While fluidity has always been a defining characteristic of sales, a recent shift to guided selling is currently taking place. Consumers’ experiences are becoming increasingly digital and remote– from the selling process through onboarding. Navigating this change to success requires establishing a formal sales process based on the company’s sales history. This concept is called guided selling. With an emphasis [...]
Contrary to the highly debated consensus that business cards are a dinosaur and relegated to the trash, they can be effective – if they are customized. Why is a high-quality, customized business card a powerful tool for driving sales? And why does a generic card fail to make the same impact? 72 percent of people judge a business on the [...]
Reading Time: 2 minutesOrganizations that institute a formal sales process enjoy a revenue increase of up to 28 percent. Yet far too many companies fail to implement one. Learn the five ways your business will benefit from a sales process.
Reading Time: 3 minutesThere are better ways to measure brand awareness than vanity metrics such as likes and followers. Organizations can track these 11 types of results to get a clear read on the state of their brand awareness online.
Reading Time: 5 minutesFar too many salespeople give up on perfectly qualified leads, with 44 percent giving up after just one follow-up call. Learn how to prevent qualified leads from getting away.
Reading Time: 3 minutesAs society and business continue to grow closer together, CEOs will need to adapt quickly. Those who can transition from a hero mindset into a collaborative one will thrive in this new world. Learn more here.
Reading Time: 2 minutesWhile social media offers organizations many advantages, it can damage morale and cause mental fatigue. How can businesses enjoy the benefits of social media while avoiding the pitfalls?
Reading Time: 3 minutesIt can be tricky to balance content that promotes a business without coming across as overly promotional. Still, the results are well worth the effort. Find out how to achieve marketing content success.
When email marketing campaigns are executed poorly, it can leave companies wondering if they are worth the financial and time investment. However, email campaigns that are carefully planned, tested and executed are well worth the time and effort: 59 percent of business-to-business marketers cite email as their most effective channel in terms of revenue generation. (1) Email is the third [...]
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe economic crises faced by many organizations have many leaders looking for new methods to fortify their organizations. Use these strategies to build a powerhouse workforce that provides real value...
Serious gamers have long known a secret. It’s entirely possible to learn, build communities, connect with new people, grow relationships, strategize as a team, and have fun doing it! Let’s step back for a minute. There is a reason why some generations played math bingo, completed word finds, navigated strategy mazes, listened to music, doodled, or participated in a categories [...]
Reading Time: 3 minutesAward-winning CEOs exhibit behaviors that lay the groundwork for solid, long-term success. Find out what distinguishes inherent CEOs and the companies they lead from lackluster CEOs and the companies that struggle.
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe presence of a real leader is not determined by a title. It is determined by behavior and actions toward employees and stakeholders. Get tips for leading with your head and heart to ensure business success.
Everyone has heard the cliché stating that content is king and it rings true now more than ever. High-quality content is not just necessary, but it is also critical for converting prospects. 70 percent of buyers learn about a company through blogs rather than ads. (1) 82 percent of buyers enjoy reading content from a company blog. (2) Nine out [...]
Cold outreach is essential to driving business growth. However, 40 percent of sales professionals indicate that prospecting is the most challenging aspect of their job. (1) Most people dread prospecting because they fear saying the wrong thing – and with good reason. The risk of this happening increases when salespeople get stuck when they speak to a gatekeeper because they [...]
Reading Time: 4 minutesLeading while under fire is a challenging proposition. However, if it is done well, leadership can avoid getting burned and instead champion their organization’s success. Get the tips here…
Reading Time: 4 minutesDid you know that a business that discounts prices by 8 percent will take two years to recover PLUS will still need to address current economic conditions? This means years of lost time and money. Learn better and more sustainable alternatives to price discounting…
Many sales representatives struggle with sales prospecting. In fact, 42 percent of sales associates named prospecting the most challenging stage of the sales process. (1) Why is prospecting so difficult? Ideal prospects rarely exist. Studies show that at least 50 percent of prospects are not the right fit Making sales is tougher than it was five years ago, according to [...]
Reading Time: 5 minutesIn uncertain, difficult times there are opportunities to explore as well as lessons that can be applied to build stronger and more agile organizations. Explore these four essential strategies…
Reading Time: 3 minutesIf you are a meeting planner, you have no doubt stumbled upon your fair share of creativity blocks when it comes to thinking of fresh new ideas for meetings. However, there are many inspirational sources online. Learn about some of the best…
While debates at work or at home can devolve into unproductive arguments, when they are guided in a positive direction during meetings, they can prove highly beneficial. Differing perspectives, opinions and ideas can either derail a discussion or serve as fuel to propel it toward a positive outcome. The caveat is most meetings are void of any debate whatsoever. [...]
The definition of productivity has changed significantly since the early days of corporate America. Clocking in and out on time, meeting deadlines and showing supervisors respect used to be enough to qualify. Today’s corporate landscape, however, is far more complicated. Measuring and improving productivity, therefore, must be approached in a more complex way. Traditional Markers In the past, productivity [...]
While making your employee recognition program a priority may seem unrealistic given your already endless priority list, doing so delivers a host of very attractive benefits: Top-tier recognition programs allow organizations to see their ROI firsthand during the process of recognizing excellent work. Best-in-class companies are 21% more likely to view recognition as extremely valuable for driving employee performance.1 Best-in-class [...]
Did you know that you have internal customers in addition to external customers? Everyone knows about external customers. They are the people who purchase your product or use your services and people who have a vested interest in your organization. Terms for external customers include buyers, consumers, vendors/suppliers, stakeholders, government and creditors. Internal customers are the people who consume or [...]
If the presenters and panelists at your meetings do not tell stories, the meetings will fail. We are not talking about recounting what you did last night or sharing how your Aunt Ida makes the best pumpkin pie on earth. Rather, we are referring to vivid, compelling stories that relate to the topic at hand. Notice that we said stories [...]
High-quality writing too often gets overlooked these days thanks to spell-check and shorthand text acronyms such as “LOL” (laugh out loud) or “BTW” (by the way). It is common to see misspellings in common words such as “separate” and incorrect usage such as “their” instead of “there.” Additionally, and perhaps worst of all, some business emails or text messages end [...]
Meetings are largely perceived as boring, lengthy and largely unproductive but it does not have to be this way. Asking the right types of questions can prove extremely useful for obtaining insight, encouraging introspection and making decisions that progress a project, department or the entire organization forward. Before you begin to think about the specific questions, make sure they are [...]
“Wellness” has been a buzz word in the corporate world for many years – close to two decades now. It is thrown around during the hiring process, company-wide meetings and posted on social media. Unfortunately, too many companies fall to properly implement a wellness program. Offsite meetings, conferences and other events are no exception. The irony is significant. Carving out [...]
Anyone who has worked in a sales capacity, whether it is in acquisition, sales, support, service, leadership or elsewhere knows that time, money and effort goes into generating a lead. The investment of resources, especially on bigger ticket product or services, can be daunting, especially if the prospect is a perfect fit. When that sale fails to convert into a [...]
$11 billion is lost annually due to employee turnover. (1) Think about that number for a minute. It is undoubtedly a frightening statistic to any employer. Hiring new a employee costs significantly more than retaining a current one. Why has turnover become such an epidemic in recent years? The belief their voice is not heard – even if it is [...]