Improving sales performance has never been more important for major global corporations. After years of recession-induced cost cutting, leaders are putting increasing emphasis on implementing go-to-market strategies to boost both top- and bottom-line results, and expecting their sales organizations to execute them. Unfortunately, experts agree that most growth strategies fail. As competition from low-cost competitors increases, and aggressive buyers become even more demanding, it has become even harder to close the gap between go-to-market strategy as articulated by senior management, and its profitable execution, when the salesperson is face-to-face with the customer.

"An incentive is something that stimulates or motivates with the intent to spur determination and action." Sales incentives studies have shown that sales incentive programs have a great influence on a company’s bottom line. A sales incentive program can be a powerful business tool that can be used to recognize and motivate salespeople. 

It’s Friday morning, and you’re thinking about Monday’s management meeting - the one where you’ll be presenting your mid-quarter sales forecast to the executive team. You’ve just sent another reminder to the sales team to update their deal information in the expensive SFA tool you installed a year ago. After chasing down a few rogue reps (who act as if they’ve never seen the tool before), you’re finally ready to run the numbers. Immediately, you see that several deals are slipping. Uh-oh. How did this happen? What caused last week’s healthy forecast to take a turn for the worst? Are all our prospects getting squirrely at once? Are our reps falling down on the job?

Business-to-business leaders are searching for ways to improve sales productivity, battle rising selling costs, accelerate skills development and transition to solution selling. What most don’t realize is that the quality and effectiveness of their sales content are critical to addressing these issues.

Selling has grown increasingly complex and difficult. Research shows that over the past 5 years win rates have fallen and no-decision rates have grown.   Complete the form at right to download this article and learn the 3 questions that every sales leader must ask to make the best go/no-go decision.

Each sales opportunity presents its own unique dilemma in terms of identifying the "real buyer". Further examination of a sales opportunity will yield additional information regarding the viability of the opportunity as it relates to the product and service offerings available from the salesperson's company. One of the most important steps in the sales process is to identify the real buyer ‐ an individual I'll call the "relevant executive" for the sales opportunity. Recent research (like that shown in my book Selling to the C‐Suite) shows that key executives typically get involved early in the buying cycle to understand the issues creating the need for a solution. They will often delegate the middle phase of the buying cycle—exploring options, setting vendor criteria and evaluating solutions—to others at lower levels of the organization. Senior executives also get involved in the project again during the final phase to help plan the implementation and measure the results. That’s why waiting to get involved with an organization when the RFP is initially received can be problematic. The better strategy is to gain access to the relevant executive early in the buying cycle, at a time when it is possible to actually influence RFP criteria by showcasing the benefits and value of your products or services. Click below to download this paper to help you and your team develop the right strategy for targeting and engaging with the right - and relevant - executive.  

Throughout this eBook, you will learn 11 key strategies that will help you position your profile to be seen as a thought leader and subject matter expert, leverage your existing network to gain access to decision makers and engage with people who are engaging with you.

If your sales team isn't producing the results expected, the pressure is on you to fix the situation fast. One option is to replace salespeople. A better option is for you to optimize your performance as a sales leader. In The Sales Manager's Guide to Greatness, sales management consultant Kevin F. Davis offers 10 proven and distinctly practical strategies, skills, and tools for overcoming the most challenging obstacles sales managers face and moving your team ahead of the... (click below to download excerpts from this eBook)

If your sales team isn't producing the results expected, the pressure is on you to fix the situation fast. One option is to replace salespeople. A better option is for you to optimize your performance as a sales leader. In The Sales Manager's Guide to Greatness, sales management consultant Kevin F. Davis offers 10 proven and distinctly practical strategies, skills, and tools for overcoming the most challenging obstacles sales managers face and moving your team ahead of the... (click to download excerpts from this eBook)

CSO Insights’ 2017 Sales Manager Enablement Report compared the win rates on forecasted sales opportunities between companies with a formalized approach to coaching—meaning there is a standard approach used by all sales managers—to those companies where coaching strategies were entirely left up to the manager or done informally. Their findings provide proof as to why a sales coaching initiative at your company is so important: companies who had adopted a formal approach to sales coaching achieved a win-rate on forecasted deals that was 19% higher. In short, developing a strong sales coaching culture offers a great ROI. And great leverage: Each sales manager trained is then empowered to improve the win rates of every sales rep on their team. Here are seven keys that will move you in that direction.

Integrity Solutions partnered with the Sales Management Association to perform a sales coaching research survey of over 200 sales leaders at 193 organizations to answer these questions: Is the current approach to sales coaching effective? Does sales coaching impact a sales organization’s performance? How do high performing sales organizations differ in their approach to sales coaching?   Our research yielded definitive and sometimes surprising answers to these questions. Click below and get this Research Brief today!

You are about to embark on a journey that is going to help you to book, sell, and retain like never before.  This book reveals: What has changed in our B2B industry/profession, how to cope with the change, and what skills should one acquire to thrive? What should you change/improve to book, close, and retain more than ever? What resources are valuable to keep on your road to success? "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." ― Alvin Toffler Click below to download this eBook.

