“Nikolaus Kimla’s latest book, Facing Forward, is another valuable contribution to clarifying the best role for CRM software in the success of modern sales pros. An effective CRM solution must serve the needs of today’s overworked sales people. The folks at Coevera really get this and it drives all of their software development efforts. Right now, I am following more that 3,000 CRM solutions. It can be overwhelming. But I always find time to follow the latest developments from Coevera!” 

Rich Bohn, SellMoreNow.com
The oldest living independent CRM analyst

There are probably thousands of sales trends, approaches, tips and tricks out there. Additionally there are hundreds or thousands of technological tools for sales—lead programs, CRM, sales enablement, contact management solutions and many more—and there is huge stress placed on finding and having the right tools.

But both the approach and the tools are selected, interestingly enough, through a mindset.

The word mindset is defined in the dictionary as an attitude, disposition or mood. Another definition is an intention or inclination.

For our purposes, let us define a mindset as a set of attitudes and inclinations that, in our case, are self-chosen and implemented. In this book, Nikolaus Kimla lays out the mindset of a salesperson, and its various components. These components can be selected and utilized. You may also find—and you may find for yourself–that some or all of these traits occur naturally.

Why is a mindset important? It affects the positive or negative outcome of any situation. It is what is required to face forward into today’s tough, competitive sales world. It is a prerequisite to any sales methodology or software solution.

Even though salespeople may already utilize this mindset, they may not be totally aware of it. Sales leadership and management may not totally be aware of it, either. But the elements of this mindset are something that everyone involved in sales needs to fully know and understand.

Imparting this data to a sales team means that they function better and with far more understanding. That is the goal of this book.

Chapter 1: The Quality of Individuality

For a number of years, now, Nikolaus has made the observation that salespeople are like entrepreneurs within the enterprise, and in fact coined a word to describe them: salespreneurs. Salespeople possess many of the qualities of entrepreneurs, and one of their primary qualities is their individuality. Salespeople possess this same characteristic.

Chapter 2: The Quality of Career Security

At least when it comes to making a living and having a life, there are very few things people want as much as security. This is especially true of a salesperson, who is already taking a great deal more risk than the average employee on a job; at least a good part of their pay (and many times their whole paycheck) is dependent on commissions, and how much they sell.

Chapter 3: The Quality of Freedom

Sometimes individuality and freedom are confused as being the same thing. They aren’t. Individuality is the summation of the qualities that make a person stand out as an individual, and this is separate from freedom. Freedom, on the other hand, is defined as a lack of restriction or barriers. A person can be a real individual and not have freedom. But freedom is another quality sought by, and usually possessed by, salespeople.

Chapter 4: The Quality of Self-Responsibility

Of course self-responsibility isn’t something a person can learn, like a craft or a skill. It begins with a decision to be responsible, and that’s a decision that will have to be made many times over through a person’s life. It becomes part of–and known as–a part of a person’s character. At the same time, every company should have systems and policies in place that help generate and reinforce self-responsibility in its workforce.

Chapter 5: Network Selling

The next component required for the salesperson mindset is what we call Network Selling. The basic reason it is called Network Selling is that today’s digital world is totally networked. You cannot make a move as a salesperson that doesn’t have some kind of impact, good or bad, throughout this network. As a salesperson you are either recommended or warned about, right along with the product or service that you’re selling.

Chapter 6: Speed of Technology Adoption

Another vital part of the salesperson mindset, especially in the digital age, is the speed of technology adoption. Salespeople generally tend to adopt the latest in technology, which is good; they need every advantage they can grab onto given today’s highly competitive sales climate. As many have discovered, adopting a tool such as Coevera will mean faster and better results when it comes to opportunities.

This book is a little unusual–it is written as an overheard dialogue. Nikolaus takes his inspiration from a work that is over 250 years old, The Way to Wealth by Benjamin Franklin. The Way to Wealth was composed of advice, proverbs and adages that had been presented in Franklin’s own regular publication Poor Richard’s Almanac during its first 25 years of publication, but in this essay was tailored to the subject of becoming wealthy. It found a whole new audience, and today it is still published, read and taught in schools all over the world.

