The Center for Sales Strategy - Sales Strategy Blog (94)

Realign Your Priorities With an Account List Management Strategy

by Matt Sunshine, on August 5, 2020

Realign Your Priorities With an Account List Management Strategy

The Pareto Principle suggests that 80% of sales come from 20% of clients. Alternatively, 20% of what you do represents 80% of that activity’s outcome.

Most of us know this rule, and we’re familiar with the labels – Key Accounts, Target Accounts, and Secondary Accounts – what we often fail to realize is the impact of what it’s like to lose a Key Account.

Understanding that most of your sales come from a relatively small number of clients, and having an Account List Management Strategy (ALMS) in place, realigns your organization's priorities, leading to an increase in revenue and sales performance.

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Topics: account list management IMPACT

The Future of Work

by Jim Hopes, on August 4, 2020

The Future of Work in Sales

While no one has enjoyed dealing with the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has certainly provided many of us with impetus to change how and where our associates do their work.

Technology has saved many businesses from crushing productivity loss and caused many executives and managers to re-think how work gets done in their organizations, and especially how productivity is affected by working from home (or, any remote location).

But this is only the beginning. There are other changes on the horizon in the next 5-10 years that will demand that we change how we define work and how we measure productivity.

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Topics: sales performance Remote Team

4 Focus Areas for Sales Training Right Now

by Kurt Sima, on August 3, 2020

4 Focus Areas for Sales Training Right Now

The realities of COVID-19, coupled with legacy sales issues, are making it more difficult for sellers to set appointments with new business prospects. Problems inhibiting a seller’s access to decision makers — like a lack of trust — have been compounded by the uncertainties of the current business climate. The bottom line, already a tough job, is now even more difficult.

Simply put, helping sellers develop expertise in the Identify and Connect steps of the sales process is needed and will provide a high ROI on training time. Specifically, improving skills related to finding prospects and setting appointments will increase the number of prospects in the sales funnel and lead to cash!

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Topics: sales training IMPACT

Weekly Roundup: Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Hitting Quota + More

by Amanda Meade, on July 31, 2020

- MOTIVATION -

"Don't watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going."

-Sam Levenson

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

The Ultimate Guide To Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator in 2020–Spotio

LinkedIn positioned itself as a distinct social networking site for recruiting top talents. Over 30 million companies use this platform for business. It consists of around 690 million users, with more and more organizations using LinkedIn marketing to network, connect, and sell every day.

LinkedIn is playing a revolutionary role in B2B marketing. Studies show that 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute their content. And with the help of LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator, sales representatives are building better pipelines that ultimately lead to higher sales.

But what really is a Sales Navigator? And how do you use it the right way? >>>READ MORE

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Topics: Wrap-up

Corporate Culture Starts at the Top. But Who’s at the Top?

by Steve Marx, on July 30, 2020

Corporate Culture Starts at the Top- But Who’s at the Top

Much is written every year about corporate culture. And yes, every corporation has a culture—they may not have built it purposefully, they may not be proud of it, it may hold the organization back rather than propel it to success—but there’s always a culture and it always impacts performance.

Don’t look to a mission or vision statement hanging on the wall to discern the culture of a given organization. Just watch what the people do. Despite what the pretty prose might say, the actual culture is revealed in how the company’s people interact with each other and with the outside world, minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day.

Say it either way: The culture—values, attitudes, beliefs, priorities, expectations, attitudes, taboos, unwritten rules—is demonstrated by the aggregate behaviors of its people. Or the people define the culture by how they act.

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Topics: sales strategy

Is Lead Generation a Top Business Objective? Here’s Why We Think It Should Be.

by Emily Estey, on July 29, 2020

Lead Generation Efforts

Whether you call it cold calling, prospecting, or new business development, lead generation is critical piece for the sales success formula. In many current sales structures, the salesperson in charge of lead generation also oversees setting appointments, finding needs, selling solutions, and ensuring contracts are fulfilled.

Sales managers are great at tracking pending business and placing accountability on the average number of new accounts. While these are important metrics to track, they’re also narrowly focused on the middle and end of the sales process. What if we placed greater accountability at the beginning of the sales process as well? Imagine placing more focus on lead generation efforts, whether through a specialist role or an inbound marketing agency, where qualified leads are regularly handed off to Account Executives.

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Topics: Lead Generation IMPACT

How Leaders Can Use Storytelling to Activate Empathy

by Stephanie Stoll, on July 28, 2020

How Leaders Can Use Storytelling to Activate Empathy

“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” — Henry David Thoreau

As children, we’re told many stories, some of which were created and passed down to help teach life lessons. Storytelling has been around for thousands of years, and there are many parables, fables, and legends that we share as a collective society.

Stories bring us together, bond groups emotionally, and connect them to their purpose. The use of stories also has an immense impact in the business world, increasing workplace empathy, strengthening leadership, and as a team-building strategy.

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Rebuilding Your Company Culture

by Beth Sunshine, on July 27, 2020

Rebuilding Your Company Culture

Culture is powerful, and you’re going to have one whether you like it or not.

Your company culture is the personality of your organization. It’s the vibe people feel when they work there and the way they describe your company to others. How is your company culture weathering the COVID-19 storm?

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Topics: company culture

Weekly Roundup: Staff Reduction, Embracing Distributed Sales Teams + More

by Amanda Meade, on July 24, 2020

- MOTIVATION -

"Corporate culture matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything for better or worse."

-Simon Sinek

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

COVID Caution: Staff Reduction in the Pandemic-era–CEOWORLD Magazine

A glimmer of hope flashed when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported U.S. job losses in May were in line with the months preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, that hopeful glimmer is flickering. COVID-19 infection rates surged in July, reintroducing restrictions that had been eased in most states. Paycheck Protection Program loans and consumer spending are just two factors are expected to constrain hiring and instead prompt staff cuts.

In these circumstances, it is understandable that CEOs are considering staff reductions either by way of furloughs, layoffs or firings. Sometimes staff adjustments are necessary to manage costs and production to match declines in customer demand. CEOs must weigh many risks to achieve tangible benefits that can result from taking action. As they do, there are four important considerations that do not appear on a balance sheet that can have outsized impacts for long-term success.>>>READ MORE

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Topics: Wrap-up

Is the Needs Analysis Meeting Really the First Step?

by The Center for Sales Strategy, on July 23, 2020

Is the Needs Analysis Meeting Really the First Step

We often think of the needs analysis meeting as the beginning of the sales process, but, is it really? Today's buyers are complex. Their needs are perplex and they're hesitant to share information. When speaking with a prospect for the first time, you must ask the right questions. First, you have to know what questions to ask.

To conduct a great needs analysis meeting— one where the client is anxious to participate and is really open with information—there are two areas you need to work on before the meeting ever begins.

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Topics: setting expectations Needs Analysis Sales

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The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Realign Your Priorities With an Account List Management Strategy

The Future of Work

4 Focus Areas for Sales Training Right Now

Weekly Roundup: Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Hitting Quota + More

- MOTIVATION -

"Don't watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going."

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

The Ultimate Guide To Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator in 2020–Spotio

Corporate Culture Starts at the Top. But Who’s at the Top?

Is Lead Generation a Top Business Objective? Here’s Why We Think It Should Be.

How Leaders Can Use Storytelling to Activate Empathy

Rebuilding Your Company Culture

Weekly Roundup: Staff Reduction, Embracing Distributed Sales Teams + More

- MOTIVATION -

"Corporate culture matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything for better or worse."

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

COVID Caution: Staff Reduction in the Pandemic-era–CEOWORLD Magazine

Is the Needs Analysis Meeting Really the First Step?

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