The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

This week, we learned about how to know when leads are ready to be contacted, got inspired by leadership quotes, brushed up on in-field coaching, and were reminded that everyone in the company is involved in sales support and customer service.

The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up

• On Monday, Dani Buckley told us how to figure out when it's time to call someone who filled out a form and downloaded something.

• Tuesday, Matt Sunshine recalled 12 moving leadership quotes that we heard at our company's annual meeting.

We're heading into the dog days of summer. The days are warm, but the leaves are starting to change. We wrote about all kinds of things this week: what to do after you finally get that first appointment, how to secretly find talent, ways to achieve client satisfaction, and how LinkedIn's tools can harm your efforts.

The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up

• On Monday, Mike Anderson told us what to do after getting the appointment.

• Tuesday, Mindy Murphy told us how to spot talent without asking questions.

This week, we wrote about flipping generally held beliefs upside down, putting on our shoes, misconceptions about talent, and the keys to sustainable sales performance. We ran the gamut! Get a cup of coffee, and cozy up to read these, if you missed them.

The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up

• On Monday, Steve Marx wrote about Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule, and how it fails without a key piece.

• Tuesday, John Henley asked (and answered!) what B2B selling has to do with putting on your shoes.

This week, we wrote about a variety of topics, and one blog post included homework! From sinking ships to athletic coaching, from empathy and accountability to two-paragraph emails, we've covered a lot of ground, and if you've missed anything, now's your chance to play catch up.

The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up

• On Monday, Mike Anderson warned us of the dangers of holding onto our ideas like someone going down with a sinking ship.

• Tuesday, Jeff Roth told us that great emails get ten things done in just two paragraphs, then he gave us homework. Did you send him an email?

This week's writing was really interesting! Mike's post about great salespeople hitting moving targets really resonated with our readers. I loved Brittany's post about who should be using target personas. Kurt's post (and slideshow) gave us five reasons to stop talking about features, and I shared what I learned from a blogger's conference. Read below, and have a great weekend!

The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up

• On Monday, Mike Anderson told us that the very best salespeople can hit a moving target.

• Tuesday morning, Brittany Ransonet gave a comprehensive response to the question, "What is a target persona?"

• Tuesday afternoon found us hearing from Jim Hopes about the future of sales and marketing. This post included a two-minute video of Matt Sunshine explaining inbound marketing.

Last week, I attended ProBlogger academy in Portland, Oregon. As blog manager for The Center for Sales Strategy, when I tell people what I do for a living, their reactions range from indifference to perplexity, so heading to a conference where I didn't have to do a lot of explaining about what a blog is, and why it needs a manager, was fun and enjoyable.

The academy itself was positioned toward personal bloggers, not inbound marketing, but there were still many important takeaways that I learned, and want to share those with you. If you have a blog, you'll find these useful.

1. The 80/20 rule applies to blogs. Spend 20% of your time creating content, and 80% promoting it. Tweet this.

2. Key to blogging success: discover problems, then solve them. Tweet this.

Three years ago, our team discovered the power of inbound marketing and began experimenting with the best way to use it in order to grow our own business. We knew we needed to stop wasting time and energy searching for the right prospects among a mountain of possibilities and we were increasingly determined to figure out how to clear a path so those businesses who needed us could come find us instead. After our first year of great success on our own behalf (our new business is WAY up), our expertise was strong and we were ready to help our clients achieve the same kinds of results we were enjoying. 

For two years now we have been considered a leader in inbound marketing. We have helped many businesses in the U.S. learn how to turn the tables so the few best prospects can find them and raise their hands. We are currently a Platinum-level partner with Hubspot and we consult 22 inbound clients at this moment.

Recently our expertise gained recognition far beyond our country’s borders and we have had the opportunity to help businesses in Western Europe put these same principles to work.

We hope you had a relaxing and safe long weekend last week. We certainly did! This week, we came back refreshed and wrote about a variety of topics. We wrote about different kinds of salespeople, concentration, motivating prospects, and managing your expectations regarding inbound marketing.

The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up

• On Monday, Mike Anderson told us that we suceed in sales, but we have to concentrate. More options is not better.

• Tuesday, Harry Tomasides asked us what kind of salesperson we thought we were, and gave us a series of interesting questions we should ask ourselves to give ourselves a gut check.

The 4th of July is a great holiday. Think about it. It's a holiday that involves spending time with people you love, eating food fresh off the barbecue, and, if you're lucky, going swimming in the nearest body of water. There's very little in the way of expectation in terms of gifts (at least, nothing beyond a six pack or some coleslaw) and everyone is generally in good spirits.

Which got me thinking. There's a lot to celebrate this 4th of July.

Some of the things we're celebrating this 4th of July include:

1. Freedom

Our Founding Fathers fought for our nation's independence while wearing wool (and wigs!) in July. Today, we're connected to each other through the power of technology. We can meet with anyone, anywhere, virtually. We can work from any location. Technology frees us from commuting as well as ensures we can communicate more efficiently. Today, too, we can celebrate freedom from technology. So, put down the phone, step away from the computer, and get offline.

2. Loved Ones

The long weekend means we get to take time with the people who matter most to us: our family and close friends. Enjoying a long weekend with your favorite people lets you appreciate why you work so hard the rest of the year. Make the effort to ensure the time you spend with family is quality time.

This week's posts touched on a lot of things: easing writer's block, helping with our online brands, mosquitos (!!!), and the reason people won't give us the time of day. Enjoy the variety!

The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up

• On Monday, Dani Buckley helped unstick my writer's block by teaching us how to create lead-generating headlines for blog posts. Bookmark it, and refer to it when you can't think of something to write about.

• Tuesday, Greg Giersch taught us three ways we could build (or batter) our online reputations. I know I learned something about my brand, did you?