Maintaining the Sales Machine

In their November 2013 Harvard Business Review article Dismantling the Sales Machine Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, and Nicholas Toman of the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) assert that “Leaders must abandon their fixation on (sales) process compliance.”  In place of “disciplined sales process” they favor a flexible approach to sales in which salespeople rely on their own insight and judgment.  That they find sales process  discipline and a sales force capable of insight and judgment incompatible seems untenable. 

The CEB has long brought much to the sales space with its research.  They have been at the forefront of recognizing the new sales environment and helping define the new buyer.  In their article, they rightly point to many significant developments:

• The new sales environment favors creative and adaptive salespeople.
• Deals vary from one to the next.
• Performance trumps protocol.
• Salespeople must have latitude.
• Managers’ roles are to guide, support, and serve as coaches rather than enforcers.
• The new world of selling demands greater collaboration among team members.

They also acknowledge that many average performers benefit from clear direction regarding their activities and being held accountable for specific milestones, which are primary goals of sales process.

This is all true.  But contrary to the assumptions and conclusions the authors make, the sales machine/sales process discipline does not work against the above trends, but it enables them.  I believe far from dismantling the sales process, sales organizations need to embrace it and make it part of their sales DNA.

The predominance of research I have seen from firms such as Salesforce, Aberdeen, and CSO Insights  shows that there is a high correlation between best-in-class sales performance and the discipline of sales process.  This correlation is supported by everything I know from my client work and specific feedback from the managers at my sales management program at Wharton.  Rather than most sales organizations operating as well-oiled sales machines, we learn from Aberdeen that too many organizations lack a defined sales process, and according to McKinsey, many of those that do have adoption problems.

Having a defined sales process that spells out objectives, best practice activities, customer actions, sales tools, and models for each stage does not have to suppress creativity and flexibility.  Dashboards provide valuable information and don’t by nature dash creativity.  An effective sales process serves as a critical guidepost for salespeople to follow and managers to coach and track to.  The goal of a sales process is not only to be efficient but to be effective.

A good process replicates the best practice performance of star performers.  This eliminates the need for each salesperson to reinvent the wheel or operate without the knowledge the wheel exists.  One salesperson in a team I am working with shared a “secret” (best practice) to reengage with prospects who have gone dark.  Using this best practice, team members increased their ability to reengage by 50%.  This shared best practice did not strip away the use of judgment by members of the sales team, some who at first resisted it and others who use the tactic judiciously.

I have found over the past two years that when salespeople and sales managers are provided with a clear sales process that is linked with formal, but even more importantly informal, coaching, coaching conversations become easier and more productive.  I have gone so far as to align coaching questions to each phase of the sales process — not to confine but to support manager, peer, and self-coaching.  Having the right questions provokes judgment and creativity.  And while a lot of the coaching is around deal review, deal review is more than numbers and includes developing insights and judgment and the strategies and skills needed to execute.  Effective coaching is coaching by asking, not telling, and it is important not to conflate what to coach with how to coach:  one is knowledge and one is skill.  Both are needed for dialogue.

Maybe we are just speaking different languages.  If a sales machine/sales process operates as the authors describe it, “inflexible governance that works through formal rules,” meaning that salespeople are turned into robots, then the sales machine indeed is in destructive overdrive and should be turned off and repaired.  If this is the case, the problem is in the design.  But generalizing that the sales machine/all sales processes should be dismantled is a huge step backward for sales.  The key is to make sure that the sales process mirrors and influences today’s customer buying cycles and buying habits and is supported with a collaborative coaching methodology.

Provocative titles grab attention.  Just as the customer need dialogue (solution selling) is not dead, neither is sales process.  Both must evolve, and have but they should not be abandoned.  An effective sales process does not prevent a salesperson from exercising judgment and being creative in dealing with highly knowledgeable customers.  Indeed, an effective sales process is an indispensable tool for sales force development and productivity.  The world in which salespeople operate with judgment and creativity that the authors describe is a world I subscribe to, but with sales process in it.

Today, in the sales space, we have the advantage of technology and data not available to us just a short time ago, and we also have research into the new buyer and what it takes for a salesperson to succeed in the new world of selling.  Judgment, creativity, and expertise are essential to selling today.  If I had to choose between a sales force run by data and cognitive patterns or what I will call for shorthand “human talent,” the latter would win hands down.  But I don’t have to choose.  I can have both — and so can you.

The post Maintaining the Sales Machine appeared first on The Richardson Sales Excellence Review™.

I’ve been reading a lot of posts lately about making emotiional connections with B2B buyers, along with reminders not to forget their personal side. But this doesn’t mean to start looking at them as B2C consumers – even though they are when they’re away from the office. In professional mode, “personal” is a bit different.

And for all of you wondering – this does not mean that 2 dogs and a house in the suburbs is information that will help you.

Personal attributes for a B2B buyer are still related to the role they play at work. Some of the most basic questions of a personal nature that cross B2B buyers’ minds include:

• How will this decision affect my career?
• Will this decision help save my job during the reorganization that will happen with the upcoming merger?
• Will solving this problem help me earn a promotion?
• Will this decision increase the value my company sees in me?

But when you look beyond those considerations, how does their perception of your brand influence their thinking? Is what they come across representative of the way you want your brand to be seen? Is their experience consistent across channels?

Could the way you represent yourself across channels be costing you business?

Below are a few situations to consider:

• What will my peers and colleagues think if I choose them?
• They’re too hip and cool for our conservative culture. Will my executive team believe there is really enough substance?
• They’re really conservative – will they bring the innovative ideas I’ll need in the future? Then again, I can probably trust them not to take a flyer…
• They have some really smart people working for them – their blog is awesome – but every time the corporate Twitter handle Tweets it’s about sports stuff or product discounts. Given how much the solution we’re looking at costs, if my CFO ever sees that…
• I asked a sales guy an industry question he couldn’t answer yesterday. Today he sent me a link to a great thread where thought leaders were weighing in. It wasn’t even produced by his company. I like this guy!
• My friend just emailed me a link to a LinkedIn discussion where a gal at a company we’re considering buying a solution from got defensive about something one of my colleagues posted. Uh oh…
• I’m so tired of webinars that are really sales pitches. When they don’t provide the value they promise on a webinar, will they deliver if you buy? It makes me wonder if they’d always be trying to upsell me if I became their customer.
• Every time I get an email from this company I can’t wait to see what they sent me. It’s always great stuff. And if I can’t use it, I know someone who can and forward it along. They make me look good.

Are any of these happening at your brand? Obviously, I’ve painted a picture that includes good and bad stuff. Even exagerated some of it to make a point. But this stuff actually happens. I’ve heard versions of most of these brought up in meetings. I’ve been forwarded links to stuff with WTF? notes from my clients and colleagues.

The truth is, social media and user-generated content and channel proliferation has created a version of reality that often reminds me a lot of high school. Operating in this environment is a lot like working under a microscope. But, if so, we need to adjust – and fast!

The truth of the matter is that you’ll never be a fit for everyone. Making sure that your brand is aligned with your target markets is the best a company can hope for. Still a big task, but made more manageable. Putting buyers at the center of what you do also helps.

But this reality is also a rallying cry for working together. For breaking down silos and opening the lines of communication to help get everyone on the same page. Sure, they’ll be outliers, but when each of us is by extension representative of the brand we’re affiliated with, more thought needs to be given.

If the social media team isn’t talking to the demand gen team who isn’t talking to the web marketing team or the events team or the PR team and none of them are talking with the sales team – what are the chances that your brand is being perceived by your buyers in a way that’s costing you sales?

When will we “get” it?

Step into your buyers’ shoes and go take a look at your brand from the outside-in. Go look at all the channels through the experience your buyers will have. What do you think?

Are you inspired? Energized? Intrigued? Or are you disappointed, even alienated?

What one thing can you do today to shift the status quo?

Just take one step and then work on the next one. Once you recognize the issue, it’s often taking that first step that’s the hardest. You can do it. I have faith.

Hiring is a science right? Well you would think so, but it is shocking how many organizations approach hiring in an ad-hoc, unstructured manner, hoping that results will be positive. Perhaps the one mistake that we most often see companies making that in turn kills their chances of hiring great (or even good) sales people is not defining success criteria. You would think this would be a no-brainer, but apparently not. A surprising number of company don’t even set quota’s, opting instead for a “do-your-best” sort of measurement system. Unfortunately this usually leads to disappointing results.

