SBI Growth

APRIL 1, 2013

If you missed Q1, you need a monster Q2 to save 2013. This offer expires on April 30 th , 2013. 41% of b2b sales organizations missed the Q1 revenue target. Historically, 90% of companies who miss the first half, miss the year. Those who missed Q1 tell me a big deal pushing killed them. In fact, the #1 reason for the miss was the delay of a big deal. CEOs and sales leaders don't know why big deals push. I pressed them for answers last week. They don't know.

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Negotiation B2B Publishing Sales 127

Jeffrey Gitomer

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

We''ve Moved! Update your Reader Now. This feed has moved to: [link] Update your reader now with this changed subscription address to get your latest updates from us. Leadership Sales Social Media Jeffrey Gitomer Blog jeffrey gitomer sales blog sales blog

Marketing 105

Marketing Media Sales Leadership 105

MTD Sales Training

DECEMBER 14, 2012

As 2012 comes to a close every “Sales Guru” out there is dusting down their crystal ball and making their “top 10 predictions for 2013” So here’s my take! Sean's Thoughts 2013 sales predictions sales industry predictions selling in 2013Here are my top 5 predictions for the coming. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].

Sales Training 116

Sales Training Sales 116

SBI Growth

JANUARY 9, 2013

Our 2012 sales leader research finds it is still a big fear for 2013. Here are five steps for HR to build a sales leadership pipeline in 2013: 1. The top fear of HR leaders for 2012 was finding or developing leaders. If your company isn’t looking for sales leadership today, just wait. The average tenure of a Sales VP is 19 months! Better to be ready for the day when it occurs. This post explores what HR leaders can do to develop top internal sales leaders.

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Onboarding Leadership Sales Leadership Customer Experience 124

SBI Growth

JANUARY 18, 2013

During the interview, I was surprised to hear the biggest HR challenge for 2013. The sales force is tentative - 2013 will be a repeat of 2012. Talent management is a top priority for HR leaders who support sales organizations. Recruiting is critical. So too is talent development; maximizing the potential of human capital. But a recent interview with a HR leader revealed another level of sales leader support.

Leadership 117

Leadership Organization Sales Leadership B2B 117

MTD Sales Training

DECEMBER 19, 2013

With 2013 drawing to an end shortly, I wanted to share with you the top 10 posts from the MTD Sales Training blog this year. All of these posts have been voted for by you as being the most. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]. Sales Tips top sales tips top ten sales blogs

Sales Training 104

Sales Training Sales 104

MTD Sales Training

JANUARY 2, 2013

On my first day at work, I was given a list of people to call and a phone. I was told that the more people I called, the more success I would have. Well, although it was a partly successful , I soon. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]. Prospecting Prospecting for business prospecting for new business sales pipeline sales prospecting

Sales Training 110

Sales Training Sales 110

SBI Growth

JANUARY 21, 2013

Here are the biggest threats to the CSO in 2013. The consensus on Wall Street is a strong 2013. At SBI, we’ve seen very aggressive quotas and targets for 2013. 2013 is going to be tough year. Remember how unsure you felt at the beginning of 2012? If you’re like most of the CSOs we’ve interviewed, chances are you feel better about this year. The storm clouds have passed. Europe has stabilized (for now). Congress avoided a fiscal nightmare (in spite of itself).

Internet 97

Internet Acquisition Software Software 97

SBI Growth

APRIL 3, 2013

The new product launch is around the corner. You are counting on your product marketing manager for a successful launch. Are they up to the task by using a Buyer’s Process Map as their content guide? One of the best movies of the 1980’s was Raiders of the Lost Ark. The adventures of Indiana Jones rank as a top ten movie of all time. Today though it doesn’t matter how good the movie is when it’s stuck on a VHS tape.

Prioritization 120

Prioritization Marketing Communication Management 120

Jeffrey Gitomer

APRIL 19, 2013

The post Jeffrey Gitomer’s First Live Webinar of 2013! Tweet You have to take pride in your achievements and your accomplishments. That pride, that ownership, and that responsibility will lead you to the next achievement. appeared first on Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Blog.

Sales Training 75

Sales Training Sales 75

Jeffrey Gitomer

APRIL 24, 2013

The post Ready Set Boost Event Featuring Jeffrey Gitomer | June 19, 2013 appeared first on Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Blog. Tweet RSS readers click here for video. GET YOUR TICKETS HERE! Make people want to know you by the business, market, and community actions you take. From Jeffrey’s new book, The Sale Re-Defined.

