Partners in Excellence

MAY 1, 2024

Andy Paul and I were having what I’ve labeled “The Old Fart Conversations About Selling.” ” Neither of us feel we are out of touch with modern selling, the challenges both buyers and sellers face. But every once in a while we get on a call to discuss “What’s happening in selling?”

Technology 115

Technology Technology CRM Pipeline 115

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 16, 2024

We spend 100’s of millions on SKO speakers, books, and training–all focused on doing the things that drive business, sales and marketing performance. We are inspired by thousands of articles, podcasts, and videos–each offering the same answers to what we have to do to be successful. (I

Cross-sell 113

Cross-sell Pipeline Meeting Presentation 113

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 9, 2024

” “Should I try to anticipate and pre-empt objections?” ” “Should I do everything I can to avoid them?” ” “Should I ignore them, hoping they will go away? “Should I be worried about when the customer objects?” . “How do I avoid or minimize objections?”

Conversion 116

Conversion Customers Sell Sales 116

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 7, 2024

Marketers sell! At least Carlos Hidalgo sells. Sometimes, “we” have mis-conceived notions about selling, thinking that only those in some sort of formal sales role sells. But selling goes far beyond the titles. And some of the very best have never had a selling title. Preface : Surprise!!

Sell 119

Sell Tradeshows Pitch Up-sell 119

Martech

MAY 6, 2024

While the focus of lead scoring is typically on identifying and prioritizing new leads, it can also be applied to existing customers to determine their level of engagement, satisfaction, and potential for upselling or cross-selling opportunities. Answer: Yes, lead scoring can be used not only for new leads but also for existing customers.

Cross-sell 113

Cross-sell Customers Referrals Lead generation 113

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 26, 2024

What should we be reading?” ” There are lots of outstanding books on selling. While the basic principles at the core of high performance selling are the same, each book has a slightly different perspective on how to implement them. Through this, perhaps we can connect with them more effectively.”

Manufacturing 125

Manufacturing Technique Sell Customers 125

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 3, 2023

One of the things he discusses in the concept of “Selling Possibility.” They’ve done all the heavy lifting of trying to figure out what questions they should be asking, who should be involved, the risks, the necessity of changing. But we miss a huge opportunity by waiting for our customers to figure things out.

Sell 127

Sell Up-sell Start-ups Customers 127

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 30, 2024

Let us show you how our product solves this problem… ” “You need more in your pipeline, let us show you how we solve that problem… ” Every prospecting message I see focuses on the sender, their products, and their companies. What would happen if we changed our outreach strategies to focus on problems?

Product 98

Product Sell Pitch B2B 98

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.” On the selling side we would have perfectly structured steps like Qualification, Needs Identification, Solution Presentation, Closing.

B2B 130

B2B Up-sell Contract Start-ups 130

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 6, 2024

Just as selling has evolved, buying has evolved–but differently. We seem to be on diverging paths, and this creates problems for both buyers and sellers. 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. These are different.

Education 129

Education Trust Sell Product 129

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

“Discovery” has been an important part of the sales process ever since I started selling (Yes, that was back when we had first chipped a wheel out of stone.) In all our training, we’ve gotten playbooks, done role plays, and learned how to conduct discovery and what questions we should be asking the customer.

Technique 109

Technique B2B Start-ups Up-sell 109

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. We are underperforming the potential.

Quota 118

Quota Growth Sell Process 118

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

Time Available For Selling is a critical issue for everyone in sales. But before I go into a further discussion about time available for selling, let me first define how I look at time available for selling. There are review meetings-ideally to help improve their selling performance.

Sell 139

Sell CRM Technique Territory 139

Salesforce

OCTOBER 23, 2023

No longer just a buzzword, AI and generative AI are changing how we all do business. So what should a data leader be doing to succeed with AI in the enterprise? Chitrang Dave: One of the key roles that we, as data leaders, need to constantly be playing is one that of an evangelist and really understanding the technology.

Government 121

Government Teamwork Sports Strategize 121

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

We were talking about his prospecting challenges. ” We talked about some of his strategies. ” He responded, “Well they should care, they are in our ICP, we sell to all sorts of organizations similar to this organization… ” I repeated my question, “How do you know the customer cares?”

Pitch 127

Pitch Prospecting Start-ups Conversion 127

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 9, 2024

It’s trite to say we live in worlds of growing complexity. But…… To often, I think much of the challenge we face is self inflicted. We tend to make things more complex or more difficult than they need be. We make our work harder than it should be, then as a result find our calendars overwhelmed.

CRM 126

CRM Technology Technology Pipeline 126

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 8, 2024

And other data showing 1000-1400 touches per opportunity (Thank goodness we can solve this with AI, easily hitting 1000s of touches a day…… tongue firmly planted in cheek.) ” But, we shouldn’t be shocked or surprised. We’ve created the majority of circumstances surrounding this.

Quota 117

Quota Trust Pitch Up-sell 117

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. Think about that for a moment.

Customers 117

Customers Objectives and Key Results Growth Objection handling 117

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 11, 2024

There are prompts for “researching and understanding” any role you might be selling to. We know how they work and shouldn’t have an expectation of much more–at least used in these ways. If we understand our ICPs, we already should understand: (If you don’t, reassess your sales enablement strategies.)

