Partners in Excellence

MARCH 6, 2024

We seem to be on diverging paths, and this creates problems for both buyers and sellers. They don’t need a lot of education about our products. We always seem to lead with our products and focus our conversations on those. We don’t help them by repeating what they already know.

Education 128

Education Trust Sell Product 128

Martech

MAY 6, 2024

Personalization is at the forefront; it’s an expectation for customers and has become one of the most powerful tools in the marketer’s arsenal. At the same time, customers are increasingly concerned about the what, why, and how of their data. They want to know what’s being collected, why we’re collecting it and how it’s being used.

Customers 110

Customers Trust Campaign Closing 110

Martech

APRIL 11, 2024

In our zeal to harness the tech part of martech, the ops part of MOps and the automation part of marketing automation, MOps professionals have failed to accomplish the most important part of the equation — marketing. But in our zeal to harness technology, operations and automation, we fail to accomplish marketing. Here’s why.

B2B 124

B2B Manufacturing Technology Technology 124

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 25, 2024

We know buying cycles are getting longer. Or we have other excuses. And then there is always VUCA, a great yet abstract excuse around why things are getting more difficult. And then there is always VUCA, a great yet abstract excuse around why things are getting more difficult. But perhaps we should look inwardly.

Customers 108

Customers Sales Presentation Start-ups 108

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 25, 2024

We don’t have a set agenda, we talk about what we are seeing, usually it’s me whining about the state of professional selling. I’m afraid too many people will latch onto that concept and miss the real point of this post which is the revenue/growth potential we lose.

Customers 116

Customers Objectives and Key Results Growth Objection handling 116

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 11, 2024

I leverage them constantly through my day, but for very different purposes than the majority of sellers. There are hacks piled on top of other hacks–I suppose helping us become even more efficient. We know how they work and shouldn’t have an expectation of much more–at least used in these ways.

Healthcare 116

Healthcare Drivers/motivators Engineering Presentation 116

Martech

APRIL 15, 2024

Our “Spotlight on the expert” series digs deeper into the stories of our expert contributors. Stanley Black & Decker is a truly iconic brand, around for more than 180 years, with a global market and its name practically synonymous with power tools. She is currently global customer CRM senior manager and CDP advisor.

CRM 98

CRM Retail Technology Technology 98

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 11, 2024

It’s crazy to think that we purposely design our organizations to fail. We are driven to succeed, to over achieve our goals. We constantly talk about winning. If this is true, why do we see year after year of declining performance and results? We see win rates plummeting. Why is this happening?

Quota 119

Quota CRM Growth Meeting 119

Martech

APRIL 17, 2024

Use customer data to inform email programs. So here we are, nearly seven years later and we haven’t moved far on complexity. Yes, we have made incremental gains, and yes, some dramatic leaps in innovation. Yes, we have made incremental gains, and yes, some dramatic leaps in innovation. Fast-forward to 2024.

Technology 124

Technology Technology Niche Campaign 124

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 31, 2024

Summarized, at any point in time, as we look at B2B companies (To help us understand it, let’s imagine the total market size is 1000 companies): At any point in time, 3-4% of companies in an industry are actively engaged in a buying effort. So for the 40 companies that are buying, we or our competitors close only 16 of them.

Growth 119

Growth Pipeline Represent Closing 119

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 21, 2023

As our conversations often go, we were talking about the state of selling and how we improve. The conversation got me thinking about the issue: “Our customers desperately need help, but do we want to be helpful, do we know how to be helpful? You already know that.

Customers 121

Customers Quota Up-sell Conversion 121

Search Engine Land

APRIL 23, 2024

Also, customers are more thoughtful than ever about what information they’re willing to share and how it’s being used. We spoke with marketers from Cox Automotive and Sobeys about charting their own paths forward and how they’re finding ways to connect with customers in this complex landscape.

Government 108

Government Campaign Follow-up Conversion 108

Martech

MARCH 4, 2024

As a leader, you must be agile enough to pivot as you learn new information about the marketplace, your customers and disruptive new technology. We know with certainty that we’re in uncertain times and what we know today will be different tomorrow. Here are three actionable ways you can become an adaptive leader.

