August, 2022

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Eight Sales Soft Skills that Create a Competitive Advantage

Iannarino

Only the rarest of sales organizations use a model with soft skills, let alone work to develop them. As a professional, you will need to build these skills on your own. You may have noticed you only ever win a client's business by working with other human beings. When your primary role is helping other people change, your soft skills provide a competitive advantage.

Sales 270
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A List of Sales Best Practices

Iannarino

There is a time to work on improving your sales approach, and then there is a time to get back to basics. At heart, I am concerned with effectiveness. Sometimes that means explaining the new fundamentals, and other times it means doing a few practices that are necessary to pursue success in sales.

Sales 272
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Trending Sources

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Is Your CRM Built for Technology Experts or Sales Experts?

Membrain

When choosing a CRM , companies often focus on what the CRM can do, how much it will cost , and whether it will integrate with their environment.

CRM 121
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Creating a Successful Digital Marketing Plan For Online Courses

ClickFunnels

The post Creating a Successful Digital Marketing Plan For Online Courses appeared first on ClickFunnels. Online courses are an amazing — and relatively new — development in the entrepreneurship world. Knowledge is now a commodity. It’s something you can package, market, and sell. Not only on a one-to-one coaching basis as in previous decades… but in a digital format that allows for infinite scalability.

Up-sell 242
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Empowering Retail Associates to Enhance the Customer Experience

Speaker: Andrew Regan, Managing Partner at BlueSeed Retail Ltd.

Did you know that 70% of new retail technology fails to deliver expected benefits and can often decrease customer value, service, and experience? With that in mind, how can we empower our store associates to leverage new technology to optimize the customer experience and boost productivity? This exclusive webinar with Andrew Regan will dive into strategies to empower retail associates for success with new technology.

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The Best Open-Ended Discovery Question

Cerebral Selling

When it comes to running high-impact sales discovery, one of the areas so many reps struggle with is asking engaging discovery questions that customers actually want to answer! In other words, how choosing the right questions can help you avoid “politely interrogating” your buyers and encourage them to open up about the pain points, business goals, and solutions you’re after.

Up-sell 232
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Do You Believe In Your People, More Than They Believe In Themselves?

Partners in Excellence

A colleague and I were reflecting on past managers/mentors we each had over our careers. We talked about the great ones and what set them apart. Eventually, we came upon the one thing common with each of our experiences. While different managers displayed this characteristic in different ways, the common thing was: For some reason, they believed in each of us, more than we believed in ourselves.

Start-ups 138

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Three Strategies to Improve Your Sales Process

Iannarino

In the past, many people believed the sales process would provide each salesperson with the ability to win the deals they pursued, making it possible for every salesperson to hit their sales targets. Like many promises that seem too good to be true, this one never came to fruition.

Process 259
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Only 11% of Public SaaS Companies Sell Just to SMBs

SaaStr

SMB SaaS has a lot going for it: – Millions of them – Short sales cycles – Easier compete. But, it's often hard to get to $100m ARR selling just to SMBs. So I took a look at the BVP Nasdaq index. Only 11.8% sell just to SMBs pic.twitter.com/Po1I2aMaBK. — Jason 2022 SaaStr Annual Sep 13-15 Lemkin (@jasonlk) August 26, 2022.

Sell 134
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Only 38% of marketers very confident in their customer data and analytics systems

Martech

Only 38% of marketers globally are very confident in their data, analytics and insight systems, according to a new report from The CMO Council. And, while 91% say direct access to customer data is a critical competitive advantage, only 11% say that data is readily accessible to them. Read next: Only 11% of CMOs say they have achieved digital transformation goals.

Customers 132
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Which is Worse - The Boston Red Sox or Your Sales Team?

Understanding the Sales Force

I wrote the best-seller, Baseline Selling , so it should come as no surprise that I'm a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan. I'll be at Fenway Park for a game this week and I had some thoughts about how the Red Sox compare to many of the sales teams that get evaluated by Objective Management Group (OMG).

Sales 126
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The Battle of the Authoring Tools: A 10-Point Comparison for Picking the Right One

Speaker: Chris Paxton McMillin, President of D3 Training Solutions

There are plenty of great authoring tools for developing eLearning, but the one you select could directly impact your course's outcomes. Depending upon your learners’ needs and your organization’s performance goals, you could be overlooking considerations that impact the both effectiveness of your courses and how long it takes to finish them. From general capabilities to specific workflow structures, some aspects are critical when it comes to learning objectives and deadlines.

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Minimize Disagreement?

Partners in Excellence

I was reading an article on “office politics.” Basically, the discussion was around maximizing collaboration by hiring “like minded” people. Implicitly, the argument focused on minimizing disagreements and differing points of view. Frankly, I think that’s terrible advice. Everything we know is the quality of what we do, the time to decision is increased with more diverse groups.

