Sales Strategist

Four Reasons Why a Pipeline Fails to Deliver Which Makes Sales Managers Look Clueless.

Sales pipelines that fail to deliver projected sales are a common and ugly fact of life in too many organizations. Sales managers are fired not just  because the sales department fails to deliver, but because the sales manager fails to forecast. No one likes being in the financial dark and CEOs and CFOs take it seriously when sales managers demonstrate failure to know the marketplace when they can’t forecast sales in a consistent manner.  In this 30 minute program, Rod Sloan, a frequent guest on SLMA Radio and our voice from the UK, gives us the top four reasons why pipelines (and the sales managers who create them) fail to deliver. Author of “Alignment, The Secret to getting your Sales and Marketing Teams Working Together” The host this week is Jim Obermayer. Rod Sloane Rod Sloane produces the UK based “No-Bull Sales & Marketing Alignment Radio Show” available on itunes.apple.com. He is a conference speaker who tackles how companies manage leads, create opportunities and generate revenue. Mr. Sloane is the founder of the LinkedIn Sales and Marketing Alignment Group that has over 8,000 members. Rod says it is about your people, your language and your culture. Sloane has his own consultancy aptly named, Rod Sloan. http://www.rodsloane.co.uk/     Commercial  sponsors on SLMA Radio include: The Young Company, The Vanella Group and Vanilla Soft. 

Trade shows and conferences: are they throwing rose petals as you walk in the door?

Conferences and trade shows are part of every industry. Whether you and your company participate in them is part of your marketing plan. Once you have your plan and schedule - how are you going to prepare to make the most of the money you spend on attending, exhibiting, sponsoring or speaking at these events?  Do you have enough staff to get it covered; and not only COVERED but NAILED?Jim reminds us that planning for a conference needs to start months ahead of time. Communicating with attendees through inmail systems days before isn't good enough and will most likely be a waste of time.Jim Obermayer will interview SLMA Marketing Director, Susan Finch, on this very topic. You may not realize how much of a mediocre presence you have once you realize all that you can do before, during and AFTER the conference or trade show.This show had several ideas that to some, may be obvious, but making sure you do them can add to your successful conference experience before, during and after!-----------------------A bit about Susan Finch in her own words:Her mission: Create marketing solutions that give you power, renewed excitement, peace of mind, knowledge, and a plan while making you look great.I give you control of your marketing plan AND I translate geekspeak into plain English. I’ll create a customized marketing plan that includes video, strategic alliances, client advocacy and then you get to choose the parts you want to do, and get my assistance with the rest, including: branding, repurposing and creating your content, and developing training materials.Learn more about this specialty of hers here >Commercial  sponsors on SLMA Radio include: The Young Company, The Vanella Group and Vanilla Soft.

How to decide if outsourcing inside sales is right for your company.

This is a replay of a show from December with Jeff Feuer of Customer Solutions Group.You'll have to listen to the full show, but here are some highlights:Outsourcing as a TOOL, it can be used to great advantage or great disadvantage.The in-house sales force that can handle the workload, probably doesn't need to consider outsourcing that much.Some reasons you may want to consider outsourcing are trigger events. These trigger events may include:Near term large expansion of sales force.Perhaps immediate need or temporary need that would be difficult to ramp up and ramp down for in house.Desire to benchmark the existing sales force against an objective third party that could trigger good healthy competition that could make both the in-houseLaunching a new business or a new product is another trigger event that should cause a manager to think about outsourcing, because a fresh perspective can be valuable to assist in solving unique problemsLack of scale to justify an impact, or telephone capacity issue that could hinder a successful launch and related scale issues.*How to get ROI - is it more or less expensive?*If you allocate the costs properly, in-house sales should be 10% less than outsource. That's typical.Depends on where you are located and your in-house work force location - Silicon Valley is way different than more industrial areas.After analyzing costs, you'll have to decide if you have a greater capacity for success keeping it all in-house or will you have a greater capacity of success if you outsource for this specific situation.Jeffrey's company 130 front line full time sales people."Sales is part of our core DNA - we've been doing it for 21 years. We are a sales firm."09:00 Quoting Gerhard at Sales 2.0, "Majority of firms are not hiring outside sales people, they are hiring inside sales" and then using outsourcing more when they have the extra need."09:20 Technology and the way people work, really tends to favor inside sales today.Someone can cover a lot of grounding a phone call. Inside is more economical.Outsourcing offers a lot of flexibility.Outsources see a lot of different sales problems. Where inside sales relies on one set of experiences from their own services.10:30 Warm Transfer topic. How and why it's used.It's another word for outsourcing the prospecting leg of your sales process.The task is to find the decision maker. Outsourcer can do it less expensively. They have more experience in this piece of the sales process.11:48 Using a divide an conquer approach where the prospecting is outsourced and the closing, demos and customer service remain with in-house.15:30 Outsourcers are specialists in the infrastructure and execution of programs. Most have space to grow and create quickly.How long does it take to get up and running?3-5 weeks is typical. Depends on services are necessary.Do most of your clients use CRM?With over 90 CRM systems out there. Important to have one system, but not all of the bells and whistles.I want my sales people to focus on SELLING, not filling in little forms and data. That's what they do best - SELL. Persuasion skills are more important to sales than administrative skills. 

