January, 2014

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Improve Sales Forecasting to Improve Sales Performance?

Anthony Cole Training

'Yes, the title, "Improve Sales Forecasting to Improve Sales Performance?" is a question. It remains a question despite the millions of dollars spent on CRM, sales force automation, training and hype. I was on LinkedIn this morning and saw an ad which read, "5 Keys to Improve Pipeline Forcasting Accuracy and Reduce Revenue Risk!". A couple of things.

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Are You Missing The Happy Exchange In Your Sales Conversations?

A Sales Guy

'Sometimes the most obvious is ignored especially when it comes to sales and overall business growth. The focus becomes so much on the desired results the emotions, the personal connectivity is lost or becomes the means to the end. Happy is not a word usually used within sales training. Even though people buy on emotions justified by logic, this emotion of happy is ignored and that is a potentially fatal mistake.

Sales 127
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Mobile SEO Best Practices for 2014

eTourism

A recent study by Google and Nielsen has revealed that almost three quarters of mobile users make enquiries using a search engine when using their devices to complete a purchase.

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Drivers of Sales Success: Desire

Anthony Cole Training

'Desire is critical for great success in sales and in all walks of life and endeavors. I’m not sure that’s a fact, but it’s certainly my strong opinion. I don’t know how anyone can deal with the challenges and obstacles to great success without a burning passion to succeed. But, then again, that’s just my opinion. I walked off of a football field for the very first time in my hometown of Hammonton, NJ.

Sales 189
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How to Stay Competitive in the Evolving State of Martech

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr

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Why Evaluate Potential Sales Talent? - A Great New Case Study

Anthony Cole Training

'This kind of story doesn''t happen every day. One of Objective Management Group’s (OMG) partners, Market Sense, in Austin, Texas, had an opportunity to work with 15 MBA students that had never sold. They were evaluated with OMG''s sales person assessment, and assembled into 5 teams, all selling the exact same product. Over a 3-day period, they had to go door-to-door in the same market and sell an overpriced luxury item.

Sales 185
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Sales Best Practices - Why is CRM SO Important to Sales Success?

Anthony Cole Training

'It’s not! Let me clarify. CRM, as a sales enablement tool IS NOT SO important to sales success even though it does contribute, aid, help and enable sales people to manage prospects and accounts. But, clearly it has little or nothing to do with the execution of the sales process - from finding prospects to getting them to make a decision to buy from you.

Sales 185

More Trending

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Managing Your Selling Priorities

Anthony Cole Training

'Priorities Get Done; Everything Else is JUST Talk! When you are in an airplane, you may or may not pay much attention to what is going on in the cockpit. You may happen to glance at the massive control panel (dashboard) with all the switches, gauges, nobs and buttons, but it’s just a glance. before you hustle on to your seat to get settled in for the flight.

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Measuring Sales Success - Putting the Ball Through The Orange Hoop

Anthony Cole Training

'There is a great deal of talk these days about metrics for success. Companies hire consultants, spend time brain-storming in board rooms, go to seminars, read books and mastermind the various ways to measure success in selling. I understand why. In the sales consulting world, we attempt to make a science out of the profession of sales and sales management.

Sales 177
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Sales Success and Pipeline Management - The Myth

Anthony Cole Training

'Let’s start a revolution! Who’s in? We all know the problem. It doesn’t matter your role: VP of Sales, President of the company, sales manager, sales professional, and professional sales development expert. What we all know is that pipeline management is a myth! It doesn’t exist! What exist are sales enablement tools (CRM) that provide a repository for information about sales suspects, prospects and opportunities.

Pipeline 169
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Key to Sales Success: Find More Prospects - Duh!

Anthony Cole Training

'Duh is right. Everyone in selling or managing a sales team knows that one of the most important keys to selling more is getting in front of more people. I was talking to a prospect yesterday about this very thing. There have been some changes internally regarding compensation to those that refer business. The question on the table was this: How do we continue to get referrals from our partners even though they won''t get paid for them anymore?

Sales 159
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Diving into Diversity: Decoding the Foundations of Inclusion in Hospitality Talent Acquisition

Speaker: Lauren Fernandez - CEO & Founder, Full Course

Companies all over the world, including Marriot International and Hilton Worldwide, are aware of the value of including DEI in their talent acquisition strategy. However, despite these initiatives, there is still plenty that the hospitality sector can do to promote DEI. When comparing the hospitality industries in India, Iraq, the UK, and the US, you will see that there is a consistent underrepresentation of persons from different ethnic, gender, and disability origins across all levels of the i

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Most Sales People Use a CRM Like They Are Using the Broadside of a Hammer — Hello?

