http://salesmanagement.org/ - Sales Management Association http://salesmanagement.org/ Sales Management Association - events, resources.r Copyright 2010, http://salesmanagement.org/ Atlanta Chapter Breakfast http://salesmanagement.org/events/atlanta-chapter-breakfast Connect with Atlanta’s sales and sales operations leadership! Join us for breakfast and a panel discussion on April 20, 7:30 to 9:00 a.m local time at The Ravinia Club. The topic will be "Motivating Your Sales Force."

A motivated sales force creates momentum, momentum drives results. How can sales leaders motivate their sales force to create momentum? The format for this event will incorporate small group discussions to give everyone a chance to hear more ideas and solutions from peers.

This Atlanta SMA chapter event is free and open to the public.  Space is limited, and priority registration will be given to SMA members.  Learn more about SMA's Atlanta Chapter.

]]> 2012-04-20 DePaul Center for Sales Leadership Research Update: What Drives Superior Sales Force Performance? http://salesmanagement.org/events/depaul-center-for-sales-leadership-research-update-what-drives-superior-sales-force-performance Join SMA and Dave Hoffmeister, Executive in Residence at the DePaul Center for Sales Leadership, for a research briefing on the important characteristics of high performance sales organizations recently identified in the Center's biennial Sales Effectiveness Survey. Conducted over a six-month period among over 3,000 firms in the US, the results of this survey indicate that only a few key organizational and operational behaviors are needed to drive high performance. Key areas such as talent, coaching, motivation, and development – combined with sales competencies, process and technology – drive superior results. 

Participate in DePaul's research. The Center for Sales Leadership is actively recruiting participants prior to the study's close at year end 2011. All study participants are assured registration for this members-only event, and will receive a copy of the Participants' Report. Participate.

]]> 2012-04-13 Sales Strategies for Conquering the Competition http://salesmanagement.org/events/sales-strategies-for-conquering-the-competition Increased competition is among the toughest challenges facing sales organizations today. As pricing pressure mounts and customer budgets shrink, sales leaders must bring a new level of innovation to their efforts to beat the competition.

In this webinar, AchieveGlobal’s Greg McDonald and Colleen O’Sullivan illustrate how best-in-class companies practice a strategic process in competitive situations to close more deals and drive revenue growth. Together they will share AchieveGlobal’s research on the competitive landscape – examining proven approaches to help salespeople succeed in the face of rising pressures against competition.

Topics include:

  • How the economy has altered the competitive landscape
  • What to do to leverage this landscape in order to out an incumbent
  • Implementing a simple two-step process to overcome the challenges of competition: “assess and apply”
  • Applying resources to learn more about your customers and competitors
]]> 2012-04-04 InsideView Insider Summit 2012 http://salesmanagement.org/events/insideview-insider-summit-2012 InsideView's Insider Summit 2012 provides a forum in which you can enlighten, absorb, and understand the pain points and triumphs of other sales, marketing, and account management professionals across a variety of industries. This year's Summit is all about making connections, so we're encouraging everyone to join the conversation at Insider Summit 2012 through tactical sessions and activities designed to help you do your job better.

InsideView sets the standard for sales intelligence with an application that helps more than 100,000 sales professionals, and over 1,000 market-leading companies, including Adobe, AIG, BMC, Cap Gemini, Experian, and SuccessFactors.

SMA has five complimentary passes it will allocate on a first come, first serve basis to members. Please request your complimentary pass by sending an email to support@salesmanagement.org. Subsequent SMA member registrations are eligible for a 50% discount off the normal registration cost.

]]> 2012-03-11 The iPad’s Impact on the Sales Force http://salesmanagement.org/events/the-ipads-impact-on-the-sales-force iPads are portable, compelling, and cost-effective, and they are having no small impact on the sales organization. More powerful than smart phones, and more mobile than laptops, iPads have an additional benefit uniquely suited to sales: they are consummately social devices. That is, they offer an easily share-able user experience. Unobtrusive and intuitive to use, iPads are starting and sustaining sales interactions, and delivering information to mobile sales professionals in new ways.

In the scramble to deploy iPads, many questions remain regarding their use within the sales function. In this SMA webcast, we examine the sales force’s use of iPads from several perspectives, and articulate sales leadership’s priorities in making the most of this new tool. Drawing upon research recently conducted by SMA, the session will also detail key trends in iPad usage. Topics covered include:

  • The promise of tablet computing
  • Sales-specific applications: an overview
  • Killer applications
  • Management’s priorities
  • Quick hit ideas for optimizing iPad’s sales impact


Presented by SMA’s Bob Kelly and Analysis Factory’s Cliff Alper and Tim Knox.

