The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

I have noticed that many leaders I work with tend to retreat, decide, and dictate when the stakes are high and the stress is intense. True confession: I actually do this as well, but it’s easier to see how screwed up it is when I see others doing it! Right. I’m talking about times like budgeting for the new year or creating a new compensation plan to drive intended behaviors.

Here’s the irony. One of the common needs I hear expressed by those in the top sales leadership role in a company (business owners, VP Sales, Director of Sales, etc.) is how to develop the other sales managers in their organization. The ironic part is the greatest growth opportunities are these high stakes moments that fall on the top sales leader. Instead of retreating, deciding, and dictating, consider Socraticship. I know Socraticship is not really a word, but maybe it should be. Socraticship is Leadership that leads with questions, instead of answers.

It's Friday! Hope you've had a good week! Now it's time for us to share what we've been reading online this week. Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. How Sales and Marketing Can Avoid Letting Each Other Down — Salesforce

Sales and Marketing teams can work together to ensure leads get qualified and converted, and everyone is happy. This post offers some tips that show you how to make that happen. These tips are most relevant for a multi-step, complex sale environment.  

As a leader, I am regularly called upon to make clear, focused decisions. I am also called upon to constantly survey new information to determine if anything might call recent decisions into question. I bet you find yourself in the same situation. Leaders have to learn how to live in this space.

We've come to the end of the week once again, and it's time for us to share what we've been reading online this week. Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. 4 Data-Driven Questions to Streamline Your Social Media Campaigns — Unbounce

The key to being successful in your social media marketing lies in your data and analytics—gaining insight into what works and then doing more of it. This post covers four questions that help you understand your social media analytics. 

It's Friday, and it's time for us to share what we've been reading online this week. Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. Ad Blocking is Becoming a Real Threat: Here's What Publishers Can Do About It — HubSpot

Ad blocking is causing a lot of concern lately, most recently brought into the spotlight by Apple's release of iOS 9. This article explains how ad blocking works and what you can do to work around it.

Recently I had the pleasure of facilitating a group of managers through a four month long program called Coaching New Business. We asked each manager to select two members from their team to work side by side through the How Selling process with a select group of Target Accounts.

 We've come to the end of the week again, and it's time for us to share what we've been reading online this week. Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. Why Banner Blindness Shouldn't Scare You — VWO

Banner Ad Blindess is a real phenomenon. Stats show that only 14% users recall the last display ad they saw and the content it promoted. But Banner Blindness doesn't have to scare you, if you know how to beat it. This article explains how Banner Blindness works and offers 6 tricks and techniques that can minimize it to make your ads stand out in front of users.

The mantra that "you need a personal, professional brand" is no longer new. If you're like most sales professionals, you're open to the idea, but it can seem like such a major project. Let's look at three myths you need to move past to get started building a brand for yourself. 

Although in some ways technology has made salespeople’s jobs harder (think email auto-filing), in many ways it’s also made work easier. This list of the top six apps we recommend for salespeople definitely falls into that second category. We not only recommend these apps,  we also use them ourselves.

It's Friday! Hope you've had a great week, and it's time for us to share what we've been reading online this week. Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. Interviewing Salespeople? 6 Traits You Can't Compromise On — HubSpot

Hiring salespeople is a lot like qualifying a prospect. You have a position you need to fill, but if a candidate is a bad fit, it’s important to find out sooner rather than later so you can spend precious time on more promising applicants. This presentation suggests the top 6 traits that winning salespeople share.