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Let’s face it: Hard sells and flashy demos can be effective ways to close. But not always. Today’s buyers come to the sales process more informed than ever, looking for in-depth information specific to their needs. In fact, 81% of sales reps say buyers increasingly conduct research before they reach out, according to the latest State of Sales Report.
Data visualization is a powerful tool for sales leaders and professionals to improve analysis and decision-making. From prospecting more effectively to understanding your pipeline and seeing where your greatest account opportunities lie, the ability to take bare numbers and make them visual can make the difference between stagnant results and continually improving performance.
Research on B2B buyers shows they have changed how they buy. The biggest shift is that they do their own research before starting the sales process, and most would prefer to buy without having to speak with a salesperson. Buyers complain that salespeople don’t understand their business and their challenges, and that the sales experience doesn’t give them what they need.
Changing course to weather the economic storm is a little like other initiatives that require leader visibility. To pivot successfully, you’ll need to rally the troops and build buy-in around the shifted approach. But unlike a launch, your plan for steering the ship through choppy waters comes with added background noise. Tightened budgets, longer sales cycles, and “not right now”. the realities of today’s market can take a toll on morale.
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.
Pop Quiz time…… Put everything away, pull out a pen/sheet of paper, open a blank document on your computer, or open the notes app on your phone. Answer this question, you have 90 seconds: What does your customer care about? What are the top 3 things that matter to them? (For extra credit points, write down why) Tick…… Tick… Tick… Time’s up, put down your pens, fingers off the keyboard.
You’ve heard a customer say it…right when you make the ask to close a sale: “Let me think about it.” It’s a dreaded reply. And not just because of the … The post Overcoming the Dreaded “Let Me Think About It” Objection first appeared on Colleen Francis - The Sales Leader.
One mistake salespeople make in discovery is asking questions they should have answered through their research. These questions will show they didn’t prepare for a first meeting. While failing to do research is harmful in an average pursuit, it’s worse in an enterprise-level opportunity.
One mistake salespeople make in discovery is asking questions they should have answered through their research. These questions will show they didn’t prepare for a first meeting. While failing to do research is harmful in an average pursuit, it’s worse in an enterprise-level opportunity.
The year 2023 has brought with it new challenges and opportunities in the world of outside sales. As sales professionals navigate this ever-changing landscape, the secrets to their success lie in adapting to industry trends , leveraging technology, and honing essential skills. Are you ready to unlock the secrets to outside sales success in 2023? Read on to discover the strategies, techniques, and insights that will propel you to new heights in your sales career.
Regardless of the current state of affairs, GREAT organizations go through a constant assessment of where they are. They look at lagging metrics, leading metrics, and success metrics. They consider that data to help them identify the answer to these three questions.
Do you hate making outbound introductory calls? Here’s a simple solution (this will help improve your results and mindset). The post Make Intro Calls Easier first appeared on Colleen Francis - The Sales Leader.
As a new sales rep, you might want to sell a product that is unique and special. You might believe it would be even better to sell something with no available alternatives. While selling a differentiated product or service might bring you easy success and commissions, it will stunt your development as a salesperson.
Speaker: Brendan Sweeney, VP of Global Sales and David Phelan, Account Executive
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.
Changing course to weather the economic storm is a little like other initiatives that require leader visibility. To pivot successfully, you’ll need to rally the troops and build buy-in around the shifted approach. But unlike a launch, your plan for steering the ship through choppy waters comes with added background noise. Tightened budgets, longer sales cycles, and “not right now”. the realities of today’s market can take a toll on morale.
There are a lot of stats out there about marketing and artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, many of them are (gasp!) more than two years old. When it comes to AI, change comes fast. Not just in the technology, but in attitudes and usage. Here’s a collection of statistics about AI and marketing with the date of the survey included. This will let you judge for yourself how much things have changed since they came out.
Are you aware of this secret sales weapon? It’s a single solution to all of your sales problems, leading to more sales and improved customer retention! The post Your Secret Sales Weapon first appeared on Colleen Francis - The Sales Leader.
Artificial Intelligence" class="hs-featured-image" style="width:auto !important; max-width:50%; float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;"> If you spend any time on LinkedIn, you find a lot of content about ChatGPT and other tools built on large language models. Some people use ChatGPT to write their content in part or in whole. A few months ago, I sent a summary of a presentation I will deliver soon.
Speaker: Jady West, VP of Hospitality & Chris Bennett, Head of Sales & Engineering
The modern hotel room is no longer just a place to stay—it’s an experience to remember. Today’s guests expect seamless 5G connectivity, personalized comfort, and high-tech convenience. From AI-powered smart room controls to in-room entertainment and app-based services, technology is redefining hospitality from the inside out. In this new session featuring industry pros Jady West and Chris Bennett, we’ll explore how high-speed, high-bandwidth connectivity powers the innovations that are enabling
Yesterday, while watching our son play in a summer collegiate baseball game, I missed a step and tumbled all the way down the bleachers. Isn't that a great analogy for what happens when you miss, or skip a crucial step in the sales process? More than half of all salespeople are missing and skipping important milestones in the sales process each and every day and their egos get more bruised from failing to close those opportunities than my body got bruised from my not so thrilling adventure to th
In the latest episode of the Art and Science of Complex Sales podcast, Paul Fuller interviews Pete Evans, Head of Sales EMEA and Certified Coach of Emerse Group Limited, to explore essential fundamentals and foundations for salespeople.
