The world is emerging from COVID lockdowns, but employees continue to operate differently than they ever used to. Managers are challenged with improving their team’s performance and maintaining a positive workplace culture while most continue to work remotely. Our new report on managing for improved workplace performance addresses issues that are critical to managers of sales and non-sales teams alike. We look at: The future of incentive travel, a key component of many sales managers’ motivation efforts How the pandemic year changed employee recognition Why 2021 requires a new type of sales management Our cover story features insights on motivation and making work matter from Michael Patrick F. Smith, a playwright and musician who worked for a year in the oil fields of North Dakota to test himself and exorcise some demons from his past. Smith has written a book about his experience, and it’s surprising how many of the lessons that he took away from his year toiling as an oil field "swamper" are applicable to managers who work in a completely different environment.

As businesses settle into a completely remote work world, managers are wrestling with how to keep their teams engaged, motivated and productive. Leading with honesty, openness and empathy are more important than ever. "Everyone will remember how their boss responded during this time. Did they focus on you at a human level?" said one workplace consultant. Other topics: Futures, not foosball, get workers excited How top-performing companies use incentives

Are your prospects singing the blues like Ray Charles and telling you, "Hit the road, Jack, and don’t you come back no more!"  Or are they screaming like James Brown, "You got, you got, you got WHAT I NEED!" Listen up! If you’re constantly turning people off and getting nowhere...and you’re not rocking the right approach to connecting with your buyers...you’re going to be hitting sour notes and going broke in a hurry, my friend! Fortunately, there’s a way to change your tune to one that strikes the right tone with your prospects. And it involves embracing just a few mindset shifts and learning a simple but powerful 3-step formula we developed called the PVC Sales MethodologyTM — which stands for: • Personalization • Value • Call-to-action Leveraging the PVC Methodology will turn you into a rock star connector, prospector and seller! But before we dive into the details of the PVC Sales MethodologyTM, there are a few other things we need to cover as we set the stage for your success. So sit up, and get ready to learn how to strike the right chord with your prospects!

On average, 83% of all newly hired salespeople quit within 3 years while 30% of them quit within just 3 months. One of the biggest reasons that newly hired sales representatives fail is because of their inability to prospect and build a pipeline of opportunities. Without effective prospecting, there will be no sales. Solid prospecting skills thus are of vital importance to the success or failure of any salesperson.

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.

Strategic account planning. It’s an annual exercise, right? A time-drain that produces a document that barely gets used and adds no value.

Join us for a game-changing webinar that reveals the secret to building a high-performing revenue engine through close collaboration between key business functions. In less than 60 minutes, you'll learn how to create a shared vision, set common goals, and optimize your sales and marketing strategies to maximize revenue growth.  

Why do executives test and screen salespeople?  How can salespeople circumvent that process and develop trusted advisor level relationships with those executives?

If your staff meetings are an arms race of ever more rosy stories about the future, ever more closely guarded presentations of current status, and ever more vague discussions about how well things are going between salespeople and clients, this session is for you. Award-winning author and systemic culture change expert Ed Muzio will show you a new way of thinking about forecasts and data. You’ll learn what you can do with your staff, today, to get it functioning better as soon as next week. Get out of the business of guessing what people mean as they try to make themselves look good, and get your team sharply focused on working together with data and forecasts to achieve the real results you owe your leadership.

Video can bring people together but it can’t create a meaningful or memorable encounter that drives results. That requires a unique skillset. Luckily, screen actors, television reporters, and other on-camera pros have unlocked the secret to creating personal relationships and memorable experiences with a virtual audience. In this session, actor and sales author Julie Hansen shares the must-know secrets from her new book, "Look Me In The Eye: Using Video to Build Relationships with Customers, Partners and Teams."

AI FYI: How the Technology Is Impacting B2B Sales and Marketing If you’ve got a handle on how to incorporate artificial intelligence into your sales and marketing efforts, you’re doing better than most. Many of those who have poked extensively under the hood of the emerging technology say that incorporating it into B2B practices will be a process that could take years. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay attention now and even begin to introduce AI-driven tools into your go-to-market strategies. Our latest Focus Report explores how to maximize the capabilities of AI in marketing and sales while remaining conscious of potential problems AI can create. How is AI impacting hiring decisions? Why do six out of 10 marketers using AI confess to experiencing minimal impact on their marketing efficiency and effectiveness thus far? Is there a roadmap for incorporating AI into B2B sales and marketing processes?

Google Slides is a great presentation development tool that you can get completely for free. But is there such a thing as a free lunch? Can you create credible presentations with Google Slides? Yes, yes you can. Not only that, but you can produce amazing presentations with Google Slides.