Healthcare 117

Healthcare Drivers/motivators Engineering Presentation 117

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 1, 2024

He was pleased to see a full house at all of the Easter masses and that those of us in attendance should urge our friends and family members to come to church. The Priest said that with the divisive political views, we need church and prayer more than ever and I couldn’t agree more. They should be attending weekly training.

Consult 62

Consult Up-sell Service Sell 62

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 1, 2024

“Value” is a critical concept in everything we do, but particularly when we are engaging customers, hoping to present a solution they will buy. Yet too often, we and our customers misunderstand the elements around “value,” as a result, we fail to leverage value to it’s greatest impact.

Price 120

Price X-functional Presentation Represent 120

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 14, 2024

I recall that we hosted a couple of parties there when our son was small and probably attended several more for his little friends. The Pump Story On one corner of our property we have a small pond with a waterfall. Last week the CEO reconnected with the sales team to check if everyone was selling properly. It wasn’t.

Pipeline 77

Pipeline Sales Drivers/motivators Consult 77

Martech

APRIL 10, 2024

We need tools that not only function flawlessly but surpass expectations. We need a revolution, an injection of genuine creativity. It should be the lifeblood of martech. We need solutions that break new ground, push the boundaries of what’s possible and redefine industry standards.

Pitch 112

Pitch Product Electricity Healthcare 112

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 11, 2024

It’s crazy to think that we purposely design our organizations to fail. Who would think of that, particularly in selling? 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?

Quota 120

Quota CRM Growth Meeting 120

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 30, 2024

Reading it caused me to start reflecting on how much we misunderstand about AI and how we leverage it in selling. Without a doubt, AI will have a huge impact on both how we manage/lead our organizations and on how we effectively and efficiently engage our customers in their buying process.

Represent 99

Represent Presentation Up-sell Start-ups 99

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. The customer wanted to change.

Cross-sell 133

Cross-sell Up-sell Sell Customers 133

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? We face issues we may not have experienced before.

Customers 122

Customers Quota Up-sell Conversion 122

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 2, 2024

We had talked on the phone a few times, but our first meeting was on the exhibit floor at Dreamforce. Since then, we talk, periodically, sharing ideas. But if you see selling for what it really is, you will know it is one of the most noble professions. Your communications should tell them the story that is going to occur.

Sell 73

Sell Up-sell Promote Meeting 73

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 10, 2024

Preface: I’m departing from my normal process of introducing a new story about selling. Some with very distinguished leadership and selling careers. We started exchanging notes about some of the stories. Why Am I So Interested In Selling Why am I so interested in selling? Chloe’s story is just that.

Sell 120

Sell Up-sell Start-ups Growth 120

Partners in Excellence

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

Starting my selling career in IBM, we all had them. I’d like to look at your performance plan… ” (We all seemed to keep them in the same place.) When I ask executives about it, the respond, “They have their quotas, that’s all we care about!!!”

Quota 117

Quota Teamwork CRM Pipeline 117

Search Engine Land

APRIL 15, 2024

Our goal here should be to create well-optimized, people-first content. In addition, I have created a simple process we use at my agency for planning, writing and reviewing new content that is people-first and ticks all of Google’s qualitative boxes. First, you should be clear on who your audience is.

Process 119

Process Objectives and Key Results Angle Follow-up 119

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

Every day I think we have reached bottom with the level of stupid advice I see in my social feeds. Every day, I’m surprised that we can find new depths of stupidity. Sadly, too much of this is from smart people who should know better. It’s rare that I see someone suggest, “Why do we accept this?

Consult 124

Consult Clients Follow-up Up-sell 124

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

But in what world do we consider that acceptable? Even though it’s 2-4 times better than other approaches, why do we consider that an acceptable response rate? Why aren’t we challenging ourselves to figure out what it takes to get 5% or more? It’s like so much other data we see. Win rates at around 15%.

Manufacturing 115

Manufacturing Technique Pitch Up-sell 115

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 15, 2024

” The one we are most familiar with is, “It ain’t over til it’s over.” The stock market has lost nearly all of its gains and the only thing we haven’t yet seen is massive layoffs. Most salespeople haven’t experienced selling in a recession since 2009, fifteen years ago.

Sales 73

Sales Up-sell Consult Pitch 73

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Another “baseball is to sales” analogy shouldn’t surprise readers because I’ve already published more than 100 different articles over the past 19 years showing how selling is just like baseball. However, unlike the previous 100 plus efforts , this article will discuss how selling is different from baseball.

Pitch 77

Pitch Sports Quota Price 77

The 5% Institute

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

Sales as a beginner can be daunting at times, which is why we’ve created this list of selling tips for beginners. In this article, we’ll be looking at eight selling tips for beginners to help you win more sales and serve more people, in a consultative and non-pushy way. Selling Tips For Beginners – 8 x To Win More Sales.

Sell 137

Sell Up-sell Presentation Clients 137

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 4, 2024

Fortunately, we saw past our differences. Jack has written one of the best books on business/financial acumen, I ‘ve ever read: Bottom Line Selling. He suddenly found himself in selling, developing a deep passion for it. I had to figure out how to sell, and quickly. So, tell me why I should bank with you.”

Sell 73

Sell Appointment Finance Pitch 73