Sales Secrets

GlassDoor changed the way employees pick companies and online review shops are changing the way customers are buying. In the B2C space it's obvious. As consumers we go online to review and buy and now B2B is following suite. In addition, rather than gathering information from typical customer satisfaction surveys, companies are finding these review portals to be authentic accurate representation of what customers really think of them. In this episode, Olivier L'Abbé , VP of Sales at G2Crowd, talks about the power of reviews and how customer buying behavior has changed. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: InsideSales.com on G2Crowd Olivier L'Abbé on LinkedIn InsideSales.com Labs In This Episode You'll Learn: How customers are buying today in B2B The power of customer reviews in marketing, sales, and product What you can do to start influencing the real way customers buy

Garbage in and garbage out. That's true every where and it is especially true in sales. Even if you're the best sales rep, if you don't have good data, you're toast. In this episode, Noah Spirakus, CEO at Prospectify talks about data, the importance of getting clean data, and how companies are winning with strong data strategies. Sales Development Summit State of Sales Report InsideSales Labs Best Practice Training In This Episode You'll Learn: Why companies should be concerned about their data hygiene What does good data mean for your sales team Tactics and strategies you can use now to make your data work for you

We recently did a research study and asked 721 sales people how they spend their time. The results were really surprising. They spend 35.2% of their time selling and 65% on everything else, but not selling. The next question is why and what can companies do to change this. In this episode, we dive into the research and talk about the problem and the solution. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: LinkedIn Post with Infographic Time Management Study In This Episode You'll Learn: The research on how sales reps spend their time Why sales reps are spending so little time selling The two things companies can do to improve the time spend selling

We all want to get more sales but that is hard to do if you're not targeting the right accounts, in the right way, and the right time. Matt Amundson, VP of marketing and sales development at EverString knows a few things about account targeting and on this episode Matt dives into the need to find your optimal customer profile and explains the importance of prioritizing your best accounts as part of your sales strategy. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Sales Development Summit State of Sales Report InsideSales Labs Best Practice Training In This Episode You'll Learn: How to determine your which prospects you should target The importance of good data and the role it plays in the sales process The power of prioritization and how companies can do it

Life is short so why not learn from the experts. Jake Reni, is a master when it comes to helping companies, including Adobe, think through a strategic go-to-market approach for building an optimizing sales and sales development teams. In this episode, Jake and I debate and discuss some of the trends and debates around what is need to get to a winning state for your sales teams. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Sales Development Summit State of Sales Report InsideSales Labs Best Practice Training In This Episode You'll Learn: How teams should be thinking about building segmentation and structure for their business What technology stack you should or shouldn't be considering Is account-based sales for you or not

We all talk about sales cadence but that doesn't mean we know what it is. We've talked about sales cadence on this show before but this is different. We recently completed additional research on sales cadence where we analyzed 1.5 million activities across nearly 500,000 different cadences - all focused on outbound selling. In this episode we dive into the research and discuss what companies need to be thinking about to be successful in building pipeline and winning with their sales cadences. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: The Definitive Guide to Sales Cadence Sales Cadence Webinar In This Episode You'll Learn: What is the definition of a cadence What are the five pillars of a cadence How can companies build a cadence to increase pipeline

We can talk about leadership all we want but it's not easy. Great leaders are born and developed. If you think you can't be a great leader, you're lying to yourself, anybody can be a great leader but it takes work like everything else. In this episode, Dionne Mischler, tells us some of the secrets to being a great leader and provides some real advice on how leaders are developed. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Time Management Article In This Episode You'll Learn: How great leaders leads Are leaders developed or born How you can develop leadership qualities today

Building a global sales organization is no easy task but Gideon Fourie, VP of strategy and sales operations at First Data, knows how to do it. Gideon oversees operations in 34 countries with an extremely complex sales motion. In this episode, Gideon explains some of the challenges of managing a global sales operations function and explains his recipe for succeeding despite the complexities that are involved. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Time Management Article In This Episode You'll Learn: The challenges faced when building a global sales organization Thoughts and strategies on optimizing a sales structure Key strategies used to succeed supporting and enabling an organization across 34 countries

Most people don't know the difference between training and coaching and even if they do, they don't know how to coach. In this episode, Shimon Lazarov, CEO of LiveCoach, talks about the importance of coaching, how people should coach, and why you might want a coachLinks and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: AI System of Growth Case Study State of Sales Infographic In This Episode You'll Learn: The difference between training and coaching Why everybody needs a coach The power of coaching

Let's face it, CRM sucks to use, especially if you're a sales rep. But, we use it because we have to. I promise that statements like that won't last though. Something has to happen to make CRM valuable and I'm not talking about SMART CRM as that is more of the same. We need to not just give to CRM we need to get from CRM. The next evolution of CRM is a system of growth and it combines CRM with AI and sales technologies to help sales teams sell more. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: LinkedIn Post AI System of Growth Case Study State of Sales Infographic In This Episode You'll Learn: The truth about where reps are spending their time How CRM is not living up to it's promised benefits What is an AI System of Growth and the future of selling

