Better sales forecasting - a very short primer

Ask any B2B manager about the joys of sales forecasting. Most likely, they won’t respond “I thought you’d never ask!” and excitedly explain how much they look forward to it every quarter.

3 Ways to Fix your Lead Qualification Process

The first step to fixing your lead qualification process is figuring out whether your lead qualification process even needs work. We can do it in the spirit of comedian Jeff Foxworthy – just not as funny. You might have a qualification problem if you have customers that make you think, “Someday I am going to get rid of this guy.” You might have a qualification problem if you have clients who are disappointed in the work that you do, even though you go out of your way to take care of them.

Our Customers Can’t Afford For Us To Wait Until They Are 70% Through Their Buying Cycle!

There are lots of posts around the popular research that indicates, “Customers aren’t engaging sales until they are, 57, 70, 90 (depending on the research you read) through their buying cycle.” As usual with the posts, there are the usual doom and gloom announcements about the future of selling and the “death of the traditional sales person.” Depending on the point of view being promoted and the services or tools being sold by the writer, things are shifting to social, marketing automation, content, inbound inside sales, and any other configuration of whatever is being promoted.

A CRM alone won’t fix your sales management problem

It seems that I have been in many conversations lately about Customer Relationship Management Systems, or CRMs. I have spoken with a variety of business owners and sales team leaders who are inquiring about the “best” CRM for their situation. What most are really looking for is a magic bullet to make their salespeople do the right activities to generate enough business.

Why B2B Sales has to confront the Value Gap

In survey after survey, the average sales person’s inability to effectively communicate the value of their offering has been rated as the most frustrating challenge facing today’s CEOs and Heads of Sales.

They are right to be concerned. The statistics are truly horrible.

The price and value relationship - 4 tactics to employ

Over the past 6 months, how many times have you heard somebody say “We have to add/deliver/sell/prove value!”. Most likely, it’s somewhere in the high 30s. Thanks for the concrete advice on how not to sell on price.