A failure to plan is a plan to fail

By defining success criteria, we mean, defining the measures you will use to determine whether your sales person is successful. In sales this typically means revenue/quota, but sales success criteria can also be defined in terms of results such as profits, units sold or accounts or in terms of activity such as calls or account plans. Whatever measures used, these are valuable for not only making the performance expectation for a sales rep very clear, but also for allowing the sales manager and the rep to gauge progress and make adjustments to activities and plans on the fly. Clear communication on objectives is paramount to performance.

The past is the best predictor of the future, so success criteria also plays a critical role in hiring when used to assess whether someone has achieved the relevant level of success in the past to justify a bet that they can contribute at a certain level in the future. A broad swath of candidates will technically qualify for your position, but your pool of eligible and qualified candidates will be greatly narrowed if you need someone to prepare a territory plan in the first 60 days of joining, build a pipeline of leads in the next 6 months and close $1.5M of new software business in the next 18 months. And this is a good thing. You want to be focused on interviewing people who can help you, not people who can’t and won’t.

Furthermore, a candidate who might be interested in working for you can look at your success criteria and self qualify and or ask relevant questions about the degree to which they will be set up to succeed when working for you.

If you do only one thing to improve your sales hiring results this yeaar, set success criteria.

To your success!

image courtesy of Ambro | freedigitalphotos.net

We’ve dusted off our crystal ball and peered into the future of the sales industry and it looks bright…for the salesperson who’s willing and ready to step out of their comfort zone, that is. Here are our three big predictions for sales in 2014.

Prediction #1
Salespeople have to be able to tell a compelling story without the aid of technology.

Rationale

This clip says it all. You see legendary director Michael Bay verbally stumble, try again, and then abruptly walk off the stage during a press conference when the technological crutch he’s using fails. And all he’s supposed to be talking about is how he develops his vision for his movies.

What it means for you
Own your story, don’t just present it. Research has told us that 88% of executive buyers want a conversation…but they will need a visual to remember what you said (conversation recall goes from 10% to 65% when you add visuals to the discussion). So pick up a marker and put down the clicker.

Know your story in such a way that you can deliver it in any situation or circumstance.

 

Prediction #2
2014 witnesses the emergence of line-of-business buyers.

Rationale
It’s always easier to cut costs than grow revenue. But cost cutting belies sound growth. As economies rebound around the world, line-of-business (LOB) owners will shift their focus to investing for growth.

Smart sales organizations will anchor their skills development strategies around equipping sellers to help LOB owners see the connection between your solutions and their growth – revenue, margins, cash flow.

For example, consider teams targeting CMOs and marketing department owners. Driven by the value of big data, marketing is projected to command increasingly larger budgets, particularly for IT investments. Can your sales team effectively engage around conversion rates, revenue per­…, market share or product mix, versus the traditional CTO/CIO metrics?

What it means for you
Developing your team’s competence using role-relevant metrics to financially justify investments will separate no-decision deals from closed deals in the year ahead.

 

Prediction #3
Sales training and enablement professionals will shift their emphasis from taking control of the sales process to keeping it.

Rationale
Over the past few years, it’s become clear to most sales leaders that an insight-based selling approach is critical to taking control of the sales process. As more and more sales teams have success with this approach and a strong initial message, they’ll need to shift emphasis to maintaining control of the process once they’ve captured it.

What it means for you
You need to focus sales training and enablement tools on the skills needed to maintain control of the sales process, such as:

• Reframing the customer’s buying decision in your favor at points where the customer wants to commoditize your solution.
• Managing data to keep control at key moments in sales conversations and being more intentional about when and how you share, protect, and leverage it.
• Focusing on the customer’s unconsidered needs and problems that differentiate your solution, not just the needs the customer tells you they have.
• Justifying your proposed approach with strong strategic and financial back-up at key moments when the customer wants to turn the conversation back to price.

 

 

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For more trends in sales and to see how leading companies are responding, read this provocative article from Training Industry Quarterly.

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Let’s take a look at the full video:

If you have any other questions or comments, we encourage you to ask. It’s a great way to help us improve your lead generation and prospecting experiences.

There’s no better time to set a new goal than the start of a new year. Forget those generic resolutions that you usually break. Instead, commit yourself to success in every sales conversation you have this year.

Here are ten sales resolutions you can make right now to improve your sales conversations in 2014.

1. Prepare for Your Meeting

When you’ve been selling for a long time, it’s easy to get lazy. Don’t underestimate the importance of preparation when it comes to your sales conversations. First, define the great outcomes for the meeting and then, remember the 3Ps:

• The Purpose – the goal of the meeting
• The Process – define how the time will be spent
• The Payoff – the relevant and tangible benefits that will pique the prospect’s interest

2. Earn Trust in the Sales Process

Earning trusted advisor status is pivotal for sellers who want to consistently hit their quotas, while continuing to win repeat business and referrals. When you first engage a prospect, one of the best ways to earn trust is to “go in curious.” Ask questions that demonstrate your willingness to understand your prospects’ business, and listen to the answers. Use them to help your buyer make the business case for your solution, and you’ll earn trust in the sales process.

3. Be Audible-Ready

If you want to command your message, you have to be audible-ready. When you call a meeting, make sure you’re prepared to ask the right questions, listen for customer problems, and guide the conversation in a way that demonstrates your ability to solve them. You never know who is going to be in the room, or where their mindset is going to be when you show up for the meeting. Always be audible-ready to articulate your value and differentiation in ways that speak to your customer’s biggest business problems.

4. Uncover Pain with Effective Discovery

There is no value without a customer problem. Finding the problem is the first step to winning the business. Uncover your customer’s most pressing challenges by asking the right questions. Remember, opportunities are won and lost on effective discovery.

What is the business impact of your customer’s pain points? Is it $500,000? A million-dollars? Is the company throwing money down the drain every day? Identify the pain and find the business impact. Once you uncover pain with effective discovery, you can better articulate how your solution can alleviate the negative consequences your customer is currently experiencing.

5. Articulate Value and Differentiation

Effectively articulating the value and differentiation of your products and services can make or break a deal. Commit yourself to demonstrating the value you provide your customer, articulating how you are different and better than your competition, and proving your ability to help them achieve the positive business outcomes that have bottom-line impact. Your buyers will appreciate your ability to help them solve their business problems and achieve the positive business outcomes they’re trying to achieve.

6. Get to the C-Suite

Remember, as a seller you are delegated to whom you sound like. Selling higher in an organization is an important goal for many salespeople. Speaking about your solution (its value and differentiation) in a way that solves C-Level business issues is a critical step to improving margins and increasing your average deal size. Gaining access to the C-Suite and its discretionary income means you need to attach your solution to the issues that warrant focus from these high-level executives.

7. Steer Clear of Persuasion

No one wants to be told why they should buy your product or service, among them your potential customers. The more you try to persuade them to buy, the more they will resist you. But the more they understand how your value and differentiation solve their problems, the more they will persuade themselves that you have the right solution for them. Avoid persuasion. Let your customer do the convincing.

8. Focus on Customer Verifiable Outcomes

Customer Verifiable Outcomes indicate your customer’s “buying” state-of-mind. They may include things like:

• Documented pain points
• Implications of the customer’s current situation
• Knowledge the organization is ready to invest resources

Using Customer Verifiable Outcomes as criteria in your sales process earns you the right to advance the opportunity to the next stage of the buying process. As a result, you’re better able to verify areas where they would otherwise be guessing. If you can determine these benchmarks, you’re less likely to waste time on deals that won’t happen.

9. Take Credit for the Value You Provide

It is critical to create and capture value throughout the sales process, but also after the opportunity has closed. Understanding the role your solution played in achieving the positive business outcomes will help you in cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.

What were the before scenarios? How did you contribute to the after scenario?

When you articulate the positive business outcomes your prospects are trying to achieve, make sure you take credit for the role your solution played in solving those same problems in the past. Own the success. Take credit for the value you provide.

Without your solution, can they solve that problem?

10. Capture the Proof

Proof points are a key component to taking credit for the value you provide. They make your sales process easier. A seller’s biggest asset, when trying to show value and differentiation, is providing the proof of prior success. Without a doubt, your buyer will pay more for a proven record of success. That’s why your proof points are so important. Focus on gathering key proof points from your customers this year. They will help you capture value, differentiate, and close more opportunities.

Have you ever presented a “sales golden nugget” that your audience didn’t understand?  It is so compelling, yet your sales training class did not grasp it.  Did you look around the room to see if they were still listening?  Did anyone wake themselves up with a “snore”?

