Driving Sales Results Through Sales Manager Enablement
#SalesChats: Episode 23

Everyone has heard of sales enablement, but sales management enablement is less heard of. Often, we’re so focused on the sales aspects and not the sales management aspects. Sales management enablement is the act of selecting, training, coaching, preparing, and supporting the frontline sales managers to manage their sales team to more effectively serve their buyers and achieve their sales objectives. Mike Kunkle discusses sales manager enablement in this #SalesChat, hosted by John Golden and Martha Neumeister.

Kunkle explains:

• The necessity of providing training for sales managers, especially if they have been promoted from the sales staff
• The differences and similarities between the sales manager role and the salesperson role
• How to drive results through others, and the challenges that come along with this task
• A sales management system that helps a manager do their job and provides tools to help managers hire more effectively
• Identifying barriers to the sales managers doing their job, and eliminating them
• The difference between coaching and management
• How to help your team turn leads into opportunities, manage those opportunities using pipeline software, effectively manage the pipeline, and utilize account management
• How to lead your team with meetings, training, and coaching sessions
• Techniques to make drastic, positive changes in management style
• The best ways to understand and analyze data and metrics, and use that technology provided information in the most efficient ways possible
• How to get sales managers focused on the entire sales funnel, instead of just zooming in on the last few stages of the sales process
• The importance of top-down support in sales management
• How to make time for sales management, and still get all of your other tasks done
• The messages that we send inadvertently to our sales team, and how to make sure you’re sending the right message
• How to create engagement and loyalty through authentic, genuine leadership

Our Guest

Mike Kunkle

Mike helps companies radically improve sales performance through disciplined and focused execution of a systems approach to sales (sales selection, sales support, sales learning, and sales management systems), which includes talent management, sales process, sales methodology, and sales technology.

Our Hosts

John Golden

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Martha Neumeister

Martha is social media strategist, responsible for all social media platforms of Pipeliner CRM. She is a communication expert with social media affinity, which she has been focusing on throughout her professional career. She has a bachelor´s degree in Entrepreneurship & Management and a master´s degree in Online Marketing which supports her in her career as Social Media Strategist.

About SalesChats

SalesChats is a fast-paced (no more than 30 minutes) multi-media series that provides leading strategies, tactics and thinking for sales professionals worldwide. It can be found on Twitter (#SalesChats), as a live Google+ Hangout, and as a podcast available on iTunes, SoundCloud and right here on SalesPOP! If you think you would make a great guest for #SalesChats, please contact co-host Martha Neumeister.

SalesChats is co-hosted by John Golden, CSO Pipeliner CRM, and Martha Neumeister, Social Media Strategist Pipeliner CRM.

The pervasive nature of the web and social media has changed the game for every company’s sales, marketing, and PR efforts. Every person on your staff – INCLUDING YOU – can be searched and researched.

Have you ever googled yourself? Do you know what Google says about you? Do you surface on the first page (if not, you may have a real problem!). In the modern world, you are who Google says you are. Every member of your sales team, no matter how junior or senior, needs to understand the importance of their own personal brand and why it matters. They should be fully trained on the skills needed to maintain their personal brand, avoid the hazards, embrace the benefits, and take full advantage of all of the opportunities.

Years ago our reputations were built on word of mouth—but now it’s world of mouth. You are out there and your brand is out there, so it better be well maintained and grown. It’s not enough to just put your LinkedIn profile up there and make a Tweet once a day—you’ve got to be actively participating in these things on a regular basis.

In this exclusive video, McCormack Media’s Social Expert @StefanLubinski explains why a LinkedIn profile and presence is an essential part of your personal brand. And, most likely, it’s NOT for the reason you’re thinking!

Kurt Shaver spoke at our Power Breakfast in Santa Monica about how Microsoft’s $26.2B acquisition of LinkedIn is clear evidence that social networks will play an increasingly important role in business.

Just as the deal closed, LinkedIn started rolling out the biggest design change in its 14-year history. These changes create the opportunity for “first-movers” to gain a competitive advantage in their markets. Learn the LinkedIn actions you should be taking now to fully leverage the new LinkedIn.

An exclusive panel discussion featuring Mike Kunkle, Andy Paul and  James Obermayer, and hosted by Pipeliner CRM’s John Golden, covers the many issues with sales management in today’s digital era.

Editor’s Note: As part of our ongoing Sales Innovators Interview series, we are very pleased to include video interviews of eminent sales leaders by Andy Paul. Andy is a sales acceleration expert and sales strategist, and is the author of the best-selling sales books, Amp Up Your Sales: Powerful Strategies That Move Customers to Make Fast, Favorable Decisions and Zero Time Selling: 10 Essential Steps to Accelerate Every Company’s Sales.

Andy has conducted video interviews with well-known sales experts and influencers — practical (and actionable!) talks that he has offered to share with our readers. Ten-minute snippets will appear on our blog over the next weeks and months, whetting your appetite for the full interviews with guests like Anthony Iannarino, Jill Konrath, Jeb Blount, Dave Brock, Kyle Porter, Mark Hunter, Mark Roberge, Steve Richard, Mike Schultz, and Jeffrey Gitomer.

In this snippet, Andy talks with international author, speaker and sales leader Anthony Iannarino about the hot topic of Sales Acceleration. They go over how salespeople can take charge themselves to get their sales up to speed and routinely achieve their sales goals, and much more.