Google has begun the rollout of the new perspectives filter in the mobile search results this weekend. This feature was announced at Google I/O and we have seen previews and tests from Google over the past months related to this feature and now it is live. What it looks like. Here is a screenshot of the feature, you can see it by searching on mobile and sliding the search bar filters until you see a “perspectives” option.
It isn’t easy to lead a sales force in the best of times, and it is more difficult in a recessionary environment. As a sales leader, you need to establish priorities. The following outlines these in order of importance.
Retailers know the clock is ticking–legacy SAP Commerce support ends in 2026. Legacy platforms are becoming a liability burdened by complexity, rigidity, and mounting operational costs. But modernization isn’t just about swapping out systems, it’s about preparing for a future shaped by real-time interactions, AI powered buying assistants, and flexible commerce architecture.
Augmented reality (AR) has rapidly transitioned from a nascent technology into a groundbreaking instrument. It is present in our daily lives and continues to redefine the ways we interact with technology.
This is the first part of a three-part series on the success elements of growth. One of the things I enjoy the most about my job is how much I learn from my clients and colleagues. Over the years, I have had the incredible opportunity to work with some big brands and incredibly smart people and engage with innovative thinkers I am proud to call my clients.
Tempus Fugit. That’s the Latin phrase for “time flies.” With the incredibly rapid changes occurring today, this has never been more obvious. As front-and-center evidence, artificial intelligence is now very much with us, constantly in our minds and the media. The old world has long gone past. The new world is now entirely in place. Dealing with the unimaginable complexity of these constant changes requires a different kind of thinking than that of the past.
A few minutes after ChatGPT was released, the techno brutes immediately found the value of using a robot to write cold emails, believing that AI's customization would win them meetings. It is difficult to understand how something might be personalized without any human effort. If a robot writes your cold email, it isn’t personal.
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.
We’re SUPER excited to announced that Expensify has returned as a second-time SaaStr Annual sponsor for 2023 Annual on September 6-8, this time as a Unicorn Sponsor! We’ve used Expensify ourselves at SaaStr for years to manage our team’s expense reports, and we’re excited to have Expensify back even bigger and better this year, and to partner with Expensify on their Chat app as well.
Over the past week or so, I’ve been writing a lot about our commitment to the status quo. How we seem to continue to do the same things, over and over, even when they are failing. I’ve written about how we are trapped in “business as usual.” I’ve gotten some questions, “Dave, how do we change, what should we do? There are so many things we need to address, where do we start?
The audience targeting and segmentation of programmatic advertising are now available for out-of-home advertising. Beeyond Media, a programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) demand-side platform (DSP), has launched a new segmentation tool, Beeyond TrueReach. It lets brands pick from over 900 criteria — like behaviors, locations and demographics — to create audience segments.
It isn’t difficult to acquire a strategic advantage in sales. Yet, most people refuse to take the single action that tens of thousands have used to succeed at greater levels than their peers and their competitors. Throughout history, the people you have heard of have one thing in common: They read.
Documents are the backbone of enterprise operations, but they are also a common source of inefficiency. From buried insights to manual handoffs, document-based workflows can quietly stall decision-making and drain resources. For large, complex organizations, legacy systems and siloed processes create friction that AI is uniquely positioned to resolve.
Dear SaaStr: How Many Sales Reps Do I Need? More than you probably would think. You can back into how many sales reps you’ll need in SaaS. First, figure out how much revenue you need to close in the next twelve months. Because that’s more than now. Second, calculate a reasonable attainable quota for your closers, your Account Executives. This is generally derivate of your deal size.
We have tools and data sources that gives us all kinds of information and data. We can know about the issues our customers and their markets face. We can know about performance challenges. We have information about individuals, pulled from their social profiles and activity. We have an abundance of data, information, knowledge, but we struggle to make use of it.
I recently taught some martech workshops (in person!) and received numerous fascinating questions from stack leaders. Clearly, 2023 represents another year of great change as omnichannel aspirations take on higher priority and leaders continue to revisit their platform choices amid growing hype around artificial intelligence and machine learning. Here’s my take on three clusters of questions and topics that arose: CDP programs as stalking horses for customer data modernization.
Search is in the midst of a content revolution. We’re at a time where content creators reign supreme and the search universe is no longer confined to the traditional boundaries of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). As SEOs, we’d be foolish to ignore the potentially seismic shifts we are seeing implemented, seemingly on a weekly basis.
B2B marketers face a number of challenges, including: continuously generating great leads converting leads to active sales prospects finding vendors that deliver real results Aggregage has proven content syndication, webinar, online advertising and intent signal marketing programs that deliver higher-quality leads. More than 700 companies have already benefited from our programs.
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