The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

There is a hierarchy in the sales world.

Most sales leaders come from the days when salespeople were responsible for every step in the sales process. You had to find your leads, get an appointment, and ultimately close the deal. You only ate what you killed.

We were hunters, so we tend to favor and even value hunters more than farmers. When I say farmers, I mean salespeople who spend most of their time nurturing clients, building relationships, and growing them.

An effective omnichannel strategy integrates various channels, ensuring a consistent and personalized customer journey that leads to better brand recognition, customer satisfaction, and increased conversions.

As sales cycles embrace a hybrid model, the buyer's journey now spans multiple physical and digital touchpoints before making a purchase. To optimize the omnichannel experience and foster customer retention, it's crucial to understand customer expectations, map their journey, leverage data insights, align stakeholders, and continuously enhance the post-purchase experience.

How much more productive would you be if you focussed on your inputs? This means avoiding all distractions and only working on planning, pitching, and following up—all the factors that budge the needle, not those that don't. 

A lot of valuable time is wasted focusing on things we cannot control. For example, we have zero control over the economy, competitors, pricing, inventory, or customers' attitudes. Improving sales performance often requires changing focus from things that are out of our control to things we can control.

So, what exactly should you focus on? Here are several things within your control.

Top-performing sales managers are on top because they are continually finding ways to encourage their team to be more productive.

Constructive feedback is vital to ongoing development. In fact, 91% of salespeople said they want more learning and development opportunities.

Almost every sales organization has various types of sellers. There are the highest performers, who are needed even more after they reach their goals, their average performers that are “make or break,” depending on the month, and the low performers, who are a drag on achievement. There is an important technique that can give you a big boost with all of the above: Feedback. 

Managing a sales team can be challenging, especially when salespeople consistently miss their budget or sales targets.

While it's natural for sales professionals to have their ups and downs, it's essential to address performance issues promptly and effectively to ensure the overall success of your team and organization.

In this blog, we'll explore strategies and tips for managing salespeople who miss their budget, helping you turn underperformance into improved results.

As businesses focus on attracting new customers, they often overlook the importance of nurturing existing relationships to boost their bottom line.

Don't let your hard-earned customers slip away. Read on to discover five powerful ways to elevate your organization and achieve a higher renewal rate.

A new year brings new opportunities and a chance to set the foundation for sales success in 2024. With fresh perspectives and renewed motivation, sales teams have the potential to accomplish great things.

By learning from the wisdom of experienced professionals, managers and salespeople can map out a plan to thrive in the months ahead. This year, let's challenge ourselves to implement impactful sales strategies and adopt empowering mindsets. If we start motivated and intentional, there is no limit to what we can achieve.

Too many sales organizations don't have an Account List Management Strategy (ALMS) or they have one that provides little strategic value. In mature businesses, the lack of a priority-based ALMS is often tied to the following:

• High levels of account attrition
• Limited new business development
• Marginal productivity and missed revenue goals

Sales managers, let’s be honest… it’s hard to watch a salesperson that seems to be flailing in shallow water when they are on a prospect or client call. However, if you take a step back, you realize they are probably going to find their feet and be able to stand up and be fine.

Recently, I attended one of The Center for Sales Strategy's Talent Focused Management workshops led by Matt Sunshine (CEO), and I walked away with a few reminders.

Implementing the right sales performance measures is crucial for success.

While there is little doubt in the minds of sales leaders that measurement is important to drive results with their salespeople, I often find the focus is too wide or shifts based on any change.

In other words, tracking everything doesn’t help you to see what is truly impactful, and improvement in performance only comes when you measure the same performance measures over time.