This post is about the importance of sales training fundamentals.  The best sales training content is forgotten without memorable delivery.  As the Sales Enablement leader, you need to stimulate interest during the entire program.  Content won’t do it alone.  You need to remember to practice the basics.  If you don’t, a few “snores” might be heard.

Download a copy of our FUNdamentals of Sales Training Checklist to keep them engaged.

Preventing the “Head-Bob”

Your salespeople will benefit from a worthy training program in numerous ways.  Understanding your competition, products/services and selling techniques instills confidence.  You should also include topics such as buyer prospecting and how to leverage technology.  However, below are three important fundamentals you should remember when developing attention grabbing training:

• Immediately spark interest
• Present the material in an interesting way
• Keep the program interactive during the entire training session

Do these well and you will have them on the edge of their seats.  You can follow the three tips below to keep them attentive.

Tip #1: “What’s in it for me?”

Forget about the training content for a moment.  Motivation is the key to many successful programs and certainly important to salespeople.  You need to reveal how the training will directly benefit them.  This needs to be done upfront, at the beginning of the program.  You need to answer the “What’s in it for me” question.

You will immediately grab their attention if you answer just one of these questions:

• How can I make money and how much?
• What do I have to do to get promoted?
• How can I get more free time?
• How do I work smarter; not harder?
• What do I need to do to keep my boss happy?

Do you see a pattern?  Maybe money?  Maybe independence?  Now you have their attention.  It’s time for a little interaction to keep the “snores” down.

Tip #2: Interesting and Entertaining

To keep your salespeople engaged, you must entertain.  Use images, interactive exercises and demonstrations to inform them about the subject matter.  Tell a story on each sales topic.  Or share a scenario they can relate to – keep it real.  Here are 6 ideas to do that:

• "WOW Factor”.  Use a “WOW Factor” to grab attention in the beginning of your story. Sales people want to hear a compelling reason to listen.  Tell them how much money they can make.  This almost always works. 
• Have a prop.  A prop is anything that supports your message.  A smart board or iPad drawing quantifying the revenue opportunity is powerful. 
• Share a recent experience in the field.  Your experience will add relevancy and content to the discussion.
• Show, don’t tell.  Share an insight from a prospect who became a customer.  A message from a “real” customer carries more weight.
• Make it active.  Research indicates that the average attention span of an adult is about 20 minutes.  Add a video clip every 20 minutes to allow your audience to recharge. 
• Move around. Create a reason to move around the room.  Have the prop up front and the support materials in the back.  Keeping your audience’s eyes moving can go a long way toward maintaining attention.

You have grabbed their attention, you made it interesting and they are engaged.  Now it is time to get them actively involved in the training.

Tip #3: Interactive

Do you think salespeople are competitive?  Absolutely is the right answer.  Stimulate their competitive nature.  Put your audience in situations that require them to compete with their peers:

• Role Plays.  Confidence is the most important characteristic for a salesperson.  The more confidence, the more sales.  Sticking to the basics and practicing fundamentals will instill confidence in your sales team.
• Games.  You should frequently test their knowledge and retention of key selling concepts. Give them quizzes with either cash awards, medals or other visual props as prizes.  Online games or contests are best, but pen and paper work.

If you forget about the importance of delivery, your audience will retain less information.  This translates into longer ramp-up times and fewer sales.  These 3 tips will help you deliver memorable sales training content.  And the “snores” will disappear.

Download a copy of our complete FUNdamentals of Sales Training Checklist to keep them engaged.

Author: Tom Maloney

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You wake up in the morning and check your email on your phone, tablet, or laptop. You get to work and you check your work email. You delete some emails, save some for reading later, and reply to others right away. But what makes you stop and read some emails versus saving them and forgetting to come back to them until a week later? There are a few things you can do to help your emails get noticed by prospects.

The people you are trying to connect with receive a lot of prospecting emails, and a few of those emails definitely compete with what you are trying to discuss. Everyone has reasons why their product is the best or why their service deserves your attention, but it is not always the content of the email that catches prospects’ attention, although content is important. I would say the most important tips to remember are keeping your emails short and creating relevant subject lines.

I believe you need to keep prospecting emails short no matter what. If a prospect responds to you with questions or shows interest in speaking with you, then go ahead and attach some information and go into more detail if need be. But for a cold email or an introductory email, you need to be aware of length. Your email should be short enough to be read on the screen of a smartphone. Since most people have access to their email on their mobile device, remember that if they receive an email that they find too long, they will either delete it (thinking it is spam) or “save it for later,” meaning they will likely forget about it.

Creating a strong subject line is also important.  It should not sound “salesy,” and be comprised of a quick one-liner regarding your product or service. This is an easy way to introduce a prospect to your organization. In the first line of your message, try to reference a whitepaper or an event that the prospect may have attended. If you are sending a cold email, keep the introduction simple and to the point. If you have left them a voicemail earlier, mention the voicemail in the email to show that you are putting in the effort to follow up. Introduce yourself and ask if they would be the appropriate person within their organization to discuss your product or service.

I like to keep the signature of my emails consistent in order to help prospects remember me. I include my full name, position, office line (cell phone if you want to) and company website. This information is helpful for the prospect to have handy in case they have a few minutes to check out your company website or look you up on LinkedIn. If you choose, it may be helpful to include a brief company description or something along the lines of a mission statement below your signature. This is another way to add information into your email without making the body of the email too long.

Along with a short and organized email format, persistence is also necessary when trying to gain qualified leads. You can send short emails hoping that prospects read the content, but you also need to check in with them by phone every few days to ensure a response given due to their busy schedules.

What other tips do you have for creating prospecting emails?

The first word you should say after you give your proposal? NOTHING!

That’s right!  You shouldn’t say one word at all.  Use silence to your advantage. Too many salespeople sabotage their profit by wavering on their confidence in their price.

To see what I mean, check out this video:

Copyright 2014, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. 

We Love Referrals, Right? Here Is How To Get More.

Referrals from happy customers are one of best ways that B2B companies generate new business. Not a huge surprise. However, what is surprising how few companies have a dedicated strategy for fostering these valuable referrals.

Referrals lead as a sales tool for a couple of reasons:

• A referral is a white-hot lead. If we assume that your happy customers are savvy enough to recommend you to the right potential customer then you are well on your way to establishing a valuable conversation and a new business win.
• Most companies do not run highly effective sales programs so the most effective new business tool is by default referrals.

3 Benefits Of Referrals

Back to the idea of white-hot leads. I am sure that you want more of these. There are other business benefits of the referred lead.

1. The closing ratio of referrals is higher (it has been reported that the closing-ratio of a referral is 6 times greater than an unqualified lead.)
2. For the obvious reason that a referred prospect is generally a very motivated buyer, the referral-generated sales cycle can be as much as 75% shorter.
3. A referral strategy is cost-effective and will reduce your sales expenditures. It is a great place to start.

Net Promoter Score

You can begin to learn about how willing your customers are to refer you, and importantly, use this question as a powerful research tool, by asking the simple question: “How likely would you be willing to refer us to a friend?” in your annual customer survey. Clearly, knowing how willing your customers are to refer you, this is known as a Net Promoter Score, is a very simple method to determine how well your services or products are performing. Knowing what percentage of your customers that are willing to refer you is one of the realistic indicators indicators that you are delivering excellent products or services.

Regardless of how referrals work for you, I am sure that you want more of them. What has surprised me is that many companies do not have an active strategy to grow their referrals. This can be easily fixed and should play a role in your sales program.

4 Effective Referral Strategies

I’ve generated referrals from existing clients and customers using the following set of strategies. Given the fact that you are talking to happy customers or friends, these strategies will be a very efficient use of your “sales” effort.

1. Start with an objective. Know what increase in referrals you are targeting and what type of customers you want.
2. Determine which of your customers or friends, these could be people you talk with or people you stay in touch with on social media platforms like LinkedIn or Facebook are contacts that might know the people or businesses on your prospect list.
3. Ask. Go ahead, and ask for referrals. Some referrals come because your customer is specifically asked if they know of a good company in a your business category. Some come because your customers love you so much they actively ‘sell’ you. Some need to be stimulated to think about how to help you. It’s OK to ask. It is also wise to let them know what type of referral you are looking for. Take away as much guess work as you can. Make it easy for them to refer you.
4. However, before you ask, make sure that your current customers are motivated to refer your service or products. You might need a bit of time to massage them though the delivery of unexpected services ahead of directly asking for their help. As they say, give and ye shall receive.
5. If you get a referral, make sure that you keep the referrer informed about your conversations and any progress. Don’t forget to say thank you. If you actually win new business, you might want to consider sending a gift as follow-up.

