Common wisdom to increase production would dictate a change in the monetary compensation plan. Pay more cash and get more results. Everyone likes money - it is a simple and rational choice. And if money is so desirable, why not use it as a reward to induce more desired behavior? Many corporations do just that. It is undeniable that money works to drive behavior, and money used as an incentive yields positive results - up to a point. The fact, however, is that money is not the optimal reward to get extra effort from people.

As sales organizations endeavor to escape the constricted economy of the 2009 recession, one of their most significant barriers is stagnant progess regarding bringing their sales cycle under control. Aberdeen research conducted in March, 2010 for the benchmark study of 441 corporate sales teams,Automating Lead-To-Win: Shrinking the Sales Cycle and Focusing Closers on Sealing More Deals, included 37 companies currently deploying CPQ technology, and analysis shows that these organizations are realizing concrete performance advantages over other survey respondents.

Without a doubt, technology has become a great tool for improving the effectiveness of B2B marketing. Social media, marketing automation, mobile marketing, and search engine arketing all aid in efficiently generating a high volume of leads. Whether marketing teams support sales efforts by generating and nurturing high quality leads or following up on events, technology can make their work more efficient and productive. However, smart businesses know that purchasing decisions are made by human beings who respond to personal interactions with other human beings. Though many simple business transactions can exist entirely online, effective marketing practices must include a human touch.

Today's B2B marketing organizations claim that the fundamental task of generating leads is their most significant challenge. Activities like social media marketing can be powerful, but they can also distract marketing from its core business objective, which is to generate qualified, actionable leads for sales. Outbound lead generation via telemarketing promises to resolve this challenge. Telemarketing generates high-quality leads that empower sales to drive business growth. However, many marketers' budgets are being examined with a critical eye. The phrase "do more with less" has become a dominant theme in many marketing departments. Marketing is being tasked to generate higher quality leads and do so with ever-decreasing budgets. Once marketing recognizes that telemarketing can be part of a cost-effective lead generation program, the next step is determining how to go about it. The primary consideration is whether it should be done in-house or outsourced.

Business leaders look for predictability. They seek insight from mounds of data to get just a glimpse of the future. They demand their sales and marketing executives put the business on the right path to meeting or exceeding sales and margin goals. Sales executives create detailed business plans to identify new opportunities and retain existing customers.  They train sales reps and channel partners on product benefits and teach them to overcome objections. They develop compensation plans aligned with corporate goals to encourage growth. Marketing leaders identify competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. They define buyer personas and construct profiles to ensure the right messages reach the right prospects. They carefully map out every step of the buyer’s journey to know when and how to influence behaviors. All this to increase the likelihood of success, to gain more certainty and predictability. Shouldn’t your sales incentive program work this hard to engage your participants? Knowing how and when to nudge your participants could mean the difference between blowing past your goals and scrambling to explain a disastrous failure. This eBook maps the sales incentive journey which participants embark upon when engaging with a program. We’ve developed it from insights gained during almost 50 years of observing and influencing participants, and it can help put your program on the road to predictable success. Click below to download this eBook.​

Why Your ROI Story Is Stronger Than You Think If you’re in charge of training a sales team, you know how hard it is to ensure they properly receive and retain training while in the field. But since organizations often treat sales training as an unavoidable cost of doing business, you may find it even harder to justify investing in technology that would improve your learning program. Sales, sales enablement, and sales training leaders often don’t realize how much investing in sales training technology contributes to a stronger ROI. That’s because most companies haven’t instituted best practices for identifying the business impact of better sales learning. Most limit their tracking to activity metrics like usage and adoption, or they capture anecdotes about how a recent training contributed to closing a specific deal. Quantifying the full return on your sales training investments helps you more effectively champion your initiatives and win more resources. That way, you can improve your team’s performance and create a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement. Here are four sources of ROI you’re already delivering that you should capture to demonstrate how sales training contributes to the bottom line of your organization. Click below to download this eBook.

Sales is in an effectiveness crisis, with 47% of sales professionals failing (according to CSO Insights studies). It's easy to blame outside factors. But the truth is, if we're going to turn sales performance around, we have to take a good, hard look at sales process.  To achieve consistent results, your sales team needs an actionable and measurable sales process consisting of your best practices. It needs to be repeatable and easy to follow. Download this white paper to: Learn why mapping out a formalized sales process is worth the effort. Get practical guidance on how to do it successfully. Learn how technology makes effective execution achievable for any sales organization. See inside an organization that increased their profit margin by 50% by better executing their sales strategy.

