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Webcast

Salesperson Attrition: How to Plan for It and Model Its Impact

16 April 2019

Employee attrition is costly for any firm function, but in sales it can jeopardize the firm's ability to make its number. In this webcast, we'll evaluate various models for quantifying salesperson attrition's impact and discuss how to select the best model for use in planning. Other topics include: Sensitivity analysis...Read more

Webcast

Highspot’s State of Sales Enablement Report

14 May 2019

Sales enablement platform provider Highspot’s annual “State of Sales Enablement” survey examines how sales enablement is perceived, utilized, and creating value at companies of all sizes. In this webcast, Highspot offers our audience a special look at findings from this year’s research. Findings will address: The business impact of formal...Read more

Webcast

Deal Review Best Practices

9 April 2019

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Deal reviews give managers two valuable opportunities: one to get insight into sales pipeline, another to coach and develop salespeople. Effective managers capitalize on both, using reviews to help close specific deals, but also to make salespeople more effective over the long term. This web panel examines deal review best...Read more

Blog Post

Join Us in Atlanta at Simon-Kucher & Partners’ Fifth Annual Pricing and Sales Strategy Forum

Webcast

Sales Enablement in Real Time: How to Deliver Sales Knowledge When it Matters

26 February 2019

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Your sales force is the most important conduit for delivering information and insights to buyers which help them make informed decisions. Yet, many sales enablement organizations continue to take ad hoc approaches in their attempts to empower sellers to have the right conversation with their buyers, at the right time....Read more

8 January 2019

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Sales forces are change-intensive organizations, as are the markets and customers they serve. Join us for the first look at recently concluded research on how sales organizations manage change. This research reviews critical change management practices in business-to-business sales forces, focusing on management's efforts to anticipate and lead high impact...Read more

Courses

Sales Territory Management Course

1 January 2019

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Fundamentals of Sales Territory Optimization and Management Well designed and managed sales territories allow firms to maximize sales force capacity, provide a foundation for other sales performance management activities (including incentive compensation and quota design), and have a host of other benefits to sales forces. This course reviews territory management...Read more

Research

31 October 2018

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Companies need to stop believing the hype that there's only one way to sell. Top performers are not just consultative, challenging, transactional, or relationship sellers -- they are "situational" sellers who adapt their sales approach to different buying situations. In fact, 83% of customers say a salesperson's ability to adjust...Read more

Blog Post

Adoption and Integration of New Technology: The Key to Timely Agreement Administration

30 October 2018

The Sales Management Association’s latest research on studying agreement practices found that most firms take longer than expected to prepare and execute agreements. These delays are perceived as more acute from the sales organization’s point of view than from customers’ — understandable given that sellers are often more anxious to...Read more

Webcast

Maximize Revenue with AI-Powered Selling

26 October 2018

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Empowering sales reps with the tools they need to be more effective, efficient, and intelligent is paramount in creating a better customer experience. Join us to learn how companies are leveraging the simplicity, performance and embedded intelligence of SAP CPQ to increase revenue by offering the right product at the...Read more

Blog Post

Sales Enablement Function: A Necessity for Effective Training and Development

23 October 2018

The Sales Management Association recently concluded a detailed study of the state of training and development within sales organizations of 111 companies, covering over 80,000 salespeople and 15,000 sales managers. The study revealed some concerning details about the woeful state of training and development and shed some light on how...Read more

Webcast

Managing Sales in “Virtual” Environments: How Well Are Your Salespeople Getting Their Story Across?