Technology 112

Technology Technology Launch Product 112

Search Engine Land

APRIL 30, 2024

The Google interface we know today will be gone in less than three years. You can probably take it off around noon.” At the time, we all decried it as a land grab from Google. It had the effect of “trapping” users on Google’s sites so they would click more paid ads and visit more Google properties.

User Experience 110

User Experience Niche Service Closing 110

SaaStr

MAY 13, 2024

And that thing I’ve learned is that you can take two brutally competitive products, that are very similar, give each a booth at SaaStr Annual, Europa or at one of our digital events… or each can try a podcast ad or do a newsletter ad … and one can walk away with more leads than you can follow up on.

Quota 83

Quota Pipeline Follow-up Start-ups 83

Partners in Excellence

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

We want to get a desired outcome without doing all the work one would normally have to do to achieve that outcome. I always “know” the fastest rout to an unknown destination, consequently I ignore my Nav System. In work, we constantly look for shortcuts. Sometimes, we need to compress the time to results.

Pipeline 128

Pipeline Drivers/motivators Technology Technology 128

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 22, 2024

Sometimes, I feel like a broken record talking about Customer and Business Acumen. Speaking to sales enablement executives, fewer than 10% have any sort of business acumen programs in place. Yet these same leaders complain about the ability to connect to prospects and customers. I ask: “How does your customer make money?”

Customers 108

Customers GTM Trust Up-sell 108

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 3, 2023

” It’s related to much of what I’ve written about Inciting Customers To Change. Too often, sellers catch customers who are very late in their buying cycle. The sellers simply respond to the customers’ questions, trying to prove the superiority of their offerings, getting the customer to buy.

Sell 126

Sell Up-sell Start-ups Customers 126

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 19, 2023

As sellers, we always talk about the importance of our “Unique Value Proposition.” ” For decades, we have thought about our value proposition in the context of our products/solutions. And we focused on our differentiation to determine our uniqueness.

X-functional 126

X-functional Price Presentation Product 126

Martech

MARCH 14, 2024

The launch of OpenAI’s text-to-video tool Sora highlights a broader AI problem that too many marketers ignore: With so much AI-generated content out there, customers don’t know what’s authentic. Consider these ways customers often react at different touchpoints when AI is involved. This might not seem like a big issue.

Trust 109

Trust Customers Healthcare Service 109

Partners in Excellence

MAY 6, 2024

She learned I was working with the North American teams in changing their approach to their markets and driving more aggressive sales growth. Curious, she came to the US to participate in strategy and other workshops, adapting what we were putting in place to her strategies in EMEA. In Europe, the stigma with sales is, often, greater.

Sell 87

Sell Technical Sales Up-sell Technology 87

Martech

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

They’re useful, and we use the return data in our email program, customer profiles and product development B. We don’t get much helpful info from them and readers generally ignore them. How could we do a better job with these familiar emails? The boss told us to do it. But something’s askew here.

Profit margin 124

Profit margin Contact Campaign Service 124

Partners in Excellence

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

Ever since I started selling–you know back in the old days when phones were still attached to cords–I’ve been taught, “Buyers have a structured buying process.” ” I’d see all sorts of block diagrams, showing how the buying process always, coincidentally, aligned with the customer buying process.

B2B 129

B2B Up-sell Contract Start-ups 129

Search Engine Land

APRIL 30, 2024

If you’ve ever tried using avatars or buyer personas to write a Google Ads headline, you know it can be frustrating and fruitless. You try to define your target market, only to be told, “Our audience is anyone who wants our product – we don’t exclude anyone.” Ready to refine your approach? Let’s dive in.

CTR 105

CTR Real Estate Legal Clients 105

Search Engine Land

APRIL 15, 2024

In this article, I will outline a process that shows you exactly how to do that and provide a simple template you can fill out to take your content to the next level. Our goal here should be to create well-optimized, people-first content. Any savvy marketer knows you build trust with your prospects by being helpful and sharing.