Product 133
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How To Sell High Ticket Services

The 5% Institute

In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how to sell high ticket services and their niches, by using a proven step by step formula we teach Sales Professionals, Business Owners and Consultants around the world. Learning and following a sales process would have to be the most important thing you’ll ever learn in sales, because it’ll deliver something you’ll need to thrive in selling.

Sell 139
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B2B Sales and Command of the Message

Iannarino

In B2B sales, our messaging has changed, even if most sales organizations haven't made any significant adjustments. Those who are using an outdated approach may feel confident they have command of the message, only to discover that their clients no longer respond positively to it. Having command of the message doesn’t matter if it is ignored or rejected.

B2B 250
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Fenwick: Down Rounds Aren’t Really Happening Much. But Later Stage Prices Have Fallen Quite a Bit.

SaaStr

Fenwick, one of the bigger Silicon Valley / tech law firms put out its quarterly report on the venture market , sourced from 194 deals that actually closed in Q2’22, and I found the way the data was presented super helpful given all the drama in the venture markets, on twitter, etc. A few learnings: #1. Yes, while downrounds have increased, there still aren’t very many of them.

Price 130
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How to Leverage Intent Data for Better Outcomes

Speaker: Susan Spencer, Principal of Spencer Communications

Intent signal data can go a long way toward shortening sales cycles and closing more deals. The challenge is deciding which is the best type of intent data to help your company meet its sales and marketing goals. In this webinar, Susan Spencer, fractional CMO and principal of Spencer Communications, will unpack the differences between contact-level and company-level intent signals.

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Sales Territory Planning: The Five Minute Territory Plan (& Template)

SalesHood

The Five Minute Sales Territory Plan Between sales kick-off season approaching and another year beginning, there’s a lot of talk about self-sourcing pipeline, prospecting strategies, and territory management planning. We believe there’s nothing better than old school, back to basics, sales territory analysis, planning and prospecting. Here's a short talk outlining how [ ] The post Sales Territory Planning: The Five Minute Territory Plan (& Template) appeared first on SalesHood.

Sales 128
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Whatever happened to customer journey orchestration?

Martech

Five years ago, it seemed like customer journey orchestration technology was having a moment. . Since then, the marketplace for standalone journey orchestration engine (JOE) platforms has receded. A plateau in sales and numerous vendor acquisitions absorbed nearly all the independent JOE vendors. What happened, and what does it mean for you, the martech leader?

Customers 130
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Why Are We So Incurious?

Partners in Excellence

If I were forced to identify the single most important capability for anyone, at any level in selling, I think it would be curiosity. I wouldn’t identify prospecting, relationship building, closing, goal orientation, or any of the numerous competencies/capabilities of great sales people. I don’t mean to diminish their importance, but as you peel each of those back, underlying these capabilities is usually some aspect around curiosity.

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Framing A Sales Conversation – How To Do It Right

The 5% Institute

Something we teach Sales Professionals and Business Owners that make their sales conversations a lot more successful, is framing a sales conversation – also known as a pre-frame. Framing a sales conversation is a game changer. It positions you as a trusted advisor , builds trust, gets you the information you need to close the sale, and even eliminates some objections.

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The B2B Sales Leader's Guide for Any Economic Environment

When economic headwinds pick up, sales leaders are the first to sound the alarm — and chart a new course. Longer sales cycles, larger buying committees, increased price pressure, and smaller teams can quickly combine to reduce your margin for error and increase the urgency to find a solution. To thrive in a challenging environment, sales teams need a rock-solid grasp of the fundamentals and the biggest force-multipliers they can get their hands on.

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How to Deal With Time Objections

Iannarino

You and I are making cold calls to schedule meetings with our prospective clients. We both have the information for the contacts we need, and our company has given us a script to use when calling them. The date on that document is more than a decade old, but both of us use it anyway when we ask for a meeting. And every contact refuses to add us to their calendar.

Cold Call 247
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Dear SaaStr: What Do You Do To Stop Customers From Abusing Free Trials, Sharing Accounts, etc.?

SaaStr

What are some techniques SaaS companies use to combat trial abuse / people trialling multiple times? My advice: Just let it go. At least for now, and probably a very long time. A lot of things will drive you a bit nuts when you are small: Folks that do repeat free trials. Folks that share accounts. Early customers that got “too good of a deal”. Customers that use a cheaper edition they aren’t entitled to.

Customers 130
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Sales Training Topics to Drive Results

RAIN Group

If you’re responsible for designing or implementing sales training for your organization, you know the effectiveness of training varies greatly. It might not be implemented properly, land well with participants, relevant to sellers’ daily work, or it might be forgotten completely in the days and weeks following the training. Sales training fails more often than it succeeds.