For the third year, Training magazine and Wilson Learning Worldwide have teamed up to conduct the Annual Leadership Survey focused on creating effective leaders and preparing the next generation of leaders.

50% OF WORKERS SAY anxiety negatively affects their performance. 75% SAY most stressful part of job is immediate supervisor. 60% OF ORGANIZATIONS plan to address anxiety & well-being in the next three years

When you set out to target new business, you probably have an ICP in mind - your ideal customer profile. When you set out to recruit a new sales professional for your department, you should also have an ICP. In this case, ICP stands for ideal candidate profile. The individual you envision possesses nonstop energy and resilience, outstanding listening skills and can close deals faster than you can blink. Go ahead and blink. Then, pinch yourself. Because you are dreaming. These types of candidates don’t just sail into your organization. When you’re recruiting, you must look for candidates who are highly coachable. Using the right guidance with the right tools, over time, you’ll be able to develop your new rep into the polished professional you envision. Coachability is one of the top traits that sales managers consider when they’re hiring. In our Voice of the Sales Manager survey, respondents rated the most desired characteristics in their reps as follows: 1. Problem solver 69% 2. Confident 66% 3. Positive attitude / Optimistic 64% 4. Takes initiative 62% 5. Highly coachable 60% Click below to download this free White Paper from SalesFuel.

Did you know that only 1 in 4 North Americans views salespeople as credible in what they say and do? Almost every sales organization attempts to qualify prospects, but they should be giving equal consideration to how buyers qualify (or disqualify) them. It's much more than just price and product.

Sales manager leadership has the single biggest impact on salesperson performance, as long as it is the right type of leadership. Sitting down with your salespeople every month to review sales results and revenue is like only looking out the rearview mirror when driving. Effective sales leadership is not just looking at where your salespeople have been but where they are going.  

Sitting down with your salespeople and sales managers every month to review sales results and revenue is like driving by only looking out the rearview mirror. It gives you a good view of where they have been, not where they are going. The key to effective sales leadership is identifying the "leading indicators" of sales performance, finding ways to track them, and focusing your energy on reviewing and coaching to them. Explore how to identify leading sales indicators and how to use them to coach effectively.

Changes in the buying process are creating fundamental changes in the sales process. In fact, a sales process is not what salespeople need; today they need a way to facilitate the buying process. From the outset, buyers are in charge of the speed and direction of the process. They gather information about available solutions, screen potential providers, and select those providers they want to consider. Decision teams are the new norm, especially for strategically important buying decisions. Then the decision is handed off to Procurement departments who manage the actual purchase.

Facing economic challenges and a potential global recession, the traditional sales approach has been disrupted by the long tail of the pandemic-induced shift to virtual interactions. The widespread acceptance of ‘modern sales" has diminished face-to-face contact, lowering barriers for competitors. This poses a threat to strategic key accounts, making them more vulnerable to competition.  

Today’s digitally educated buyers require more value from their interactions with sales. Are your reps ready? Not many are. In fact, studies show that nearly 9 out of 10 sales meetings fail to meet the expectations of executive buyers.

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. 

Now more than ever, retaining your key customers is a strategic imperative. The role of the sales manager is to manage the sales process and lead the people. Many sales managers are highly effective at managing the sales process. Yet, sales managers need to ensure their top sales performers are fully engaged. This is something most sales managers understand, but unfortunately fall short of exhibiting the kind of leadership that contributes to an engaged salesforce. To assist them, in this webinar we will discuss steps sales managers can take to lead their salespeople to full engagement and higher performance.

Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, many (if not all) companies are hyperfocused on boosting sales. A Google search for "sales enablement" yields millions of results—and a variety of conflicting definitions. Clearly, sales enablement can mean different things to different people. To some, it’s tools, tactics, and training. To others, it’s all about strategy, data, and analytics.  To us, it includes all those things—but it always starts with the story. Like any good book, your sales story should be a page-turner—keeping prospects hooked by engaging, inspiring, and making powerful emotional connections with them. But too often, the stories sales teams tell are fragmented, overly focused on product specs and features, or misaligned with marketing. The right story can make all the difference. And because research suggests that 50% of leads are qualified but not ready to buy, telling that story in the right ways at the right stages of the sales funnel is essential for converting new prospects into loyal customers. But an effective sales story involves more than delivering certain keywords to drive awareness, consideration, and decision as prospects move through the funnel. It should be a holistic, consistent thread that runs through all your communications to prospects—and one that’s laser-focused on the value you offer and the problems you can solve for them. Here are three critical steps to ensure that your sales team is telling a clear and compelling story about what you offer and why people will want to engage with your brand.