieve.

When highly talented, that success happens more quickly and it lasts over the long haul — and when talent is softer, success is modest at best. Same is true for highly talented sales staffs versus those less talented. 

But our confidence in the predictable relationship between strong sales talent and strong sales performance has confirmed something else — talent is rare and precious. Talented salespeople are worth their weight in gold not only because they produce prodigious returns on the investment employers make in them, but also because they’re so darn hard to find.

And a staff full of such salespeople? A sales manager should count themselves an unusually outstanding recruiter and manager if half the staff is highly talented. 

With most of the workforce now working from home, sales managers are figuring out what the new normal is when it comes to their team’s workflow. 

While there are numerous benefits to an at-home, flexible work schedule (like lower stress and a higher employee retention rate), sales teams still need all the help they can get for constant communication, effective project management, goal setting, and team building. 

Thankfully, there is an arsenal of apps, integrations, and platforms that will not only help teams to stay motivated and productive, but will also help to crush quotas as well. Keep reading to find out which tech is right for your team.

The Impact Leadership System is both a training curriculum and an ongoing guidebook for sales leaders of all organizations and levels of experience. This system ensures sales leaders make the right People decisions, follow the best Processes, and engage in effective Planning to deliver top Performance.

In episode 6 of the Improving Sales Performance series, Managing Partner at The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS) John Henley uncovers details about the new Impact Leadership System and how sales leaders can use all four stages in various ways.

To start something at the beginning and complete it (in order) to the very end is seen as a virtue. Linear thinking is logical, and experts say that most of us in the western world rely on it 90% of the time. But don’t let that limit you into believing there's always just one path to the best result.

What result do you want from sales training? To say the team completed all the courses or learn to sell smarter or faster?

- MOTIVATION -

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."

-John F. Kennedy

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

Is it possible to drive sales performance and keep an amazing company culture during these challenging times? Yes! And Taja Graham, Vice President of Sales for Emmis Communications Indianapolis, provides the proof in her interview with Matt Sunshine.

Episode 5 of the Improving Sales Performance series deep dives into things Graham is doing in her market to drive performance, as well as what she’s doing to keep her team engaged. Plus, she touches on how they’ve modified planning for next year to drive performance.

2020 has been a strange year for everyone. Successful teams who are used to winning find themselves struggling. And managers, who are used to leading successful teams, are trying to coach and help reps who aren’t used to struggling.

If this sounds like a situation you’re experiencing, how can you identify where your team needs help and get them back on track?