When we interview sales managers as a part of our client engagements, we often ask them to tell us their biggest management challenges. The responses we’ve heard recently are fairly consistent: high spans of control, lack of administrative support, and too little time to coach their reps, just to...
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Every year managers set yearly sales goals and commitments for themselves and for their sales team. These goals might have been:
Sanctioned from the top
Developed through a mutual collaboration between the salesperson and the sales manager
Have been calculated by a formulaic process based on the...
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Relationships can be tricky at times, but the methods for building them and keeping them from being damaged could not be easier. However, sometimes, we choose to ignore them in favor of one of the nine ways to damage relationships below:
If someone does 100 good things in a day, point out the one...
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March Madness is upon us, and the teams selected to compete this year got where they are with determination, practice, (some luck) and excellent leadership.
Sales teams often work and function much like a basketball team, and motivation from a supportive and knowledgeable leader can make all the...
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One of the most common objectives stated in discussions with front-line reps, senior executives, and everyone in between is how to shorten their sales cycles. While I would argue that at one point you hit the “optimal” cycle, and trying to shrink it further is just not a good use of time...
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The digital world opens up many new business opportunities, but it also threatens our personal connections—which, for salespeople, are our most valuable asset. Even with whisper-light computing power and immediate, 140-character Twitter posts, people still buy from people.
Social media and...
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A lot of salespeople don’t really understand how to use Twitter effectively for generating business. It can be overwhelming and hard to sort through the noise. However, it’s a very powerful platform for connecting with folks that can make you stand apart from other salespeople who are just using...
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Most salespeople know whether or not they're doing the right things to succeed. But sometimes it can be difficult to course correct. Plus, managers may not always be in the best position to offer help.
Salespeople and their managers do a lot during the course of a day, but is all of that...
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The start of a new year also marks the start of the annual sales campaign. The emphasis is on new customer acquisition. As you charge forth into the marketplace, full of energy and enthusiasm, don’t forget about your current customers.
They once were new customers. Now they comprise your current...
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