A Sales Guy

'Your CRM is a tool. That’s all. And, like most tools, you have to us it correctly if want get the most out of it. Have you ever seen a little kid use a hammer for the first time? They bang away at the nail, if you’re lucky it’s not a vase, your iPhone or the remote control, using the broad side of the hammer. If you think about it, it makes sense to a child to use the broadside, it has more surface area, it’s easier to swing and you can hit more stuff faster.

Sales 126
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5 Ways to Exercise Your Change Muscle

A Sales Guy

'You are a few weeks into the brand new year. You wrote out your goals and got all excited about your 2014 plan. I want to know. What is different about 2014? That is the question I have been asking salespeople and entrepreneurs the last few weeks. Most people look at me with a strange face and say; Oh it’s better already! Does it feel like the same old start to you?

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Your Sales Message Stinks

A Sales Guy

'There, I said it. Your message stinks. Technology has made it cheaper and faster to get in front of prospects, but somebody forgot to make sure you understood that what you say and how you say it wins the e-ticket ride to the next step in the sales process – OR NOT. Competition for your prospects attention is tougher than ever. You know that.

Sales 121
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The Difference Between Performance Reviews and Sales Coaching

A Sales Guy

'Every time I ask a V.P. of Sales/CSO or even a sales manager if they have coaching methodology in place, I always get a similar answer; “Yes, we do them once or twice a year.” I then ask, are those your “performance reviews” and of course, the answer is yes. Let me help everyone out — doing performance reviews is NOT coaching.

Sales 120
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A Buyer’s Guide to Future-Proofing Your Restaurant Tech Stack

The race to 100% digital is on. With the restaurant industry still in the early innings of its digital transformation, brands need an airtight strategy when it comes to building out their tech stack. Download the buyer’s guide to learn where to prioritize your efforts and get the most out of every investment.

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Why Plans Are Stupid And Good People Get Screwed.

A Sales Guy

'You often hear business strategists, marketing gurus, or sales traders tell you that you need to “build a plan and then go execute it”. Which is kind of obvious, right? Having a plan is important. It’s hard to get much of anything done without a substantive plan. And without executing what’s on the plan, having a plan doesn’t really matter in the first place.

Business 118
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7 Benefits to Failing

A Sales Guy

'We all have this crazy fear of failing. If you say you don’t either you’re a true bad ass or you are full of s**t and I have my money on the second one. Fear is a paralyzing emotion. Most every has some fear of failure. Fear of failure keeps us from moving, from trying new things, from taking risks, etc. Fear of failure affects us all differently, some of us manage fear failing differently than others, but we all have it.

Sales 118
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Why Companies LIE to Their Customers to Avoid Good Service

A Sales Guy

'I was waiting in line to order my food, when I overheard the cashier tell the woman in front of me that she “couldn’t” refund her money, but that she could get her another espresso or something else. The cashier just lied to this woman. Because she can give her a refund, she (or company policy) is choosing not to. This is why most customer service is b t and when companies try to defend it, it’s even more silly.

Services 117
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The 11 Things Great Sales Leaders DON’T DO!

A Sales Guy

'This is a follow up to the 11 Things Great Sales People Don’t Do. There are two sides to sales. The sales people and the those that lead them. Each of them has a distinct and different role. Sales people go and sell. They are the front lines. The sales leaders, they have to support, direct, lead and motivate the sales team. Like the best sales people, it’s what sales leaders don’t do that makes them great.

Sales 117
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Beyond The Meeting Room: Luxury Magazine Resource

Escape into a world of luxury and dive into the future of tech, fun takes on the American pastime, and many inspirational individuals. With engaging reports on fashion, food, travel, finance, sports, and more, download now and enjoy the read!

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I Don’t Have Enough Time to. I’m too Busy Selling

A Sales Guy

'I know your too busy selling to blog, be on Twitter , input s**t into salesforce, work the booth, watch Ted videos , attend the networking event, etc. I know, you’re the s**t and you don’t have time for those non selling activities. But guess what? All that stuff IS selling. The lesson learned in that killer Ted talk about influencing would have helped you in that sales presentation you had yesterday.

Business 116
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The Secret to Getting Great Coaching

A Sales Guy

'Being open to feedback and criticism isn’t the key to personal development and growth. It’s actually accepting the feedback. The other day I was skiing and the person I was skiing with was getting frustrated and asked for some help. The wanted my feedback to help them get better. They were very open to feedback, they actually wanted it.

Sales 115
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How Making Your Customers Uncomfortable is the Key to Rock Star Selling

A Sales Guy

'Sales is predicated on change. Anyone disagree with me on this? The whole point of selling or buying is change is required or desired. You want a new car, the company needs new design software, an organization wants to take a new approach to marketing. In each of these situation, they’re all looking for change. It doesn’t matter what the sale or the purchase is, when we sell something or someone buys something change occurs.