When I worked at a large multinational advertising agency and had General Mills as a client, we knew that any one of our individual clients knew other marketing people who were not yet working with us. We used all of the strategies listed above to stimulate referrals. This active “asking” helped us pick up the Yoplait Yogurt business in addition to our work in breakfast cereals.

We made sure that our specific General Mills’ clients loved us and we actively asked them if they could spread the good word.

Recently, I was with a client discussing their long-range strategy for sales.  Core to their strategy was tightening their alignment with Marketing and Product Development.  It quickly became crystal clear how important Sales Ops was to this EVP.

The organization is a Fortune 500 global player.  Many of their clients are worldwide leaders in their industry sectors.  The sales leader has a strong and focused personality.  Even still, Sales Ops has significant influence in key decisions for this client.    

I’ve been in many similar meetings with very different results.  Most companies don’t have sales ops functions with so much clout.  What differentiates those teams with influence from those without?

Download our Sales Ops Clout Assessment to gauge how much influence you have.  The Scorecard will help you gain influence and support key decisions.

Certainly having the right sales ops leader with the right support is ideal.  Regardless of the specific leader, taking these steps will increase your influence.

Clout Builder #1 – Access to and Use of Data

“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need” – You Can’t Always Get What You Want - Mick Jagger / Keith Richards

Draw a parallel from this classic Stones song to sales ops’ need for reliable, timely data.  It is the price of entry for world-class sales ops.  You have to find a way to make this happen.  Without it, gut-feel will reign.  Instinct is important when based in experience.  Instinct based on data and experience is far superior.  For a recent post on this subject, click here

If you have to build a temporary repository off-line, do so.  It may take away some efficiencies but absence of data is a death sentence to sales ops.

Clout Builder #2 – Business Acumen

Once you have the data, how will you apply it?  Business acumen is essential to the sales ops leader and their team.  Great analysts without business acumen are like a drill without drill-bits.  Logical, experienced and contextual analysis applied correctly to the right business problem.  Quick but informed decisions are needed today to thrive.  Do you have this critical skill set woven into your team?

Business acumen will serve you well in building credibility across the organization.  The last thing a sales rep wants is some lofty, disconnected process put on their to-do list.  A cool tool with little basis in the real world is useless.  There are easy ways to build this within your team.  Make it a required activity for team members to get into the field.  Have them shadow finance, operations and marketing.  Rotate through sales’ on-boarding for a day or two.

Clout Builder #3 – Build Your Business Case

Virtually everything you do in sales ops requires time, money or both.  Any sales leader worth a darn is going to ask you for some form of business case.  Having a strong foundation in Clout Builders 1 and 2, you’ll be prepared.  Without the ability to monetize the outcome, you’ll get turned down.

Confirm your needed inputs along the way with others.  Bad assumptions with no validation will doom you.  If a new business intelligence platform will save time, figure out the reduced costs.  If new mapping software allows you to build more efficient territories, do the math.  Sales Process development and good adoption will deliver tangible revenue uplift.  Look everywhere for the financial impacts.  One last point here – get someone in finance to review, shoot holes and get buy-in before presenting.

Clout Builder #4 – Unify the Sales Strategy

Work closely with your Sales leader and other functional heads to pull this together.  A sales strategy in a silo will not get traction.  It’s a fact that if nothing is sold, there’s no need for the business.  However, to grow and dominate in your market sales you need partnership.  Marketing, Operations, Product, HR and Finance are all needed to fire on all cylinders.

Job one is to determine what you can do for the other leaders.  Sales buy-in can help Marketing make their revenue objectives.  Sales can help the Product group build more relevant products to reach goal.  Sales can play an important role in success for each of these functions.  Be the one that brings the olive branch and you’ll be amazed at what follows.

Download our Sales Ops Clout Assessment now to build your influence and impact.  You and your team should be at the center of driving improved results.

Standing on the sidelines when the big decisions are made is no fun.  Get your data and use it wisely.  Understand your business and the marketplace.  Build your business cases with validated inputs that make sense.  Get outside of your silo and connect the dots in partnership.

Author: Patrick Seidell

Follow @pseidell

Follow @MakingTheNumber

If you enjoyed this post, never miss one again by subscribing your Email Here and/or subscribing to the RSS Here. Comments are welcome below.

Quality content for your sales team can help acquire more customers, educate potential leads and more.

For the best results, sales and content teams should be joined at the hip. There needs to be constant communication about the content customers want at every stage of the buying process. The sales team should also be involved in developing customer personas, since they interact with customers regularly. Additionally, the sales team is in the best position to tell the content team what will move leads down the sales funnel and what the competition is offering. Lastly, measuring everything is the best way for teams to know what is working, what isn’t and how to improve their strategies. Let’s dive into each of these five ways content and sales teams can work together.

1. Create Content for Every Stage of the Sales Funnel

Some companies already have content for every stage of their sales funnel, but you need to think of this problem from the customer’s perspective. They want information at every stage of the buying process. From the moment they realize they have a problem until they find the right solution, social buyers are looking for information and content that will guide them to the right solution. If your company doesn’t help them along the way, then your competition will. During the early phases of a big purchase, the sales and content teams take on the role of a trusted advisor. You must have content that will guide customers to the products and services you offer.

2. Develop Buyer Personas

Some customer segments are more profitable than others. Following the Pareto Principle, chances are that 80 percent of your profits come from just 20 percent of your customers. When you’re building out your content portfolio, you want to be sure that you’re targeting these segments first. The best way to identify these personas is to ask your sales team. They know which customers are buying your products and services most often, and they can give you a vivid description of your ideal customer. Then you just have to develop content to serve the needs of this core customer.

3. Write Articles That Nurture Leads

While the sales and content teams are collaborating, this would be a great time to ask about the content that moves leads. Sales teams know exactly what customers are looking for, and that’s what the content team needs to deliver. Have members of the sales team jot down a list of the most frequently requested content, and pass that list over to the content team so they can include it on their editorial calendar.

4. Be Different from Your Competitors

When a member of the sales team is shot down because the competition has offered the client more information or better content, this is a great opportunity. Knowing what the competition is offering can help your content team develop similar or superior content. Sales teams should tell the content team about any information on products being offered by the competition.

5. Measure Your Content’s Success Through Direct Sales

The best way to ensure that the content team is delivering quality leads to the sales team is to measure everything. With the marketing software and customer relationship management (CRM) software available today, this is easier than ever before. When you track where leads come from, how they interact with your brand and when they generate sales, you can begin to tweak your systems. Fine tuning your content and sales strategies with this data can make your business much more profitable.

Photo Credit: Flickr via tec_estromberg

The need for inside sales REPs is constantly growing nowadays with many B2B companies having a strategic change in their sales teams’ structure. InsideSales.com conducted a research with shocking results showing that “inside sales is growing 300% faster than outside sales”. This is happening mainly due to the fact that inside sales increases sales effectiveness, productivity and minimizes costs. “Surveying more than 100 senior-level sales leaders from high technology and business services companies (…)46 percent of respondents reported a migration from field to inside sales models within their organization over the last two years”(Steve W. Martin, Velocify)

Keeping pace with this fast growing trend, it’s important to adjust your company’s sales team skills to the new sales model. As sales people are shifting from field to virtual communication with customers, it’s mandatory to understand that virtual interaction is different in its nature from a face-to-face meeting. Let’s review the main skills required in virtual communication proficiency.

• Tone of Voice – A significant part of any Sales REP’s day is spent on the phone with customers, so pleasant, confident and friendly voice must be an inseparable part of the Sales’ virtual personality. Voice is the only image a client gets when he or she hears from a Sales REP for the first time. I personally perform the first interview for inside sales candidates over the phone; it’s the only way to check if that’s the tone of voice you would like your prospects to be exposed to.
• Conversational Skills – Being able to lead a pleasant conversation is a mandatory proficiency for an inside sales REP. A good sales person should be able to effectively attract strangers and get them into the conversation- not a MONOLOG. It’s common to use a pre-written script- the main required skill is to present the script naturally and improvise a dialog with the customer.
• Questioning Skills – asking the right questions and carefully listen to the lead’s answers as they are the key to continuing the interaction or planning the next conversation.
• Writing Skills – Writing becomes an inseparable part of the virtual communication capabilities required from a sales REP. The ability to correspond with your leads in an engaging manner could make the difference between a Sales REP and an Excellent, Successful Sales REP. Creating a “bank of email scripts” to various scenarios in the company is always a help; but, at the end of the day, the sales REPs must be able to adjust a relevant script and write a relevant & captivating e-mail that will encourage your customer to continue the discussion with them.
• Hands on with Web Conferencing Tools – Technology has a significant contribution to facilitate the virtual sales process. Any sales REP must be very comfortable with the tools the company decided to choose. You don’t want your team to spend lot of time when they need to schedule a product demo or presentation with their prospects.
• Presentations Skills – Web conferences, and demo meetings became vital in insuring customer engagement to the sales process. It is important to be able to catch the client’s attention via the web presentation and not to limit it to voiced-over presentation slides and screen share. You can do it by diversifying the content of the presentation, adding different types of media (videos, audio files, pictures) and some brainstorming activities along the presentation.