In remembering this essay fondly, Nikolaus realized he could have a bit of fun, and entertain and educate readers at the same time, by following a similar path. And so he wrote a series of 6 blogs as if he’d overheard an evening’s conversation between a wise but world-weary entrepreneur named Dr. Abraham, and Doug, a young, hot venture capitalist, at an entrepreneur conference. He as now turned those blogs into this eBook.

While many will find the title controversial, especially given today’s climate of fostering entrepreneurship and startups, it was not Nikolaus’s intention to simply stir up emotion. He actually believes  that entrepreneurship, as it is presented in many arenas, is actually dead and, in fact, could never get off the ground in the way it is often proposed.

As you read, you’ll see why—and you’ll also see that Nikolaus’s view is certainly not entirely pessimistic. It has reason and focus.

Talking Facts

The discussion begins with why Dr. Abraham really feels that entrepreneurship, the way it’s being promoted today, is in fact dead.

Art, or Craft?

Is entrepreneurship an art, or a craft, and why?

Where to Start

Where entrepreneurship begins and gets off the ground.

Entrepreneurship vs. Management

There is a big difference between entrepreneurship and management, and they should not be confused.

What About the Money?

Why does the source of money make a difference in true entreprenuership?

Intrinsic Ability

Dr. Abraham makes his final point about an entrepreneur’s ability, and inspiration.

Selling is a very dynamic process, probably the most dynamic in any organization. It has so many moving parts, so many variables that it often becomes frenetic, chaotic, and reactionary.

In this ebook John Golden argues that it doesn’t have to be that way.

As he points out, the key to success (in pretty much any endeavor) is being able to clearly identify the goal, define the steps needed to achieve that goal and then cutting out any extraneous noise or distractions so that you can focus exclusively on execution and reaching the goal.

In today’s business world this is often easier said than done. Systems are forced upon salespeople that confuse and derail them. They are overloaded with tools that are supposed to help them but instead distract. Social media is constantly bombarding them, and they are never sure how much of it is really valuable. Above all they have an informed, savvy buyer who has little appetite to indulge them unless they can offer some value very quickly.

Sales is often compared to warfare and we often hear about the “fog of war” where lines get blurred, truth and rumor become indistinguishable and chaos becomes the norm. The ‘fog of sales” is no different absent the lethal nature of the former.

Golden, however, shows that there are ways of clearing that fog and stepping out into the bright sunshine that clarity brings.

The eBook was originally published under the Pipeliner CRM name. Pipeliner is now Coevera — same company, evolved identity.

There are numerous popular sales methodologies today. These methodologies bring together sales best practices from different quarters and greatly assist salespeople and sales organizations in consistently closing a higher percentage of deals. In this ebook, we explore 11 of the most popular sales methodologies.

Interestingly each of these sales methodologies, in their own way, also seeks to make it possible for a sales rep to monitor, influence and be responsive to buyer actions—which is a common denominator of modern effective selling systems.

Coevera is rapidly and visually customizable. For that reason, no matter which sales methodology you choose, Coevera will not only accommodate but will also empower it. Throughout this ebook, we will show how Coevera assists each particular sales methodology.

Chapter 1: Strategic Selling—Common Language, Common Process

Strategic Selling helps organizations develop comprehensive sales strategies for complex B2B sales scenarios. It utilizes a practical, repeatable sales process that simplifies complex situations, making them more manageable.

Chapter 2: RAIN Selling—The Consultative Sale

The RAIN Selling methodology is designed around mastering consultative conversations. RAIN Selling teaches salespeople a proven process for leading masterful sales conversations from qualifying to successful close.

Chapter 3: Baseline Selling—for Home Run Sales

Baseline Selling was created to address salespeople’s resistance to adopting complex selling methodologies and cleverly taps into a subject many already know: baseball.

