Skills

3 out of 4 companies are taking the wrong approach to sales coaching

As you can imagine, I get to speak to a fair number of B2B-focused CEOs and sales leaders - and I can’t recall any of them ever disagreeing with the principle that effective sales coaching is an absolutely critical skill for first-line sales management. But the latest research from CSO insights suggest that 3 out of 4 companies are taking the wrong approach to sales coaching - an approach that is clearly holding back both individual rep performance and overall revenue achievement. Three approaches to coaching In the research that formed the basis for their recently-published 2013 READ MORE ›

By Bob Apollo|Sales, Skills|

What have you learned from your top sales performers?

What is it that your top sales performers do better than anyone else? Part of the explanation may, of course, be simply that they are more naturally talented, or have a greater emotional intelligence when it comes to decoding complex sales relationships. But they will also have accumulated a set of winning habits and behaviours that the rest of your sales team could benefit from. And your ability to leverage that learning could make all the difference when it comes to achieving or exceeding your revenue goals. As Miller Heiman’s 2013 sales best practices report points out, READ MORE ›

By Bob Apollo|Sales, Skills|

What colleges should be teaching Marketing majors

Marketing, like most things in life, is completely different from what it was 10 years ago. We are moving to a more social and more personalized web, which means that customers desire a more customized, relevant experience. Unfortunately, most universities and colleges are still preaching ye olde marketing curriculum. Recently, Lauren Carlson, producer at CRMSoftware.TV, sat down with some current marketing gurus to discuss what skills are really needed for success today. Kipp Bodnar, HubSpot Eric Holmen, Silverpop Adam Steinberg, Silverpop The discussion was very interesting. One point that was brought up was in regards to success READ MORE ›

By Lauren Carlson|Skills, Strategy, Velocity|

6 Critical Foundations of the new “Solution Selling”

Faced with increasing competition, commoditisation and margin erosion, most B2B vendors have chosen to embrace “solution selling” in one form or another. But, as many have learned to their cost, simply slapping solution lipstick on a product pig tends to be a cost-added, rather than a value-added strategy. Applying solution selling in today’s increasingly well-educated and often justifiably cynical buying environment requires a profound change in mindset and selling (and marketing) behaviour that many companies never manage to properly master - but the ones that do usually reap substantial rewards. Having observed some of the best exponents READ MORE ›

By Bob Apollo|Sales, Skills|

Equipping your sales team for success

We’re often asked by clients: “How can we replicate the results that are being achieved by our top sales performers?” In other words, they want to know what they have to do to get their whole team performing at the same level. This question almost always comes from sales managers, and whilst it’s a valid question, it also fails to recognise an important truth – most salespeople fail in their roles because of poor sales management. Whilst most sales managers ask what his or her top performers are doing that the poor performers aren’t, a better question READ MORE ›

By Eddie Smith|Skills|

Are your Salespeople asking the right questions…….

to add value to the conversation with an informed, self-driven prospect? Reading Paul McCord’s contribution to an interesting discussion on sales force ineffectiveness, initially started by Dave Brock over at The Customer Collective, led me to this question. I think this is a real challenge we have to become aware of and need to have answers to if we want salespeople to continue to bring value to their interactions with such prospects. Bringing this value is key for the salesperson to build credibility and establish a relationship that generates sustainable revenue streams. Most buying processes today start READ MORE ›

By Christian Maurer|Skills|

The attributes marketers need to be revenue marketers

In the past few months a cool new term has appeared on my radar. That term is, “revenue marketer”. Wish I had thought of it first. It defines a new level of marketing professional. While I’m energized by the term, sadly, I’m concerned that too many B2B marketers don’t have the right perspective and skills to play in this new league. My latest exposure to the term was at an event in Austin hosted by Marketo, a marketing automation platform vendor. Speaking at the event was Debbie Qaqish , Chief Revenue Marketing Officer of The Pedowitz Group, READ MORE ›

By Chuck Besondy|Sales, Skills, Strategy, Velocity|

Kicking B2B marketing insights into action

At the end of day 2 at DemandCon, B2B marketing attendees should have all the advice you need to create a truly excellent Funnel Plan. The trick will be applying what you have learnt when you return to your B2B marketing company, and you are faced with the same problems that were there when you left for the conference. Whether its resource-shortages, process faults or a lack of alignment, your team will only be as strong as the processes that underlie it. You need to be confident that these processes are in order, and that the whole READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Skills|

B2B marketing professionals beware: your PowerPoint sucks (and how to fix it)

Most B2B marketing professionals learn PowerPoint in about 30 minutes, then jump straight into building lots of presentations. To be sure, B2B marketing professionals have more time to get PPT right than their sales counterparts, but they still suck. “You have had little formal training in presentation best practices, your slides are walking disasters, and worst of all, they get in the way of your ability to demonstrate your expertise” says Rick Altman, a presentations specialist & consultant set to strut the stage at DemandCon in San Francisco this May. Wow! Big call, Rick, but I have READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Skills|

Why Hold a Sales Kick-off Meeting?

Boston-based Funnel Coach, Daniel Holland, writes... These traditional boondoggles cost valuable time and money, and are usually not effectively organized or measured for impact. Historically, companies have gathered their sales forces and distributors in a resort-type atmosphere to feed them motivational speakers, washed down by ample food, drink, and recreation, all with the objective to motivate their performance to achieve sales goals for the coming year. One of my favorite examples can be found here. Naturally, the CEO and the SVP/Chief Marketing Officer wanted to ‘ignite passion and the full power of the company around ONE mission.’ Most READ MORE ›

By Daniel Holland|Sales, Skills|