23 October 2018

15 October 2018

10 September 2018

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Sales organizations expend considerable effort in establishing agreements. These aren't just limited to commercial contracts, but span a broad range of other agreements, both external and internally focused, such as non-disclosure agreements, pricing exceptions, license agreements, memoranda of understanding, statements of work, and many others. The practices, processes, and tools...Read more

Research

Streamlining Agreements

10 September 2018

Sales organizations expend considerable effort in establishing agreements. These aren’t just limited to commercial contracts, but span a broad range of other agreements, both external and internally focused, such as non-disclosure agreements, pricing exceptions, license agreements, memoranda of understanding, statements of work, and many others. The practices, processes, and tools...Read more

Adaptive Insights

10 September 2018

At Adaptive Insights, a Workday company, weâ€™re powering a new generation of business planning. We recognize that in business, everybody plans, but traditional planning is too hard and too slow for todayâ€™s agile businesses. So, we invented the Adaptive Insights Business Planning Cloud, which enables more than 4,000 organizations around...Read more

Webcast

Research First Look: Streamlining Agreements

10 September 2018

29 August 2018

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Sales staff need to have both analytical (left brain) and creative (right brain) skills. In this webinar, we'll discuss how you can streamline the sales process with rules-based guided selling, and how to respond to the complexities of ever-changing product configurations, regional currencies, customer-specific pricing, channel discount levels and contractual...Read more

Webcast

How Providing the Right Insights to Sales Managers Can Drive Sales Success

29 August 2018

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Does building your pipeline, committing to a forecast, transferring accounts, or making pricing decisions ever feel like blindly throwing items at a dartboard? Answering 'yes' to that is more common than we all want to admit. The reality is all of these efforts are interconnected and they need to be...Read more

Blog Post

The Innovative Legal Strategies Helping Sales Leadership Win the Channel Wars

28 August 2018

Web-based buying alternatives are ratcheting up channel conflict for many sales organizations. Warring channels erode the sales force’s carefully crafted value propositions, and undermining sales strategy and growth prospects in all aspects of the business. Technology businesses, often heavily reliant on indirect sales and distribution channels, are especially vulnerable. In...Read more

Blog Post

More Kirk, Less Spock: Closing Sales Operations’ Competency Gaps

21 August 2018

Which competencies are the most important for sales operations? Our recent research posed this question to our members, more than 100 of whom offered insights into 14 core sales ops competencies as they’re valued and practiced in their respective organizations. Sales ops’ role in the firm is sometimes the analytical...Read more

Blog Post

Two Simple Steps to Hiring the Best Sales Talent – Part Two

14 August 2018

In the first part of this two part series, we focused on preparation — the critical first step in making great hiring decisions. Here we will focus on the second critical step, the interview. When you consider the ideal outcome for your interview — that you identify the best candidate...Read more

Webcast

Research First Look: Sales Enablement Practices

9 August 2018

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Join us for an exclusive first look at our research on sales enablement practices, focusing on technology supported sales force learning and content distribution initiatives. The research examines management priorities for salesperson learning and development, and how firms assign accountability for these initiatives among various firm functions (including sales management,...Read more

Blog Post

17 July 2018

The disparity between the amount of time the average sales manager will dedicate to preparing for a customer meeting and the effort spent preparing for candidate interviews is amazing. Let’s assume a big sale is worth $250,000 to your company, and that on average a sales rep at quota is...Read more

Companion Exhibits

Companion Exhibits: Salesperson Onboarding

16 July 2018

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Onboarding programs deliver learning and development resources to new salespeople in an effort to speed time-to-productivity. This study examines sales onboarding practices in business-to-business firms. Research focus areas include: Onboarding program best practices Emerging trends and metrics in onboarding approaches Onboarding program impact on time-to-productivity for new hires Effective approaches...Read more

Research Brief

Research Brief: Salesperson Onboarding

12 July 2018

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Onboarding programs deliver learning and development resources to new salespeople in an effort to speed time-to-productivity. This study examines sales onboarding practices in business-to-business firms. Research focus areas include: Onboarding program best practices Emerging trends and metrics in onboarding approaches Onboarding program impact on time-to-productivity for new hires Effective approaches...Read more

Research

Salesperson Onboarding

12 July 2018

Onboarding programs deliver learning and development resources to new salespeople in an effort to speed time-to-productivity. This study examines sales onboarding practices in business-to-business firms. Research focus areas include: Onboarding program best practices Emerging trends and metrics in onboarding approaches Onboarding program impact on time-to-productivity for new hires Effective approaches...Read more

