The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

An Accenture study, written about in Forbes, found that 43% of employees who are about to quit their jobs cite lack of recognition from supervisors as the reason they would leave. Every time I read that stat I feel convicted that I don’t always show as much appreciation as I should. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the individuals on my team, it’s just that I have so many things fighting for my attention. It’s easy to miss this key leadership responsibility. Many times managers don’t think about showing appreciation until it’s too late—until someone on their team leaves for another opportunity.  

We 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.

1 How to Succeed in Sales as an Introvert — Salesforce

The stereotype of a sales rep is an effervescent extrovert who charms people into buying anything at any price. But introverts can sell just as well as their extroverted competitors. Here are three strategies and techniques that help introverts make sales and nurture customer relationships. 

Remote working is commonplace in nearly every industry. This is especially true for sales and marketing. Knowing how to manage your remote working teams is an essential part of your company’s growth and success. 

According to The New York Times, “43 percent of employed Americans said they spent at least some time working remotely, according to the survey of more than 15,000 adults.” 

The remote team approach has also increased in a majority of industries . . . 

Remote sales and marketing teams need to be efficient and highly productive to achieve company aims and goals. Luckily, there are a variety of best management practices you can employ to make your remote employees as productive as your in-house team. 

From finding the best remote workers, to ensuring they have clear goals in place, the following remote team tips will make management as seamless and painless as possible.

The impact of the millennial generation is making headlines everywhere! As a sales manager, you may have read a blog or two on how to manage or even hire millennial talent. But now the headlines are about how millennials are impacting business, from a consumer’s point of view. If you have a hand in marketing or sales, you may be experiencing disruption within this loosely-defined generation as well.  

Most commentators put a millennial between late teens and early twenties to late thirties. That’s why it's loosely defined. But what is clearly defined is how much they have to spend and how they choose to spend it. Millennials are coming of age—gaining ground in their jobs, starting families, and making first major purchases. What they are not doing are taking risks. They’ve seen all too well the impact risk-taking has had on preceding generations, including Generation X and, in some cases, Baby Boomers. So what does this mean for business?

Well, it means there are 3 expectations (or promises) a millennial expects:

We 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.

1. 5 Highly Effective LinkedIn Summary Templates for Sales Reps — HubSpot

The summary is one of the most important parts of your profile, since it’s a space to showcase your passion, enthusiasm, and most importantly, your track record of results. However, many reps leave their summaries blank for a very simple reason: They don’t know what to write. If you’ve got writer’s block, good news. These five LinkedIn summary templates will help you flesh out your profile in no time flat. Next thing you know, the number of opportunities in your pipeline will be soaring.

. . . you just help enough people get what THEY want. I heard this truth many years ago from the legendary Zig Ziglar. It’s so simple and so powerful, it should be the basis for everything a sales professional does. But, simple and easy are two different things. Most sales professionals are so wrapped up in their products and services that nearly everything that comes out of their mouths sounds either like a monologue about features and benefits or a manipulative question designed to get the prospect to say they have a need which the salesperson’s product magically fills. 

But, what if you made this statement the basis for every move you made? If you really believe you can get anything you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want, how would that change… 

We 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.

1. Google Is Leaving You Clues to Help You Rank Higher: Know Where to Look — Unbounce

With the help of AI, machine learning and years of data, search engines are getting better at predicting what people want. As search engines become more concerned with solving people’s problems, the old SEO toolset is going to be thrown for a curve. The search race is no longer simply about keywords — it’s about being a trusted brand committed to solving people’s problems. The good news is there are a few places you can start looking to see what your customers want, so you can then deliver.

We 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.

1. 18 Empathy Statements That Put Your Prospect at Ease — HubSpot

Sales is evolving. Today’s buyers won’t stand for being bullied into a deal. That’s where the empathy statement comes in. If your idea of empathy is throwing an “uh-huh” or “I see” into your conversations every few minutes, think again. This article highlights several empathetic statements that will show your prospects you’re more invested in their interests than closing a deal.

The words "Role Play" immediately bring feelings of fear, dread, and anxiety for most salespeople. 

But why? 

That's easy. Most sales managers use role-playing as a form of punishment. We've all either done it or had it done to us.  

As a manager, we are often frustrated by a salesperson, team, or project when they fail to make the progress that we expect. We try all kinds of solutions: motivation, incentives and sometimes "threats," but when those don't work, what do we do? We summon the team for a meeting. A meeting where we ROLE-PLAY! That'll work! Right?

Well, it can, but only if we do it right! 

I recently had a coaching assignment with a highly ambitious salesperson. This person wasn’t prospecting for new business as often or as much as her manager would like. I’d had a few calls with her and given her a few assignments to complete between our calls in the prospecting part of the sales process. Her performance for me (and for her manager) continued to be lackluster. I've done a lot of individualized coaching over the years. Because of the talent interviews my company does, I am privy to the innate talents of everyone I coach. Often times my coaching assignments are to get people to do something they are not currently doing. Prospecting is often at the top of the list.