The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Season 2 of the Improving Sales Performance Series focuses on the data and analysis of the newly released Media Sales Report. Partner and VP Senior Consultant Stephanie Downs and VP Senior Consultant Emily Estey at The Center for Sales Strategy, joined Matt Sunshine to discuss the Sales Department Structure section of the Media Sales Report, specifically looking at data on sales department size and compensation of sellers.

You can stream it now to hear their insight, advice, and initial thoughts after analyzing the data that was just published. Or keep reading for a brief overview.

You hear the terms "hunters" and "farmers" thrown around a lot in the sales world. Sales leaders are always looking for "hunters" — as they should. New business is the lifeblood of any sales organization. Without salespeople that know how to "hunt" for new clients, a company can and will be in trouble.

Of course, companies must also have salespeople who are "farmers." Reps need to be able to cultivate clients by building relationships and growing accounts. Organizations must ensure that their key accounts renew and develop.

By embracing technology such as lead intelligence, marketing automation, and effective use of a CRM, salespeople can waste less time doing data entry, understand more about their leads, and document all of this information so it's shared across the organization. 

In this post, we'll review each one of these productivity-enhancing technologies, enabling you to be one of the companies that gains a substantial advantage over competitors and develops a more productive sales team.

Season 2 of the Improving Sales Performance Series focuses on the data and analysis of the newly released Media Sales Report. Trey Morris, VP Senior Consultant at The Center for Sales Strategy, joined Matt Sunshine on the second episode of the season to analyze the data around the effects of COVID-19 and its impact on the media sales industry.

You can stream it now to hear their insight, advice, and initial thoughts after analyzing the data that was just published. Or keep reading for a brief overview.

Often, clients come to us when their sales are not where they want to be, and the first thing they say is that they need us to come in and do sales training.

Yes, sales training will help, but alone, it won't be the only thing that helps improve sales performance. 

In this video, I discuss four words you need to remember to help your team improve sales: 

• TRAIN
• REHEARSE
• COACH
• MEASURE

We just launched Season 2 of the Improving Sales Performance Series, which focuses on the data and analysis of the newly-released Media Sales Report. John Henley and Jim Hopes, managing partners at CSS, joined Matt Sunshine on the first episode of the season to discuss their key takeaways from the report, how sales management and leadership can use this data, and the feelings of the future and outlook of the media sales industry.

You can stream it now to hear their insight, advice, and initial thoughts after analyzing the data that was just published. Or keep reading for a brief overview.

At the beginning of a new year, it's tempting to set goals for the next 12 months. After all, you'll have your results from the prior year and can identify where you fell short and where you want your company to improve. 

However, try to resist the urge to create annual goals that are too detailed and contain too many action items. If you fall behind, it's hard to catch up. You can quickly lose momentum and focus on what you're trying to achieve.

Instead, quarterly goals make more sense when you're looking for action-driven results. At the end of each quarter, you can then set the appropriate goals for the next quarter. These can fit into some more general goals for the year but should also be aligned with the long-term strategy. 

Let's take a look at the steps to create a quarterly action plan, how to measure success, and how to plan for the following quarter.

How would it feel to be part of the 1%? You have a flexible schedule and have a reliable, dependable, top-performing sales team. To many, that life will only ever be a dream.

That's because the 1% are willing to do things that others aren't. From creatively improving sales performance to being a leader and mentor, here's how you can join the 1% as a sales manager.

According to research, over $5 billion is spent solely on sales training and sales improvements every year in the US. If your remote sales team is not up to speed with the latest sales strategies and techniques, you could be costing your business a lot of money in missed opportunities.

Coaching a remote sales team has its perks, you have less overhead because there is no brick and mortar location, plus, everyone has a bit more freedom and flexibility.

That being said, there are also many challenges of coaching a remote sales team, including the lack of connection and distance. 

So the problem is knowing how to lead a remote sales team effectively so that you can increase your sales and get a major ROI on your sales training costs. The last thing you want is to spend a lot of money on sales training and not have it be well-received. 

Thankfully, we've created this article to solve those problems, keep on reading to learn more.