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The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

The Top 5 Gifts for Salespeople

The Top 5 Gifts for Salespeople

With the holidays looming ahead and the new year not far behind, there’s no better time to start looking for gifts for your sales team that will show they’re appreciated. 

However, when considering gifts for your salespeople, some level of personalization can go a long way. Ditch the printed pens that are half broken and lanyards that can’t hold anything heavier than a single house key. Instead, consider these top gifts for salespeople that go the extra mile in showing you’re thinking about them.

Topics: Sales

How to Recruit a Millennial

Millenials

Considering that Millennials make up the largest percentage of the workforce, it's likely you will be hiring one. If not now, in the near future.

Understanding what makes a Millennial happy in the workplace gives you clues about the best way to recruit one.

Topics: hiring salespeople Sales

Pay Attention to Your Best Customers

Pay Attention to Your Best Customers

Your best customers are your competitors’ best prospects. At The Center for Sales Strategy, we have long said that it’s much easier to fill the bucket if it’s not leaking from the bottom. Many companies have an incredibly large need to go out and get new business every month—mainly because they're losing 33% or more of their current business.

It's true, and while new business is certainly one of the solutions for curing the problem of not retaining existing business, it’s really only a bandage. The problem of account attrition needs to be addressed and quickly solved.

Churning through clients quickly and not getting any sort of renewal will fatigue your sales team. Over time, they will lose confidence in what they are selling. Just imagine the revenue growth you'll experience without attrition and keeping the same amount of new business coming in.

Topics: sales strategy Sales COVID19 Resources

2 Ways to Measure Top Performers

Top performer

I wanted to title this blog "Top performers WANT to be measured, but poor or average performers NEED to be measured," but I was told that isn't a very strong title for click-throughs.

Nevertheless, I will continue with this blog despite my disappointment. 

As you know, your best salespeople want to be better!

  • They want/need feedback.
  • They want to know the score.
  • They want to know how they compare to others.
  • And they want to be measured so they can see how good they are compared to the rest of the team. 
Topics: Sales metrics

Sales Process: Looking at Your Own Buyer’s Journey

Sales Process Looking at Your Own Buyer’s Journey

If you’re in sales, you spend a lot of your time asking other people to buy what you sell. What about the last time you purchased something? Coffee on the way to work, an app on your phone, or maybe a new home appliance?

Why did you buy it now, instead of later? I find my tipping point is often based on my experience during the purchase process.

Topics: Sales

Invest in Your Top Sales Talent

Invest in Your Top Sales Talent

As a sales manager, your time is valuable, and managing your sales team tops the list of priorities. How much time and with whom you spend your time is critical to achieving sales goals.

But where to start? Most of us spend time with those we think need the most attention, those not meeting goals. Our instincts are to “fix” people. But take a minute to consider if this is a good use of your time.

What if you spent time with your top performers instead? Focusing on people development is a key to employee engagement and retention, which leads to bottom-line growth.

Topics: Sales

4 Winning Approaches for Writing a Cold Email

4 Winning Approaches for Writing a Cold EmailYou 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.

Topics: email Sales prospecting

10 Things Your Clients Won’t Say Out Loud

10 Things Your Clients Won’t Say Out Loud

Creating an environment of trust and becoming a trusted advisor is one of the most important roles of a successful sales professional.  

That requires a shift from focusing on selling your product or solution to understanding and meeting the needs of the prospect or client in the now, near, and far.

Topics: customer satisfaction setting expectations Sales

Sales Managers Can Help Salespeople Close More Deals

Sales Managers Can Help Sales People Close More Deals

I know what you’re thinking…  NO, I do not think sales managers should close deals for their salespeople. Doing that (consistently) only causes more issues, but that's not what this is about.

The reality is, while pending business is great, what we need to see is salespeople closing business.

Topics: Sales close a deal

Stop Spinning Your Wheels: Selling Techniques for Fast Closes

speed up sale

 

Stop spinning your wheels on lousy prospects!

Slow kills deals.   

Every seller knows (and loves) the feeling of a textbook sales process that goes from identify to closed-won, quickly.  The benefits of moving prospects to customers quickly through the pipeline expose several key leading indicators of the health of your sales team and sales process.

Topics: Sales