The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

While recently chatting with a new salesperson about setting appointments with new business target accounts, the seller said, “I never leave a message if my call goes into voicemail. I don’t want to waste time leaving a message.”

It’s no secret that leaving a good sales voicemail is hard. Even the most well-crafted messages often get ignored by prospects. However, leaving a voicemail is a wise investment and a critical part of the sales process that enables sellers to stand out and connect with prospects, and here are four reasons why.

Fortune Magazine reports that 46% of new sales employees leave or get fired within 18 months. Additionally, the average ramp-up time for salespeople is between six and nine months. Both alarming statistics that cost your company a lot of revenue.

What are new hires looking for to make their first days and weeks successful in sales? When talking with several new hires, there are interesting commonalities that resonate across multiple companies. Take a look at how you can help minimize the risk of an early departure, accelerate ramp-up time, and maximize the investment you’re making in sales new hires by giving them what they want.

If you fail two out of every three at-bats in the Major League, you'll end up in the Hall of Fame. If you fail 90% of the time as a venture capitalist, you'll end up being a multi-millionaire—possibly a billionaire.

So, why are salespeople afraid to fail? And why do sales managers often berate a salesperson when they fail? If you’re never failing, then you’re probably never winning either. We tell our team to take risks and explore new opportunities, but are we reiterating that embracing failure is actually good for business?

Prospecting was spot on. The needs analysis meetings uncovered a clear desired business result for the prospect. And now it's time to shine—sales proposal time! 

Ask any sales rep what the hardest part of their job is, and we'll bet they’ll say “closing.” Don't be scared. Ensure your hard work (or your team's hard work) doesn't go wasted by following these tips gathered from our sales experts when creating and presenting your sales proposal.  

The sales pitch is delivered, objections are resolved, and the contract is sent. Now, you patiently wait for the prospect to sign, and you’ve sealed the deal. But then — the email comes through, and suddenly you’re scheduling a sales negotiation.

Even if a salesperson has properly qualified a prospect and correctly managed their expectations through the sales process, they still can find themselves shifting gears from consultant to negotiator. And while negotiations can go in an infinite number of directions, honing-in on these six sales negotiation tactics will help close the deal.

Whether it's in the gym or on the field, athletes like Michael Jordan and Tom Brady are known for being the hardest workers during practice. And, as the greatest athletes of all time, they're not out there trying to learn something new—they're simply practicing the basics.

Josh Kaufman, author of The Personal MBA, writes that to go from “knowing nothing to being pretty good” actually takes about 20 hours of practice—that’s 45 minutes every day for a month. As leaders, we're accustomed to being great at what we do. But in order to learn something new and help your salespeople get better, everyone must practice. 

Historically, the term sales collateral referred to one-sheets and brochures that often hung on a wall, and when the sales team met with a client or prospect, they would grab a one-sheet to help build their case—and it worked great! In the 21st Century, you need more.

A New Year's resolution is a tradition in which a person resolves to change an undesired trait or behavior, to accomplish a personal goal or otherwise improve their life. The New Year brings a fresh start and the opportunity for sales managers and sales teams to set goals and intentions for the coming months. 

Perhaps you, or a salesperson on your team, had a lousy 2019 and are ready to make some changes in 2020. A resolution can help reset the compass — here’s a list of options to help kick off the New Year and improve your (or your sales team's) sales performance.

You’ve secured the appointment with the decision maker. You’re excited and feeling positive about the sales call. You’ve prepared for the meeting and think you have all the right questions. You move in for the close and just when you think it is about to happen, they throw you a curveball, “I need to talk this over with some other people in my company, can I get back to you next month?”

Other people? But aren’t you speaking to the decision-maker with the power to say yes? Of course, but you didn’t conduct the due diligence on the prospect’s decision-making process to uncover any possible decision influencers.

Even media sellers who are skilled at talking about price and removing surprises throughout the sales process can encounter objections. Superstar sellers know that most strong responses to objections involve asking the prospect additional questions to get back to the desired business result, and most of these questions will logically lead to the next. 

Here’s a list of the most common objections heard by media salespeople along with ways you can respond to each. Feel free to keep this list handy — you might need it!