Remember that Virtual communication practice is different in nature from traditional in-person engagement. Ensure your inside sales team has the right skills and you will reach better sales results.

Twitter is the fastest growing social network to date.

With more than 500 billion active users tweeting 400 million tweets and entering 1.6 billion search terms every day, it’s the perfect secret weapon for sales professionals.

Not only is Twitter a great place to find and monitor your competition and their interaction with prospective clients but it’s also the ideal place to discover prospects, build relationships and gain deep insights into your prospects’ needs and wants. This data is invaluable to your sales strategy.

Through Twitter, you can be part of the most relevant conversations in real-time, identify opportunities before your competition does, build relationships, and deepen customer trust.

Here’s how to use Twitter to strengthen your sales strategy:

Discover new leads

With more than 500 billion users, it takes work to identify which users are relevant prospects that you can use. But it’s worth it.

Start by identifying keywords that buyers would type into search engines to find you, your product, or information related to your industry. By entering these keywords into Twitter’s search feature, you’re instantly presented with real-time results of users who are searching these terms with the most recent updates first.

Next, review these results and evaluate whether you can help with a pain, answer a question or assist them in solving a problem. Instantly, you’ve connected with potential customers who’ve already identified their need for you. Continue to use this approach to build a list of prospects that you monitor, build a relationship with and expose your product or service to.

Understand your customers’ needs and wants

Building on the process above, you’re now presented with unlimited opportunities to connect with prospects in their chosen environment. But what does your opportunity really look like?

Twitter is a great weapon of choice because it allows you to get a personal perspective of your prospects. What do they do? What are their interests? What’s their personality? Without having to make a cold call and gather this information, using Twitter you can respond to users’ self-identified needs and wants. You’re in a position of power because you’re armed with insightful information that will allow your connection to be authentic and useful.

For example, if you see that a user is considering developing a new website you might send them a link to a free report or recommend a local service. If they have a question about their website, perhaps you could provide an answer.

The beauty is, each time you reply to a user, your replies remain visible on your profile page and will appear in the results of other users’ searches. This recycling of information will help you build credibility and demonstrate your expertise within your industry.

Have conversations

Social media is for conversing not pitching. I mean, at some point you will likely pitch them your product, but the power of Twitter is the opportunity to connect with prospects by engaging in meaningful conversation.

Think of a tweet as an invitation for help, and never a request for a sales pitch. Use what you know to help people with a problem. Retweet your prospect’s tweets to your followers because if you can’t help them, someone in your network probably can. The point is to satisfy their need and start building a trusting relationship.

Build relationships

People buy from people they like and trust. Interacting with people on Twitter is a great way to employ a customer-centric approach to sales that’s built on solid relationships and is mutually beneficial.

Engaging with prospects on Twitter can mean asking questions, sharing their content, commenting on their posts, and offering valuable information that helps them achieve their goals.

In order to build and nurture relationships with social media, your focus should be to offer value, not to sell. For example, give free gifts, share content, connect prospects with other experts, answer questions, and become a resource for them in future.

If you’re still not buying the power of Twitter as it relates to improving your sales strategy, consider the following statistic. According to a study conducted by Jim Keenan, social sales specialist for A Sales Guy, 78.6% of salespeople who use social media to sell, outperform their colleagues who don’t. According to Keenan, “no matter how you slice the data in the report, social media users come out on top.”

With numbers like that, it’s crucial for sales professionals to use social media as a tool in their sales toolbox and adopt Twitter to help build their sales pipeline. Research demonstrates that social media positively affects quota, improves revenue, and introduces new opportunities.

Five Steps To Making Sales Through Social Media An integral part of the sales process is getting to know your prospects and establishing relationships—and it turns out that social media can help you accomplish this quickly and easily. “Social media allows salespeople to see what prospects are saying about their brand and competitors,” says Janet [...]

In sales we always talk about the importance of getting close to our customers.

We love to brag about how tight we are with a buyer and how the tight relationship benefits us and keeps out the competition.

Yes, it all sounds good.

There aren’t too many people who would argue with that premise. We all want to improve a customer relationship, right?   Problem is I firmly believe there are many more times than we realize when the strong relationship costs us money.

Let me explain, however, to prevent many of you from blasting verbal insults at me for what I’m about to say.

As you read this, I’m not advocating we should not have strong relationships with customers.  No, what I’m saying is we need to be careful that we don’t lose focus of our job all because of the relationship.

Having a strong relationship with a customer offers up a number of advantages, many of which translate to the bottom line, but there are two items we always have to be careful to control.

First is complacency.

Based off the strength of the relationship, it can become easy to make assumptions about the customer.  We begin to believe we can think for them and thus don’t have a need to ask them.  What happens is we wind up getting off track with the customer and before we know it, they’re offering up opporutnities to competitors, all because we weren’t as focused as should have been.

Second is we come to believe the relationship is so valuable that we wind up offering them things or doing things for them that really start to cut into profit.

We do things out of a sense of respect for the customer. What happens is we wind up providing them things for free that we would normally charge for.   For some reason, we believe the customer is entitled to the service at no cost because they’re such a good customer and we have a great relationship.

This issue when left unchecked can wind up costing us dearly because it does nothing but cascade out of control to the point where price increases are treated differently.

Relationships are key to sales. No doubt about the impact they can have on helping us be successful.   However, we have to keep in mind that too much of anything can turn into a bad thing.

Copyright 2014, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.

 

This is an oldie but a goodie, so I just couldn't resist sending it to you again - my infamous reasons why you should be out cold calling!

Enjoy, and share with your friends for a good laugh! Here goes:

1. You are a masochist.

Masochist (noun): The tendency to derive pleasure from one's own pain or humiliation.

2. You are addicted to the struggle.

Psychologists have identified the fact that many people stay poor or in otherwise bad circumstances because they are addicted to their own struggle.

3. You want to stay poor.

You have some type of moral or ethical objection to wealth and prosperity.

4. You work for an idiot.

Your boss is a dummy who wants you to keep cold calling with no regard to the fact that the less you sell, the less he makes.

5. You are already rich.

Since you don't need to make any sales or even keep your job, you cold call all day to pass the time.

So there you have it - the 5 best reasons I can come up with to cold call.

And if you're sick and tired of cold calling, and ready to start the new year by turning your computer into a printing press for leads, and start getting an endless supply of hot, qualified leads from people who are ready to buy right now, you know what to do:

As we all know, timing is everything in love and in B2B Marketing, but mostly in B2B Marketing. But when it comes to knowing how long one should wait before making a move (to progress the buyer further through the funnel) most Sales and Marketing people don’t have a clue. Without insight into how long the right amount of time between buyer progressions should be, you’re operating blind.By making a move at the wrong time you are likely to push your buyers away - and they’ll turn to your competitors instead. That’s why an understanding of the effect of lag on your funnel is so important! So, how long does it take your buyers to move through each stage of the funnel? In Hugh’s latest blog, he explores the impact of time on buyers and reveals a simple strategy for accelerating progression. He also demonstrates the painful cost of getting this wrong.

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As we showed in Gigya’s Social Login data from the third quarter of 2013, a number of social media websites have made strong plays to become the identity provider of record for consumers on the web. And while Facebook is still the dominant one, Google+, Twitter, and LinkedIn are making strides in the area.

In measuring social sharing -- shares from websites and applications to social networks -- however, Gigya’s data shows the rapid growth of another player: Pinterest.
 
The photo-sharing network, with over 70 million active users, has truly become a top sharing destination and made huge strides in industry verticals like ecommerce, where it has actually surpassed Facebook as the most shared network.

Facebook isn’t the only network that Pinterest has made gains on either. In North America, consumers actually shared to Pinterest more than Twitter during Q3 (29% compared to 24%, respectively).
 
While once derided as a niche network for bridal registries and home decoration ideas, Pinterest has become a mainstream sharing destination for a wide variety of visual content -- everything from recipes, to fashion, to sports photos, to lesson plans for teachers.
 
