Articles

Meeting of the Minds

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

By PAUL NOLAN, SMM Editor

Putting the swagger back in sales

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

A Q&A from Sales & Marketing Management

SMM: There has been a lot of debate online about the theories you propose in your new book. Before we get to those, however, why did the world need another sales book?

For Sales and Procurement, It’s Business As Usual

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Despite three decades of experience, a history of “strategic” successes at select companies, and an abundance of technologies designed to support both disciplines, for the most part, sales and procurement continue to dwell on tactics.

Calling as a Competitive Weapon

Lorri Freifeld — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:32:12 +0000

By TOM GRUBB

Sales: The Least Time-Effective Process in All of Business

Lorri Freifeld — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:25:10 +0000

By NEIL MAHONEY

Making the sales process more time-effective is not easy because salespeople have so many unavoidable duties they must perform: call reports, expense reports, travel time, handling complaints, maintaining relationships… The list never ends.

Breaking Down the Walls

Lorri Freifeld — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:34:36 +0000

By WILL WIEGLER

Savvy Salespeople Use the Best Intuitive Cloud-Based Tools

Lorri Freifeld — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:51:59 +0000

By JOHN HAND, CEO, MobilePro

Mobility, intuitive cloud-based tools, iPads, iPhones, and social media have forever transformed the sales ecosystem. Across all industries and sectors, salespeople are no longer chained to a desk or landline, and managers and executives agree that integrated technology makes selling more efficient. The biggest challenge is getting salespeople to adapt to new technologies and finding tools that tackle tedious tasks and make time for more deals.

Let’s connect

admin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has an amazing ability to bring clarity to complicated world events by pulling apart the pieces and, often, finding apt analogies that enhance his messages. He did it in a column titled “Help Wanted.”

Is Your Sales Team Negotiating Value (Part II)

Lorri Freifeld — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:07:01 +0000

By GRANDE LUM

Many managers think their sales team needs help building negotiation skills but they can’t articulate why. In this second part of a two-part article, Grande Lum, the founder of the sales consulting firm Accordence, summarizes the final four factors (out of a total of nine) that can help sales managers determine if and where negotiation improvements can be made.

If you missed Part I of this article, you can find it here.

Is Your Sales Team Negotiating Value? (Part I)

Lorri Freifeld — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:06:27 +0000

By GRANDE LUM

Many managers think their sales teams need help building their negotiation skills but can’t articulate why. Most salespeople possess some level of intuitive negotiating skills, but many lack the discipline necessary to simultaneously sell and negotiate. The result can be less value for the company and bonus dollars for them.

How to Say 'Sorry' to an Angry Customer

Lorri Freifeld — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:26:00 +0000

By BILL ROSENTHAL

You just got word that a customer’s angry. The shipment was late or there’s a pricing error on the invoice. Or maybe there’s a quality glitch. Whatever the problem, you have to apologize.

Are You Trying to Control the King?

Lorri Freifeld — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:46:47 +0000

By JOHN GOLDEN

While most sales organizations subscribe to the concept of being buyer-focused, particularly in the complex sale, it has always been accompanied by the belief that a seller can bring value to a customer at many different junctures during a sales cycle, which in turn relies on the salesperson gaining access to the buyer at these various junctures.

6 Salesperson Onboarding Mistakes That Can Lead to Disaster!

Lorri Freifeld — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:49:51 +0000

By LEE B. SALZ

When a sales candidate accepts a job offer, everyone is all smiles. Yet, those smiles can quickly turn upside down if you are making any of these salesperson onboarding mistakes.

Marketing Asset Management Grows Up

Lorri Freifeld — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:59:05 +0000

By SCOTT RICHARDSON

It starts with the realization that it would be useful to exchange data between your company’s marketing systems and your enterprise ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) applications.

When "Value" Means What It Says

Lorri Freifeld — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:17:39 +0000

By MICHAEL LEIMBACH

A recent conversation with a VP of sales highlighted the frustrations of many sales professionals in this weak economy. “How do we gain the attention of customers when they are being flooded with calls from so many sales reps?” he asked. “How do we differentiate ourselves enough that they want to talk to us and not feel they are getting the same story they hear from every other company?”

How To Produce Bigger Profit Margins

Lorri Freifeld — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:09:14 +0000

By NICO SCHINAGL

Think the economy is hurting your profit margin? Think again.

Managing A Prima Donna Salesperson

Lorri Freifeld — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:45:31 +0000

By KEVIN DAVIS

Most sales managers I know have a love/hate relationship with the prima donnas on their sales teams. They love the star player’s passion and hard work; they hate the self-centered behaviors that demoralize or discourage the rest of the team.

Building Mutually Beneficial Relationships

Lorri Freifeld — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:41:30 +0000

By THOMAS A. FREESE

Aligning Sales and Marketing: The Role of Training

Lorri Freifeld — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:49:13 +0000

By JOHN GOLDEN

What’s Next: Sales and Marketing Integration

Lorri Freifeld — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:02:52 +0000

By PAUL RAFFERTY

Over the past three years, much attention has been paid to sales and marketing “alignment.” That is, these two functions have worked toward mutually defining the ideal prospect profile, how leads are scored, when marketing should hand-off to sales, when sales should hand back to marketing, etc.

HAL the Hiring Director Can’t Go It Alone

Lorri Freifeld — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:20:22 +0000

By JOHN S. FURMAN

We all remember those chilling words spoken by HAL, the computer, in 2001: Space Odyssey, “I’m sorry Dave, but I cannot allow you to do that.” Imagine, a computer telling a human what he can do! That could never happen… right?

Ironically, over the past 10 years or so, a craze of online hiring tools has swept the nation. Everyone seems to be using not only an online application system, but a computerized hiring process.

Humanizing Online Commerce

Lorri Freifeld — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:47:50 +0000

By LIEF LARSON

For the last decade and a half, the focus of online business has been to take people out of the sales process. While this model works well for many types of low-involvement and frequently purchased items (books, consumer gadgets, toys, printer toner, shoes), it fails for complex, online-to-offline transactions in which product and sales professionals are still essential to the sales process.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Sales Management

Lorri Freifeld — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:40:03 +0000

By JOHN TREACE

The Key to Sales Transformation Success

Lorri Freifeld — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:11:38 +0000

By LOU SCHACHTER

Remember Twister, the game where you spin a dial and get instructions to put your left foot on red and your right hand on green? Before long everyone is tangled together and dropping in a heap, laughing hysterically.

Unfortunately, a lot of direction that salespeople receive today is much like, “Put your left hand on yellow. Now place your right foot on blue.” As a result, salespeople are overwhelmed, confused, and quite frankly, tangled – and no one is happy.

Be Aware of Time Traps and Tools

Lorri Freifeld — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:11:19 +0000

By KEVIN T. McCARNEY

Of all the influences in our lives, time seems to be the one we feel we have the least ability to manage. But actually, it is the one we have the most control over. In fact, it’s an area of opportunity.

Time is perfectly consistent. The circumstances that we put ourselves in throughout any given 24 hours are what change. When we overschedule our lives, we create the circumstances that make time seem as if it was working against us.