Voice of Value Blog

Employee learning. Does this conjure up hours upon hours of staring at videos?

If you have ever wanted something you saw in a science fiction movie to be real, you are not alone. For most of us, it’s a pipe dream. For Adam Honig, Founder and CEO of Spiro, it is now a business that he believes can slay Salesforce.

A COO I know, recently took a call from an account representative for a content marketing platform. Her startup was interested in partnering with the company to establish thought leadership and generate leads. After sitting through a lengthy, canned introduction of the company, the executive cut to the chase and asked for specific activity in the energy space.

GUEST: Dorene Rettas, Managing Director of Cyber Security Hub

Sales and hustle are often considered synonymous, but that’s not always a good thing.

Every company wants to be great. But a select few companies have what it takes, or more importantly, are willing to do what it takes to truly achieve greatness.

Predicting the future is never easy, given conditions can shift and new disruptions emerge a moment’s notice. There are, however, some trends in sales that we expect to continue or gain momentum, including strong adoption of automated, artificial intelligence-based sales tools, the need for solid sales coaching, and a return to business communications basics.

You can’t choose your sales team like you choose dinner.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM). By now, we’ve all heard of it. But really, how do you successfully execute it?

Webinars. They’ve been around a long time, but are they still relevant? At times, they can get the reputation of being too time consuming and not providing the return that they once did. But, that doesn’t have to be if you know how to harness their superpowers.

Vlogs. Are they something that you are incorporating in your company? In the past few years they have exploded in popularity for a good reason.

There are numerous reasons some sales professionals better predict the future than others. They stay up on current events and trends to quickly recognize hot or cooling markets. They accurately analyze data to project industry trends and competitor positioning. And, they regularly engage with decision-makers to discover business pain points and their remedies.

Inside sales historically was an entry-level sales position, often a feeder to a field or territory sales role. Today, inside sales is growing exponentially faster than outside sales and has become a career in and of itself.

For too long in too many organizations, inside sales has been seen as a stepping stone to working in the field, rather than a career in and of itself. As such, it’s often perceived as easier than some other sales roles when, in fact, it can be more difficult to connect with someone without the aid of non-verbal cues and less time to build a rapport.

What happens when your sales teams get too emotionally attached to their prospects?

There is power in transparency in every aspect of your business. Having a culture of transparency is a valuable tool in equipping your reps, engaging your potential buyers, and creating an environment where value-adding methodology flourishes.

Is your selling method not working anymore?

We focus a lot of attention on B2B sales prospecting because sales teams understand its importance in achieving long-term sales success. They also know, at least intuitively, that it takes time and tenacity to continuously find and convince prospective buyers to select your solutions. Unfortunately, too often sales professionals aren’t as dedicated to outbound prospecting as they should be.

We’ve all listened to them. But, how do you get your target audience to choose the right ones to listen to–yours? What secret sauce can you add to make it more alluring than the rest?

Often discussed but rarely understood, Account-Based Sales (ABS) and Marketing (ABM) are the buzzwords of the industry. How has this new approach changed B2B Sales?

Everyone agrees that relationships are incredibly important in business.

The breadth of options for B2B outbound prospecting continues to expand, providing sales professionals more opportunities to engage with potential buyers. There’s email, social media, face-to-face networking, texting, video chats, chance encounters and, of course, the phone. Having all these options, doesn’t matter if they aren’t used properly, and often, though.

In the world of Sales, it’s either ‘Feast’ or ‘Famine’. One moment you have plentiful clients and the next you’re left high and dry…

Stop wasting time & resources on Customer Acquisition…

The world is changing. If you’re a B2B marketer, you know that one of biggest challenges facing marketing professionals today is meeting the buyer where they are.

The internet has permanently changed the sales experience in brick-and-mortar stores.

In order to succeed at selling, you must get in front of prospective buyers and pursue qualified opportunities. Both activities sound fine in theory but tend to fall short in practice. Too often plans to call on someone fall through, either because we let time get away from us or allow fear of failure to take hold.

Prospecting is the lifeblood of any sales career, but too often other activities eat into plans to introduce ourselves and establish credibility with targeted decision-makers. We talk a lot about creating value-based conversations, but to get to those talks, you must devote the time needed to nurture prospects in different stages of engagement. Here’s where a sales cadence comes into play.

How much homework do executives do on their own before they engage with a supplier? Probably more than most people realize. By one recent estimate, these C-level business people are 70% along in a typical B2B purchasing decision before they have a conversation with a supplier.

U.S. astronomer Cliff Stoll learned after he turned to teaching that it takes more than compelling statistics to shed insight. “I thought all I had to do was show people the data and they would understand. But it doesn’t work. You have to tell a story,” he once said. Such sage advice applies to sales professionals as much as stargazers.

When it comes to business acumen, how well does yours measure up to a busy executive’s expectations? Do you have a firm grasp on their industry? Their specific business issues? Such deep understanding requires deep learning, and that requires deep research—and dedication to continuously build a knowledge base.