How does Pay for Performance work in Lead Generation?

Pay for performance is an interesting topic in lead generation.  Not every company has the guts for it, or the experience to pull it off.  In this interview with SalesStaff CEO David Balzen we get an understanding of the what it takes for a pay-for-performance model to be successful for both parties. Certainly many companies want someone to take all of the risk while they reap the benefits of new sales.  We’ll see how this works and the pitfalls for both parties.   The host this week is Jim Obermayer.  About DAVID BALZENDavid Balzen is the founder and CEO of SalesStaff and is responsible for the company's strategic and operational leadership. As a demand generation executive and pioneer in lead generation for B2B industries, David helped lead the industry through the development of demand generation systems leveraging inbound and outbound lead generation strategies. His extensive understanding of the business development challenges facing B2B companies and their sales teams led to the development of SalesStaff. David has over 20 years’ experience as a chief executive, consultant and thought leader in demand generation. Recognitions include Winner of the Crystal Eagle Award by the University of Houston's Center for Entrepreneurship. Business accomplishments include being a 1999, 2000 and 2013 "Houston 100" Winner as one of the fastest growing Houston-Based companies. In 2012, David was selected as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Inside Sales Professionals by the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals. Inc. Magazine featured SalesStaff on the Inc. 500 list in 2013 as the 87th fastest growing company in America.About SalesStaff SalesStaff’s leadership team is deeply rooted in the Information Technology industry with more than 25 years’ experience of C-level leadership in information technology companies. They saw the need to support true sales “closers” with actionable opportunities through a consistent and sustainable flow of prospect meetings. In response to that need in the marketplace, SalesStaff began offering demand generation services to the high-tech industry. Since then, SalesStaff has pioneered a number of leading innovations:Integrated delivery modelVarious technology platforms leading to vastly increased productivityFirst hybrid demand generation offeringHaving come from the IT consulting world, its founders created sound sales principals designed around complex-sale environments that support actionable sales opportunity development. SalesStaff stands firm on our commitment to clients to do what we say we will and deliver quality sales appointments, leads, and sales intelligence.

You have to be willing to go from NO.

Tim Wackel covers some of the biggest errors salespeople commit… and where there are some big opportunities.This lively discussion will cover:The sales sins you must avoidTop tips for finding new business todayWhat to do when prospects go silentOn email marketing - Subject lines:Make sure your fun subject goes with the context of the message. You can have some fun.You have to be willing to go from no. - Tim WackelWould you like me to go ahead and put together a proposal? TOO much opium. Instead try this approach:I enjoyed our visit, but I sense that putting together a proposal is still a little premature, what are your thoughts?Get them to BEG you to get to the next step. It's like a great first date.Don't take the bait. Pride yourself on delayed gratification.Tim is the founder and president of The Wackel Group, a training and consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations find, win and keep customers for life. He is a member of the American Society for Training and Development and holds a professional membership in the National Speakers Association. He earned his Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Nebraska and lives in Dallas where he and his wife raised their two children and are now enjoying their empty nest.Tim Wackel is one of today’s most popular sales speakers because he makes information entertaining, memorable and easy to understand. He combines more than 25 years of successful sales leadership with specific client research to deliver high-impact programs that go beyond today’s best practices. Tim’s keynotes and workshops are insightful, engaging and focused on providing real world success strategies that audiences can (and will!) implement right away.

