“I like to point out strengths that my coworker brings to the table as part of the introduction to build confidence and credibility right away.” Have you taken your boss on a sales call recently? You could build two relationships simultaneously—one with your manager and a better one with the client. The more trust between you and the manager, the more opportunities may come your way. And your client may be impressed with the expert “team” you put in front of them to solve their problems.

Per new research, a mere 26% of organizations say 90% or more of their reps met quota last year. Today’s uncertain economic climate only complicates matters. Many revenue leaders have gone in search of the right tools and strategies to help sellers thrive. And many have turned to sales enablement. At Mindtickle, we recently commissioned a survey of 500+ sales leaders, sales reps,

Sales trainer Amy Franko shares highlights from a webinar she presented recently for SMM Connect on the most important metrics for sales managers to monitor. Before we dive into that, I speak with Amy about her shift from B2B sales in the tech world to starting her own sales consultancy. She talks about how she goes to market and how companies can be smarter buyers of sales training.

Frustrated with failed sales strategies? You put together a robust sales strategy—a strategy that you worked extremely hard on and believed to be near flawless—only to see it fail in the long run. Frustrating, right? In my years of consulting, I have rarely (and I mean rarely!) come across a seriously flawed sales strategy. However, I have come across many (and I mean many!) sales strategies which ultimately fail.

Building trust virtually, finding qualified leads, getting in front of the decision-makers — these are all challenges that salespeople face. And as a sales manager, you’re finding innovative ways to address these issues. However, to become more effective in your role and provide a better overall direction for the entire team, it’s important to know the current challenges that sales managers face as well.

Before my first undercover assignment, I was sent back to the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy for a series of psychological tests to determine my level of self-awareness. I was disappointed because I expected to learn how to scissor-kick in high heels to take down a guy twice my size. At least, that’s how movies portray it. Alas, not for the first time did I learn that movies are entertainment with a tenuous grasp on reality.

It’s become high fashion to declare the future of selling is “virtual.” While F2F, telephone, text, and other approaches will continue to exist, everything is moving to virtual. Usually, there’s a whole bunch of data to support why this is important. For example, sales people can make back to back sales calls through the whole day.

To start, recognize that entire teams—and not just individuals—require clear feedback.’ Making the leap from individual contributor to manager can be fraught: for the new manager, their direct reports, and the organization as a whole. New managers tend to rise into their position based on past success. But few have the experience or training to effectively manage a high-performing team.

It is 4:20 p.m. on a Friday, and one of your largest advertising clients calls and tells you that they want to promote a special for an upcoming holiday in two weeks. They have a six-figure budget, and they need you to present it to their board members the following Tuesday. What do you do? Call a quick huddle with your leadership team? Gather every promotional flyer and email over an outline of where you will place those ad dollars?

The squeaky wheels in your organization may also be important sources of innovation. Some of the links between creativity and risk are pretty self-evident. Creativity is all about trying something new, exploring the unknown, and accepting uncertainty and the possibility of failure. In the corporate setting, we understand intuitively that creativity fuels strategy, innovation, and growth. In a world where machines are taking over predictable, tedious tasks,

The shift from being an individual contributor to leading a sales force isn’t an easy transition. The character traits are different, and so are the required skills. While it’s helpful to have experience in a sales role, by itself, it’s not enough to ensure success. Few sales managers are provided the training and development that would enable them to lead their team and reach their goals. Instead,

Too long, didn’t read: Goodhart’s Law should be used for leading metrics, but lagging metrics make great targets. In fact, the further downline you go, the better they get (to a point). Today we are going to be talking about a topic I have been exploring for a while: Goodhart’s “Law”. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the adage goes “when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

You are a modern leader, one smart enough to engage your team, improving their plan by allowing others to contribute to their decisions. Some of your team’s contributions are valuable, with many ideas stemming from their different views and experiences. Because you invite them to own and participate in certain decisions, your team is more committed to the plan.

As a former sales manager and c-suite executive leader, and now working alongside sales managers to help them grow their teams, I know that a sales management career can really make an impact. Sales managers are your frontline leaders. They work with their teams to focus on goals and objectives for the organization. Sales managers direct expectations, show people and instruct people in ways to achieve the company goals. Being a sales manager is extremely trackable and measurable.

Will 2023 be a boom year or a bust for your cluster or company? Based on its work with 500 local media company clients, technology and digital advertising services company AdCellerant suggests these four things to keep your local media business ahead of a recession. Chief Revenue Officer Melissa Sheehan and VP of New Business Development Ben Bouslog presented these suggestions during the recent Borrell Miami conference.