A sales professional I know landed one of the biggest deals of his career when he least expected it: while vacationing in Hawaii with his family. He was sitting poolside, watching the kids, when an executive he’d met briefly at a trade show sat nearby. He struck up a conversation and before everyone left to get ready for dinner, they’d agreed to meet again to discuss a strategic partnership that remains firmly in place years later.

Authority marketing can separate you from competitors, drive revenue and turn you into a niche celebrity. But for many salespeople, it’s a struggle with where to start and how to get it done.

If you’ve ever been faced with a period of stagnation, it can be taxing trying to figure out what went wrong and why others are able to scale quickly when you’re stalling out.

“The largest misconception about communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” George Bernard Shaw In a recent ValueSelling Associates/Training Industry survey, two-thirds of executives said sales reps calling on them are not effective communicators. That is an unacceptable grade attributed to a group of professionals whose primary job is to communicate and connect with buyers.

Inboxes fill up, task lists go unchecked – we all have times when we struggle with maintaining the balance between our personal and business lives. But if we want to be our best, we have to take the time to work on ourselves first, and understand who we are and what we bring to our relationships.

In a new era of B2B buyers shifting towards eCommerce and online buying trends, we ask the question, “How can sales professionals and retailers be competitive?”

Data breaches, like the recent Facebook debacle, have put companies of all sizes under increased scrutiny when it comes to data privacy. New data protection laws and regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU, are being established to combat data breaches and provide increased transparency when it comes to data usage.

Ask ten different people what makes an ultra high performer, or A player, so effective, and chances are you’ll get ten different answers. That’s why leveraging a sales performance framework is so important, because it allows you to organize and maintain success not just at the individual level, but across the organization as a whole.

Turn on the news and you hear countless stories about store closings and forgotten malls – no doubt casualties in the evolution of retail. With ecommerce displacing brick and mortars, it’s easy to cry “death of retail,” but retail is very much alive and thriving.

Dynamic industries – those that have gone through significant changes in recent years – have faced a unique set of challenges in sales and product development. FUJIFILM North America Corporation, is one of them. Their Imaging Division, which has historically been a B2B sales and marketing organization, has shifted to become a product development organization.

Let’s go old school with a quote from the Greek philosopher, Socrates: “Life is full of questions. Idiots are full of answers.” More than 2000 years later, his standard of reasoning holds true especially when it comes to meeting with a prospective buyer. We want to avoid coming across like an idiot by having all the answers. Instead, it’s the buyer’s perspective that we need to discover.

Good coaching empowers individuals, inspires teams and drives results. But it’s often undervalued because it’s not always accessible and its importance may not be obvious.

Authenticity is one of the biggest challenges for salespeople in a profession that’s so laden with rejection that many fear it. Yet, authenticity is what separates the sales reps from the sales professionals and it’s what buyers want.

The sale is going well – you may think you know where it’s going. Then suddenly things start falling apart. “I need to take this to my boss.” It’s a phrase we dread hearing, yet are all too familiar with in the world of sales. So how can we combat chaos?

Before you send that email – ask yourself, “Am I being authentic?”

I was told by a friend recently it’s been scientifically proven that our concept of time speeds up as we age. I wonder if that is why it seems there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done including making sure I continually expand my mind.

Founders and CEOs often expect immediate results from new sales teams and employees. But that isn’t always realistic, or sustainable. To find out why, we sat down with Jacob Baadsgaard, CEO of Disruptive Advertising, a team-enabled agency that uses analytics and data to help clients grow their businesses, leveraging platforms like Google and Facebook.

Any B2C company knows that customer experiences are a number one priority. What can B2B sales organizations learn from B2C customer experiences? More than you would think.

In Q1 you’re setting the stage for your success in the coming year – at least, you should be. There are typical mistakes we see sales reps make again and again that get in the way of their ability to achieve an ultra high performer status.

Buyers are the reason the sales function exists in a company. Let’s face it, we need someone to sell to

I’ve been in B2B sales for over 20 years, as a sales rep, sales manager, sales leader, consultant, and trainer. With my career spanning the information-technology revolution, I’m reminded every day how technology has forever changed and continues to change the behavior of both sales professionals and buyers. Since the IT highway continues to accelerate, it will be the survival of the fittest sales professionals who thrive in the competitive marketplace versus those who are passed over with an antiquated skillset of salesmanship.

As executives grow their businesses, they often experience a lonely road of solitude and don’t think to reach out to others for support.

I love the Olympics. The competition is fantastic and more than the competition, I love to hear the stories of the talented athletes. The journeys of hard work, adversity, triumph and their excitement to be at the games is truly inspiring.

The world is continually going through a great deal of transformations. Whether these are digital transformations or sales transformations, they all mean the same thing: change has become the norm whether you like it or not.

“How do you plan to maximize your income?” We get asked this question a lot by sales leaders and coaches.

Is fear influencing your career? Are you focusing on your customers’ problems instead of providing solutions?

