What's the difference between training targeted specifically at front-line sales managers versus general leadership training targeted at other supervisory functions within an organization? Unfortunately, in many cases, nothing. While it is clear that there is merit to tying sales manager training to an organization's competency model, most of the training sales managers receive tends to be too blunt of an instrument to address the day-to-day realities of sales management.

Today's sales and account management environment requires a level of leadership skills that not only gets things done through others (many of whom do not directly report to them) but also develops the next generation of sales leaders. Coaching has proven to be an effective way to improve sales performance as well as attract and retain sales talent.

To avoid the pitfalls of competing on price, salespeople are often told to differentiate themselves and their offering by "selling the value." Selling the value implies that the salesperson either truly understands what the customer values, or that the value offered is perceived as significantly different from the competing offerings. All too often, neither one of these is true.

Industry research indicates that the average tenure for corporate sales leaders is 22 months. As a new sales leader, you're walking into a world of unknowns - and you have a short runway to make an impact. The first six months are critical to create momentum and demonstrate measurable results for the company.

Most people operate in an environment where they fail to see, tap into and leverage most of the opportunities that constantly surround them. When sales and marketing managers help their teams to better identify, categorize and target specific and available opportunities, their team members will begin to see, act and do things differently. Using specific tools and a proven-effective process, managers can show their people how to remove their opportunity blinders, how to get out of their comfort zones, and how to seize opportunities that lead to greater personal and professional performance and success.

Optimizing your lead funnel is expensive and fraught with peril. Different leads are ready to buy at different times - how can you keep track of them all without overloading your sales team? How can you choose among the myriad lead management solutions available?

30 years ago, B2B sales people drove around in their company cars with a trunk full of brochures, catalogs, and samples. Marketing relied on salespeoples' relationships to "get the word out" in a way that simply mailing the content could not match. To customers, salespeople were the "Keepers of the Information". How else would a customer know about a product or service if not for the classic sales call?

The old adage "People love to buy, but hate to be sold to" is rephrased from the seller side to "Salespeople love to win, but hate to lose." Sales management might say, "I want to help salespeople close business-and close the right business." Because as sales managers well know, the hot pursuit of a win can backfire when salespeople go after deals that aren't profitable.

This webcast will provide a step-by-step strategy for building a powerful coaching culture at your organization. The webcast will teach specific pitfalls to avoid along the way, as well as input on how to get managers not only trained, but also enthusiastically participating in your new coaching culture.

Managing a sales team is one of the most important positions in a company. Great sales managers have a profound impact on the productivity of their sales teams and produce better results. But, too often training initiatives focus on salespeople and not sales managers.

What happens when you fit every employee in your company into one of two divisions: sales or sales support? Suddenly, everyone knows his or her "real" job is to create customer and coworker experiences that drive sales. This shift in perception will drive every decision your employees make. Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey built the iconic Barefoot Wine (a top global brand) using this simple business structure.

Discover the advantages and disadvantages of the modern salesforce and how you can keep your team’s skills sharp - wherever they work.