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Marketing Sales Training Leadership Sales 70

Jeffrey Gitomer

JUNE 11, 2013

The post Jeffrey Gitomer – Named one of the Top Sales & Marketing Influencers for 2013 appeared first on Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Blog. Sales Sales Management Success Jeffrey Gitomer Sales Training sales sales blog sales training sales training program top sales trainer

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Marketing Sales Training Sales Sales Management 78

Jeffrey Gitomer

MAY 15, 2013

The post See Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE in Greeneville, TN | Wednesday, June 19, 2013 appeared first on Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Blog. Tweet The promo code GITOMER grants a special ticket price of $99 for our fans! Networking Presenting Sales Jeffrey Gitomer Public Seminar Jeffrey Gitomer Ready Set Boost jeffrey gitomer seminar public sales seminar sales blog sales seminar sales training seminar sales training tips

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Sales Training Sales 64

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 26, 2012

From my point of view, three big trends will affect marketing planning in 2013. As we head into 2013, it is taking on new meaning. An important step to take for 2013 is to bring these together into a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that best connects with your customers. The power of brand will resurge in 2013 as a dominating force. Look for more focus in 2013 on how to leverage different channels and integrate campaigns. One thing is abundantly clear.

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Marketing Digitalization Acquisition Internet 126

SBI Growth

JANUARY 8, 2014

In 2013 our consultants attended 463 live sales calls. These “experts” used the entire 2013 SKO meeting to “train” the sales force. We always compare notes with each other, singling out especially successful or poor appointments. In October, we participated in the worst sales call of the year. Why was this call the winner of this dubious honor? The appointment was bad. But it was our pre-call interview with the sales rep that clinched it.

Software 115

Software Software Meetings Sales 115

Jeffrey Gitomer

JANUARY 2, 2013

Business Social Media Social Media Trust 2013 business business social media Jeffrey gitomer new year resolve social mediaTweet Here are a couple things you should resolve to do in the coming year that will allow you (and me) to over succeed and over achieve: 1. Allocate your time in 30-minute segments. This gives you a full understanding of whether your time is being “spent” or “invested. Take at least two of your allocated segments (one hour) and dedicate them to writing each day.

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Media Sales 77

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 1, 2012

Do you want to increase sales and meet your 2013 goals? Finally, subscribe to our blog and continue to learn about Buyer Personas and how they will help your organization meet your 2013 goal. Hey, Sales Operations leaders. Encourage sales and marketing to build personas and build a plan to operationalize them immediately. Over the past year, many organizations have built buyer personas (Read more about buyer personas here and here ).

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Meetings Facilitation Construction Sales 115

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 8, 2012

Let us look at four buyer trends bound to shake up marketing in 2013: 1. Without one in place for 2013, the probability of standing apart from the din of clicks will be remote. Allocating marketing spends on content forms buyers do not want is a bigger risk in 2013. The likelihood this type of content will be read, “as is”, is less in 2013. In addition, more than likely shake up your marketing plans for 2013.

Marketing 132

Marketing Internet Media B2B 132

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Sales teams are getting their 2013 numbers. 2013 results will uncover some long-hidden flaws in the sales force. You’ll get an excerpt of CAP library items and multiple other tools that you can use to help Sales make 2013 one of the best years yet. If historical performance was used to set the new quotas, expect status quo. For the Sales Leaders who learned how to set quotas at the SBI Make the Number tour ( register now! ), the results will be quite different.

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Onboarding Sales Leadership Leadership Communication 102

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 12, 2012

SBI’s CEO Greg Alexander, was recently quoted in Hubspot’s “ 20 Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2013 & Beyond ”. Right now the biggest mistake a marketing leader can make in 2013 is to not invest in Content Marketing. You’re right, it can be a heavy lift but one well worth it in 2013. 2013 is a pivotal year for Marketing Leaders. Greg tells CMO’s that “The pressure is on”.

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Marketing Organization Sales 133

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

Picture this: we opened the presentation with this question: “Are you going to make your 2013 revenue number?” This article will provide you with insights and strategies for still making the number in 2013. This no-cost tour presents findings from SBI’s market research in 2013. You will have access to guides, templates and tools to help you make the number in 2013 and beyond. 5 Keys to Closing Strong in 2013.

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Prioritization B2B Sales Marketing 122

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

2013 is the year Social Selling became Mission Critical. Social Selling training budgets increased 48% in 2013. Companies are trying to grow new business. Yet many reps struggle to get that critical first meeting with a decision maker. Social Selling is a proven method of securing the first appointment with buyers inside of target accounts. There’s a lot written these days on Social Selling.

