The 3C’s to Win More Business with Virtual Selling 

The in-person meeting has so many intangibles that a virtual meeting will never provide to the seller. The first is the acceptance of an in-person meeting. People usually are somewhat sold on doing business with you if they have opened their doors and are willing to shake hands with you in person. When in a meeting, you can read body language and, most importantly, have the buyer's undivided attention. As sellers, we first started fighting for the buyer's attention during in-person meetings when glancing at your smartphone became the norm, No matter how you prepare, it is hard to keep people [...]

By |2020-07-02T19:30:15+00:00July 7th, 2020|Managing Sales, Sales 101, Sales Advice|5 Comments

#My Best Sales Advice, Ryan Willumson

2019 was a year to remember for Industry Dive. They were Neal awards finalist, Azbee awards finalist, Washington Post's top workplace, Inc Magazine Fastest-Growing company, Folio 100 list, Deloitte technology fast 500 winners, and ended the year securing a deal with Falfurrias Capital partners to accelerate growth. As we were catching up, I asked Ryan, the CRO, and Co-Founder what was the best piece of sales advice he received. "The best sales advice I ever received was to shut up. You're better off fighting the instinct to fill the air. Learn to be comfortable with an extra beat of silence. [...]

By |2020-02-28T17:08:41+00:00February 25th, 2020|Business, Management, Managing Sales, Sales 101|4 Comments

4 Reasons to Love Sales

It is not hard to fall in love with sales. Few other jobs offer great pay, expense accounts, and flexible hours like sales. However, when you are struggling, it is easy to become frustrated with the volatility of sales. Most have experienced the euphoria of closing a huge deal or being 25% over quota, winning awards, and having great clients. Whereas we also experience moments of disenchantment, like when a manager gives an unattainable quota, your largest client cancels, a product glitches, or you spend your day dealing with unhappy customers. The highs are very high, and lows can be [...]

By |2020-02-11T14:56:18+00:00February 11th, 2020|Business, General Business, Sales 101|3 Comments

#My Best Sales Advice, Joe Shaker

New year, new possibilities, new growth, and potentially new team members. Although it has been over ten years since I did a deal with Shaker Recruitment in Chicago, Joe Shaker and I have stayed friends. Joe and I were catching up over the Holidays when I asked him what is the best piece of sales advice he received?  Immediately, he quoted his father, Joe Shaker Sr. Make a friend, make a deal.   Knowing both Joe Shaker Jr and Sr., I can verify they live this statement. Like I stated, it has been over ten years since Joe and I have [...]

By |2020-01-21T15:45:29+00:00January 21st, 2020|Business, Sales 101, sales training|0 Comments

3 Questions to Grow Revenue

As one year draws to a close and new one begins, organizations find themselves in unhealthy routines. They become engrossed and lost in the minutiae of numbers, quotas, portfolios, and fail to take an organizational approach to grow revenue.  Every organization should ask the questions below to create a productive dialogue. This dialogue provides the context to align revenue development, sales priorities, and long term health of sales to secure YOY growth. What are we growing?  What are we killing?  What are we creating?    What are we growing?  When I ask this question, most executives say everything we can. [...]

By |2020-01-07T16:28:03+00:00January 7th, 2020|Business, Management, Managing Sales, Sales 101|1 Comment

Why Salespeople Need Business Acumen

The change in the buyer’s journey is creating a need for salespeople to develop a higher level of business acumen. Over the last several years buyers have made the traditional sales funnel into chop suey.  A sales funnel used to start at the top with awareness, and the buyer would leave the funnel as a closed won or closed lost. The salesperson controlled the progression through the funnel starting with awareness, progressing on a linear sales path. Whereas today’s buyers enter the funnel from different avenues with different levels of knowledge.  Kennedy and Anderson have a great post regarding [...]

By |2019-03-05T21:04:05+00:00March 5th, 2019|Management, Sales 101, sales training|4 Comments

Don’t Start Sales Planning With Sales

Any business who does the same thing year-over-year without change, improvement or advancement will experience a natural decline of 15%.  To flip it, if everything stayed the same year-over-year, you would need to sell 15% more to make last year’s numbers.  

By |2019-12-05T17:39:22+00:00November 15th, 2018|Advanced Sales, Management, Sales 101|0 Comments

The 4 Horsemen to Drive Revenue

For short-term bumps there will always be a place for lead gen programs, discounting strategies and complicated gimmicks. But before you resort to small bumps, try leveraging the four pillars of revenue development to help with both short-term gain and long-term revenue increases to your portfolio.   

By |2019-12-03T21:30:22+00:00June 19th, 2018|Business, Management, Sales 101|0 Comments