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The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Weekly Roundup: GDPR Compliance + More

friday-team-fist-bumpWe hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

Topics: Lead Generation Inbound Marketing Sales Wrap-up

Get that First Appointment — Master Your Approach

first appointmentHave you ever felt like taking a “Wild Wild West” approach to securing your first appointment? Think about it… if only it were appropriate to ‘lasso’ your prospect, ‘tie him down’ and force him to stay engaged so that you may cordially introduce yourself, establish credibility and politely present your value proposition. Honestly, if you could just get his undivided attention for 5-minutes… you know he’ll like you, and you know he’ll be intrigued and perhaps even excited or anxious to learn more, right?

Personally, I have indeed toyed with the idea (more than once) of taking the Wild Wild West approach to securing that first appointment. Fortunately wisdom intervened, because I’m certain I would have been greatly misunderstood and most likely thrown in jail if I had decided to draw from my Texas ancestor’s tactics and put those thoughts into action! Needless to say, my understanding of acceptable social behavior and, well… modern law kept me from utilizing an Outlaw Josey Wales sales approach.

Topics: setting expectations Sales prospecting

The Best Sales Pitch Isn’t a Pitch at All

sales-pitch-storytelling-191960-edited

This post was originally published on Hubspot.

Despite its increasing irrelevance, the tired, old sales pitch still enjoys a large following. Unfortunately, that washed-up elevator pitch generally focuses solely on the seller -- the company, its capabilities, and its accomplishments -- and rarely highlights the prospect’s needs.

Topics: Proposal Sales

Weekly Roundup: Your Salespeople Secretly Want to Contribute to the Blog + More

salespeople contribute to blogWe hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

Topics: Lead Generation Inbound Marketing Sales Wrap-up

The Impact of Bad Email Etiquette on Sales + 7 Tips to Avoid Clumsy Mistakes

email etiquette for salespeopleRecently, I've had a few run-ins with bad email etiquette. Not just in a quick email thread from a co-worker (I'll admit, my email etiquette gets sloppy in this arena), but I've received emails from salespeople attempting to get me (the marketing manager) to subscribe to their software, utilize their platform, or allocate some of my budget to their product, and all had major email etiquette issues, misspelled my name, or included verbiage that clearly showed me we aren't on the same wavelength. I also received an email from a potential candidate for a freelance writer that included major grammatical mistakes... WHAT!? 

Topics: email Sales prospecting

Weekly Roundup: Why “Does That Make Sense?” Is the Worst Question You Can Ask in Sales + More

worst question in sales and the sales strategyWe hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

Topics: Lead Generation Inbound Marketing Sales Wrap-up

Building Strong Relationships: Can You Teach That?

salespeople building relationshipsYou have hired your next great seller. You have a strong on-boarding plan, a great training schedule, and amazing people in place to help with training. They are prepared to hit the street, right?

Topics: Sales sales training

Weekly Roundup: The Future of Sales + More

sales predictionsWe hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

The Future of Sales: Predictions from the “Nostradamus's” of Selling — Hubspot

"I think there will be more and more specialization. The process will be broken up into a few parts -- depending on what you are selling -- with one person focusing on each part."

Read more on what Matt Sunshine (managing partner of The Center for Sales Strategy) and other sales leaders have to say about the future of sales in this Hubspot post.

Topics: Sales Wrap-up

Sales Prospecting Tips from A to Z

sales prospecting tipsProspecting for new business is vital to the sustainability and growth of almost every business,  especially in today’s economy. And, whether you’re selling a service, product, or idea, it’s important to balance new business development (or prospecting) initiatives with key account development and growth. Following are sales prospecting tips from A to Z to guide and encourage you as you work to secure that first appointment.

Topics: Sales prospecting

The Best Needs Analysis That I’ve Ever Seen (and WHY)

needs analysis reveals desired business resultsI just sat there and watched. I was too stunned to really do anything else. It was the best needs analysis that I've ever seen...

Topics: Needs Analysis sales performance Sales