Relationship Management

Sales meetings are extremely important for every business, regardless of the industry.  In these meetings, the sales department finds ways to improve its operations to reach the company’s goals. Managers generally use these meetings to ensure that the whole team is on the same page and that reps have all the tools they need to reach their quota.  However, sales team meetings often lack direction and purpose. They are usually scheduled at bad times and take too much time away from what sales reps should be focusing on - finding new prospects, meeting with clients and closing deals.  Therefore, it is…

Negotiations are always a high-stakes, high-pressure period for salespeople and prospects who both have serious skin in the game.  Each team involved may have their own conflicting agendas. As a result, it's unlikely that every person at the bargaining table will walk away with exactly what they wanted.   Negotiation breakdowns in sales can happen for a number of reasons, including poor communication, short tempers, and sudden changes in an established plan.  Here are some strategies to avoid losing deals when negotiations go sideways: Consider Integrative Bargaining Historically, most sales negotiations have taken place with reps and prospects both holding their…

We are living in the age of the customer. The modern buyer has nearly unlimited access to customer reviews and product information. It does not matter if you are in sales or marketing, a customer-centric mindset is essential. To develop an organizational culture that puts the customer at the heart of everything you do both sales and marketing must align with the customers’ needs and pain points. Therefore, sales and marketing must join forces and understand each other better to optimize every step of the buyer’s journey and make it 100% customer-focused. As Jill Rowley, chief evangelist and an expert…

As many as 62% of companies consider themselves to be ineffective at onboarding their new sales hires -- is yours one of them? According to research by the Sales Management Association, it takes an average of 10 weeks of training to ramp up new sales hires. And after that, it takes 11.2 months for them to actually become productive and start giving some ROI. Couple that with the fact that the average cost to replace an “average” sales rep is $97,960 and you can see the major disconnect. Plus, companies that have good onboarding procedures improve quota attainment by 6.7%…