Notably, Pinterest has also taken some interesting steps to boost sharing from other websites and applications, most recently releasing APIs to allow users to more easily post content to the network and allowing users to embed Pinterest content in other sites in hopes of increasing overall engagement with the photo-sharing site.
 
Below, you'll find even more data from Q3 of last year, which measures shares to different social networks from the hundreds of thousands of sites and apps that leverage our Connected Consumer Management Suite:

What do you think of the data above? Do you really think Pinterest is becoming an increasingly viable option for brands to utilize in their social marketing?

Warning: The following blogs are gonna be boring. They're for industries that you most likely don't care about -- most are B2B businesses, so the chances of you being interested in that content and also a reader of our blog are kinda slim. 

But, there's no denying that these blogs absolutely rock. Though you may not always be interested in the topics or industries that these blogs talk about, they are kicking some serious butt at doing their job for people in those industries.

Because we've talked about quality content being decided by your audience, we've got to give these amazing blogs in totally boring industries a high-five. So prepare yourself to be blown away. And who knows? By the end, you may be subscribed to a few of them ;)

1) Intercom

A CRM business, Intercom isn't exactly the hottest type of business around (I know that my friends' eyes glaze over when I start geeking out about them). That being said, Intercom makes it seem hot -- all from the moment you land on the blog homepage. Seriously, just look how gorgeous it is:

The layout is clean, yet interesting. I love how the bars behind the titles overlap and how it's easy to discover new content in the sidebar. Bonus: Authors are listed as their Twitter handle, helping them build their personal brand. 

And, of course, the information inside the posts is awesome -- they're easy to read and filled with engaging images. Definitely a blog to learn from, regardless of the industry you're in.

2) Memphis Invest

Are you interested in the nitty-gritty of real estate investments? Maybe not, but you should still check out Memphis Invest for some blogging tips. What I love about this blog is how consistently great it is at answering the exact questions people are searching for about real estate investment.

The blog also features a variety of content -- some fun posts include inspirational quotes, some are just in-depth answers to questions people ask, and some include visual content like infographics. All in all, the blog is just consistently doing a great job with inbound marketing -- and that's not an easy feat!

3) Zendesk

The customer service software company's blog is probably one of my favorites on this whole list. The layout is gorgeous, the information is interesting and informative, and it's super easy to discover more content you like.

But what especially stands out on this blog are its featured images. Images are specially designed for each post -- each is simple, colorful, and to-the-point, making me want to click on article after article after article. I especially love that most people could replicate images like them in PowerPoint! 

4) Maersk Line 

For a container shipping company, Maersk Line sure gets creative with its content -- especially for it's #TripleE campaign that ended in November.

To celebrate the maiden voyage of its first Triple-E vessel (whatever that is), the company decided to live blog the adventure. Every few days, the ship's captain would post an update on the blog, often with pictures -- a great way to engage with the segment of its audience who is interested in travel. 

Bonus: The campaign was truly multi-platform, with plenty of social media support and integration. Nice job, Maersk Line!

5) THE BOSS Snowplow

Next up: A snowplow company's blog. Though THE BOSS Snowplow has a pretty robust and great social media presence, we're most impressed with its blog. 

Blogging can be used to suit a variety of business needs -- it can generate leads, nurture leads into customers, or even help keep your existing customers happy. Somehow, THE BOSS Snowplow manages to do all three on its blog, all while being incredibly helpful and educational.

Some content will teach you general safety tips for snow plowing, while others will help you use specific BOSS Snowplow products. Seriously, a great balance of content.

6) Allstate

Discoverability (how easy it is for people to find the content they want to find) is actually kind of hard to do on a blog. Chances are, you're blogging about multiple topics for more than one audience -- and things can get really murky when those audiences want to see drastically different content. 

Allstate seems to have solved that problem through its fabulous blog homepage features. The slider at the tippy-top automatically rotates a new featured story every few seconds to surface content you may like, all without it being distracting.

Below that are Trending Topics, which basically are the most popular story types at the moment. Using social proof (a.k.a. designating certain posts as popular or trending), Allstate makes it easy and desirable to discover more blog content. 

7) Gild

It's hard to stay on top of trends in your industry and write about them, but that's exactly what Gild does on its blog.

Every week, the company posts a roundup of top stories in industry that its audience will like to hear. Because the posts are timely, relevant, yet not a ton of information to digest, Gild's readers eat them up. For those of us who need to be better about consistently blogging, this is a really great example to follow!

8) AmeriFirst

Speaking of consistency and awesomeness, AmeriFirst is another paragon of both. Featuring new posts at least once a day, the blog always has topics that AmeriFirst readers want to learn about -- and that's not just mortgages. The company writes about pretty much anything to do with buying and taking care of your home.

That strategy is perfect for attracting top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) leads -- people who are looking for information about their homes most likely need a mortgage ... but they're most likely not ready to buy or change their mortgage when searching for random household tips online. With this strategy, AmeriFirst can be a resource for people long before they need to buy a mortgage. 

9) iOffice

When you first visit the iOffice blog, I'm struck by how clean, yet colorful the design is. From the color scheme, to the white space between posts, to the front-and-center author photos, it just feels inviting. 

The facilities management company then backs that gorgeous layout up with fantastic content: a mixture of how-to posts, recent trends in facility management, and even an infographic or two. Having a diverse collection of content is crucial to keep your audience interested in your blog and brand. 

10) Neenah Paper

Last, but certainly not least, is a real-life Dunder Mifflin (but one that's way, way cooler). Neenah Paper makes -- you guessed it -- paper, stationary, and cards. Though it's a pretty traditional product, the manufacturer has anything but a traditional blog.

The homepage of Neenah Paper looks just like a media site -- lots of featured stories, all presented in a highly visual layout that's similar to Pinterest. Then, once you dive into their posts, they're filled with even more images.

You can pretty much spend hours browsing the images on the blog ... which is exactly what Neenah Paper wants you to do. :)

Which "boring" blogs do you like to follow? Give 'em a shoutout in the comments! 

For a lot of people hoping to land a new sales job this year, it is a priority to create a resume that is search engine friendly. Unfortunately this often leads to resumes that are less succinct and are jammed with keywords which distract from the accomplishments and abilities of a sales person.

To those of us that make a living separating good from great sales people, a poorly written or confusing resume can be a signal that someone is not all that capable. And, by the way, we are pretty strong when it comes to separating the good from the great (90%+ success ratio in picking sales people over the last several years).

Here are some of the worst words and phrases that find their way into sales resumes with a tongue in cheek explanation of why we’d rather not see them:

Responsible for … – Hiring managers aren’t as much interested in what a sales person was supposed to do versus what the sales person did do.

Results-driven – Kind of like saying motivated….I think. Maybe? Wait it might mean that they want to achieve results but can’t. Not sure. Why not just identify the results that have been delivered which implies a familiarity and comfort with driving for results?

Well rounded – Hiring managers care about hiring someone who can sell. They don’t care what shape the person is.

Experienced – Everyone who has worked one day in their life has experience so using this word doesn’t say anything about what makes the resume’s owner unique. Superfluous.

Seasoned veteran – Does this mean the sales rep comes with pepper and cajun spice? I would rather see years served which tells me a bit about maturity.

Team-player – One of the most overused words and least understood. In my career I have heard about 500 different perspectives of what constitutes a team player (some of them contradictory) and if I saw that on a resume, I would have no idea which of the 500 definitions was being referenced.

Solid – We see this a lot in conversation, but the adjective means not having the form of gas or liquid, which is good I suppose, but usually doesn’t give us much insight about sales capabilities.

Dynamic – Ever changing? Energetic? Not quantifiable and will be measured subjectively depending on who is measuring.

Motivated – Everyone is motivated or at least they should be. But can the rep sell better than the rest?

Objective – Opening a resume with the career objective of the job seeker is like starting a conversation with a prospect with how much commission you want to make. How about a summary of what the rep does well and the tangible results delivered to employers?

Contentious and hard worker – This one is more of a typo. Sales reps that want to make a good impression proof read their documents before sending them to a prospect.

We – A hiring manager is looking at a resume and seeking to hire an individual so they are interested in what the sales person did, not what the sales person did with their friends.

Creative – When someone describes themselves as a creative sales professional, I wonder if the person is trying to tell me they like to paint and do artwork on the side? And then I wonder if they can sell, because they haven’t yet answered that question.

 

What We Like To See

It’s simple. We look for results and examples to support claims of talent. The best sales people let their accomplishments do the talking and as we have said before the best resumes say a lot by saying a little, so if you are reviewing a group of candidates for your open sales position, watch for candidates who use superfluous words and resume filler that distract from what really matters.

