SalesAndMarketing.com

September 26, 2016 12:00 AM

6 Lessons on Partner Management from ‘The Martian’

by: Dave R. Taylor

In the movie “The Martian,” Matt Damon’s character, Mark Watney, has extremely limited resources and one slip could be the difference between survival and failure. The same is true of many channel partners who teeter on the very edge of business survival. Here are six lessons from "The Martian" that can help vendors recast their thinking on the dire straits many partners face, and how vendors can help make them most successful.

September 23, 2016 12:00 AM

Persistence Breaks Through Resistance

by: Anthony Iannarino

Be persistent and stay engaged with the prospects no matter what. The successful salesperson knows the game is always on. A situation is only unrecoverable when you walk away, when you give up.

September 19, 2016 07:03 AM

Known Knowns and Other Unknowns

by: Jerry W. Thomas

Marketing decisions based on knowns – truth, facts and evidence – are far more likely to succeed than those based on hopes, wishes and mythology. Let's look at some word pairs once used to describe military strategy and see how they relate to marketing tactics.

September 16, 2016 07:30 AM

4 Client Behaviors That Mean Your Proposal Needs Work

by: Mikita Mikado

When a deal that seems on track goes off the rails, it may leave you wondering what happened. Here are a few of the most common indicators that it was your proposal that failed to seal the deal.

September 13, 2016 04:37 PM

Natural born travel guide

by: Paul Nolan

His father Rick taught a generation of public television viewers how to take in Europe. Now, Andy Steves, 29, has a successful tour guide business targeted to millennials and a new guidebook of his own. We talked about the incomparable value of travel and how his generation likes to go about it.

September 13, 2016 12:00 AM

Teambuilding Takes a Right Turn

by: Paul Nolan

Effective team building has a definitive purpose and delivers a takeaway. It steers clear of anything that could be categorized as “forced fun.” Too many companies are still figuring this out.

September 13, 2016 12:00 AM

Top Tips for the Modern Day Cold Call

by: Mike Scher

It takes an average of nine calls to reach a cold prospect for the first time. Many salespeople don't have that type of persistence. Here are four tips to secure an initial conversation and stop leaving new business on the table.

September 12, 2016 12:00 AM

Earning the Right to Close

by: Frank Visgatis, President/COO, CustomerCentric Selling®

A seller earns the right to ask for the business if and when a buyer has all they need to make a buying decision. The better job B2B salespeople do in uncovering buyer needs and associated value, the more likely they’ll win the business.

September 6, 2016 07:09 AM

Five Quota-Setting Methods (And How to Determine What’s Best for Your Business)

by: Mark Donnolo

Unless you want a Wild West situation in your sales organization, you should probably set quotas, and set them correctly. But one quota-setting approach does not fit all situations. The old “take last year’s goal and add 10 percent” method is usually a bad idea. Quota-setting methodologies vary based on the market and types of accounts. Here are five standard quota-setting methods and how to determine which will best fit your organization.

September 2, 2016 12:00 AM

VR, Beacons and Show Floor Tracking

by: Corbin Ball

The rate of technology change is accelerating with thousands of ideas, apps and innovations bubbling up to help meeting planners, exhibitors, venues and other meeting participants do their jobs better. Here are seven event technology trends to monitor.

August 29, 2016 12:00 AM

The War Room and What It Can Tell You

by: Jason Jordan and Michelle Vazzana

A real-time view of sales force performance makes us feel in touch with the organization. And increased transparency to field-level activities gives us the satisfying sense that we are somehow in control of the sales force’s behaviors. However, visibility to an action does not equate to control over it. What's missing in today's sales force war room?

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From the Editor...

Teambuilding Takes a Right Turn

It is uncanny how life events so often intersect with a topic I am writing about in this magazine, or maybe it’s just evidence that the concepts involved in leading work teams and producing peak performance are ubiquitous both in and out of workplace settings.

The latest example involves my youngest child, who began her senior year of high school this fall. She volunteered for Link Crew, a transition program for incoming freshmen in which upperclassmen serve as mentors who help calm freshman fears and ensure a strong first year of high school.

continue...

Closers (...by Canon)

Natural born travel guide

His father Rick taught a generation of public television viewers how to take in Europe. Now, Andy Steves, 29, has a successful tour guide business targeted to millennials and a new guidebook of his own. We talked about the incomparable value of travel and how his generation likes to go about it.

continue...

Additional Web Resources

The Value of Earned Media for Marketing Content
According to the white paper, “How to Drive Maximum Returns on Content Marketing with Effective Distribution,” earned media – mentions by journalists, influencers and other third-party sources – is 80 percent more effective than owned media (i.e. branded content) at the purchase consideration stage. Read the full report here (registration required).

The Poisonous Effects of Mushroom Management
“Mushroom management” is a management style where employees fly blind to company performance and are given work without knowing its purpose. A recent survey of 2,000 employees by Geckoboard, creators of software to harvest and analyze key performance indicators (KPI), indicates that four in five employees want management to share more information with them about business performance. Read Geckoboard’s report on the scale of the “mushroom management” problem and how to avoid it here.

B2B Marketing Tips For LinkedIn Users
Download the eBook with 10 things you should be doing on LinkedIn to establish your company presence, attract and engage followers, and generate leads for your business here.

9 Keys to Building a Subscription-Based Business
Zuora, a provider of software to build a subscription-based commerce platform, offers 9 keys to building a successful subscription business. You'll find them here.

John Warrillow, author of "The Automatic Customer: Creating A Subscription Business In Any Industry," highlights the main takeaways from his book in a Q&A with SuperFastBusiness.com. You can listen to his interview here.

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