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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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

“Genuine leaders bring out the best in people through their purpose – they inspire us. They care about their employees and they’re not afraid to ask us to deliver more than we ask ourselves.” During my senior year in college I aced an Army Physical Fitness test. When it ended my instructor walked over and ...

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” — Albert Einstein When looking at raw data, we need to be mindful of its limitations, and aware of its potential. Data can reveal the most intricate subtleties about a subject, and help us to understand the meaning behind the numbers. It can help us to ...

Last year I snapped a photo of a curious bumper sticker, and posted it on Facebook. It read, If you’re prepared for flying irradiated zombies that can swim, then you’re prepared for anything. I figured the car’s owner to be either a risk manager or an insurance agent. Who else would be moved to share ...

For kids, the Land of Make Believe in Mister Rogers Neighborhood was a wonderful place to go, totally safe from harsh realities of life and filled with magical, whimsical characters like King Friday XIII, Sara Saturday and Prince Tuesday. But now that we’re all grown up, we know that the Land of Make Believe is ...

It was almost in the bag…a 2-year effort. She thought she had done it all right — building key relationships,  nurturing her prospect by the book. She knew their business; she knew their special needs. A strong  proposal was in their hands. Her primary contact recommended a green light. No doubt, she was in the ...

Typing Too Much Is the New Talking Too Much Stop Typing, Start Listening One of the hardest lessons you, as the manager of a social sales team, will have to teach your salespeople (and perhaps even reteach yourself) is the seemingly dying art of listening. Why? Well because we have allowed ourselves to evolve into ...

How important is hiring for B2B sales? According to the just-released CSO Insights 2015 Sales Performance Optimization Report—a survey of some 4,000 sales organizations—sales hiring is a critical, even mandatory activity. But of equal interest the report shows that, for a majority of organizations, it is also a total crapshoot. The Slippery Slope Let’s look ...