To your success!

 

image courtesy of nuttakit | freedigitalphotos.net

Gmail users will soon be able to email their Google+ connections without knowing their email address. A new setting in Gmail will control who may contact you. Read more on the Gmail blog.

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Chrome/Firefox/Safari: Boomerang, a popular browser extension for Gmail users, schedules your messages to be sent at a later time or reappear in your inbox at some point in the future. For awhile, you had to use a "manage page" to edit and scheduled items, but now you can do that directly from the message itself in Gmail.

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A lead costs a lot more than you think, but probably a lot less than you’re currently paying.

Lead qualification is complicated. When done incorrectly, marketing and sales become misaligned and money is wasted on “leads” sales can’t use. The risk is exactly what makes it such a hot topic.

Luckily, Dan McDade is an authority on the subject.

As founder and CEO of PointClear, Dan’s ideas are backed by the success of his business. He joins us to discuss current best practices, his recent book, and lead qualification tips you can’t miss.

Here’s the video:

You’re an All-Star.

You know the product like the back of your hand, and can handle anything thrown at you. You close the big enterprise deals. You’ve hit quota and then some.

Sound about right?

Lets face it, as Sales Executives, we all have a lot of pride, a lot of confidence, and a lot of moxy (I’ve always wanted to use that word). It’s our lifeblood. It’s what allows us to jump on those calls, and turn those “No’s” into “Yes’s”.

But the one thing most sales reps hate to do is ask for help and advice.

We’re fearful that it makes us seem incompetent, incapable of closing big deals, and ultimately, it hurts that lifeblood.

Asking for help in fact demonstrates humility, a willingness to learn, and the ability to identify weak spots to improve on. Asking for help actually makes you into the true All-Star that we all know you are. Asking for help shows strength and courage.

{Spoiler: Secret sauce to successful sales teams}

Coming from Pardot, one of the things that made their sales team so incredibly successful (besides the amazing leadership) was the team’s ability to share information with one another. After demos, the team would share feedback from their prospects on competitive intel. They would email each other with strategies and responses to overcome difficult objections. They would share articles and blogs on important things happening in the industry to make sure everyone was up to date.

No one thought themselves better than the other; they worked as a team, those who asked for advice and assistance would always receive it from others. You may have come up against an objection that was difficult to deal with, but perhaps another rep was able to handle it and close a deal with the way they responded.

So next time, when you struggle with a demo, or an objection, or a close, ask a fellow rep how they might have handled it. Ask a manager. Ask your CEO (if they have the time). They’ll see you as a much stronger rep. Because you’ll be one.

The basic idea of a sales pipeline is to estimate the upcoming sales you’re aiming to close.  Over time, this information becomes your sales forecast.  Year after year, companies prepare spreadsheet after spreadsheet to forecast sales for every month, quarter and year – even as far as ten years into their company’s future.  This type of forecasting can provide critical planning information – especially for resource allocation.  Some companies compile forecasts based on gut instinct, assumptions and the best guesses of their sales personnel (some of whom won’t be around to meet their ten year forecast). Sometimes they do get lucky and hit upon accurate readings. But more often, this system of assumptions and guesses just leaves them with results that can be detrimental to their business.  Not being able to predict customer metrics could leave a company overstaffed during a lull or understaffed during a boom.  The business may have an overabundance of raw materials or components (and therefore a reduced cash flow), or the business could have an inadequate inventory and find themselves in short supply (and only available at a premium price).  An inaccurate sales pipeline will often eventually lead to the self-destruction of a business.

To combat this, a smart business will create and track clients and prospects in their  sales pipeline.  And the smartest way to do this is with a CRM application, like Base, that can track your information by month, quarter and/or year – eliminating the need for those endless, repetitive spreadsheets.  With a CRM, you can measure the sales dollars and closure rates of potential sales identified by your team and then analyze these results to help you manage and – most importantly – enhance the pipeline. We’ve written about essential sales forecasting techniques before.

We wanted to give you a step-by-step process you could replicate to effectively manage your sales pipeline.

Creating The Pipeline

1. Find Your Prospects. Before we can talk about managing your pipeline, you need a pipeline to begin with. Where will you find your leads? There are many ways to generate leads. That’s a whole other post, or book for that matter. Check out the 30 greatest lead generation tips, tricks, and ideas if you need some inspiration. A couple tools that help you build your sales pipeline are a lead capture form and a lead and contact clipper. A lead capture form gives you the ability to capture information from prospects who visit your website and want more information. They give you the ability to create and embed lead capture forms to display on your website and Facebook page. Lead capture forms can be solid gold for your business. The contact information you glean from these forms belongs to people excited enough about your product to offer their contact information. Leads generated through these forms have contacted you directly and expect you to reach back out to them. By linking your form and your CRM, you can ensure that any and all requests make it to your sales team. Second, the Lead and Contact Clipper allows you to save full LinkedIn and Facebook profiles to your CRM with the click of a button. Create tasks for yourself to reach out to these prospects so you can start to build a relationship.

2. Determine The Real Potential.  To begin, obtain critical information from the prospect including potential total sales dollars and volume for a specific time period (weekly, monthly, annually, etc.).  Remember, there’s no room for estimation or guesswork here!  There is no doubt that a current client or a prospect has the more accurate information about how much product/service it may buy.  This is also an opportune time to determine a client’s relevant purchasing policies.  Is the client prohibited from buying all of product All from one supplier?  On a monthly basis?  Annual basis?  Are the client’s purchasing decisions based solely on price?  Collect every bit of information that can effect whether a client can or will buy from you. Don’t forget to check your gut either. While a prospect could be walking the walk, try to really gage their intent to follow through. How responsive is the prospect? Do they get back to you right away or are they quick to disappear? How serious is the prospect? Figure our objections early to have a more accurate sales pipeline later.

3. Identify Decision Makers.  In some cases, your contact may be the decision maker.  But many times, purchasing decisions may be made by key executives based on price, volume, volatile market conditions or other reasons specific to their industry.  Asking your contact about key decision maker(s) can be an awkward conversation that may not help you in the end.  Try softening your approach: let the client know that this purchase would represent a significant expenditure for your company, where it would need executive approval.  Once you’re on topic, ask if that’s their policy, too.  Don’t forget to ask for any purchasing directive the executives have provided – this can be a huge asset.  Another tip, offered up by Tom Hopkins on Twitter is to “get involvement by asking who will be using your product the most.”

Managing The Pipeline

4. Follow-Up.  Follow-up is critical to close on any request for business.  We even wrote about how to make the perfect sales follow-up. Document all follow-up actions you agreed to complete for all clients and prospects in your CRM – make sure to add a description of the action required, contact name, and estimate date of completion for each action item.   Then track and complete these actions accurately, totally and within the agreed timeframe.  Make sure to immediately follow-up on any urgent requests, request for a quote or – perhaps most importantly – a first call from a potential client.  During this period, be aware of other potential sales offered to a client and learn their hot buttons.

5. Measure Results.  For each prospect, track and measure your successes (and failures)!  Tracking the results of your sales forecasting – especially in a CRM -measures your closure rate and the accuracy of your sales dollars and volume pipeline.  Accurate sales forecasting optimizes business planning and cash flow.

6. Analyze Results.  Now that you’ve tracked the key information and actions on each potential sale, you have a roadmap to success.  Repeat the path that has earned sales.  Stay away from the actions where sales were lost.  But always looks for ways to make improvements to your strategies, and put those techniques into action.  Then share the “do’s” and “do not’s” with your sales force – when one of you benefits, everyone can benefit.

Without sales, a business can’t survive.  Developing, tracking, managing and analyzing your pipeline can directly increase sales and build your business. Let us know, what are your tips for effectively managing your sales pipeline?

* This post originally appeared on the Base blog.

By using sophisticated market targeting and tailoring calls to specific prospects, B2B telemarketing companies can increase the chances of any business to increase their sales. You can measure the depth of a telemarketing firm by being prolific data analysts and effective niche marketers at the same time. As it has been pointed out many times, the process doesn’t just involve generating leads – it’s about getting it from people who matter.

The problem is that telemarketing has been a victim of its own success: the success of telemarketing in the past has attracted more competition. Now everybody wants to do telemarketing. While all that is happening, the target markets have been improving in terms of their ability to screen calls, provided by technology that surrounds them.