Sales 126
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Does your email copy persuade or sell?

Martech

What’s the one thing you would do to make more money from your email program? . Your first thought might be to add an automation platform, invest in new email designs, maybe even switch ESPs. But all of those cost time and money, and they don’t necessarily address the real reason your emails don’t drive the results you need. What could make the difference?

Sell 128
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Contact vs. Company Intent Signal Data

Contact and company intent data both have their advantages. Contact-level intent leads can be acted on immediately to reach active buyers, while company-level leads improve outcomes for account-based marketing and other programs. This infographic unpacks the advantages of both contact and company data and gives details about how B2B marketers can benefit from both.

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On Driving Performance

Partners in Excellence

As leaders, a key element of our job is to maximize the performance of each person on our team. We do this through hiring the right people, training, giving them tools/processes/programs/systems to help them perform, providing the right support, eliminating barriers to their performance, and constantly coaching/developing them. We set performance goals, we measure their attainment against that performance.

Quota 131
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How To Build Sales – 8 x Powerful Techniques

The 5% Institute

In this article, you’ll learn exactly how to build sales, by following these proven and effective sales techniques. These techniques are centred around consultative selling. This means that you’ll take a question based, and solution approach rather than purely presenting up front or using any old school and gimmicky techniques. Read on to learn how to build sales.

Technique 140
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A Radical View of How to Onboard a New Sales Rep

Iannarino

In another time, onboarding a new salesperson would not have been difficult. In fact, many new salespeople did not go through onboarding at all. There was very little preparation to ensure the salesperson would be successful in their new role with a new company. The person accepting the job would be expected to know how to sell, and their onboarding might have consisted of being given information on their product or service, a territory, a phone book, and a wish for good luck.

Sales 247
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5 Interesting Learnings from Toast at Almost $800,000,000 in ARR

SaaStr

So we took a look at Toast just after it IPO’d. Times were good then, and Toast was worth $24B. Fast forward to today. and there’s not much to criticize Toast for. They dominate a large market, and are growing almost 60% at $800m in ARR! And yet, the markets are tough today, and Toast is now worth less than $10 Billion, despite executing admirably.

Referrals 127
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The Next Level of Sales Enablement: Sales Content Management

Speaker: Deniz Olcay, Senior Director of Product Marketing, and Jake Miller, Senior Product Marketing Manager

Modern Sales Content Management (SCM) platforms have become table stakes in the world of sales enablement. Sellers need one-stop access where all of their sales content is stored, organized, deployed, and measured. Today’s modern SCM platforms achieve just that. However, these various platforms also have key differences. In this value-packed webinar, Deniz Olcay and Jake Miller will unravel and debunk the top three SCM myths and explain how to get the most from your SCM solution.

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7 Tips for Differentiating in the Selling Process

RAIN Group

Differentiation often starts with marketing, but it truly comes alive in the selling process. Even if your company’s products and services are superior to all others, this means nothing if you can’t convey that to your buyers. Differentiating in sales is more than a good pitch—you need to differentiate in the right areas, adapt to your buyer’s needs, and build value.

Sell 127
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Google favors helpful content over search engine-first in new update

Martech

Google is favoring content “ by people, for people ” over content written with search engines in mind in a new and extensive search algorithm update. The changes are responsive to user frustration when clicking on links that rank well in search but lead to content designed to rank well in search rather than be helpful or informative. We know people don’t find content helpful if it seems like it was designed to attract clicks rather than inform readers.

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Do Sales Enablement Professionals Need Selling Experience?

Partners in Excellence

A reader wrote me, “Dave do you think sales enablement professionals need selling experience?” It’s a follow on to many of the discussions about “Do sales managers need sales experience?” My immediate reaction to both those questions was “HELL YEAH!!!!” My mind went to all the supporting arguments, things like: How do they possibly understand what sellers face, without having done the job themselves?

Sell 129
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Sales Drills – 5 x Ideas To Help You Succeed

The 5% Institute

These sales drills are a great way to make your usual sales training sessions fun, enjoyable, and easier to remember. When sales drills are fun, there’s a better return on your time spent. As per conducted studies , Neurologists have found that fun activities not only help your team remember what they learn longer, but they will also be keen in coming back for more.

Sales 139
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Retail Reimagined: What It Means To Be An Innovative Retailer

Speaker: DeAnna McIntosh, Retail Growth Strategist

The past three years have forever changed the retail landscape. Companies of all sizes were forced to welcome change with open arms and surrender to total flexibility in order to be agile in the ever-evolving economic environment. In 2023, we are navigating inflation and its impact on consumer spending, various lasting side effects from the pandemic, and a looming recession in the back half of the year.