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B2C Marketing Publishing B2B 128

SBI Growth

AUGUST 1, 2013

We’re nearly 60% through 2013. With no increased budget and only five months remaining in 2013, efficiency is needed. Time is running short for 2013. This time of year, Sales Ops leaders are often faced with a pressing question. Just five months left. If your organization isn’t at or above revenue plan, what will you do? More to the point, what can you do that will show an impact quickly? The answer is usually a tradeoff between two fundamental courses of action.

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Prioritization Brainstorming Profitability Organization 127

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

Discover insights and market trends from SBI’s research in 2013. Discover insights and market trends from SBI’s research in 2013. Sales Leaders hate Q4. They have to get ready for the new fiscal year. And they have to do it while trying to end the current year strong. Meet Jim Welch. Jim is the Senior Vice President of North American Sales and Field Operations at Motorola Solutions. I recently asked Jim how he prepares for the new year. He responded with 8 tips.

Communication 121

Communication Marketing Meetings Sales 121

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

This year is no different than years prior in that every VP of Sales is getting ready for the annual 2013 sales planning season. Your CMO will love you for it, and furthermore, you can now hold him accountable for delivering the number of opportunities down the funnel that you need to make your 2013 number. Learn how to allocate your budget properly and use it to launch you to a successful 2013.

Prioritization 107

Prioritization Marketing Sales Sales Technology 107

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 1, 2013

2013 is the last year executives accepted activity-level results from marketing. The Holy Grail of 2014 Planning: Marketing Contribution as a % of Total Revenue. CEO''s don’t accept activity reports from Sales leaders without revenue results. Expectations of marketing accountability have increased to the level expected of sales performance. It’s easy to get caught up in reporting activity and miss the big picture. There is so much interesting click data available.

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B2B Marketing Acquisition Leadership 132

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 28, 2012

Make a New Year’s resolution to build territories that are market-centric in 2013. We talked about his priorities for 2013. Without the customer, nothing happens. As the Sales Operations leader, you’re out of a job without customers. Doing so will help the sales team make their target and increase your value. It will also remove many of the excuses reps give for missing their number. This will make life easier for you and your sales VP’s.

Marketing 121

Marketing B2B Sales Management Management 121

SBI

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

With all the people walking around the Dreamforce campus, keep a look-out for people that are wearing this button: It means they’ve been selected as one of our Top 40 Sales Tools of 2013. Next week I’ll partake in the world’s largest migration of the Salesforce CRM ecosystem. Destination, as always, is San Francisco.

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Publishing CRM Sales 55

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

open rate (Google, 2013). Gaining B2B prospects via LinkedIn referrals is the best way to succeed in 2014. Hands down. Don’t waste time on cold calls with a 1-3% appointment success rate (AAISP, 2012). Think investing in email blasts is better? Slightly better maybe, but still an unimpressive 4.4% Still not convinced? Read the 3 Reasons why you aren’t getting enough quality referrals. Instead, invest your time and energy into improving your LinkedIn game. It will pay dividends.

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Prioritization B2B Meetings Marketing 132

SBI

DECEMBER 18, 2013

For me personally, I was honored to get a Silver award for best Sales Blog Post of 2013. I want to encourage you to read some of the bloggers that inspire me every day: Lori Richardson , Joanne Black , Jill Konrath , Babette Ten Haken , Tamara Schenk , Matt Heinz , Bob Apollo , Gary Hart and of course, Tibor Shanto (who took the gold for Best Sales and Marketing Blog of 2013), just to name a few.

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CRM Construction Internet Marketing 54

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 11, 2012

The biggest impact to acquiring new customers in 2013 will be Direct Content Marketing. This is the adoption of Content Marketing principles into outbound direct marketing. Direct Content Marketing is born. Content Marketing works. B2B Marketing teams are seeing fruit from their investment in content marketing to fuel Lead Generation efforts; 2-3x increase in the quantity of inbound leads. Higher close rates of from inbound leads. Reduced overall sales cycles.

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Acquisition Marketing B2B Communication 127

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 31, 2013

There is now an updated 2013 SBI Research Review which you can sign up for here. Of the 365 days in a year, you can spend 232 of them selling (See Exhibit A). At 8 hours per day, that’s 1,856 hours per year you can somehow monetize. A field Sales Rep should be spending around 64% of those available hours selling. What if you spent an hour or two more per week selling? You would close a few more deals per year. How do you achieve that?

Construction 129

Construction B2B Sales Meetings 129

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Less than 60 days remain in 2013. Over these remaining weeks, conversations with SVP-Sales have focused on 3 areas: What can I still do to Make the Number in 2013 ? As 2013 winds down, 2014 naturally ramps up. How should I be preparing to Make the Number in 2014 ? Sales Kick-Off is right around the corner – what am I going to do? Last week, Matt Sharrers wrote a great blog that addresses questions 1 and 2. I recommend you read it and download the tool.

