Sales reports and forecasts are vital to sales management. Without them, management cannot be effective, and sales targets cannot be accurately forecast or set. Here are 4 basic steps to create effective and accurate reports: 1. Data must be accurate A sales report or forecast is only going to be as accurate and reliable as ... Read More

Want to sell your products? Well, pick up the phone, dial your prospect’s number, pitch your idea, and you are done! Sounds easy, right? The only problem is that real-life selling situations are not this easy. But wait; you must be thinking that selling stuff is just a matter of interest. If someone likes it ... Read More

Most sellers don’t want to think about their sales process, let alone their ‘Big Deal’ sales process. Even tenured account executives believe that sales is more ‘Art’ than ‘Science’, comes naturally, and that every sales situation is unique. Let the sales leaders think about it, the sellers just want to sell. Sellers, wouldn’t the below ... Read More

Less than twenty-five percent of people who make New Year’s resolutions have kept them by the end of January. Just because the turn of the new year has come and gone doesn’t mean we should stop thinking about our resolutions and ways to improve ourselves. Bad Habits When does a habit become a so-called “bad ... Read More

CRM Administration has become its own cottage industry over the years – with expensive certifications and all-powerful administrators demanding large salaries and often even support staff. This has somewhat taken control over the CRM away from those working in the business everyday, (i.e. sales managers and other sales support staff). At Pipeliner we take the ... Read More

If you take nothing else from this writing, know this: Words matter. Let’s start with the ones that keep those on sales’ frontlines up at night, shall we? Lead generation, sales funnels, and quality prospects are all terms B2B companies hungry to scale put up on their leader boards. To sell more means posting high ... Read More

These days, when a potential customer begins the buying journey, he or she usually wants to learn more about their sales representative and the first place they are likely to go is LinkedIn. What will they find? Mostly it’s just egotistical nonsense inside a bland resume. But what works much better is to showcase who ... Read More

With the latest release of Pipeliner CRM, we have a new tagline: Exceptional Engagement. The Better CRM. I want to take a moment and explain exactly what we mean. Anyone could say their CRM is “better”—but in our case, this statement is made after careful consideration. Why Better? Jim Collins wrote an excellent book, Good ... Read More

Micromarkets are sales hot spots with tremendous potential. Adopting a more granular strategy, micromarketing for sales has taken on new relevance in the age of Big Data. Combining, combing through, and sorting data is the key to an effective strategy for sales. It’s not just about sifting through transactional and purchasing data in the B2C ... Read More

Successful salespeople stand apart from their brethren when it comes to providing the kind of customer service that keeps customers coming back for more — and paying for it. In fact, the salespeople who are on the top of the heap don’t differentiate between sales and service; they see mind-blowing service as a critical enabler ... Read More

Ask a top sales producer about keys to success, and they’ll share insights like “prioritize your work,” “maintain a good opportunity pipeline,” and “serve the customer.” I’ve heard many anecdotes to explain a top producer’s ascent to the pinnacle. Curiously, one that never gets mentioned is “I conform to the sales process.” This lack of ... Read More

Over the last decade, data’s role in running an efficient business has become more and more crucial. There are vast pools of data available to the aspiring entrepreneur, and there are now more ways than ever to interpret and implement it for the benefit of a business. Both customer-facing and internal resource data are more ... Read More