Sales 115
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Qualifying Prospective Clients is Similar to Dating

A Sales Guy

'Early in my sales careeer, I was so excited to finally announce my first sale. Everything was agreed upon and ready to finalize at the upcoming meeting. My favorite suit was worn, energy was high, and I enthusiastically greeted my prospective client. In fact, my heart was racing somewhat knowing this was just the beginning of a lucrative career.

Sales 115
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ABM Evolution: How Top Marketers Are Using Account-Based Strategies

In times of economic uncertainty, account-based strategies are essential. According to several business analysts and practitioners, ABM is a necessity for creating more predictable revenue. Research shows that nearly three-quarters of marketers (74%) already have the resources needed to build successful ABM programs.

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You Should Email This to Your Prospects

A Sales Guy

'Anytime you find yourself engaged with a prospect who only wants to talk price, or the next time you’re stuck with procurement telling you your competition is cheaper and you need to lower you price, send them this: This will get their attention.

Sales 114
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What is the Oldest Profession in The World?

A Sales Guy

'They say, and this includes Wikipedia, that prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. If that’s the case, my question is, how did the prostitute get their first client? Nothing happens until something gets sold folks. Sales is the true oldest profession in the world. Here is to sales gaining it’s rightful place in the world of professions.

Sales 114
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Hey Sales VP, Don’t Leave Your Sales People Hanging!

A Sales Guy

'I’m looking for a new SaaS software for A Sales Guy Recruiting. After finding a leader in the industry, I searched their website and I clicked on the little red button to request a demo. It was Sunday. By Monday, I was on the phone with a sales rep. He asked a bunch of questions and suggested a demo. Tuesday rolls around, I’m on a demo.

Sales 113
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Gone Skiing

A Sales Guy

'That’s Niseko and it’s gonna be me this week. Boom! I’m headed to Niseko Japan in the morning to go skiing. Most of you already know, I’m a proud ski bum. So, I thought I should give some good foreign pow a try. I will be 16 hours ahead of Mountain Standard Time, so I don’t expect to be working too much. With that said, I wanted to make sure this community continued to get some good sales love.

Sales 112
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ABM Success Recipe: Mastering the Crawl, Walk, Run Approach

Shifting to an account-based marketing (ABM) strategy can be both exciting and challenging. Well-implemented ABM motions build engagement with high-value accounts and drive impactful campaigns that resonate with your audience. But where do you begin, and how do you progress from crawling to running? Watch now as Demand Gen experts delve into the essentials of each stage of the ABM process.

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Know Before You Go

A Sales Guy

'Tanner Hall Catching Sick Air! I’ll never forget an interview I saw several years ago by Tanner Hall. Tanner Hall is one of the most storied slope style skiers in the world and a pioneer in the sport. During an interview he was asked about his tricks and how he prepares for an event. He said something I will never forget. He said he NEVER does a trick he’s never done successfully a 100 times in practice.

Sales 112
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One Sales Guy’s Response to the Question — Is There an App for That?

A Sales Guy

'This quote comes from a sales person whose product I’m demoing. This company provides a SaaS product that helps recruiters. Think CRM or Applicant Tracking system. I asked them if they had a mobile app and this was his answer. We do not currently plan on creating an app, though we are looking to improve the mobile version significantly in the next few years.

Sales 109
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Boom! It’s here — A Sales Guy Recruiting.

A Sales Guy

'Hey all, I wanted to share with this community some exciting news. A Sales Guy Inc. is expanding. We’ve now added a recruiting division to the A Sales Guy Brand — A Sales Guy Recruiting. A Sales Guy Inc is a “sales company.” We are knee deep in selling, sales leadership, sales process, and sales engagement. The A Sales Guy Blog, and A Sales Guy Consulting have been engaging and participating in the on and offline world of sales for years.

Sales 107
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Top Commenters

A Sales Guy

'WordPress sent me a nifty little recap of this blogs 2013 activity. It included a list of the top commenters. I love this community. It’s full of smart, badass sales people. Commenting is my favorite part of a blogging community. I’ve talked about this part of a blog community before and although readership was up almost 60%, comments were down.

Sales 105
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How Intent Data Helps Marketers Convert A-List Accounts

One of the biggest challenges for any B2B marketer is understanding your prospects’ next move — who is most likely to buy and when. Without these insights, marketing campaigns can feel more like guesswork, with high investment and little return. We’re here to tell you there’s a better way. By tracking buyers’ digital footprints and online activity, such as website visits, product reviews, and spikes in content consumption, you can engage prospects with a message that really resonates.