Process 116

Process Objectives and Key Results Angle Follow-up 116

Martech

MAY 9, 2024

When we spoke, he was driving to an airport in Croatia, but he was still able to address the “trough of disillusionment” that might be just around the corner for some — not all — uses of generative AI. But I know you think they’re trying to implement some over-complicated solutions. A: Yes and no.

Appointment 82

Appointment Technology Technology Follow-up 82

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 12, 2023

We all know customer retention is important. Creating great customer experiences, making sure we deliver on our commitments, keeping them happy are critical. We are all familiar with the “bow tie” chart, showing the importance of not only retaining, but growing and upselling.

Cross-sell 132

Cross-sell Up-sell Sell Customers 132

Search Engine Land

JANUARY 12, 2024

Google Ads customer service has plummeted to an unacceptable all-time low, according to search marketers. ” “Recently, I posted a job on Upwork that pays a reward of $500 for anyone that can get us access and set up Instant Reserve TV ads for our account. .” But even they have had no response to this query.”

Engineering 137

Engineering Clients Networking Represent 137

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 5, 2023

We know trust and trustworthiness are critical in our ability to engage prospects and customers. It’s a foundation of our ability to develop and maintain relationships. We know what happens when, inadvertently or purposefully, we betray that trust. What do we trust, what do we ignore.

Trust 124

Trust Construction Represent Technology 124

Martech

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Back in January, I was appointed CEO of our email agency. Within a week, I made a mistake that cost our company money. But even though my mistake didn’t end up in your inbox, it’s still a learning opportunity with takeaways that can help you spot potential errors long before they go out into the world.

Objectives and Key Results 117

Objectives and Key Results Retail Campaign Appointment 117

Search Engine Land

MARCH 13, 2024

When we turn up to work, we aren’t able to put ourselves into robot corporate mode. We are still that human that was at home in the morning and has many different motivational drivers. I will share with you my top five tips to make your content feel more human and to ensure it speaks to the people digesting it.

Drivers/motivators 99

Drivers/motivators B2B B2C Quota 99

Martech

JANUARY 12, 2024

As we slide into 2024, B2B marketing leaders face new challenges: deals are harder to close, budgets are shrinking, and expectations are rising. It’s a challenge beyond being more efficient with limited resources. We must rethink what it means to be effective in marketing. But is safety really what we need right now?

B2B 128

B2B Construction Strategize Growth 128

Search Engine Land

FEBRUARY 26, 2024

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT can create content, but it doesn’t always sound natural. The content can come across as dull or robotic without the right guidance. Fortunately, there are techniques you can use to make AI-written text more human-like, engaging and fun to read. Though slower than GPT-3.5,

Niche 129

Niche Follow-up Technique Education 129

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

I don’t think we consciously commit to doing just good enough, I suspect it’s a gradual process that impacts so many of us. Without a doubt, we face more turbulence, complexity, volatility, and uncertainty than we have ever experienced. We look at the marginal return, particularly on very small issues.

Growth 136

Growth Gaming Technology Technology 136

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Recently, working with a client, we were talking about a major change initiative. ” There was an awkward silence, the CEO eventually said, “I don’t know…… What should I be doing? In complex B2B initiatives, the reality is they probably don’t know! What should I be looking at?

B2B 101

B2B Clients Pitch Consult 101

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 4, 2023

I think, “Why do we revel in achieving our quotas and scaling goals, when we could be doing so much more?” ” If we achieve our growth/revenue goals, we think we are doing well. Too often, however, we could/should be doing much better. How should we be coaching them?

Quota 117

Quota Growth Sell Process 117

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 9, 2024

There’s a lot of concern, wherever one turns, about AI and Robots becoming more “human.” We reflect back on movies like “Terminator,” worrying about AI and robots taking over the world. Daily, we see examples of various forms of AI based plagiarism, some unintended, some malicious and intentional.

Presentation 123

Presentation Follow-up Customers Trust 123