Image credit: Petra Balekic, The Oracles Sales: 5 Elements of a Winning Sales Cadence
The best salespeople often have that intangible, that ‘woo’, that ability to connect with a customer. But beyond ‘gut’ there are processes – “cadences” that help develop a rhythm to the process of sales. And for many high value products and services, sales is a process, not an event. How’s your ‘cadence’? Salesloft: 5 Elements of a Winning Sales Cadence
Image credit: Petra Balekic, The Oracles Sales: 6 Ways to Build a Billion-Dollar Sales Machine
OK, maybe your goal is a bit less than a $1,000,000,000 in sales. But principles that drive growth-oriented entrepreneurs work in most any context. Catastrophes as opportunities? Know your #’s? Six ideas that can help raise your top and bottom lines 6 Ways to Build a Billion-Dollar Sales Machine
Image credit: Getty Images Sales: How the Best Sales Teams Set Goals
The best sales people like a goal—and to be well rewarded if they hit it. But how does that goal get set? Does the process, and the goal, lead to average results, or amazing results? Inc.:How the Best Sales Teams Set Goals for a New Year
Image credit: Harvard Business Review Sales: How Customers Perceive a Price
The internet has had no greater impact on commerce than price transparency. Amazon has become a go-to place not only for purchases but for comparison shopping. Price transparency has done much to drive down prices in the previous decade – increasing the pressure for those who choose to compete in the pricing-strategy quadrant. But it may not be the raw number that we need to worry about. This author says the perception of the price is as important as the numerical value. HBR: How Customers Perceive a Price Is as Important as the Price Itself
Image credit: Andrew Baker - Getty Images/Ikon Images Sales: Young Workers Don’t Want Sales Jobs. How to Convince Them Otherwise
In the 50’s and 60’s, the sales person was memorialized by Willy Lowman, in Death of a Salesman. Willy’s a sad tale of a ‘’grind it out” road warrior, getting long in the tooth. Go forward 50 years and the show Mad Men makes that generation’s advertising and sales look sexy, dramatic, exciting. But it’s still a look backward. Today’s generation looks to different values and priorities – things that can make a ‘sales’ job seem uninviting. Fortune: Young Workers Don’t Want Sales Jobs. How to Convince Them Otherwise
Image credit: Getty Images Sales: Managing Social Sales
Social media as a sales tool is revolutionizing the selling process for much of our economy. The ability to build a relationship around a transaction instead of a transaction alone helps ensure recurring engagement, and makes more from your customer acquisition costs. But like any relationship building, it takes time, not the random task of posting something on the web. Measure it to manage it. Inc: Social Sales – Does Your Sales Team Measure Up?
Image credit: Anthony Correia / Shutterstock.com Sales: The Secret of Selling to Big Companies
Now be careful what you wish for. But if you have indeed set your sights on — or better yet, been pursued by — a Fortune 500 type company, you need perspective. A few tips would help by those who have. Here’s some from Entrepreneur Magazine. Entrepreneur: The Secret of Selling to Big Companies. Entrepreneur: The Secret of Selling to Big Companies.
Image credit: Harvard Business Review Sales: Why the Best Salespeople Get So Lucky
Can a sales manager control “luck” as a selling variable? Control? No. Manage? Yes, according to Joël Le Bon, marketing professor at the University of Houston. He suggests in the Harvard Business Review that sales managers who fail to manage for a factor he calls “provoked” luck will miss a huge element of successful sales leadership. Agree? What percentage of your sales can you attribute to an element of luck? How can you create a “luckier” sales team? HBR: Why the Best Salespeople Get So Lucky
Image credit: Inc.com Sales: Two Essential Rules Most Salespeople Forget
Solution Selling? Or Spray and Pray? Somewhere in between? Here’s a quick reminder that sometimes more information is slowing down the buying process. Inc Magazine: 2 Essential Rules Most Salespeople Forget.
Image credit: Sales: How Sellable Is Your Company?
Strombeck is pleased to provide a new tool to business owners – the Sellability Score report. It is based on the book Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow – an Inc. Magazine “Best Book for Business Owners.” The report evaluates 8 drivers of value in a business so you can focus on what will build your business’ value. Take 15 minutes and get a 28 page report. Read more…