How Outsourcing Sales can Increase Revenue 10-20% in 90 to 120 Days

Outsourcing of sales, not just sales lead qualification is growing, so say many of the people SLMA Radio Host Jim Obermayer knows and interviews.  In this SLMA Radio Interview with Jeffery Feuer, president of the Customer Solutions Group, the two of them tackle the subject of how outsourcing can increase sales in 90-120 days. 
 
Some questions that will be covered, time permitting:
Can a company expect increased revenue in 90-120 Days?
Why and when should someone outsource their sales?
Are sales outsourcing more or less expensive than doing it in-house?
Is sales outsourcing an all or nothing proposition?
What is warm transfer?
How good are appointments that are set by an outsourced service?
What should someone look for when they select an outsource vendor?
Besides good salesmen, what are the most important elements for successful outsourcing?
 
About Jeffery Feuer 
 
For over 25 years, Jeff Feuer, President of Customer Solutions Group, has created sales tools and developed sales teams. His professional goal is to apply efficiencies to the process of turning leads into customers. “Leads are great, but they really shine when converted into customers,” he says. 
 
Jeff co-founded Customer Solutions Group, a sales outsourcing and consulting firm, over 20 years ago. Since then, he helped hundreds of firms nationwide to reduce their cost of customer acquisition. Feuer and his team provide services that advance sales at their client firms including appointment setting, telephone lead qualification, sales consulting, and sales outsourcing. Jeff designed specialized sales testing software used at his firm’s InsideSalesLab, a sales incubator that discovers and optimizes customer acquisition strategies. He is expert with every element of sales operations, from recruitment to reporting.
 
Jeff is a cum laude graduate of the University of California with a BA degree in Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
 
About Customer Soilutions Group
Customer Solutions Group (CSG), a 21-year-old sales consulting and outsourcing firm, has assisted hundreds of firms from startups to Fortune 500 to increase sales, shorten their sales cycles, and reduce sales cost. 
CSG consultants are sales veterans. They combine years of sales line management experience with years of consulting expertise to produce practical solutions to common sales problems. They are familiar with all facets of sales technology and infrastructure as well as the human elements needed to drive superior sales performance.  
 
Clients can benefit from CSG’s perspective on their existing sales operations or outsource part of all of their sales process to CSG. CSG pioneered sales testing at its InsideSalesLab, a sales incubator that runs pilot programs helping firms discover their best path to profitable sales.
 
Through its warm-transfer service, CSG manages telephone lead qualification for some of the largest firms in the US. Each day, CSG receives, scores, calls and qualifies tens of thousands of sales leads for its clients. Qualified leads are warm-transferred directly to client sales persons to pitch and close. To date, CSG has warm-transferred over 4 million qualified prospects to its clients throughout the US.
 
Through its sales-appointment service, CSG performs important groundwork locating, qualifying, and scheduling good prospects for its client’s senior sales persons.  
 
For more information, visit CSG’s web sites:  
 
www.Warm-transfer.com
www.Sales-appointment.com
www.InsideSalesLab.com

First Chief Content Officer talks about ridiculously good content.

We love to read anything Ann Handley writes, now she shares how even we can write better. Ann shares secrets to great content in her latest book, Everybody Writes, Your Go-To Guide for Creating Ridiculously Good Content.Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer for MarketingProfs, author of Everybody Writes (September 2014) and co-author of Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (Wiley, Late 2010). Ann has a passion for building community, particularly in using new media tools to broaden and build value. Previously, Ann was the co-founder of ClickZ.com, one of the first sources of interactive marketing news and commentary.

Why smart marketers don’t avoid the sales funnel, and dumb ones do.

By definition, the sales funnel appears to be the domain of the sales department, but in the past few years enlightened marketers have realized that the sales funnel is one of their most useful tools to understand and control marketing.  In this interview, Andy Paul, Author of Zero Time Selling makes the case for the importance of using the sales funnel as marketer’s most fundamental tool in controlling marketing spending on promotions that work. About Andy PaulAndy Paul , the founder & CEO and founder of Zero-Time Selling, Inc., is a leading expert on maximizing the value of your selling to help customers make fast and favorable decisions. He is recognized as one of the leading global experts on social selling. Andy is also the author of the award-winning book, Zero-Time Selling: 10 Essential Steps to Accelerate Every Company's Sales. Zero-Time Selling® reflects Andy’s knowledge that in today's hyper-competitive sales environment "how" a company sells its products and services is as important as "what" they sell in creating value for the customer and effectively differentiating their company and offerings. With more than 30 years in the sales business as a successful sales professional and sales vice president in companies ranging from raw startups to Fortune 1000. Andy is a frequently sought-after speaker, trainer, executive sales coach and sales process consultant. He splits his time between offices in New York City and San Diego.Email: andy@zerotimeselling.comWeb: www.zerotimeselling.comTwitter: @zerotimesellingPhone: 619-980-4002

The Collaborative sales era dictates that salespeople change or change jobs.

