Expertise can’t be gained overnight. If you’re a believer in big data and how stories can be used to identify trends, you’ll agree with Malcolm Gladwell’s analysis from Outliers.
Touted as one of the most definitive trends spotted on expertise gains, it reveals the sheer volume of work required to gain (and claim, for that matter) expertise into a subject matter. Today we know this as the 10,000 Hour Rule.
You might be wondering why there are still naysayers of Social Selling in the market. It’s 2016 and the data around using social to build pipeline and revenue couldn’t be stronger. Yet, there is a cottage industry of people who continue to deny and use anti-social messaging to gain more awareness for themselves.
We’re one month into 2016 and certain themes for B2B sales and marketing teams are already emerging. With insights from top research firms such as Aberdeen Group, Forrester and SiriusDecisions, the following infographic describes five trends that your organization should consider to stay ahead of the curve in 2016.
“The harsh truth is that those in sales and sales leadership who understand and master the basics thrive, and those who ignore them perpetually struggle.” – Mike Weinberg
I’m in the middle of listening to an incredible book right now called Sales Management Simplified by Mike Weinberg. It’s about sales coaching and training development, and how you as a sales leader can create true accountability for your sales team. If you’re trying to incorporate Social Selling into your business, as a Regional Vice Presidents (RVP), how can you coach your team on Social Selling?
Do you want to grow your business faster? Don’t answer that. Of course you do. The real question is: why aren’t you looking deeper into employee advocacy? The Hinge Research Institute found that high growth firms were more than twice as likely to use employee advocacy to hit their revenue targets.
This is where you probably want to say, “Slow down. What’s employee advocacy?” Just asking that question puts you ahead of 30 percent of your competitors, according to the Hinge report. For marketing, it’s an effective way to increase content reach and engagement but your sales teams , this is crucial for building credibility, authority and thought leadership online. We all know the statistic already but 74% of today’s B2B buyers conduct more than half of their research online before making a purchase.
What’s slowing your team down? No doubt you’ve devoured think pieces about motivating your employees and getting more out of sales-enablement tools, but there’s something else you’re missing. You likely don’t notice it because it’s all around you: Your shared workspace is the culprit!
We know that 57% of the buying process is out of our control, and 74% of today’s buyers are conducting more than half of their research online before making that purchase. So when your buyers turn to social media for answers, you want them to find your content! It positions you and your sales team as a trusted advisor & thought leader.
If you’ve been following this blog, you already know that I believe alignment between an organization’s sales and marketing departments is critical. However, did you know that the Service Level Agreement (SLA) is an important way to achieve that alignment? The SLA is THE document that builds trust and accountability between sales and marketing departments. It’s going through the act of building the SLA and readdressing the SLA every month in a meeting that builds the foundation for sales and marketing alignment.
Unfortunately, only 43% of marketing and sales operations leaders have lead response SLAs in place, and most are not being governed. And only 11 percent of survey respondents reported having jointly managed SLAs according to SiriusDecisions.
Let me begin by saying there’s an endless number of reasons that sales teams aren’t hitting quota. And this is a major problem for organizations. In fact, research from SiriusDecisions found 54% of sales professionals won’t meet quota this year. This is a bad nightmare and a harsh reality for many sales teams, because it means that only a small minority of sales professionals will achieve quota attainment!
What are you working on right now? If more people asked themselves that question (and answered honestly), 2016 would be the dawn of a much better world. More than $350 billion evaporated in 2015 due to poor productivity. Commit to working smarter in the new year to recover some of that lost revenue.
Steven Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, advised, “The key is not to prioritize your schedule but to schedule your priorities.” Step one is knowing what those priorities are. Here are the top priorities for B2B sales and marketing teams, culled from a host of recent surveys. Keep these goals handy throughout the coming year, and check off them off as you knock them down.
Sales for Life was founded with one goal – to become the most trusted sales resource for its customers. During our journey, we’ve had the privilege of serving thousands of sales professionals and leaders around the world, from start-ups to Fortune 50 corporations.
