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 290
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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 295
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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 131
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Successful Salespeople Understand that the Small Stuff Does Matter

Anthony Cole Training

I will have to agree to disagree with Richard Carlson, Author of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. My view is that the little and or small things do matter and often they matter a great deal.

Sales 262
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How to Improve Email Deliverability and Optimize Each Send

Learn how to optimize email deliverability and drive greater email ROI. What lands your email in the customer’s inbox? Understanding those factors, otherwise known as email deliverability, is critical to getting the most return on your campaign investments. But the “rules” around which factors land you in the spam folder aren’t always easy to keep up with.

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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.

Cold Call 242
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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.

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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 284
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How To Deal With Sales Objections – Easily

The 5% Institute

One of the most important parts of the sales process as well as your sales conversations, is learning how to deal with sales objections effectively. Knowing how to deal with sales objections can either help you close the sale, or potentially break rapport if you handle them incorrectly. So how should you go about overcoming objections in sales? In this article, we’ll explore the five-step approach we teach Sales Professionals and Business Owners, but before we do – we’ll also look at where sales

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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.

Process 140
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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 145
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Brick & Mortar Retail Relevance: How to Stay Ahead of the Curve

Speaker: Jay Black, Senior Account Executive

Let's set the record straight: in-store retail isn't dead - it's evolving! Faced with the digital age and the demands of omnichannel shopping, some retailers are thriving while others are struggling to adapt. Join Jay Black in this exclusive session as he explores the strategies that set successful stores apart, including: Crafting unique and unforgettable in-store experiences 🛍️ Mastering the art of retail demands 🛒 Navigating inventory challenges in today's climate 📦 an

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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 135
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Stop Using These 5 Wimpy Words and Close More Sales

SalesProInsider

Words are powerful. And the words we choose to use during our sales conversations can make or break the opportunity to close that sale and help that person. Our words have the power to “make” the experience good, bad, or indifferent for that prospective client. Our words allow us to educate, excite, remove fear, and gain commitment as well as provide clarity, comfort, and hope.

Closing 132
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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 279
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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.

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How to Stay Competitive in the Evolving State of Martech

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr

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This Technology Researcher Agrees with Us - Your CRM Sucks

Membrain

As you may know, I am not shy about sharing how much Salesforce sucks. And, since ranting loves company, I was delighted in April when I found out that a major technology research company agrees with my opinion of this (former?) leader in the CRM space.

CRM 130
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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 136
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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 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 131
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1st, 2nd, and 3rd Party Intent Data: Which Is Right for You?

How do 1st, 2nd, and 3rd party intent data compare? 1st, 2nd, and 3rd party data each have specific advantages and disadvantages. It comes down to four factors: accuracy, cost, control and quantity. This infographic explains the pros and cons of each and helps you understand which one is best for meeting your business objectives. Intent data can be a great way to fill your pipeline and close more deals.

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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 277
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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.

Service 139
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Do You Want to Kill the Pain, or Solve the Problem?

Membrain

Most of us know that in order to stay healthy, we need exercise, good nutrition, rest, and to take our vitamins. But very often, we get busy with life and forget these essentials. Before long, we start to suffer for it. At that point, we all know we should slow down and address the problem - but more often, we seek a pill to kill the pain so we can keep going.

Sales 130
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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.

Territory 128
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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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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 129
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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 127
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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.

Territory 273
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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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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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Can My Car Uncover Sales Qualification Criteria Better Than Most Salespeople?

Membrain

If your car was manufactured in the last few years, you probably have a rear camera that helps you see your surroundings when you need to back up, back into a parking space, or drive backwards on the interstate at 65 MPH. Okay, maybe not the last one.

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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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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 127
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5 Inspiring B2B Marketing Campaigns to Take Yours to the Next Level

Your next big B2B marketing idea starts here. Get inspired with these five successful B2B marketing campaigns. Ready to generate more leads, interest, and revenue with your B2B marketing? In this comprehensive eBook, you’ll get: In-depth studies of five successful B2B marketing campaigns spanning a wide range of industries Key takeaways and lessons from each story to implement in your own strategy Resources to help your own B2B marketing thrive By submitting this form, you agree to have your con