Host Jim Obermayer interviews Keith M. Eades, CEO of Sales Performance International (SPI)  and Timothy T. Sullivan, Director of Business Development for SPI authors of new book (March 3, 2014) The Collaborative Sale.   We have heard that buyer behavior has changed, and with it, we are hammered that sales people must also change or fail.  In this short interview we discuss the major changes which are influencing buyer behavior and with that the change that is dictating a modification in sales attitudes and approaches to the sales process.   KEITH M. EADES, FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,  SALES PERFORMANCE INTERNATIONAL, INC.Keith is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sales Performance International (SPI), one of the largest sales improvement firms in the world. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, SPI is currently doing business in more than 50 countries.Keith speaks regularly at industry, customer and partner events, and he is considered one of the most knowledgeable authorities on transforming companies into world-class organizations. The Collaborative Sale is Keith’s fourth book. In 2001, Clemson University recognized Keith with the Alumni Fellow Award for his outstanding career accomplishments. He is an inaugural member of the Shapiro Center Entrepreneurial Round Table and serves on the Executive Advisory Board for the College of Business and Behavioral Sciences at Clemson.TIMOTHY T. SULLIVAN  DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, SALES PERFORMANCE INTERNATIONAL, INC.Tim is Director of Business Development at Sales Performance International, where he works with clients to identify and develop solutions for sales performance issues. In this capacity, Tim has the opportunity to observe and collect best practices from many of the world’s top-performing sales professionals.The Collaborative Sale is Tim’s second coauthored book with Keith Eades, the first being The Solution Selling Fieldbook (McGraw Hill, 2005); he was also a contributor to The Solution-Centric Organization (McGraw Hill, 2006). He contributes regularly to the Solution Selling Blog, found at www.solutionsellingblog.com. Tim is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences on advanced sales and marketing topics. He holds a business degree from the University of Notre Dame.About SPISales Performance International (SPI) is a global sales performance improvement firm dedicated to helping the world's leading corporations elevate their sales relationships and drive measurable, sustainable revenue growth and operational sales performance improvement.Founded in 1988, SPI has been the leader in helping global companies successfully transition from selling products to marketing and selling high-value solutions. With extensive sales performance expertise, deep industry knowledge, global resources and a proven track record, SPI collaborates with clients to deliver strategic, operational and tactical solutions.SPI has assisted more than 1,000,000 sales and management professionals in more than 50 countries and 14 languages to achieve higher levels of performance.

Sales Trends in 2014

Host Jim Obermayer interviews Larissa Gschwandtner, VP of Sales & Marketing at Selling Power as we discuss the sales trends in 2014. We want her opinion on: Are outside sales positions obsolete?Are all sales positions in B2B really “inside sales” as purchasing patterns change?Does lead generation drive corporate growth as it did in the past? Are there too many choices in CRM and Marketing automation systems? Is the salesperson just robot reciting facts to a highly educated buyer? Are sales training courses the last refuge of sales managers that don’t know what else to do? About Larissa Gschwandtner, Vice President, Selling Power Selling Power is the largest media organization providing insight, best practices, and practical advice for today’s sales leaders. As Vice President, Sales & Marketing at Selling Power, Larissa oversees the creation and delivery of thought-leadership topics and relevant trends frequently covered in Selling Power magazine, on www.SellingPower.com and at industry events including the Sales Leadership Conference and Sales 2.0 Conference series. Larissa has consulted with industry-leading solution providers including Adobe, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, dozens of sales 2.0 providers, thought-leaders and sales methodology practitioners to improve the understanding of services available to help sales leaders achieve improved sales and increased customer retention. About Selling PowerIn addition to Selling Power magazine, the leading periodical for sales managers and sales VPs since 1981, Selling Power Inc. produces the Sales Management Digest and Daily Boost of Positivity newsletters, as well as a five-minute video series featuring interviews with top executives. Selling Power is a regular media sponsor of the Sales 2.0 Conference.