Webcast

Research First Look: Salesperson Onboarding

11 July 2018

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Onboarding programs deliver learning and development resources to new salespeople in an effort to speed time-to-productivity. In recent research, we examine salesperson onboarding practices in business-to-business firms. The research focuses on emerging trends and metrics in onboarding approaches, onboarding program impact on time-to-productivity for new hires, and effective approaches for...Read more

Webcast

Research First Look: Sales Operations Competencies

2 July 2018

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This webcast features our first look at findings from research on sales operations competencies. The research identifies professional competencies important to sales operations, sales enablement, and other sales force effectiveness functions. It prioritizes competencies considered most critical by management, and suggests which competencies will be of growing future importance. Organizational...Read more

Webcast

Applying Business Intelligence to the Sales Organization

27 June 2018

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Decades ago, CRM's launch heralded a new era of technology enabled sales management. Its promised capabilities, at the time often oversold and under-realized, are now assumed in most organizations. Today's sales technology presents similarly transformative possibilities. However, with ever-changing trends in sales automation, sales performance, and now artificial intelligence, it's...Read more

Blog Post

How to Get a Meeting with Anyone

23 May 2018

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The hard part just got easy. Your sales team knows how to sell--that's their job, after all--but getting CEOs and other VIPs to schedule time with you is tricky enough to ground even the highest flying of your sales team. So what if that impossible-to-reach person wasn't so impossible to...Read more

Blog Post

Cracking the Sales Management Code: Sales Objectives and How to Achieve Them

22 May 2018

Part Three of a Four Part Series In previous installments from our book Cracking the Sales Management Code (see part 1 and part 2), we shared research findings that revealed three types of sales force metrics, Sales Activities, Sales Objectives, and Business Results. We also identified five discrete sales processes...Read more

Webcast

Territory Management: Industry Best Practices

21 May 2018

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Sales territory management presents distinct challenges for many different organizations. This webcast explores industry best practices on how to strategically align and manage your territories. Topics include: Unique aspects of sales territory alignment across multiple industries Infusing territory alignment approaches with data: inputs you need for a successful planning process...Read more

Full Research Report

Full Research Report: Optimizing Sales Territory Design

20 May 2018

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This research explores management practices related to territory design and optimization. It identifies how organizations assign salesperson responsibilities for prospects, customers, and geographies. The research quantifies management’s satisfaction with current approaches, emerging trends in territory planning, and best practice approaches for optimizing salesperson assignments. This comprehensive report features all findings,...Read more

Research Brief

Research Brief: Optimizing Sales Territory Design

8 May 2018

Part Two of a Four Part Series In this series of blogs, we introduce research findings from our best-selling book, Cracking the Sales Management Code. In the first blog, we revealed that there are three levels of sales force metrics, as judged by their ‘manageability’: Business Results like percent revenue...Read more

Webcast

Measure Everything All the Time

7 May 2018

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How do dynasties know when they are, and are not, on the right path? They measure everything, especially things their competitors don't measure. In this session we will distinguish between the typical sales metrics and the unique set of data exceptional sales teams will be using to drive dramatically better...Read more

Research

Gauging Return on Sales Technology Investments

1 May 2018

Technology is a growing and increasingly strategic investment for sales forces. This research identifies how sales organizations prioritize technology’s potential benefits and quantify its return on investment (ROI). Various approaches for estimating ROI are examined, and various measures of technology impact are prioritized based on importance, accuracy, and prevalence of...Read more

TimeTrade

1 May 2018

Companion Exhibits

Companion Exhibits: Gauging Return on Sales Technology Investments

1 May 2018

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Technology is a growing and increasingly strategic investment for sales forces. This research identifies how sales organizations prioritize technology’s potential benefits and quantify its return on investment (ROI). Various approaches for estimating ROI are examined, and various measures of technology impact are prioritized based on importance, accuracy, and prevalence of use. The research...Read more

