The Strategy

C-suite Marketing & Sales tips, commentary, and insights

Posts about Sales:

7 Essential Ingredients for a Revenue-generating Content Recipe

7 Essential Ingredients for a Revenue-generating Content Recipe

It's not easy to convert content to revenue. It is safe to assume that revenue generation influences whether or not the content conversion strategy is effective.  In the B2B world of marketing, if our content and associated content marketing efforts are not generating revenue, then we should fix it or stop the effort altogether so budget and resources can be diverted to those tactics that are generating revenue.

SALES SKILLS - Persuasion and Influence

SALES SKILLS - Persuasion and Influence

If you're going to prosper in the coming years, your sales team needs customers, prospects, vendors, and peers to say "yes" more often than "no." Getting to "yes" requires a substantial degree of persuasion and influence skills. Contrary to popular belief, persuasion and influence take much more than just a ready smile, a big handshake, and an outgoing personality.

Robert Cialdini published a book in 1993 called, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, which discusses, investigates, and proves how influence works. This book is a must-read for your entire revenue team in sales, marketing, or general business development.

3 Best Practices for CRM Database Management

3 Best Practices for CRM Database Management

Leads are the driving force of any business. And without converting leads to paying customers who eventually become loyal to your brand, your company cannot thrive. For this reason, most companies need to be methodical and organized in the way they manage their leads. Maintaining a lead database is essential for any business that wants to maximize the benefits of marketing automation.

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What's the big deal with Sales and Marketing Alignment?

What's the big deal with Sales and Marketing Alignment?

"All the leads I get from Marketing are crap. I don't bother with them anymore," said the salesperson. "We deliver a lot of high-quality leads to Sales and those lazy bastards never follow up," said the marketing person. If these or similar phrases sound familiar, then you most likely suffer from a lack of Sales and Marketing Alignment.

Some statistics to consider:

  • Companies that have achieved alignment between sales and marketing teams see 24% faster revenue growth and 27% faster profit growth.
  • 61% of marketing teams send all leads directly to sales without further review and only 27% of those leads are actually qualified.
  • 46% of marketers who understand sales lead qualification requirements work with sales teams that follow up on more than 75% of those leads.

Key Skills To Look For When Hiring Salespeople

Key Skills To Look For When Hiring Salespeople

Even in the most saturated and competitive markets, there’s a lot of pressure on sales departments and managers to perform at top levels. You need a sales department that can crush quotas and smash target goals year after year. When evaluating the most capable candidates in your stack of resumes, look for a balance between the following technical aptitudes and character qualities to find the next perfect fit for your organization.

9 Benefits From an Accurate Sales Revenue Prediction

9 Benefits From an Accurate Sales Revenue Prediction

Selling products or services is at the core of any business. A projection of the sales revenue you expect to generate over a given period provides the basis for planning and strategizing for success. Sales projections have a rippling effect on every functional area of a company. These are some of the business areas that benefit from an accurate sales revenue prediction.

How to Increase Your B2B Sales

How to Increase Your B2B Sales

A career in sales is a difficult position. It requires you to think on your feet, to be persuasive and convincing with language. It is your job to convince another party that your products have value. Sales can become infinitely more difficult when you are trying to sell to other businesses. In a business-to-business or B2B environment, you have to use new strategies to close the deal. Here are some tips on how to increase your sales.

6 Steps to Improve Your Product Sales Team's Professional Skills

Most industrial manufacturers spend a lot of time, money and energy making sure products are produced in the most efficient, safe and cost-effective manner. Although much emphasis is placed on what is done in the shop, the sales team is just as important, if not more so. Without sales, the production facilities shut down and jobs are lost. To ensure your sales team is maximizing the selling potential of your company, follow these five steps to improve the team's professional skills.