Map our your unique sales process in minutes. A well-designed sales process allows the replication of best practices, introduces a shared sales language, discipline, and minimizes risks for both buyer and seller. It's a powerful concept. But, where to begin? Download this interactive Excel tool to: Define your ideal customer profile. Identify which prospects to pursue (and which not to). Capture knowledge and best practices from your team. Outline qualifying criteria, milestones and steps that build value. Sequence steps and milestones to ensure pipeline momentum. In short: plug in your information and get some inspiration from this tool - finish with a killer sales process to increase win-rates and deal sizes!

Are you struggling to improve adoption of your sales methodology or deliver outcomes with your sales performance improvement initiatives? Do you want to guide behavior changes in your sales force? Or do you simply want to improve the outcomes and ROI for your sales training? Click below to download your copy of Transforming Sales Results' latest eBook, "The Sales Learning System with the 5 Stages of Sales Mastery & Behavior Change: How to Get Adoption and Deliver Outcomes with your Sales Performance Improvement Initiatives."

Everyone seems to recognize that sales managers should be coaching. But how? What exactly should they do to maximize their limited and valuable time to get the results they need? In this eBook on Sales Coaching Excellence, Mike Kunkle of Transforming Sales result explains how to maximize results from coaching: Determine where to spend your limited coaching time Use the ROAM model to analyze gaps and know what to coach Determine how to close the gaps (the best solution) Use a behavioral model for field training that gets results Use a behavioral model for sales coaching that gets results Get into a regular cadence of coaching   Download Transforming Sales Results' eBook, "Sales Coaching Excellence" today and get started on your journey to a best-in-class sales force.

The world of business has changed — especially for salespeople. The better you are, the more likely you are to get fired or retired - especially if you’re at the very top of your profession. Robert Workman’s Hired Gun II is the sales bible used by salespeople who want proven methods to defeat industry politics and stay at the top of your game. As a #1 salesperson, sales trainer and entrepreneur for over four decades, Robert shows you step-by-step how to ensure that adversity and politics don’t destroy your high-performance salescareer. He locks and loads both barrels with invaluable tools and secrets like: The risks of being the best and how to use them to your advantage. How to choose a mentor or coach who will provide the most value. Identifying internal company changes that aren’t in your best interest and leveraging them for your benefit. Using your single greatest asset to achieve top sales status and stay there.   Hired Gun II is the ultimate resource for top performing salespeople to maximize sales, crush the competition and use today’s hardball business tactics to your advantage.

Managing remote workers has always been challenging, particularly with sales teams where everything is measured on productivity and results. With more employees working from home than ever, sales managers must learn to manage a distributed workforce from a distance. For those organizations new to the world of a remote workforce, managing from a distance has presented unforeseen challenges.  So how do we know, then, if our sales team is cut-out for remote work? How do you gauge how well your team will adapt? We don’t have all of the answers today, but we can take a look at what successes and challenges remote sales teams have experienced, what new challenges organizations are seeing and how they are addressing them, and how sales managers can support, engage, motivate, and assess their newly remote workforce. We can use this information to help our salespeople adjust and thrive in a remote environment. 

There are no best-sellers written about middle performers who stayed in their lane. But there are libraries written about the well-loved top performers. And bottom performers get plenty of attention, in part because sales managers would rather drag them along than replace them.  Here is why the next chapter in your company’s history should focus moving the middle.

Measuring the impact of learning and readiness initiatives on revenue is the billion dollar question. In today’s uncertain environment, the answer is even more important. Rapidly changing markets, disrupted supply chains, and increasingly knowledgeable customers mean that companies must upskill employees to compete. But the ability to optimize learning—and maximize productivity—takes deep insight into how employees think, learn, and perform, insight which many companies lack. Today, there’s a new breed of platform that combines learning, communication, and collaboration tools with analytics for a holistic view of learning and development’s impact on results. Workforce readiness technology allows organizations to move beyond assessments and scores to understand how to target activities that move the needle.

As a Sales Manager, your role is to manage sales AND lead people. This handy reminder includes simple models for building 2-way trust, actively listening, giving quality feedback, and coaching -- the essential ingredients for enablement and ennoblement that you'll need to lead.   Click below to download this Infographic.

Think about the growth your company could achieve by tripling your revenue. That’s what one company was able to do by following this free guide, Why Your Hiring Process Is Broken and How to Fix It. It enabled them to hire more people like their top performers, ultimately achieving a 338% boost in annual revenue. You can do it too, and it’s easier than you might think. Learn how to supercharge your hiring process to build a team of all-stars that can dramatically grow your pipeline and consistently close deals.

