Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 6, 2025

I do a good number of Sales Kickoff speeches I don’t give many speeches to general audiences or at conferences. Most of the time, my speaking is at the SKO of a client, with whom we’ve been working on key change initiatives. The speech is very focused and directed to each person’s role in executing these initiatives and achieving the goals.

Objectives and Key Results

Iannarino

JANUARY 6, 2025

Managing a sales pipeline can feel like trying to pack for a trip without knowing the weather. Youve got plenty of tools, lots of information, and a bit of hopebut it can still be overwhelming. When I worked as an outside sales representative , I spent way too much time guessing which leads would turn into deals. Sometimes I got lucky. Other times? Lets just say I learned what not to do.

Outside Sales

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 6, 2025

As we do each season, my family attended the Boston Pops Holiday Concert at Symphony Hall in Boston. Although we’ve attended for close to 23 years, this year I noticed something different and that experience will help you better understand the important role that sales process plays in the context of a modern sales methodology. As I wrote in this article , Sales Process is a framework for consistent, predictable, repeatable results and the framework is best deployed as a staged, milestone-

Process

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 6, 2025

Most of our selling activities are driven by our customers. As much as we may try to pitch our solutions, they don’t care–until they care. We end up waiting for them to be ready to talk to us. Even then, too often, they are choosing to minimize or eliminate sellers, preferring rep free buying experiences. Ultimately, sellers are deterred in engaging customers until very late in the buying cycle, and when/if customers want that engagement.

Customers

Speaker: Matt Sunshine, CEO at The Center for Sales Strategy

AI isn’t replacing salespeople—it’s empowering them. The most forward-thinking sales organizations are using AI to enhance human performance rather than eliminate it. From coaching and messaging to prospecting and pipeline accountability, artificial intelligence is giving managers and SDRs the new tools they need to work smarter, sell better, and close more.

Sales

SaaStr

JANUARY 6, 2025

VC firm High Alpha and Paddle did a survey of what keeps founders up at night. More here. One that surprised me a bit was that founders worry more about competition as they scale: 22% of founders worry about competition in the early days, but the swells to 50% at $50m ARR. It probably makes sense on many levels. The bigger you are, the more competition you have.

Niche

Salesforce

JANUARY 6, 2025

For decades, organizations of all sizes have struggled to effectively manage sales commission. Look up any organization with a sales team on a reputable employer review site and youll likely find at least one review, if not several, citing late, inaccurate, confusing, or constantly changing commission pay as a major criticism. Commission management is a universal thorn in the side of finance organizations, RevOps teams , and commissioned employees across organizations everywhere.

Commission

Salesforce

JANUARY 6, 2025

Starting a business itself is challenging. Youre up against larger companies, tight budgets, and a crowded market. However, artificial intelligence (AI) can help you overcome these challenges. Today, 90% of small to medium-sized business (SMB) and startups utilize AI to automate customer interactions , showing just how essential AI has become for driving customer engagement.

Finance

Engage Selling

JANUARY 6, 2025

Ever wonder why some pitches fall flat? Your team’s scripts might be loaded with ‘I’ talk. Let’s flip the script. For more strategies like this, check out my sales tip … The post This Word Hurts Your Sales first appeared on Colleen Francis - The Sales Leader.

Pitch

Salesforce

JANUARY 6, 2025

How can you do more with less in HR? The answer is AI. Heres what you need to know to set your team up for success. Imagine if you could spend your workday actually getting work done, and not waste time on low-value tasks like searching for benefits information or payroll documents. In fact, employees report wasting 13 hours per week due to poor digital experiences like this.

Strategize

Martech

JANUARY 6, 2025

Who, what, when, why and how? Journalism students learn to answer these questions to ensure the most important information is conveyed first in an article. Depending on their backgrounds, marketers may not be familiar with this structure. Even as someone who studied journalism, Im guilty of forgetting my roots. We all get busy trying to promote this product or that service.

Go To Market

Speaker: Brendan Sweeney, VP of Global Sales and David Phelan, Account Manager

In a world where buyers are more informed and objections are more nuanced, confidence isn't optional—it’s a competitive advantage. In high-stakes conversations, knowing how to handle pushback can make or break the deal. Join industry experts Brendan Sweeney and David Phelan for a behind-the-scenes look at how teams are transforming sales coaching with real-time feedback, objection-handling role plays, and pre-call preparation that actually sticks.

Objection handling

Salesforce

JANUARY 6, 2025

Hit the ground trailblazing in 2025! Level up by getting hands-on with Trailblazer Quests, connect with the amazing Trailblazer Community , and enter for a chance to win* some trail-tastic prizes. Table of contents What is Seize the Trail? Build, learn, and win with Agentforce Quests Climb the ranks with more Trailblazer Quests Ready to Seize the Trail in 2025?

Launch

Iannarino

JANUARY 6, 2025

Discover the hidden ways modern technology is reshaping relationships and what we can learn to rebuild meaningful connections.

Technology

G2

JANUARY 6, 2025

When I first started exploring mind mapping software, it wasnt just about finding tools to organize my thoughtsI needed solutions to transform chaotic ideas into structured plans.

Product

Iannarino

JANUARY 6, 2025

Lets talk about B2B lead generation. It sounds complicated, right? But its really just a fancy way of saying, finding the right people for your business and getting them interested in what you offer.

Lead generation

Speaker: Beth Sunshine, SVP, Up Your Culture

When culture isn’t consistently lived out across the organization, engagement suffers—and it often starts with a disconnect at the top. In this session, Beth Sunshine, SVP of Up Your Culture at The Center for Sales Strategy, will reveal how HR and executive leaders can close the gap between vision and execution by equipping frontline and mid-level managers to become culture carriers.

Start-ups

SaaStr

JANUARY 6, 2025

So some folks are going to disagree with me on this post, but I’m close to 100% right on it, and it will save you a ton of pain and time and money. Never hire someone who describes themselves as a “Strategist” unless that’s what you really, really want. Especially today. So many folks want to be strategists, do audits of what you do, and give you ideas.

Consult

The Advantexe Advisor

JANUARY 6, 2025

Welcome to Part 2 of '25 Business Issues to Think About in 2025'! In Part 1 , I explored some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities businesses will face in the coming year, ranging from AI integration and workforce upskilling to sustainability and geopolitical instability. These issues underscore the need for strategic thinking and strong business acumen skills across organizations.

Strategize

Salesforce

JANUARY 6, 2025

As we enter this new year, we reflect on last years extraordinary and yet systematic progress that laid crucial foundations for this emerging era of agentic AI. Our Salesforce AI Research team delivered significant contributions across model architectures, evaluation frameworks, applied systems, and more. Below, weve curated a handful of the research milestones that helped shape the landscape of AI research in 2024.

CRM