SMA members, please login and register with one click.

Non members are invited to request a guest registration. These will be provided on a space available basis. SMA members are always assured priority registration.

]]> 2012-03-07 Management By Riding Around: Conducting Ride-Alongs with Salespeople http://salesmanagement.org/resources/single-article/203 What’s the first thing a sales effectiveness consultant (worth their salt) will build into a proposal? Ride-alongs with your sales organization. The reason is simple: direct observation can tell you almost everything you need to know about a salesperson’s effectiveness. Ride shotgun enough, and you’ll also gain understanding of bigger issues underpinning organization performance, like strategy, support, and process. The observational data, stories, and insights gleaned from working with salespeople can give consultants – or managers – enormous credibility.

In this SMA webcast, we’ll review the “when,” “how,” and “why” of manager/salesperson ride-alongs.

Presented by Catalytic Advisor's Everett Hill.

This is the first in a series of webcasts focused on gathering sales force performance data. The series focuses on analysis, observation, and benchmarking techniques used by management consultants, sales operations practitioners, and sales leaders to improve managerial insight into sales effectiveness.

]]> 2012-01-27 Sales Effectiveness in the New Sales Paradigm http://salesmanagement.org/resources/single-article/199 Companies across all industries are rethinking their selling systems. Under continued pressure to improve productivity without raising selling expense, sales forces must now respond to disruptive changes in how customers buy. Empowered, digitally-armed and connected buyers are exerting greater control over buyer/seller conversations, and they’re engaging less with salespeople.

Who can blame them? Inadequately empowered salespeople from silo-oriented organizations offer less value – and take up more time – than simply surfing the web.

In the new sales paradigm, businesses must transform their selling models into dynamic, communications-intensive systems, empowering individual sellers to define, create and deliver value to customers. Gain insight into how progressive sales organizations are invigorating teams with tools and processes empowering them as 21st-century sales warriors.

Presented by Forrester’s Scott Santucci. 

]]> 2012-01-25 Measure What Matters: Evaluating the Success of Sales Transformation http://salesmanagement.org/resources/single-article/198 Transforming a sales force involves substantial investments of time, people and money. How do firms measure the impact of their sales transformation initiatives, and calculate return on the investments required? This SMA webcast explores ideas for measuring and maximizing sales transformation investment return.

Topics include:

  • Understanding prevailing approaches to measuring sales transformation effectiveness
  • Shared characteristics of successful transformation initiatives
  • Review of a specific methodology for determining transformation ROI
  • Case study review involving specific sales transformation projects
  • Validating transformation investments

Presented by Kate Wartchow, Ph.D., Chief learning Officer, Ninety Five 5 and Jack Phillips, Ph.D., Chairman of the ROI Institute.

]]> 2012-01-17 Sales Effectiveness Research Findings: 92 Signposts on the Road to 2012 Sales Success http://salesmanagement.org/resources/single-article/197 In this SMA webcast, Wendy Reed, EVP Marketing of The TAS Group presents the results of TAS's global Dealmaker Index study, including implications for companies and individuals focused in improving sales performance.

Based on an analysis of 92 sales performance factors, mapped against proven successful approaches, the Dealmaker Index measures the effectiveness of sales organizations and sales individuals across areas such as deal close rates, sales cycle management, value creation and sales opportunity development.

Registrants are encouraged to complete their own Dealmaker Index prior to viewing the session (about 10-15 minutes, registration required): www.dealmakerindex.com. Completing the survey allows you to benchmark indivdual and or company results against the larger srudy findings.

]]> 2012-01-11 2012 Sales Operations Issues Study http://salesmanagement.org/resources/single-article/194 The most recent update to our annual Sales Operations Issues study includes input from sales operations professionals from 125 firms, with median annual revenue of US$400 million. Highlights include analysis of sales operations departments' accountabilities, roles, and most important issues, respondents' assessment of their current performance in key functional areas, reporting relationships, and job titles.

 

Survey findings correlate issues deemed "most critical to sales operations." These are issues that intersect when rated by three criteria: those considered most important to sales force performance, those issues with which Sales Operations is highly involved, and those which are judged lowest performing. These critical issues include: redesigning sales force roles and responsibilities to optimize performance, improving account planning quality, improving new hire onboarding, and improving sales manager training effectiveness.

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