We all know we need to coach sales reps. In the face of The Great Resignation, a staggering 60% of reps say that they’re more likely to leave their job if their manager is a poor coach (*The Center for Sales Strategy.) However, successful coaching is not always as easy as it seems. A sales leader’s time is spent on a multitude of tasks - accurately forecasting revenue, understanding where deals are, getting on calls with customers - and often, as a result, they don’t know where to begin a formal coaching process. Whether your goal is to improve rep performance, onboard new hires faster, speed up your sales cycle, or boost retention rates, effective sales coaching driven by data can be a game-changer for your oranization. This guide will demonstrate.

Forrester conducted an online survey with 440 respondents and four interviews with sales enablement strategy decision-makers in North America to explore this topic. We found that organizations understand the value of agile content, but can’t always produce and use agile content across the enterprise. This recent Forrester report, Agile Content Strategies Deliver Business Results And Drive Sales Adoption, reveals how sales content has evolved and how business leaders must adapt. Download your copy today to see how you can overcome business pressures changing sales content management. You’ll learn: 3 key sales content research findings Why marketing content is an essential sales tool How lack of resources and incentives limit sales content impact 3 agile content best practices to increase buyer engagement 4 recommendations to gain significant business benefits

Dear Reader, Give me 7 minutes of your time, and I’ll give you The essence of my bestselling book, "Seven Secrets of Influence" and the international one-day seminar Program, "Secrets of Influence™" My goal here is to give you, in just a few minutes and a few dollars, a basic understanding of the important Influence theory and skills that Fortune 100 executives pay thousands of dollars for. I’ve given you the self-assessment questionnaire "Influence Styles Inventory" at the very beginning, plus a printed (or digital) way for you to learn your own Influence Score. That, and the description of the Influence Styles, should take about 7-10 minutes. (Then, for deeper understanding, you can read the rest of the short book to enhance your awareness and skills) Here, in condensed form, for busy people like yourself, a rich and deep view of these important ideas necessary for anyone to be successful in the 21st Century! Wishing you much Success and Influence!

DISC is a powerful tool for understanding human behavior and improving interpersonal communication. In sales, knowing your client’s DISC profile allows you to tailor your approach, build stronger connections, and ultimately close more deals. This guide will help you understand how to identify DISC styles and how to adapt your sales techniques to suit each personality type. Whether you are speaking with a dominant decision-maker, an influential enthusiast, a steady supporter, or a cautious analyzer, DISC provides the insights you need to enhance your communication and sales strategy.

The right enablement solution can elevate your revenue teams’ productivity and effectiveness. But the implementation of your new solution can be tricky and it’s difficult to know where to start. Our 10 Golden Rules for great enablement implementation will equip you with best practices, thoughtfully designed to help you plan ahead and create a clear roadmap for success. What you’ll learn: A framework to guide you through the preparation, rollout, and long-term success of your enablement solution Actionable steps to build a robust revenue ecosystem that empowers teams and fuels continuous growth Strategies to drive lasting engagement through ongoing training, support, and iterative improvement

Introducing Making SEAMless Sales - the last frontier of sales improvement, benefiting all customer-facing roles by having a unified focus on client success, therefore increasing win rate, margins, deal sizes, revenues, and client satisfaction. Are you in a presales role struggling to work better with your sales counterpart? Are you in a sales role and wish there was a more productive way to work with the other sales roles and with presales? Are you on an account or opportunity team and find it challenging to work together more efficiently and effectively? Are you a sales manager and feel presales and sales individual contributors need to work together optimally as a team? Are you in sales enablement trying to make this all work? This book provides proven insights, methods, and tools, expanding on and refocusing the traditional disciplines of presales and sales, and explores how to work together better as a seamless team at the account and opportunity level. We'll explore and address: The challenges of traditional sales and presales roles. The importance of focusing on the buying process while still executing our sales process. The overarching need for Solution Enablement and Account Management. Why and how buyers buy, and what is needed to persuade them. How working together as a team benefits everyone.

How do you transform your sales team into a revenue-driving marketing channel? In this playbook, you’ll uncover the key challenges holding your marketing team back, get actionable strategies to align messaging, drive revenue impact, and prove the ROI of your marketing efforts. What you’ll learn: How to bridge the communication gap between marketing and sales teams Steps to build messaging that resonates with buyers at every stage Tools and tactics for quick implementation across your organization

How Credible is AI? ebook is a critical thinking guide for sales, marketing and leadership professionals. Leveraging AI can enhance your efficiency and reinforce your expertise with clients, colleagues and stakeholders. But just how credible is AI? By its own admission, AI-generated content may contain errors and often lacks the depth of insight your clients truly need. This ebook cuts through the hype and cheerleading to provide executive leaders, as well as sales and marketing executives, with critical thinking guidelines to help you determine what is slop and what is actionable insight your clients actually value.