Buyers are faced with a double-edged sword. On one side, they have more alternatives available to them in today’s hyper competitive market

The term “sales enablement,” is thrown around a lot and can mean different things to different sales professionals. We sat down with Paul Bickford, Denver Chapter President of the Sales Enablement Society, to discuss what sales enablement is, why it’s effective and how it can be leveraged as a resource.

Blustery conditions are expected in Pyeongchang, South Korea for the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Even so, the athletes will surely be donning their country colors with pride and preparing to give their best as the competitions heat up. With consideration for elite competition and reaching the top of your game, now is the perfect time to warm up those cold calls to build your pipeline.

A few weeks ago we discussed five things that make a great comp plan. It’s still early in the year and comp plans are a hot topic. Many sales reps don’t believe they can negotiate their comp plans, but that’s not always true.

As social networking online continues to evolve, less and less salespeople are comfortable picking up the phone and calling decision makers. Some may even think that cold calling doesn’t work.

It’s the beginning of the year and companies are beginning to roll out new comp plans. For salespeople, especially ultra high performers, comp plans are one of the primary motivators for structuring out the year and harnessing focus.

More and more organizations are implementing virtual selling as they reevaluate their travel budgets, cost of sales and changing desires of buyers.

Sales is a rollercoaster profession – everyone who’s been doing it for a long time knows there’s days where you feel like you’re on a treadmill going nowhere.

Most of us look to the new year with renewed energy and high hopes. There are new opportunities to pursue and new accounts to approach

You’ve no doubt heard the phrase “content is king,” but content alone is never enough. To be a successful content marketer, especially in the B2B world, you need to be plugged in to the sales side of things, and vice versa.

With the onslaught of artificial intelligence and new technologies impacting the sales profession, the question is often asked: “Will people still be relevant?” It’s generally agreed that yes, salespeople will still be needed – at least those that are the A players.

We wanted to kick off 2018 by talking about something on the top of everybody’s mind as they plan out the new year – prospecting. Time and time again, prospecting is ranked as the highest priority among sales professionals.

As 2017 came to an end, there were a few key purchasing decisions I was considering. The time had come for our firm to upgrade our infrastructure and technology platforms. Going through the buying process we created a complete list of requirements, vetted a number of suppliers against the requirements, eliminated options and came up with a short list. Finally, after proposals, negotiations and many meetings, we made and executed our decision. I made a few sales reps extremely happy!

It’s common for sales professionals to move around a lot. In fact, the average tenure of a sales executive is just 18 months.

With a rise of big data, there are more and more opportunities for companies to leverage their analytics and drive different approaches to business return.

Everyone is familiar with the phrase “customer experience.” But what about the experiences a customer has with a sale before signing on the dotted line?

At some point, every company has to consider what type of a sales team they will use. Outsourcing sales can benefit companies by not only improving ROI, but by providing a core competency in something that a business might not have.

Demos play a critical role in every sales process. Oftentimes, just being prepared to give a demo isn’t enough. Sales professionals need to be mindful of other factors besides knowing their products to have their demo be a success.

Sales training has long been viewed as a necessary evil, lacking a major component to success: negotiation training.

For most of us working in a sales role, the end-of-year is a crazy time. We’re busy closing the quarter, and often, the fiscal year. The pressure is huge as we make sure revenue is delivered by New Year’s Eve. Now that we’ve hit December, it’s important to not let that intensity wind down. Instead, power up to make 2018 a year where you break your own sales records.

Most of us fear public speaking. That’s a problem in client-facing professions like sales, where presentation skills can make or break relationships.

The industry of sales training has been revolutionized by the idea of prescriptive training.

There are new tools out there to help sales reps cut down the amount of time it takes to find the right content, organize it and put it into a pitch that is going to be compelling and move a sales cycle forward.

If the B2B sales cycle is a marathon, Q4 is the final half-mile. It’s a time of triumph, defeat and resiliency — and when you’re in the middle of this race, it’s difficult to find time to reflect.

Insightful open-ended sales questions keep you i control of the sales conversations. Imagine you have the meeting. You have been trying to schedule it for a long time. It is with a high-level executive in a key prospect account. This is it—your shot to create an opportunity. Now what? What are you going to talk about? What do you want to accomplish? How do you prepare? Always be improving your questioning skills.

There are those out there who don’t understand the difference between a sales process, a true framework, and more tactical types of training.

Sales professionals are interested in making their deals larger, increasing the revenue gains and hitting quota with fewer deals. The challenge – few know how to consistently accomplish this. There are tactics and approaches which have proven effective and continue to be table steaks for sales professionals selling today.

There’s a lot of talk out there about how to understand value from the buyer’s perspective. New companies are trying to engage with prospective clients in ways that provide them value instead of just showing the value the company thinks it has.

The number of people talking about how B2B buyers have changed and are more informed today are legion. The question now becomes how do you understand them, how do you connect with them, and what do you need to know in order to connect with them effectively to drive revenue growth and results.

Change is inevitable. Whether you’re working for a small business, or a company of forty thousand people, at some point you’re going to go through some sort of major organizational change.

Lately, we’ve spent a lot of time talking to people about the future of AI.