There are many industry gurus out there proclaiming the death of the B2B sales profession. Forrester Research predicted that 1 million B2B sales jobs would be lost between 2017 and 2020 (something I haven’t seen). The basic premise is that today’s marketing automation and sales systems, content rich websites and e-commerce platforms, make the B2B […]
In two previous posts, I covered the first two steps in driving B2B revenue growth, assessing your current state, and achieving marketing and sales alignment. Both articles, and this one, are based on the BrightTALK Sales Expert Channel webinar, Assess, Align and Accelerate – 3 Steps to Power Revenue Growth that I did last month with […]
Three Business Health Problems Your B2B Sales Organization is Telling You It would be great if sales whispering was talking to your prospects just right so they magically purchase. In actuality, it is a bit more introspective: Listening to and recognizing the hidden problems of lost deals, stalled engagements, wasted effort and reactivity in your […]
Big league pitcher Lefty Gomez is more famous for saying, “I’d rather be lucky than good”, than for the quality of his pitching. Unfortunately, many marketing and sales professionals have this same attitude. More than once, I have succumbed to the wish for more luck when in truth, it was something else I needed. A […]
Seven Strategies to Accelerate Revenue Growth In its most basic form, Sales Transformation is ensuring you have equipped your sales team with the best skills, tools and sales infrastructure to enable successful and profitable sales campaigns. According to Wikipedia, sales transformation is a form of change management—realigning how assets and people are used to restructure a […]
This blog originally appeared at tenfold.com. Effective selling isn’t about finding people who are interested, talking to them once or twice, and then closing the deal. It’s about building relationships with prospects. In fact, at least 80% of all sales require five or more follow-ups. Despite that, a typical salesperson only tries to reach out […]
The relationship between marketing and sales is so crucial to a company’s success yet it is often less than ideal. In my company, we get to work with a fair number of CMOs and CSOs and while they are usually great at their individual jobs, they need to work together well to drive the revenue […]
In my work with sales teams all over the world, I am often asked about what is the most critical trait for a successful salesperson. My answer is always the same: “Genuine curiosity.” Curiosity is like a Swiss Army knife with all the attachments. It gets the job done in nearly every situation and is […]
CEOs have likely already conferred with their leadership teams about how they will deliver sales- and marketing-fueled growth for this year and beyond. Yet while no successful leader submerges him or herself in the nuts and bolts, you must have a dashboard, even an informal one, for guiding your team, asking the right questions and […]
I just listened to an interesting podcast featuring my old colleague Heidi Melin. Heidi is CMO of Plex Systems and is a well-respected marketer. It was an interview-style podcast, hosted by Glenn Gow of Crimson Marketing. The topic of the podcast is How CMOs of High Growth Companies Can Achieve Rapid Scale. Naturally, as a […]