The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Improving the performance of a sales team, or a specific seller on the team, is a top focus for any sales leader.

Often, we hear sales managers say they just need more activity or need to add more into pending, but the answer is rarely that simple. To know what is needed to improve performance, you need start by diagnosing where the problem is and what is causing the problem.

Simply said, you need to identify the bottlenecks in your sales process because adding more into pending doesn’t do you any good if your sellers aren’t closing what they propose.

Season 3 of the Improving Sales Performance Series is focused on helping sales leaders make an IMPACT on their sales performance through insight on 4 key areas: people, process, planning, and performance.

In this episode, Greg Giersch, Partner and VP of Client Experience at The Center for Sales Strategy gives viewers an overview and behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the IMPACT Sales Leadership System, digs into the user experience side of IMPACT to include what went into creating this system, the structure of the training, how long it took to build it, and more.

Tune in now to hear the Live broadcast or keep reading for a brief overview.

“We need to increase revenue” is something I hear frequently from Sales Leaders.

It often leads to a discussion around a Target Drive and how it can help. I’ve done a lot of Target Drive consulting over the years, and I commonly have to address the misconception that a Target Drive and a sales contest are the same thing.

So how are they different?

When a successful salesperson is questioned on what makes them stand out above the rest, most don’t have specific answers.

The reason seems to be because these high performers are doing what comes naturally to them. These are not skills that can be taught or learned. It’s about behaviors that “fire naturally” in client-facing sales situations.

Specific traits are sales accelerators.

This article on how to hire a great sales hunter stirred up great conversations about how to coach and develop those hunters once they are onboard. Great stuff, so we want to share it!

The best way to grow an organization is to grow each of the people within that organization, including your sales hunters. Great managers do this by keeping the natural behaviors of these people top of mind and committing to a handful of strategies to maximize their strengths. 

Kicking off the new season of the Improving Sales Performance series, John Henley, Managing Partner at The Center for Sales Strategy, gives viewers an overview and behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the IMPACT Sales Leadership System: why it was created, who it was created for, and how sales leaders can make an impact on their sales performance by focusing on 4 key areas.

Tune in now to hear the Live broadcast or keep reading for a brief overview.

Many sellers struggle to develop new customers. Often this has less to do with the seller’s ability to sell, and more to do with the seller’s ability to select quality prospects.

Some prospects are better than others, and qualifying them will help determine which of the prospects should be pursued and which prospects should not.

As you search for ideal prospects (future key accounts), use the following criteria to determine which current clients have the greatest potential for growth and deserve the most time and attention.

Some people are skilled at closing a sale. It's easy for them to build rapport with customers, gather information, pitch a product or service, and then close the sale. Others excel only in connecting with prospects and find it incredibly hard to present a product or close the sale.

Utilizing a sales process can help salespeople become better at what they do. In this article, we cover the basics of the sales process and teach you how to improve sales performance.

At The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS), our mission and reason for being is to Turn Talent into Performance. Talent is foundational, but it’s not the only element.

It starts with talent, but you must also develop. After you’ve selected the person, you must commit to growing and developing them if you really want to turn talent into performance.

How do you grow someone?

When you focus on a natural strength, magic happens. They say that when you spend time practicing and honing a strength you have, you can grow in that area by as much as 10xs!

Investing that same effort in an area that’s not a natural strength pays little return.

Imagine the improvement that a salesperson could see if they had the innate ability to ask probing questions and uncover meaningful information—and then spent time practicing and developing that ability! The potential would be huge!

But what if they were too busy to spend any directed time or energy developing that talent? Or even worse, what if they were simply unaware of their incredible potential for growth? That is a wasted opportunity that keeps us awake at night.