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Tool-Talk Newsletter Archives
For sales professionals, spending time with qualified prospects is job #1. But timely follow-up with the right materials in the correct order is a close second. In this newsletter issue, we describe tools that make the job easier, and more effective.
3 Elements of Effective Sales Follow-up
When prospects decide they know enough - about what they want - to ask the right questions - they become willing participants in a sales conversation. So even though they engage with a salesperson later in the process, the interaction will be more productive if you play by the new rules.
How to Sell Late in the Buying Cycle
Knowing the most essential information - about your most important prospects and clients - is sales nirvana. But that kind of research is impossible to do manually. We've been testing the latest version of Gist, an online service (currently free) that provides a visual dashboard of relevant information on named prospects so reps can keep current.
Get the “Gist” on Your Prospects & Contacts
he cold hard truth of warm calling is that reps must master the art of the introduction. Trouble is, you can’t get introduced if you don’t know how you’re connected - or “linked” - to your prospect. The amount of time it would take to figure that out has made true warm calling unobtainable.
Heat Up Your Cold-Calls: PeopleMaps Product Profile
This past week, I talked with two sellers who are having extraordinary success right now. Their business is skyrocketing. Pricing is virtually a non-issue.
And all this happened once they started going into sales calls totally, stark-raving naked.
Why You Must Go Into Sales Calls Totally, Stark-Raving Naked
If you’re in Inside Sales - You Need This E-Book!
Based on the best selling book by Josiane Feigon “Smart Selling on the Phone and Online”, we matched the 10 essential inside sales skills with must-have sales tools.
Smart Inside Sales Tools: Free E-Book
From the Author of 42 Rules to Increase Sales Effectiveness, Mike Griego focuses on 2 rules which are critical for all salespeople or anyone touching the prospect, client or customer. These rules are crucial for understanding your customer.
2 Rules for Understanding Your Customer
Interesting research reveals that pricing is the number one sought after piece of information on the web. Does that mean you should post your pricing on your web-site? The answer is both Yes and No. Find out how to use your prospect’s desire for budgetary pricing to your advantage.
When Should You Disclose Pricing? The answer may shock you
From the Queen of Cold Calling and author of “Cold Callin for Women”
Cold calling today is direct, targeted and above all it’s a communication skill. Those who disparage cold calling are totally missing the point. The bottom line is that no matter where you find a lead, whether from networking or a referral (or even if someone calls you) at some point you will need to speak with that prospect on the telephone
Cold-Calling in the 21st Century: The new rules
When was the last time you were called by a vendor, who wanted to sell you their product? Were you happy to take the call? Or did you have a visceral reaction the second you recognized it as a sales call? Isn't that the same barrier your reps face as they try to sell your products?
Why Do YOU Hate Calls from Salespeople?
Doctors tell us to have a diet of nutritional foods that are low in calories. Instead, many of us (me included!) tend to eat foods that are filling but have little nutritional value (think potato chips). They’re convenient, they taste good, an they’re satisfying. But they aren’t the type of food our bodies need. And we aren’t benefiting from a super-sized helping of leads either.
Why Leads Are Like Potato Chips: and just as bad for you
When a salesperson holds onto signed orders until the last minute, it’s called sandbagging. When proposals are being held-up by buyers, I call it "reverse" sandbagging. Reverse sandbagging is always a problem but no time is it more painful than the 4th quarter. Reverse sandbagging is so powerful, it can cause a company to miss their numbers for the entire year.
The Curse of Q4: Reverse Sandbagging
About 95 percent of generated leads are not effectively pursued by sales. Sales organizations eager to close deals are frustrated by the very thing that marketers are rewarded for: a mountain of leads. Rather than sort through a motley group of prospects—some not qualified, others not sales ready—they abandon all but the most obvious and substitute those leads with their own, usually less successful, prospecting.
How to Fix a Broken Lead Generation Process
This week’s Sales & Marketing 2.0 Conference in San Francisco welcomed an energized crowd of more than 450 attendees. The theme: Sales & Marketing Collaboration That Delivers Results.
Conversations were abuzz with funky terms like “SMarketing” almost as if there was a race for coming up with a new name that represents the marriage of the two.
“Smarketing” and Other Concepts From the Sales 2.0 Conference
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Even as CRM software is enveloping all business operations, vendors are finding new and remarkable ways to help Sales and Marketing departments. It’s ‘back to basics’ (in a futuristic sort of way).
In this article, we describe 4 key capabilities that are part of Next Generation CRM systems.
The 4 Most Important CRM Trends for 2011
A salesperson arrived at work, poured a cup of coffee, and entered his cubicle to begin the day’s calls. But to his great surprise, something very odd was perched next to his phone - a magic lamp! As he moved closer, he began to make out what was written on a small blue post-it note affixed to the lamp: “RUB ME” it said.
The Cubicle, the Magic Lamp and the Window of Dissatisfaction
Traction contains all the tools and components that make up the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). If you can master the individual elements of EOS you’ll have the traction you need to realize the vision for your company.
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
Last week was the Sales2.0 conference in San Francisco. In attendance were sales and marketing professionals looking to gain insight and inspiration. Luckily, there were plenty of both. What follows are key points that we took away from the event.
Sales 2.0 Conf: 4 Take-Aways You Don’t Want to Miss
This Checklist is from our “2011 Next Gen CRM Buyer’s Guide”
Use this checklist to identify features that are “don’t need,” “nice to have,” and “must-have.”
NextGen CRM Buyer Checklist
Let’s face it. Even when your prospect has been BANT-qualified1 and even when they’ve said “send me a contract” a deal can disappear faster than you can say “This one’s in the bag!”
No deal is guaranteed until it’s signed. And there are plenty of events that can derail the sale when too much time goes by.
Time Kills Deals
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