Chapter 4: CustomerCentric Selling—Making Salespeople into Collaborative Consultants

CustomerCentric Selling weeks to empower salespeople in today’s world of web-enabled and educated buyers. The age of the “product pusher” is long gone—today, salespeople must be collaborative consultants.

Chapter 5: The Age of Solution Selling

Very early on in the high-tech revolution, a couple of bright individuals came up with the idea of solution selling. You didn’t try and endlessly list out a bunch of products and services—you sold the whole thing as a solution to a company’s problems. This made it possible to tailor a list of products and services to a company’s exact needs.

Chapter 6: The Amazing Sandler Selling System

The Sandler Selling System takes a revolutionary approach: when done right, the buyer is convinced that they are the one actually pursuing the deal, not the other way around. A sales cycle requires a mutual level of commitment for both parties.

Chapter 7: Winning with The Challenger Sale

The Challenger is one of five personas into which, according to the Challenger Sale sales methodology, nearly every B2B salesperson fits. The others are relationship builders, hard workers, lone wolves, and reactive problem solvers.

Chapter 8: SNAP Selling—Great Solutions for Overwhelmed Customers

By utilizing SNAP Selling principles, salespeople are better equipped to handle busy prospects, provide valuable insights, connect their product or service to issues vital to the buyer, and create a smooth, easy purchasing runway.

Chapter 9: Closing Deals With Conceptual Selling

Conceptual Selling is a broadly applied selling methodology. Instead of focusing on selling a product, it addresses the prospect’s concept of a product or service and relates it to the prospect’s issues.

Chapter 10: What is SPIN Selling?

The name SPIN Selling comes from a highly influential book with that same title by Neil Rackham, originally published in 2000. It is a sales methodology now taught globally and has been echoed and cited in many publications since.

Chapter 11: ValueSelling Framework—Simplifying the Complexity

The ValueSelling Framework makes it easy for salespeople to learn and master sales methods. It boils down sales to the essentials: qualifying an opportunity, mapping it to your capabilities, asking the right questions, and developing a workable closing plan.

Right On Interactive is helping companies use Customer Lifecycle Marketing strategies by surfacing their “best-fit” customers.

Surface and Cultivate their Best-Fit Customers

Are you curious about the trending topic of Customer Lifecycle Marketing, and how it could help you grow your business?

Right On Interactive’s ebook, Lifecycle Marketing 101: What Every B2B Marketer Needs to Know about CLM, will answer all your questions.

What Is Customer Lifecycle Marketing?

Lifecycle marketing has replaced the traditional approach to marketing tactics and offers a new strategy that yields better results. It’s about conducting more engaged relationships. Lifecycle marketing methodology focuses on the individual person (or company, depending on your business model) and the entire arc of their journey with your brand. By understanding where a person is in their “lifecycle” dictates how your team communicates with that contact or company — along with who on the team is best suited to respond at each stage, and how often they reach out. These are all important factors in driving engagement, which is the most valuable metric your business can measure.

Right On Interactive is helping companies surface and cultivate their best-fit customers. How? By enabling them to move seamlessly through each phase of the lifecycle, finding the right content or connection they seek along the way.

Here are two facts that might surprise you:

It’s 6-7x more costly to attract a new customer than it is to retain an existing customer (White House Office of Consumer Affairs), yet only 8% of companies using marketing automation use it to nurture their existing customers (SiriusDecisions).

What You’ll Learn

This practical, tactical guide is designed for B2B marketers, senior executives, sales enablement professionals, and those looking for practical advice on using Customer Lifecycle Marketing to take their business to the next level.

You will find:

The essential elements to create a Customer Lifetime Marketing strategy
10 things to discuss with your team before you start building
The tactics and strategies to help you move prospects and customers through each stage of the journey with your brand
Your customers are your #1 asset. Download this free ebook now and learn how to grow your business through engaged relationships with your prospects AND customers.

Originally published under the Pipeliner CRM name. Pipeliner is now Coevera — same company, evolved identity.

Expert opinion on the subject of sales processes has pendulum swung a great deal over the years. One day sales processes are all-important and sales organizations must stick to them like glue. The next day the sales process is far less important than allowing a salesperson the freedom to take actions as they see fit. Skip ahead in time, and we’re right back to hewing as closely as possible to the sales process.

Our opinion has never varied: We have always seen the sales process as the backbone of any sales operation. It has been our experience—and the collective sales experience of our staff, which is considerable—that sales aren’t consistently made without one.

But we decided to find out what’s actually happening out there in the business world. Hence we polled a healthy cross section consisting of hundreds of salespeople, sales managers and sales leaders regarding sales process importance, and how sales processes are being used in their companies.

To help illuminate the results we also brought in a panel of noted sales thought leaders: Lisa Magnuson, Dave Stein, Ago Cluytens, Andy Paul, David Hoffeld, Matt McDarby and Joel Capperella. Coevera Chief Strategy Officer John Golden has also provided his own commentary and, where appropriate, we have highlighted the results with additional research.

Poll questions that were asked, answered and explored:

Question 1: Does your company have a formal sales process?

According to many authorities, having and using a formal sales process is mandatory in today’s lightning-fast, incredibly competitive business environment. A mapped out process, consisting of sales best practices for a company, assures a higher degree of sales success with every opportunity.

Expert Ago Cluytens, Practice Director for RAIN Group, weighs in on this question.

Question 2: Do you think having a formal sales process is important?

While over the years opinions have varied on this question, today they rarely do. And for a “ground level” look, have a gander at these numbers: an overwhelming number of respondents say that having a sales process is “Very Important.” That is extremely significant, and shows that a formal sales practice as a best practice is considered critical.

Corporate strategic sales expert Lisa Magnuson provides her insight on this question.

Question 3: How often do you validate or re-validate your target customer’s buying process and habits?

This is a significant question and series of answers because today we most definitely live in the age of the buyer. It is easier than ever for buyers to obtain independent information on products and services. Hence you need to fully understand where your buyers are turning for data and make sure your company is presenting data along those channels.

Question 4: Should a sales process be mandatory and every salesperson have to follow it?

The numbers surely speak for themselves here: An overwhelming number of respondents maintain that a sales process should definitely be mandatory, and salespeople should have to follow it. Experts tend to agree.

Question 5: How many sales stages should a sales process ideally have?

The majority answer to this one seems to match up with a broad opinion on the subject.

Question 6: Should each sales stage have defined tasks and activities that need to be completed before moving onto the next sales stage?

The top answer to this one was interesting: “Yes, but only the most important should be mandatory.” That shows that there should be defined tasks and activities that need to be completed before the opportunity is moved along the pipeline.

Leading sales expert and author Andy Paul provides insight to this question.

Question 7: Who created your sales process?

No one tracks and knows sales best practices like sales management. It therefore comes as no surprise that the majority of our respondents state that sales management are the ones that created their company’s sales process. But the next question demonstrates if this is the ideal scenario.

Question 8: Who should be responsible for creating your sales process?

In the last couple of years there has been considerable discussion about sales and marketing alignment. Interestingly, this very point shows up right here in our survey results—as a majority of respondents believe that a sales process should be created by sales and marketing together.

Insight to this question is provided by top sales consultant and trainer David Hoffeld.

Question 9: Where do most sales managers spend the majority of their time?

The top answers to this question shows that a majority of sales managers are a bit “all over the map” in terms of where they spend their time. Some spend their time in a mixture of early and late sales process stages, while others in whichever stages they are needed.

Noted sales thought leader Matt McDarby weighs in on this question.

Question 10: Do you have documents, marketing assets or other materials specifically allocated to individual stages of your sales process?

The majority of respondents obviously do understand the importance of collateral materials as part of individual sales process stages. Most have specific materials aimed at some or all of the sales process stages.

For an expert perspective, we turned to leading marketing consultant and author Joel Capperella.