Sales has traditionally been an intuition-driven profession: “What’s in your pipeline? What do you think is going to close?” But these days, that approach puts companies and organizations at a major competitive disadvantage. In this data-driven era, sales leaders need to make decisions in response to real-world market changes, up-to-date assessments of the marketplace, accurate
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Happy New Year. As we continue to reboot to whatever the “new normal” is, here’s hoping that this year will be one of health, happiness and prosperity for you and your company, or organization. As you focus on the days and weeks ahead, you might find yourself reflecting upon successes and/or failures over the past
Read More It’s hard to believe the holidays are already here, and if you’re like many business owners, managers and sellers, you’re either looking back on the year with a high degree of satisfaction and accomplishment, or you might be asking, “Where did the year go?” How has your year been? Maybe you’re planning one last push
Read More If you’re reading this article, chances are pretty good that you’re a business owner, general manager, company executive or sales manager. And, as we’re heading into the fourth quarter of the year, you might be thinking, “Do I have the right sales team on the bus? Maybe I need to reassess and, perhaps, even upgrade
Read More Question: When should you tell your “significant other” that you love them? Answer: Before someone else does. The same basic principle holds true for your clients and customers. Your best clients really are your competitor’s best prospects. That’s why every business owner, and sales professional, should include specific customer success behaviors in their account plan
Read More Welcome to the dog days of summer—that time when the temperature and humidity are still unbearable, families are trying to squeeze in the last days of summer vacation before going back to school and (it seems) most of your customers, and prospects, are out of the office. As a manager, it can be hard to
Read More Whether your company is large or small, whether you have experienced serious disruptions in your business or managed to avoid them, it’s likely that the last year-and-a-half has taken a lot out of you and your team. Either way, one of the big questions we are hearing from clients these days is this: We think
Read More Will we eventually be able to return to the prepandemic ways of conducting business? That’s a question that has been on the minds of many professionals. The latest survey from the Sandler Research Center, “Leading from the Front During Challenging Times,” asked sales leaders around the world what kinds of changes they have encountered in
Read More Ask any sales leader whether they want to build a high-performing team and the immediate, and obvious, answer will be, “Yes.” But what are the specific best practices that support this goal? Here are three that we have observed in organizations that are thriving thus far in 2021. First, and foremost, create clarity about the
Read More Here’s a tricky question, from the Sandler Research Center, for any business leader responsible for customer success or net revenue retention. Of all the clients who changed suppliers last year, 68% did so because: They were offered a better, shinier, “deal.” They were offered a lower price. They no longer felt valued by the incumbent
Read More Whether you are a sales leader responsible for an entire team’s performance or a single salesperson looking to hit your income target, you are well on your way to implementing your new business and client retention plan for 2021 – or are you? If you are struggling with how to organize your selling time, and
Read More Given the upheavals and uncertainty of this past year, many leaders and salespeople are wondering: What skills and adaptations, will be necessary to survive and thrive in 2021? I would suggest you review and evaluate these four trends as you plan for the year to come. Virtual Selling. It’s here to stay. That doesn’t mean
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