See Andy’s full interview with Anthony

Of course when it comes to sales acceleration, we think that the right choice of CRM solution means everything. Get your free trial of Pipeliner CRM now.

Asking Killer Question to Close Deals Faster
#SalesChats: Episode 22

If you’re in sales, you know that questioning is a key tool to have in your armory. But not every salesperson is asking the right questions, or listening to the responses that their clients give. Andy Paul discusses asking killer questions in this #SalesChat, hosted by John Golden and Martha Neumeister.

Paul explains:

• How asking questions demonstrates interest, and how interest leads to building a relationship
• The vital importance of sincere, authentic questioning
• How to prepare questions ahead of time, but still come across as authentic and personalized
• Utilizing technology to gather information and write targeted questions
• The importance of asking questions about the buyer, and not focusing too much on yourself as the salesperson
• Listening to the answer to the questions that you ask, and using the answer to continue asking pertinent questions
• Listening without assumptions in order to avoid judgement
• “And what else” questioning to get the buyer off their standard responses for salespeople
• Examples of good opening questions that force the customer to pause and think, including asking the customer something they should know about their business, but don’t
• The biggest mistakes salespeople make when asking questions, including not learning lessons from previous poor questioning, and asking for too much information too soon
• Getting salespeople to think deeply and be thoughtful, especially about how they provide value for the customer

Our Guest

Andy Paul

Andy Paul helps sales teams and salespeople accelerate their sales. He delivers workshops, presentations, and customized coaching programs shaping the sales process, to amp up sales productivity and accelerate sales by moving customers to make fast and favorable decisions.

Our Hosts

John Golden

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Martha Neumeister

Martha is social media strategist, responsible for all social media platforms of Pipeliner CRM. She is a communication expert with social media affinity, which she has been focusing on throughout her professional career. She has a bachelor´s degree in Entrepreneurship & Management and a master´s degree in Online Marketing which supports her in her career as Social Media Strategist.

About SalesChats

SalesChats is a fast-paced (no more than 30 minutes) multi-media series that provides leading strategies, tactics and thinking for sales professionals worldwide. It can be found on Twitter (#SalesChats), as a live Google+ Hangout, and as a podcast available on iTunes, SoundCloud and right here on SalesPOP! If you think you would make a great guest for #SalesChats, please contact co-host Martha Neumeister.

SalesChats is co-hosted by John Golden, CSO Pipeliner CRM, and Martha Neumeister, Social Media Strategist Pipeliner CRM.

What are the best methods to make your sales force battle-ready, and to lead them successfully? Learn more as Pipeliner CEO Nikolaus Kimla summarizes his new ebook Leading From the War Room: Building a Battle-Ready Sales Force.

Sales Management: The Need of Emotionality
#SalesChats: Episode 21

When you mention emotion in sales management, people often imagine something negative. Perhaps they get an image of someone getting mad or angry or upset or frustrated, or having another professionally inappropriate display of emotion. But, there is a way to connect on an emotional level, as human beings, in a process driven way, that can be very appropriate and helpful within the context of sales management and sales leadership. Ken Thoreson explores emotionality in sales management in this #SalesChat, hosted by John Golden and Martha Neumeister.

Thoreson explains:

• Aligning the soul of the individual with the goals of the corporation
• The high turnover rate of sales managers, and how utilizing emotion can help reduce this rate
• How a sales manager that connects with their salespeople can get their team behind them and supportive of their direction
• Why salespeople need to utilize emotion, and how the sales manager can bring that emotion into the sales organization
• How to integrate emotion, even when it doesn’t come naturally
• The importance of scheduling a one hour, one-on-one session, with each person on their team, at least once a month, in order to foster connection and create the right dynamic for an emotional conversation
• Discipline, accountability, and control in sales management
• Balancing the appropriate amount of emotional connection
• The differences between leadership and management, and the importance of putting both of these roles into perspective
• Understanding how to motivate the sales team emotionally
• Baby steps to get started integrating emotion into sales management techniques
• The importance of goal setting and being organized, and how a sales manager can help improve these skills in their sales team
• A telling style of sales management versus a selling style

Our Guest

Ken Thoreson

Ken provides keynotes, consulting services, training and products to improve business and revenue performance. He has been ranked 4 times by Top Sales World magazine in the Top 50 Sales and Marketing Influencers. He is the author of 5 books; the most recent, SLAMMED! is for first time sales managers.

Our Hosts

John Golden

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Martha Neumeister

Martha is social media strategist, responsible for all social media platforms of Pipeliner CRM. She is a communication expert with social media affinity, which she has been focusing on throughout her professional career. She has a bachelor´s degree in Entrepreneurship & Management and a master´s degree in Online Marketing which supports her in her career as Social Media Strategist.

About SalesChats

SalesChats is a fast-paced (no more than 30 minutes) multi-media series that provides leading strategies, tactics and thinking for sales professionals worldwide. It can be found on Twitter (#SalesChats), as a live Google+ Hangout, and as a podcast available on iTunes, SoundCloud and right here on SalesPOP! If you think you would make a great guest for #SalesChats, please contact co-host Martha Neumeister.

SalesChats is co-hosted by John Golden, CSO Pipeliner CRM, and Martha Neumeister, Social Media Strategist Pipeliner CRM.