The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

It's Friday, and it's time to share our Top 5 articles and resources from this week's readings. Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. It Pays to Give Thanks at the Office — The Wall Street Journal

In many offices, it's rare to hear "Thank you," or "I really appreciate that." But in a 2013 survey of 2,000 Americans, sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation, 80% of professionals agreed that receiving gratitude makes them work harder. And when researchers at the London School of Economics analyzed more than 50 studies for a 2011 paper that looked at what gets people charged up at work, they discovered some interesting findings. They concluded that we give our best effort if the work gets us interested and excited, if we feel that it’s providing meaning and purpose, and if others appreciate what we’re doing. This article digs into the details of why appreciation is such a strong motivator.

We've come to the end of the week, and now we're sharing our favorite articles and resources from the last few days. Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. 5 Reasons Your Social Media Campaign Won’t Bear Fruit — Social Media Today

With over two billion people worldwide having an active presence on some social network or other, businesses now understand the importance of being on social media. But many companies are disappointed with the results they're seeing from their efforts. This post details a few reasons why companies aren’t seeing the results they’d like.

It's Friday, and time to share the Top 5 blog posts, articles, and resources we've found online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. How to Get Better at Giving and Receiving Feedback — Inc.

It's not easy to give feedback. Will the person take what you say the right way? How can you communicate your message so that the person will understand? And receiving feedback often isn't much easier. This Inc. post explains how effective feedback strengthens relationships and improves performance, and it offers practical ways to both give and receive constructive feedback. 

We'd add to this list that when managers give feedback to their team members, it's best to do it in light of their individual talents. For example, if a salesperson struggles to use mini closes while making an in-person presentation because he or she has softer Command and Persuasion talents, your feedback to the salesperson will be more successful if you suggest building mini close statements into written proposals. This person is much more likely to use a mini close if it’s in writing than if he or she has to do it in person.

We've found several excellent thoughts and ideas online this week, and now it's time to share them with you! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. How Marketing Can Increase Customer Lifetime Value — SBI

It's much easier to sell to a client than to sell to a prospect. Customer loyalty makes marketing and sales easier, lowers costs, and increases customer lifetime value (CLV). So how can you make it happen? This post from Sales Benchmark Index digs into how to create loyal customers who continue to buy from you again and again. 

It's Friday, and it's time for our Top 5 favorite news articles and industry blog posts from this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. UX, Content Quality, and SEO — Moz

Just how do UX design and content quality affect your SEO ranking? This video from Moz explains how your site's user experience and content quality influence where your pages appear in the search results. 

Throughout the week we're reading news articles and industry blogs, and Friday is the day we share our Top 5 with you. Here are this week's "best" from around the web.

Each week we gather up the Top 5 (in our opinion!) posts or articles we've read online, and share them with you. Here are this week's "best" from around the web.

Part of my job has me visiting different websites every day. I am always impressed with those organizations that have an active company blog and use it regularly to influence, educate, and build their brand and their thought leadership position. But so often I notice there are no comments left on any of the blog posts I read, or if there is a comment it’s usually just one—and then there is almost never a response from the writer to engage the person who took the trouble to comment.

Why would a blogger go through the entire writing, editing, designing, linking process to publish something they thought would provide value and then ignore the people who took time to visit the site, click through to the blog, read a post, and comment? I hope you’re not that someone.

The most successful sales and marketing organizations are ones that set their sales teams up for success. They give them the tools and resources they need to get the job done as efficiently and profitably as possible. The best ones actually solicit input from their salespeople, asking what they need in order to be more successful. 

If you’re a part of such an organization (and even if you’re not), you should insist that your company design and deploy an inbound marketing strategy. If they ask why, no problem! Here are a dozen reasons you can share: