This preview chapter will allow you a peek into this guide to the iterative organization, the only kind of organization that can learn and adapt fast enough to keep up in today’s world. For anyone running a team of managers, or advising someone who does, it describes the fundamental behaviors that create iteration, explains how to implement them, and includes videos and online assessment to get the process started. Iterate defines what management really is and helps readers create a fast, flexible, focused management team that does it well. Ed Muzio, award-winning author, CEO, and "one of the planet’s clearest thinkers on management practice," provides a research-based blueprint for a management team that will take the next best step for the organization in any situation. This book enables senior leadership, front line and middle management, and human resource executives to equip their teams with both knowledge and practical skills so that they not only understand their own purpose but also perform that purpose well amidst ever-changing conditions. Iterate will help readers create measurable business results on any management team, of any size, in any industry where complex work and frequent change are the norm. Click below to download this preview.

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. 

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.

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.  

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.

At one time or another, every sales manager feels like they are stepping into an abyss.   They have to replace the sales rep who just left. Or they’re tasked with expanding their department to meet the challenge of growing sales for the company. Either way, they have to make a big decision.The candidate sitting in front of them could be an outstanding addition to the team, or they could be the manager’s worst nightmare.   Hiring an employee who turns out to be toxic can cost the company lost sales, higher rates of sales rep turnover, and turmoil. Research shows 1% of people are psychopaths and 4% are sociopaths, while another 2-3% of the population might end up behaving in a toxic way in the workplace. When you add it up, that’s one out of 13 people.   In this book, we offer a glimpse at 13 types of toxic personality types we’ve identified in the workplace for sales teams. We have ordered the chapters by the most difficult and problematic, the Jungle Fighter, to the least likely to be problematic, the Martyr. Using documented case studies, we also outline the steps you can take to address toxic behavior and restore harmony to your organization. In some cases, you may be able to adjust the work environment and coach employees who exhibit toxic behavior. In other cases, the best strategy may be to avoid hiring employees with toxic behavioral tendencies. If they are already on the payroll, you’ll have no choice but to get them out of your organization.

A recent survey conducted by SAVO Group of more than 500 executives at 125 successful companies found that organizations that practice sales enablement consistently out-performed the Fortune 500 average year-over-year growth rate by nearly four percentage points. This white paperdescribes the seven attributes that separate these top-performing companies from the rest and the ways in which you can enable your sales team to consistently make the sale and increase overall revenue.

In today’s sales environment—where product and service solutions and customer relationships are growing more complex—there is an increasing need to continually raise the skill level of salespeople. Managers play a critical role in making sure those skills are learned and used. Statistics speak loudly that manager support/coaching is the number one action that can amplify organizational sales performance: Organizations can gain a 29% increase in top-line salesforce performance due to the skills of sales managers, independent of the skills of their salespeople. Manager coaching has a great impact on performance over and above the impact of training alone. In our study, while just training salespeople resulted in a 43% improvement in performance, when manager coaching was added, overall performance improved 67%, a 24% improvement over training alone. Unfortunately, sales manager coaching is at an all-time low, resulting in as much as 85% of sales skills never being used to drive performance. Why aren’t sales managers dialing up the decibels?  

Think about the best manager you ever had. We are assuming, of course, that you’ve had at least one good manager in your lifetime. C’mon, there’s got to be at least one. Think back to all the teams you’ve been on. This person could’ve been your boss at that horrible minimum-wage high school gig that you only showed up for because this person made it worthwhile. Maybe you had a strong leader during your college part-time work. Or, like many in today’s workforce, your first full-time, professional manager played a major part in developing you during your formative years into the kind of executive you are today.

Sales enablement intelligence is a data-driven approach to learning, coaching, and content to maximize revenue per rep. Sales enablement intelligence harnesses your sales analytics to help you identify strengths and weaknesses—and gives you actionable insights to achieve your goals. More importantly, sales enablement intelligence will help you lead a winning team.

Analytics are at the heart of a modern data-driven business.   When it came to content, we used to rely almost entirely on anecdotes and guesswork. That is no longer good enough - content is at the heart of the sales and marketing process and we must know how it is being used and how it is performing.   Marketing Automation tools made that a reality for marketing content. They let marketers analyze and optimize content marketing efforts during the first half of the sales cycle, providing analytics to show how effectively content moves customers through the funnel. But until recently, as soon as a deal was handed off to the sales team, it entered a content black hole.    There has been no way to answer very basic questions about sales content. Do reps have what they need? Do they use it? Do customers pay any attention to it? Does any of this actually generate real revenue? Even in our increasingly data-driven world, sales content has remained back in the days of guess and hope. But an emerging set of Sales Enablement platforms has changed that. They manage sales content throughout your sales engagements and use analytics to give you full visibility into how that content performs.   This guide walks through eight reports that answer the key business questions about sales content and shows how to use them to optimize the way your company engages with customers.

Many companies approach orientation like it's a formality. It has to be done, but no one wants to waste too much time on it. So, new employees are ushered in, given a quick tour of the office and a rundown of the benefits offered, and then they're expected to get right to work. It seems leaders assume that more detailed information on things like the company's processes and customers will simply be absorbed by new hires as they go along.

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.

Sales are the lifeblood of every business. A company that is more effective at selling its products will out perform its competitors, even if they offer higher quality or better value. It is, therefore, essential for businesses toemploy a highly dedicated and motivated sales staff. While many companies reward salespeople on a commission basis, research demonstrates that non-cash incentives such as gift cards are more effective at improving motivation, boosting performance, and increasing a company’s bottom line. 

As we enter 2022, Covid-19 and uncertainty continue to impact every aspect of incentives. Adaptation, flexibility, and communication will continue to be key as companies weigh their options about bringing employees together, whether it’s opening the office or travelling on an incentive trip. Incentive professionals are called to motivate a changing workforce while corporate goals also continue to change. For the foreseeable future, a remote and hybrid workforce is here to stay. A Mercer survey last May found that 83% of employers will continue to provide flexibility at greater scale post pandemic. Given the importance of recruitment, retention, and engagement, incentive programs will be more important than ever. Dramatic hiring shifts are driving companies to examine how to be even more competitive in the job market, and a robust incentive program is an important part of a company’s full benefits package. According to the IRF’s Industry Outlook for 2022, overall incentive budgets are expected to increase by 34% in 2022, with the per-person spend increasing to $806 from $764 the prior year - although these budgets will need to accommodate price increases resulting from workforce, inventory, and supply chain challenges. Click below to download this important report.

"If you're trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think."  - David Ogilvy David Ogilvy, the famous marketing and sales executive, said it this way, "If you're trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think." Nelson Mandela said it like this: "If you talk to [people] in a language [they] understand, that goes to [their] heads. If you talk to [them] in [their] language, that goes to [their] heart." The ability to communicate—whether to persuade or just to understand—goes beyond using words well; it requires the ability to use words in a way that has meaning for those with whom you are speaking. The ability to talk with someone in his or her native language isn’t just about them understanding you; it’s about you understanding them—their experiences, their thinking, their beliefs, and their values. While definitions lie in words, meaning lies in the people who use them.

In the era of data discovery, analytical power has migrated from the IT department to business users. Surveying over 700 analytics users, Aberdeen set out to understand modern analysts to identify what makes them successful. Among many interesting findings, Aberdeen discovered that modern analysts are 55% more likely to have access to interactive data visualization tools, and 46% more likely to have a data governance solution. Download this report to learn more.

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.​

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."

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)

High-quality coaching requires not only effort and collaboration between sales managers, reps, and sales enablement professionals, but also agreement on coaching effectiveness and best practices. Without agreement, it’s hard to make improvements and drive increased sales success. To find out how these stakeholders feel about coaching effectiveness, we surveyed nearly 300 sales reps, managers, and sales enablement professionals, asking them fundamental questions about their perceptions and preferences. While we found alignment in some areas, reps, managers, and sales enablement leaders differed in their opinions about coaching quality, coaching needs, and even the impact of coaching on results. Left unchecked, differences between key stakeholders on coaching quality and value can pose a significant risk to revenue goals, and even threaten the relationship between reps and managers. Click below to download and learn what the data showed, what it means, and how you can use this information to improve coaching efforts at your organization.

Over the past several years, Qvidian has surveyed hundreds of executives and sales leaders around the world from various industries, markets, and company sizes to create a comprehensive ongoing study of the changing objectives and challenges facing sales leaders.   This Sales Execution Trends Report investigates new obstacles sales organizations face to meet these objectives, as well as explores current conditions and investment areas needed to improve sales execution; providing further market insight into the state of sales today.