In my last blog, I discussed how difficult building a sales team can be, especially for a startup. Your sales reps need to be entrepreneurial-minded (what I call salespreneurs) in order to help get the company truly off the ground and headed toward success. Now let’s take a look at how these salespreneurs should focus ... Read Post

Keeping in touch with your prospects after a sales call is more than just “touching base” or “checking in.” Here’s the deal. To keep sales momentum alive, you need to provide value on every interaction — even a quick follow-up call. That means you need to rethink your entire callback strategy. Here are three approaches ... Read Post

Tension is high, and anticipation is thick as the annual sales kickoff for DisruptaCorp begins. Employees at the young tech startup settle in their seats. Mobile devices are hurriedly silenced and stowed. Chatter dissolves into quiet. The CEO, Priya Neghandi, stands in front of the room alongside her VP of Business Development, Kelvin Wickersham. Without ... Read Post

In my last corporate role, I ran the Australian region for one of world’s biggest CRM software companies. It was my final role in a twenty-five year career working in the technology sector. Everywhere I worked I was always a ‘true believer’ in what I was selling – you have to be, to be successful. ... Read Post

When you first start a company, you have immediate priorities. If you don’t make building a sales team one of the first of those priorities, you won’t make it very far at all as they’ll be no revenue. When you first start up, how can you ensure you’re building a sales team that will truly ... Read Post

The automated sales model being implemented by Amazon, with many other ecommerce sites following suit, may seem somewhat threatening to a sales force and B2B sales. If you yourself have ever purchased from Amazon or a similar vendor, you probably recall that you have never spoken to a live person, not to mention a salesperson ... Read Post

Women in Sales The statistics are challenging — Women comprise only 39% of the global salesforce. Currently, finding qualified, career-stable candidates (of both genders) for in-demand sales roles is difficult, expensive, and a statistical crapshoot. A recent demographics report published by CSO Insights found that while over 90% of organizations are growing or maintaining their sales ... Read Post

Through my leadership coaching of CEOs, marketing professionals, and sales leaders, I have learned that changing behavior is not always about doing more. It is often about doing less—avoiding certain behaviors and actually curtailing certain actions in an effort to have more of an impact as a leader. As an illustration, here are three common ... Read Post