For over twenty years now, CRM solutions have been a bone of contention between company executives and the sales force. The executives want something that coordinates customer activities between various departments including sales, and allows them to monitor sales and make sure salespeople are selling. On the other hand sales reps, sick to death of ... Read Post

Twenty years ago if you’d polled a sales force on the future of sales automation, you probably would have been met with rather frightened stone silence. Salespeople saw their jobs completely disappearing, replaced with computerized selling and purchasing systems that required no human intervention whatsoever. And it was certainly imagined and even tried by some: ... Read Post

Traditionally CRM solutions are sold to company management, with promised benefits such as: improved productivity, ability to make more with less, shortened sales cycles, increased close ratios, eliminated competition, and improved margins. Obviously CRM benefits should be demonstrated to management—in the end it will be management that will cut the check for CRM purchase. But ... Read Post

It used to be that a sales rep making halfway decent numbers had a future. But in today’s highly competitive marketplaces and internet-assisted buying, it takes more than just numbers for a salesperson to truly survive. A topflight sales force must be composed of experts in every area of their craft. Here is the recommended ... Read Post

In some companies it’s obvious, in others it’s more subdued. But it’s normally a constant situation: marketing and sales just can’t see eye-to-eye. They snipe at each other, each criticizes the other to management, and in some measure, each is deemed responsible for the other’s perceived shortcomings. “Marketing isn’t giving us enough leads!” cries the ... Read Post

In this age of inbound marketing where quality content is said to be king, it’s logical to think that cold-calling is dead. In fact, this is a widespread myth that’s penetrating sales at every level. But is it really true? Well, it depends on your tactics. You see savvy businesses and sales teams are reaping ... Read Post

Throughout the years manufacturing has taken efficiency to a fine art. Precision metrics throughout a manufacturing system measure efficiency at every stage, providing real-time feedback with which to accurately gauge quality as well as quantity. Problems can be anticipated long before they happen, materials needs can be constantly satisfied and the process can be consistently ... Read Post

Personnel turnover can be rough for any department in a company. When someone departs they often do not leave a complete job description and list of duties behind so that a new person can just come along and take over. Then there is the downtime between the point at which the old employee leaves and ... Read Post