Top trends are something that anybody can put out there but they are not always right or interesting but that's not the case with Gaetano, VP of marketing at SalesHacker. Gaetano wrote a guest post on the InsideSales.com blog and he killed it. He outlined some of the top trends for 2018 and if you haven't seen it, you need to as it will help you prepare for 2018. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Gaetano LinkedIn Top Trends Blog Post State of Sales Infographic In This Episode You'll Learn: What trends you must be watching in 2018 What trends you should prioritize to make you stand out in the crowd How you can take these trends and put them into action

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new buzzword du jour. It seems everyone has “AI” software or services that promise to help your wildest dreams come true. But you run a sales team. And you have to deliver solid sales results this quarter and next and next. You don’t have time for marketing hype or sales software solutions that over promise and under deliver. When implemented correctly, Artificial Intelligence can help businesses increase revenue up to 30 percent and take your business to the next level. Here’s a simple way to think about how to build AI into your sales growth strategy simply and easily, without risk. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: NeuralScan Webinar Version of This Recording Case Study of Real AI In This Episode You'll Learn: What Artificial Intelligence can do for business revenue growth The four steps of AI implementation in a sales organization The pitfalls of AI implementation and common issues to watch out for

Sales is changing for some odd reason the education of sales people is staying the same...well mostly. There is one pocket of people doing things different and that is happening at the University of Houston. For years now, Joel Le Bon, has been leading a sales program, ranked top in the country, to help students succeed in sales-and it's working. In this episode, Joel talks about the program he's created and the success it's been having. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Sales Development Summit State of Sales Development Research State of Sales Infographic In This Episode You'll Learn: Why schools don't teach sales What the University of Houston is doing to make sales people succecssful What you can do to help push the profession of sales forward

If you don't know how to communicate your story then nobody on your team does. Your elevator pitch and the importance of having everybody at your company understand and know it by heart, is crucial for success. J.J Peterson is the Chief of Staff at StoryBrand, a company that focuses on clarifying companies' messages so customers engage. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Sales Development Summit State of Sales Development Research State of Sales Infographic In This Episode You'll Learn: What is a story and what makes a great story The elements of great stories Why companies should spend time building their stories

Leaders are not born, they learn through experience. Vinay Bhagat is a serial entrepreneur who has started and run multiple successful companies. In this episode, he talks about his leadership success principles and details how companies can start thinking about customer advocacy and how great companies are proactive in their approach. In This Episode You'll Learn: Vinay's secret to great leadership Why companies shouldn't just trust analysts but should also trust their customer opinions How companies can start building a customer advocacy program today

It's fun to talk and hear from thought leaders but it's also fun to see how people really do it. Jim Debald is one of those guys who really does it. He's transformed the sales team at CoreDial by focusing on people, systems, and process. Jim's focus on numbers and persistence in testing helped create an amazing culture and results during his tenure at CoreDial. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Sales Development Summit State of Sales Development Research State of Sales Infographic In This Episode You'll Learn: How a real business leader thinks about transforming his company The importance of the sales process and why you need to figure out what works for you Technology and a focus on numbers are both key in making companies great

This guy is the real deal and if you haven't seen him you'll need to check it out. Morgan Ingram runs the popular #TheSDRChronicles Youtube shows that highlight the life of a sales development rep. Morgan has been an SDR and manages SDR teams, so when he speakes he knows it from experience. In this episode, Morgan and I debate some tough topics around SDRs, like will SDRs survive the AI movement? Where should SDRs report into? And what makes SDR successful. . . . Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Sales Development Summit State of Sales Development Research State of Sales Infographic In This Episode You'll Learn: The future of sales development How AI will effect sales development What sales development reps need to do to be successful NOW

Carrie runs a multi-million dollar business by outsourcing prospecting work for companies. When it comes to prospecting strategies Carries knows all the tricks of the trades and when you talk to her you get it straight - no B.S. In this episode, Carrie talks about sales development trends, puts to rest the cold calling debate, and enlightens us with best practices for sales development leaders. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Sales Development Summit State of Sales Development Research State of Sales Infographic In This Episode You'll Learn: Key to managing a sales development team When you should think about outsourcing your prospecting strategies Why cold calling is not and will never be dead

The end of the year is a time of reflection both personally and professionally. Most companies work with their sales reps to nail this time period and make a strong plan to achieve quota going into the next year, while other companies fail. In this episode, Annie Matthews VP of Sales at TechTarget, talks about her strategies for the end of the year and the lessons she's learned over her sales career. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: State of Sales In This Episode You'll Learn: What you should be thinking about for the end of the year Lessons learned for end of year sales planning What reps should do to plan for appropriately for the next year

53% of sales reps don’t hit quota and most sales leaders don’t know what to do about that. At the end of the year there is a conversation between a manager and a rep and that conversation is summed up usually as “do better.” That doesn’t work and sales leaders know it but what can they do differently? Some leaders turn to their CRM and try to determine why some reps achieve quota while others don’t but the exercise typically brings minimal benefits. To solve this challenge, sales leaders need REAL visibility into what their reps are doing and not doing to build pipeline and close deals and that’s where we come in. InsideSales.com has recently created an assessment called the Sales Effectiveness Quadrant™ (SEQ). The SEQ is a prescriptive assessment that turns your bottom performers into top performers by analyzing and segmenting your sellers on characteristics that lead to pipeline creation and more closed deals. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Get a Free SEQ Assessment The State of Sales Deve