Have you noticed how many things are dead these days? Cold calling is dead. Outbound marketing is dead. Many say that even marketing as a whole is dead. I grew up during a time when it seemed like a lot of things were dead: Paul was dead. (The rumor in 1969 was that if you ... Read Post

What is TRIZ, you ask? TRIZ is a tool developed by a Soviet inventor and science fiction writer, Genrich Altshuller, in 1946. The English translation of the Russian term is “theory of inventive problem-solving.” Altshuller and his colleagues studied thousands of inventions in many fields and detected patterns in the way inventive solutions happen, and ... Read Post

There has been a dramatic shift in the way buyers perceive and interact with salespeople — as any sales manager will know. The Harvard Business Review has spoken – it’s “the End of Solution Sales.” If you’ve adjusted your strategies and sales process accordingly, you’re ensuring success. If you haven’t, perhaps you’ve seen sales performance suffering. ... Read Post

6 Creative Ways to Integrate Social Media and Email Marketing In your organization, do you wear many hats? Need to do some digital marketing? You have your hands full with all the many ways to reach your audience. At any given time, you may need to be fluent in email, content and social media because ... Read Post

There are 18 million people currently in Sales today in North America. Gartner Group predicts that only 4 million will be left by 2020. Is that likely? What we do know is that Sales is undergoing unprecedented transformation. As a sales manager, are you preparing your team for the seismic shifts ahead? When I started ... Read Post

If you are trying to sell in a B2B framework, you know that prospecting is a numbers game. Instead of making a few hundred calls every day and hitting upon 1 or 2 prospects ( at the best) business email addresses, sales professionals are leveraging social networks such as LinkedIn to microtarget and identify key ... Read Post

Tip #1: Prepare Mentally and Physically First, clear your desk and prepare yourself for each sales phone call by having everything you need within reach or eyesight. Use a headset, lean slightly forward while sitting in your chair and minimize or remove any distractions. Now, think of yourself as a sponge. Give undivided attention to ... Read Post

Introduction: “The Leads! The Leads!” There is one point that resonates with any salesperson who has seen the classic 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross: “It’s the leads!” In that film, veteran sales reps are saddled with sub-par leads for people who would never buy in a thousand years. The sales manager holds the good leads ... Read Post