What’s On Your “To Don’t” List?
This week I read a post on SellingPower.com about the importance of a “to don’t” list. That got me to thinking about creating a list of “to don’ts” that inside sales professionals should use. Here’s my list:
Inside Sales
What Would Don Draper Do? Sales Lessons from Mad Men
Are you a fan of Mad Men? If so, it’s no doubt that you recently watched or recorded the Sunday opener of the final season. Don’t worry – no spoilers here if you haven’t watched it yet. However, I do want to take a look back at some of the sales lessons we can learn …
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Why Sales Hunters Need Lead Management Software
Most business leaders are familiar with the famous quote from management thought leader, Peter Drucker: “What gets measured gets managed.” This is absolutely true – and a software industry segment was born around this idea. Business managers are thirsty for information and statistics from accounting to HR to sales. We are measuring so much data that …
Spotlight Entrepreneur: Dale Carnegie
Today’s spotlight entrepreneur and sales legend is Dale Carnegie. Many people think of Carnegie as an early self-help guru; however, he’s really a pioneer of adult and professional education. Carnegie was born in 1888 into an impoverished farming family. When he was accepted into a local State Teachers College in 1906, his parents could not …
Part 3: “Attach” Yourself to a Lead – Negotiation, Purchase Order, and Account Maintenance
So far in this blog series we’ve discussed why it’s important for your inside sales team to have a comprehensive understanding of your sales pipeline related to these stages: Lead Generation, Research/Fact Finding, Initial Communication, Lead Nurturing, and your Solution. In part 3, I will wrap up the last couple of stages in a typical …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? For Inside Sales it’s Do Ask, Then Tell!
The Sales line rings and the young inside sales rep is eager to answer and talk with a potential new customer. The prospect shares that she was just doing some research on the website and wanted to know more about your company’s services and how you differ from your competitors. The confident young sales rep …
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Inside Sales – Golden Rules
“One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself” (Wikipedia). The Golden Rule is one that is often repeated, but not always followed. In honor of Golden Rule Week (April 1-7), I thought it would be fun to address some Golden Rules that should be applied to the world of inside sales. …
Will We See You at the AA-ISP Leadership Summit?
Next week VanillaSoft will be attending the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP) 2013 Leadership Summit. This is a great opportunity for inside sales leaders to learn, share, and network with colleagues from around the country. The inside sales representative is an increasingly important role in sales organizations. With improvements in communication technology and …
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Inside Sales Leadership
The inside sales model has steadily gained prominence over the past few years thanks to the advancement in technology and lower cost benefits. One recent study reveals that even companies with “outside” sales teams conduct 40% of all customer conversations over the phone. According to another study conducted by David Mitchell, Gartner Research Group, “Inside …
Why Sales Forces Are Moving Inside – SLMA
On Thursday, March 28, 2013, at 5:00 pm PST, I’ll be joining Jim Obermayer on Sales Lead Management Association Radio. The focus for the show is the growing trend of companies moving to inside sales teams and away from outside sales. Some of the topics we’ll cover include, differences in productivity between inside and outside …