30
2013
How to reduce ramp-up time for new sales hires
In a recent survey conducted by CSO Insights, some 70 % of companies claimed that the ramp-up time for new sales staff ranged from seven months to more than one year. This alarming statistic raises several interesting and important issues: Even though many companies claim to hire only experienced salespeople who can hit the street running, current research and data prove otherwise….
17
2013
Time is Money
The old adage that “time is money” has never been more of an issue than it is today. Have you ever noticed how everyone wants things faster? I just heard that Samsung is going to introduce a new phone that is going to have 5G speeds. This is supposed to be 100 times faster than the 4G phones that are out there today. They said…
01
2013
The number one reason why most sales calls fail (and what you can do to avoid it!)
Believe it or not, a surprising number of sales professionals still rely purely on luck and good social skills when attempting to sell at an executive level. Unfortunately, good fortune and a winning personality, while certainly helpful, are not proven strategies for delivering consistently successful results. In fact, when some 10,000 C-suite executives were asked in a recent survey to reveal their major hesitation in…
02
2013
Are you retaining your investment when sales people leave?
Training a successful sales person requires a significant investment in time, money and other company resources. While that investment will hopefully provide healthy long-term dividends in the form of increased sales and market share, have you ever thought about how much of that initial investment and accrued knowledge and experience walks out of the door every time you lose a sales person? While most well…
20
2012
Holiday Wishes to All
I just wanted to take this time and opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and Happy New Year. Oh, by the way if this should happen to be the last day on earth, I wish all of you a wonderful afterlife. As I reflect on this past year, I have reached a number of milestones in my life. One…
08
2012
Why your sales people need knowledge NOT information
Salespeople are inundated with information. The problem is that they will very often waste a tremendous amount of time sifting through masses of content to find exactly what they need. Clearly, that is a very inefficient process. What salespeople really need and want is just-in-time sales knowledge that is specific to their company, customers, competitors and products. Information alone simply isn’t nearly as valuable as…
11
2012
How do you treat your company’s intellectual capital?
The BusinessDirectory.com definition of intellectual capital is a “collective knowledge of the individuals in an organization or society.” It includes customer capital, human capital, intellectual property and structural capital. Although largely intangible and very often difficult to measure, intellectual capital is now widely regarded as a true capital expense for a company. The reason for this is because the investment in and replacement of employees…
04
2012
5 reasons your company needs a Sales Knowledge Management Solution
Companies that provide easy access to sales-relevant knowledge within their organization are giving their salespeople both the tools and the opportunity to significantly outperform competitors who don’t have access to similar knowledge. A Sales Knowledge Management solution that allows salespeople to quickly and easily retrieve the exact just-in-time knowledge and content they need can drive the buying process forward, build deeper trust with prospects and…
10
2012
Selling Myths and Realities
I attended one of the first Sales 2.0 conferences that Gerhard Gschwandtner of Selling Power Magazine held about ten years ago and had the pleasure of sitting with and meeting Michael Nick. Michael is the author of four great books on selling called: “Why Johnny Can’t Sell, ROI Selling, The Key to the C-Suite” and his new eBook, Why Johnny STILL can’t Sell. Michael also…
17
2012
Why Sales throws Marketing under the bus (and how you can avoid the fatalities!)
Sales asks: How many marketers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Sales answers: 15 1 to ignore the request from sales for more light. 1 to develop a creative brief on why light is important. 7 to shoot the YouTube video on how to screw in a light bulb. 1 to evaluate the amount of light offered by competitors and draft a…