So the need for targeted marketing is stronger than ever. And marketers can do that by perfecting the following tactics:

• Fresh arrivals. Shifting the efforts towards lists of new contacts in an area has two advantages. First, it can grab hold of new numbers before some other company provokes them to be registered on do-not-call lists, and second, it could help focus on an audience that is often in the market for new goods and services.

• Upgrades and Cross-Selling. The more names that do-not-call lists eliminate, the more valuable existing business relationships that are eligible for telemarketing calls become. Companies should look for ways to broaden those existing relationship.

• Tailor-fitting calls based on personas. When a sales pitch is customized to cater a specific audience, it becomes unique and it stands out from the crowd. To achieve this, though, a more effective segmentation system should be in place.  Knowing exactly what type of prospect you’re talking to is huge help in making adjustments to spiels and responses.

• Affinity telemarketing. Marketers can build lists based on specific interests, using techniques such as running drawings and other contests at particular events. This is to put all the interested parties in one place and for marketers to obtain opt-in opportunities for telemarketing calls and identify target attributes for a more accurate targeting.

• Data expansion. A campaign should include efforts to broaden the information stored in the pipeline to include things like e-mail addresses and other pertinent data. This allows for multi-faceted approaches and also preserves a means of contact should a given number be eliminated from a list of eligible call numbers.

This content originally appeared at: Want Targeted Leads? Go for Targeted B2B Telemarketing

It’s 1:20am and I’m sitting here on my couch, a little overwhelmed (in a good way) as I think about the week I’ve had.

You see, over the past few days I’ve been near Washington DC, hosting my first live event—The Remarkable Growth Experience.

Next week, I’m going to be sharing my in depth thoughts on the past few days, but for now I’ll just say it was a landmark event in my life, as I suspect just about every attendee  was dramatically impacted in some way, shape, or form as well.

But today, I wanted to share with you a video of a presentation I gave at HubSpot’s Inbound 2013 in Boston this past year. As I reviewed the talk this evening (it was just published), I was brought back to why this presentation meant so much to me:

This was the first time my wife and 4 children have ever seen me speak in public.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(And if you look at the front row while I’m speaking, there is a good chance you’ll see them sitting there.)

But I share this with you today because there are a few messages within this video that are profoundly important and could dramatically impact your business and life. They are as follows:

1. The unbelievable impact transparency has on content, consumers, and your ability to sell.

2. The need to be brave and to go beyond “the way it has always been done” in your industry.

3. The “why” behind this whole thing we call “Inbound” and “Content Marketing.”

If you’re looking to finish your week off with a bang, and you also want to hear me get a little personal as to why I am the way I am when it comes to my family and the passion I have for this subject, please go ahead and watch.

Have a great weekend everyone…

You just got your new quota and it’s gone up.  Now you need to roll it out to your management team.  You know there is going to be pushback from your team.  Don’t panic, it’s not the end of the world.

Top sales leaders know how to communicate and roll out a sales plan.  Here are some ways to make it painless.

Start Early

As soon as the new quota is approved- it’s time to get moving.  Get your sales managers involved early in the process.  The sales management team needs to have a clear understanding of the new quota. Sit down with your team and pay attention to these areas:

• Understanding the link between the company strategy and new quota
• The impact to the individual sellers and their territories
• Rebalancing of any territories due to the new quota
• Impact on morale and any risks on the individual

Once you have your managers onboard it is time to meet with the team.

Identify Any Gaps

To quote Cuba Gooding Jr. in the movie Jerry Maquire, “Help me, help you”.  This is the most important step of rolling out the quota.  Take the time to explain the activity needed to get to the number.  Identify any gaps and work to close using the following:

1. Social prospecting- if you don’t think you will have enough leads from marketing, generate your own.  Sales can’t rely on marketing alone.  Use LinkedIn to expand your profiles, reach, and referrals to close the gap.  Today’s sales leader should be generating about 70% of revenue through sales prospecting. To see more on how VP’s use social prospecting take a look at this post.
2. Marketing – Sit down with your CMO to see what campaigns they are running.  Today’s marketing organizations are generating 25+% of the sales funnel.  You need to identify what lead and demand generation programs will drive the pipeline.  If your marketing team needs help.  Here is a great article to get you started.
3. Gamification- Rollout a competition to the team focused on getting off to a strong start.  Gamification is a great way to get the teams competing while changing behavior.  Create the following:

• Defined contest based on Q1 goals
• Daily leaderboard to track activity
• Point system that is easy to measure
• Rewards that get the team excited

 

Communication is Key

Communication is paramount when rolling out a quota.  Your team needs to understand how they can make the number.  Ensure your sales managers take this seriously.  It should be done in a 1-on-1 meeting or call.  Do not send an impersonal email with the new quota to your sales rep. If you don’t rollout the quota right- you will lose “A” players

Next Steps

Having a quota increase is part of being in sales.  Download the Sales Leaders Checklist for Closing the Quota Gap.   Then take the time to understand what you are communicating to your team.  Get your managers together to discuss and most importantly fill any gaps.  You control your destiny in 2014- no one else will.  It’s time to step up and lead.

Author: Josh Horstmann

Follow @HorstJosh

Follow @MakingTheNumber

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Sales Training Article: 10 Traits of the "A" Player

By Joel McCabe, Sales Benchmark Index (SBI)

You've relied on the same tried tired and true hiring practices for sales reps over the last couple of years. And what has it gotten you? The same recycled reps that come with Rolodex in hand. They guarantee new business is just a call away. When evaluating potential candidates, you've probably asked, "How do I know if they're legit?" If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. This is a common dilemma for many CEOs and hiring managers.

Rolodex vs. Social Network
Your problem may be centered on the fact that you're not hiring for new 'A' players. We find many firms continue to hire with traditional connections in mind, instead of social networks. There's a big difference. Most 'A' players nowadays - and those in the coming years - will be ingrained in social networks.

In this article I'll address the question, "How do I know if they're legit?" when it comes to new 'A' players.

One of the strongest indicators of a New 'A' player is the quality of their LinkedIn reach and profile. To assist you in evaluating 'A' players we developed the LinkedIn "A" Player Scorecard. The scorecard provides both qualitative and quantitative measures. These measures will help you objectively evaluate potential and current sales reps.

Sign-up for one of these sales training workshops to work on your Sales Process Execution from this list.

Attributes of the New 'A' Player
Next generation sales reps are profoundly social. They understand the power of social networks and are able to leverage them. They develop strong personal brands, referral networks and grow sales through social media outlets. Their online relationships are organic and non-intrusive. There's a very clear divide between the people who intuitively understand how social media works, and those who don't. New 'A' players are the former - keep an eye out for this trait.

Another hallmark of New 'A' players is that they are extremely buyer-centric. Sales process adherence and persona recognition are driven by the desire to understand the customer. They follow a Buyer Process Map in order to better help their prospects discover the best solution.

Below, you can find a list of the key attributes that you'll find in New 'A' players. Whether you are considering your current sales reps, or looking to hire new ones, keep these competencies in mind.

Social Personal Branding: Creates and perpetuates a digital brand that portrays expertise

Social Reach: Amplifies one's brand and attracts the right relationships

Social Referral Generation: Generates warm introductions to decision makers at target accounts

Social Prospecting: Gathers and acts upon account and persona intelligence

Buyer Process Map Recognition: Identifies the location of a buyer on a buying process map

Sales Process Execution: Sells the way the buyer wants to buy

Technology Proficiency: Leverages SoLoMo (social, local and mobile), SFA and marketing automation tools

Insight Generation: Drives new demand by proactively bringing new insights to target accounts

Content Production: Creates and curates valuable lead nurturing content and syndicates it across social connections

Lead Management: Receives and understands lead intelligence from the marketing department, and converts leads into opportunities

It's not always easy to examine a candidate and break them down for all of these competencies. However, there are some tools to help with that as well

Topgrading for Sales
In Topgrading for Sales, Bradford Smart and Greg Alexander provide insights into finding and evaluating talent. While it isn't 100% specific to New 'A' players, it provides insights for sifting through the talent pool. It is especially helpful for sales leaders who haven't yet developed a virtual bench of sales talent.

Just like the rest of the sales industry, times are also changing when it comes to 'A' players. Don't get caught hiring based on the wrong criteria. It will set your organization back into the age of Rolodexes. The pace is fast these days, and it's crucial you keep up. 'A' player criteria from even 5 years ago is now severely outdated. Make sure you stay up to date by downloading the LinkedIn "A" Player Scorecard.

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Need some help with your sales performance? Take a look at the sales training workshops available to you and improve sales performance.

Read more sales training articles from CustomerCentric Selling® - The Sales Training Company.