Organization 118

Organization Sales 118

SBI Growth

MAY 5, 2013

In 2013, it’s not just that “the customer is always right”; according to inbound marketing principles, the customer is the beginning and the end of the equation. 48% of marketers plan to increase inbound marketing spending in 2013. I recently had a cup of coffee with a good friend and marketing peer. Kathy is the CMO of an emerging software company. She has helped build the company with superb demand generation efforts. Kathy always has great insights to share.

Marketing 129

Marketing B2B Software Software 129

SBI Growth

JANUARY 30, 2013

You just received your quota for 2013. Excellence in 2013 starts with you. Read on to better understand HOW to leverage resources to Make the 2013 number. It went up. You barely made the number last year. How can you squeeze more out of your team? One of your goals is to land this next big job. Will your career aspirations take a hit if you don’t Make the Number this year? Yet, you are not alone. You need better performance from your reps. You need support from your boss.

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Organization Meetings Marketing Sales 128

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 31, 2012

By now, HR and Sales leaders have solidified their common 2013 goals. The insights offered by Thomas DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan may be 10 years old, but they are especially relevant for 2013. Enter 2013 with a plan to get the most out of your talent. Welcome to the final SBI blog post of the year! A comprehensive talent management plan is essential. Before you get deep into the New Year, consider some unexpected advice about B players.

Publishing 113

Publishing Organization Management Sales 113

SBI Growth

JULY 22, 2013

You have to make the rest of 2013 with the sales heads you have.” Receiving the email or phone call from your boss is never pleasant. All hiring is on hold until further notice. We are short of our bottom line number. The CEO wants to approve all hires until the beginning of next year. This means no hiring except in extreme circumstances. Now you must make the number with less than a full team. Getting a hiring freeze from corporate is out of your control. But what you do about it is not.

Sales 130

Sales Sales Management Management Meetings 130

SBI Growth

JUNE 29, 2013

A February 2013 report by Aberdeen Research validates the impact of gamification. Slow ramp time for new hires is lethal. Sales leaders will not Make the Number if they fail to rapidly onboard new talent. The good news is that new techniques are now emerging that make a measurable difference. The sales environment is uniquely suited to take advantage of an innovation called “ gamification.”

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Onboarding CRM Suppliers Innovation 130

SBI Growth

JULY 23, 2013

By participating, you will get our Social Selling Cheat Sheet to handle 2013’s Top Misconceptions of Social Selling. Sales Operations leaders have seen the power of Social Selling. The top of the funnel is filling with highly qualified prospects. Leads are being nurtured daily by reps through their LinkedIn updates and Twitter Feeds. Sales cycles that begin with an online referral are closing more rapidly. Your message is resonating with buyers earlier in their buying process.

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Value Proposition Finance Stakeholders Leadership 129

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 10, 2013

At this point, your 2013 sales number is essentially decided. There are some ‘B’ Players who have already tapped out and won’t contribute more than they did in 2013. Your thoughts should now turn to 2014. How will you attack the New Year with confidence? Do you have the team you need to have a successful Q1? If you fell short of your number this year, there are reasons. It is very possible that those reasons lie within the team you have assembled.

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Meetings Organization Sales Management 120

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

You’re completing 2013 and building your marketing strategy for 2014. Perhaps you’re beginning to roll out marketing automation or some form of company-wide communication program. Maybe you are supporting sales with a CRM implementation, linking your marketing collateral into each phase. Poorly executing one of these major initiatives will cost you your job in 2014. The statistics around failed technology implementations are staggering.

Key Account Management 126

Key Account Management CRM Communication Leadership 126

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 10, 2013

Discover insights and market trends from SBI’s research in 2013. It’s an unfortunate reality. More often than not, sales and marketing live in siloes. Reps wonder what marketing does and contributes; marketing complains reps ignore their efforts. For a company to survive these days, sales and marketing must work in concert. The best marketing leaders know how to overcome the divide and gain credibility with sales. One way they do this is through actionable buyer intelligence.

Marketing 124

Marketing Media Decision-making Software 124

SBI Growth

JULY 19, 2013

Either way, your 2014 number will outpace 2013. You can’t repeat your 2013 sales strategy in 2014. It was necessary in 2013, and will be in 2014 as well. “What’s the risk?” This question comes as a natural follow up to most decisions. Whenever you make change, risk is sure to follow. This is the life you lead as VP of Sales. And it’s a process you’ll need to be familiar with. Fortunately, we can help with this. Why Change in Your Sales Strategy is Necessary.

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Brainstorming Decision-making Organization Sales 118