According to a recent CSO Insights’ study, 60% of participants report a ramp-up time of greater than or equal to 7 months. In 2003, this number was only 40%.

Technology has not only impacted the way we think, it has also shifted into high gear how we receive and consume information. This plays out across all divisions of business, and sales and service organizations are no exception. Embracing new technologies, and accommodating personal learning styles, generational expectations, and varying skill levels, requires a comprehensive learning approach -- one that combines traditional and modern modalities that fit your company, your team and your culture. 

For many B2B companies, selling in 2017 is akin to navigating an ever-shifting obstacle course. You start the new year with (what you think) is a bullet-proof plan, and then, seemingly without warning, something fundamental changes: a significant new competitor enters your biggest growth market, your product team announces a major release that dramatically shifts your buyer targets, or your newly appointed sales leader decides to roll-out a new selling methodology that renders all your existing go-to-market tools obsolete. The reality is that sales forces are change-intensive organizations, and the pace continues to accelerate. Managing through this kind of change requires a sales force, and a sales development program, that can respond quickly to help sellers acquire new knowledge and skills, and respond to dynamic buyer and market requirements. But where do you start? In this live interactive session, Qstream VP of Marketing Lisa Clark will discuss the new requirements facing sales and marketing pros responsible for team readiness, as well as emerging tools and techniques proven to help your sellers successfully navigate the inevitable changes to come.

The makeup of today's sales organization can span up to four generations.  Engaging sales professionals across this spectrum requires a blended training approach, and new thinking about the content we develop and the modalities we use to deliver it.    

A subscription-based training model can help to empower your customers with the knowledge and skills they need to get the most out of your product or service. Selling training to your customers is also a tremendous business opportunity that will help to improve the ROI from your LMS. But where do you start? What’s the best way to package this kind of training? How should you market subscription-based training to your customers?

Think about your most recent sales training or the last sales book you read. It was all about the sale, right? Closing the deal. Making it happen. Taking control. But things are different in 2017.

As social networks like LinkedIn have continued to grow, leveraging them to increase sales leads has become increasingly popular. It even launched the term "Social Selling". The practice involves two primary activities: 1.  Outbound Prospecting - Using a "database" of connections to find and connect with ideal prospects via introductions, referrals and research. 2.  Inbound Marketing  - Content-related engagement by salespeople in cooperation with their company’s Marketing department.

It is a fact—you can’t move from a needs-based selling proposition to a value-based proposition without knowing how your customer creates value. Unfortunately, most salespeople don’t have a clue how their customers create value, or what questions to ask about the value creation process to uncover hidden needs.

Whether you are reporting progress, leading a meeting, or giving a sales pitch your ability to present is measured in large part by how well you communicate. How you say it is just important as what you say! Becky will share simple, creative methods to capture interest, lock in attention, and communicate value clearly. You’ll learn techniques to capture attention, motivate people to action and build productive working relationships.

Everyone knows that gaining access to executives is often critical to success in B2B sales.  However, suppose your sales teams are not gaining access to the right executives in the client organization!  If your sales teams are not focused on identifying the relevant executive for the sales opportunity, they may be at a competitive disadvantage.

According to CSO Insights’ 2017 Sales Manager Transformation Report:   "Sales transformation is a growing trend, but sales performance is not improving... Clearly, something is missing."  

LinkedIn is the most powerful sales tool for today's sales professional IF you know how to use it effectively.  If you're still thinking of the old (2016) LinkedIn or you're not confident in your abilities as an expert in using the new 2017 version of LinkedIn, you're losing out to competitors who are.  

Why are most presentations so bad? Truly terrible?  Few people enjoy creating, delivering, or watching PowerPoint presentations, so let’s change that. You may recall the quick fire selection of Awesome PowerPoint tricks covered in the December webinar. This session builds on that with techniques to create mind blowing presentations. 

We all know coaching is important. We all know it can make a huge difference. So why aren’t you seeing more results from your team, for your coaching efforts?

It’s the common sales manager nightmare: your salesperson comes in with a "great opportunity," but the customer needs a massive discount. Why does this happen so often? Because your salespeople only know how to bargain ("he wanted a 20% discount, but I talked him down to accepting only 10%!"). What we really want salespeople to do is negotiate in a way that strengthens the relationship with the customer while keeping a good profit for you. In this session, you will learn how to get your salespeople to negotiate their way to success and not bargain away your profits.

The steps in the sales cycle have remained consistent over the years. What's changed are the tools that top sellers use to win more business. More and more, digital sales tools require salespeople to think and act like marketers to attract prospects.

Self-discovery is one of the bedrocks of effectively guiding individuals to a desired outcome. Trying to move people forward without a proper appreciation of where they are can have negative consequences.   Another obstacle in the way to outstanding coaching results is the challenge of establishing rapport between coach and coachee. How we rue those painful hours when the communication just does not work. It is like you are speaking different languages.   Well in fact you may be - behaviorally, speaking a different language.

Month after month it’s the same pattern. A rep (or two) misses quota. You sit down for a 1-on-1 to discuss results and goals, to motivate the rep to sell more! Yet nothing changes. Results remain stagnant or perhaps even get worse. Your CEO is demanding growth, so now what?

Companies can provide all the fancy sales tools and training in the world, but unless each salesperson starts with the right mindset, they will not achieve peak performance. Over the past few years, neuroscience and cognitive psychology research have revealed proven methods for developing a peak performance mindset. Originally popular in sports, now the practices are being applied to B2B sales.

According to ATD’s 2016 State of Sale Training report, organizations spend an average of $954,070 per year on sales training. One of the top three barriers to making it work is the inability to tie training to sales performance. This webinar offers steps you can take to demonstrate how your training is driving sales performance and the value that performance adds to the organization. Join Jack and Patti as they describe how the ROI Methodology is applied to sales training.

Many sales reps struggle to make quota and many companies fail to achieve growth goals. Well-known selling methodologies no longer provide enough differentiation. Worse, even the methodologies that have been around for 50 years, like consultative selling, aren’t widely adopted (at mastery levels). We still sell transactionally and superstitiously. In this webinar on his Sales Transformation Straight Talk™ channel, sales transformation expert Mike Kunkle will share:   The consultative skills that provide differentiation Why they’re not enough and what else to do How to implement a sales methodology so it sticks

Obviously, the sales team has a tremendous impact in the organization. If sales people don’t produce, the business is negatively impacted. And that impact is felt at every level of the organization. That means keeping the sales team engaged and productive.

Persuasive presentations are the foundation of many sales teams. Yet most sales presentations are BORING! Ellen will show you how you can be persuasive without being salesy! Discover simple techniques that everyone can learn, based on solid research.

A ten-year study of more than 100 companies showed that the number one cause of business failure is bad strategy. But, the reality is that only 3 out of every 10 managers are strategic. And when you consider that being able to set strategic direction is ten times more important to the perception of a leader’s ability than any other behavior, it’s critical that you master strategic thinking and planning.   In this webinar, you will learn a simple framework to transform strategy from a once-a-year dog-and-pony show that gets buried in a plan that never gets used to a laser-focused strategic mindset that you’ll use on a regular basis to grow your business.