THE KEY IS TO ADDRESS THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF SELLING OVER THE PHONE. There are two immediate challenges: Inside sales is different and selling over the phone is difficult. If you manage an inside sales or telesales team, you realize these as the unique hurdles to selling and managing customers over the phone. The purpose of this paper is to share with you experience gained from research in hundreds of organizations since 1996 that will help you respond to areas that are inhibiting the performance of your inside sales organization. By reading this white paper, you will learn: Three simple steps to tripling your success rate over the phone. The one reason a lower level of contact will sponsor you to a higher-level contact. The top two techniques for building value over the phone. Keys to leaving a highly-effective voicemail. How to overcome the five common challenges to discovering honest needs.

Imagine your sales team gets invited to attend an exclusive networking event filled with senior decision-makers at companies that fit your ideal customer profile. Would you expect them to do their homework before they arrive at the event? How would you expect them to behave at the event? Would they grab a cocktail and stand against the wall for the entire event, quietly making comments to people as they pass? Or would they work the room, confidently striking up conversations with people they’ve researched online, connected with and began developing authentic relationships proving they have the experience these buyers are seeking from a seller? As a sales leader, you’d never hire a rep who couldn’t represent your brand at an important event without proven experience and know-how to conduct meaningful conversations with qualified buyers. This is precisely how high-performing and experienced sales professionals approach digital selling with LinkedIn.

In sales, we often find ourselves grappling with a false choice - do we focus on relationship building with the customer, or focus more on winning the deal at all costs? It can often seem like there is no middle ground, we have to either perform like a hardliner or try and gain the customer's favor. But it is not, in fact, an either/or situation. This white paper explores the middle ground between building relationships and winning the deal and offers helpful tips on ways to nurture both your relationship with the customer while keeping your eye on the prize. Read more to discover how it might be the way salespeople think about their customer relationships that prevents them from focusing on and winning the deal. JMReid Group is a training company that provides sales programs with this middle ground at top of mind. If you like what you read, contact us in the interest of your sales team at www.jmreidgroup.com.

Modern Corporate Training Today, modern corporate training programs must focus on building a culture of learning to engage, train, and retain employees. They must also prove that these programs impact business growth. To help you prioritize initiatives, we’ve identified six of the most important trends shaping corporate training today.

Uncover the sales negotiation fundamentals that are most often overlooked and misunderstood by salespeople, including both positional (win-lose) and principled (win-win) negotiation styles. You’ll also learn how to defend against the six most advanced procurement tactics that you may not even realize you are coming up against, such as: Best-of-the-Best Pricing Reverse Auctions and eBids Limited Authority Discomfort Nibbling Reopening

The foundation of Customer Success is an effective process for customer onboarding, implementation and launch. This reduces the time it takes for customers to see value from their purchase, known as Time to First Value (or TTFV). But what exactly is TTFV, why is it so important, and how can you minimize it? In this whitepaper, we explore the concept of Time to First Value, which is just one aspect of Imparta’s Customer Success & Renewals program, and describe the 7 techniques you can use to reduce TTFV to benefit your customers, and your own organization. 

Before you embark on expanding your initial sales team, focus on equipping your sales team for success. Thinking about your sales organization as a machine will help you focus on the critical success factors (outlined in this e-book) needed to build a repeatable and predictable revenue stream for your company.

Download this eBrief to find out how to streamline sales content management to a digital approach that solves content challenges—for sellers AND buyers.

The holiday season means major shopping. And your customers are looking for the best deals. As companies try different tactics to reward loyal customers and attract new business, some incentives will work better than others. Learn how you can stand out from the competition this year. Download our 2023 holiday sales incentives guide and learn how you can send digital gift cards that encourage customer loyalty and attract new business.

Click below to download this workbook for Bob Kelleher's  60-minute interactive webinar, 7 Tools to Unlock The Engagement of Your Team" where you'll learn the secrets to becoming a more engaged, motivated, and productive person, employee, and if applicable, manager, in this captivating and self-reflective session of self-discovery.  Bob will help managers, execs and leaders learn: How to coach employees to booster their personal engagement How to use polling exercises to get at the ‘undiscussables’ with your team  How to get your employees to go ‘above and beyond’ If you missed the live session, use this workbook in tandem with the On Demand webinar, available after 1/25/24.  Better yet, click here to register and join us for the live session on 1/25.

Download this special report loaded with additional findings from the study. Plus, you'll get insider tips for executive leaders and middle managers.  

You know the old saying - great leaders are made, not born. But not all leaders are the same. Our research has found that leaders typically fall into one of three types. The first leader, known as the Pleaser wants consensus. The second type, known as the General values compliance. But the 3rd leader, known as the Creator, is different. They create clarity around what matters most. What type of leader is your organization developing? Meet the 3rd Leader. Learn more in this white paper.