Full Research Report

Full Research Report: Gauging Return on Sales Technology Investments

1 May 2018

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Technology is a growing and increasingly strategic investment for sales forces. This research identifies how sales organizations prioritize technology’s potential benefits and quantify its return on investment (ROI). Various approaches for estimating ROI are examined, and various measures of technology impact are prioritized based on importance, accuracy, and prevalence of use. The research...Read more

Research Brief: Gauging Return on Sales Technology Investments

1 May 2018

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Technology is a growing and increasingly strategic investment for sales forces. This research identifies how sales organizations prioritize technology’s potential benefits and quantify its return on investment (ROI). Various approaches for estimating ROI are examined, and various measures of technology impact are prioritized based on importance, accuracy, and prevalence of use. The research...Read more

Blog Post

Great Sales Coaches Know How to Listen

1 May 2018

Coaching is the most important job a manager has, yet so many sales managers fail to properly execute coaching conversations. Why are so many sales managers lacking this critical skill? It is a common practice to promote sales professionals to the role of sales manager based on the individual’s success...Read more

Blog Post

2 March 2018

To be effective, sales organizations must be aligned with company strategy and market demands. Join Goizueta Business School’s Professor of Marketing Sandy Jap, and the Sales Management Association’s Chairman Bob Kelly for a special two-day Goizueta Business School workshop: Sales Leadership and Channel Management, 13-14 March. This workshop focuses on...Read more

Webcast

Choosing the Right Sales Performance Management Solution for Your Sales Team in 2018

1 March 2018

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How can you drive increased revenue from sales performance management technology? What critical capabilities are most likely to improve your sales execution and operational efficiency? These questions deserve some discussion and guidance at the beginning of a new year. Join sales performance experts Mark Smith, CEO & Chief Research Officer...Read more

Webcast

Managing Quotas and Territories

23 February 2018

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Territory and quota management are linchpins in any effective sales performance management system. In this web panel, we reviewed key concepts of sound territory and quota design, and discussed best practices related to these disciplines.

Webcast

No Process, No Sales Dynasty — Own Your Sales Process and System

19 February 2018

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Whether business or sports, dynasties have clearly defined processes for key behaviors and systems to support execution. Selling is no different but many sales teams are torn between their desire for predictability and their inclination toward creativity. In this second session in a series on building a sales dynasty we...Read more

Webcast

Reconnecting Sales Forecasts with Reality

15 February 2018

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Our research shows that sales managers consider forecasting important, and that it consumes lots of the sales force's time. But most managers consider forecasting efforts fraught with bias, and therefore unreliable; and not surprisingly, most are unsatisfied with forecasting accuracy. A dispassionate observer might reasonably ask: If forecasting is both...Read more

Blog Post

Improve Market Intelligence in Support of Sales Teams – Here’s How

6 February 2018

High quality market intelligence can significantly improve your sales team’s long-term effectiveness. But the process of gathering market intelligence is too often overlooked. This article provides a set of practical ideas for improving market intelligence, including sources of data you may not be aware of. We’ll cover: National Economic Analysis:...Read more

Blog Post

The 4 Leadership Qualities of the Best Sales Coaches

30 January 2018

When it comes to sales, it’s all about the numbers, right? Quotas, pipelines, forecasts were laser focused on hitting those numbers. But is a number really enough to keep people in the game? Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick, authors of The Best Team Wins, recently analyzed the responses from more...Read more

Webcast

Research First Look: Gauging Return on Sales Technology Investments

25 January 2018

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Technology is a growing and increasingly strategic investment for sales forces. This research identifies how sales organizations prioritize technology’s potential benefits and quantify its return on investment (ROI). Various approaches for estimating ROI are examined, and various measures of technology impact are prioritized based on importance, accuracy, and prevalence of use. The research...Read more

Webcast

End-to-End Territory Management Strategy

25 January 2018

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In sales organizations where salespeople come and go, and sales strategies change each year, often the only constant is change. But management is still expected to profitably grow revenues each year, often without additional resources or budget. In such environments, territory management serves as an essential tool for sales operations...Read more

Webcast

Building Sales Capabilities In The Digital World

25 January 2018

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68% of B2B buyers say they find going online superior to interacting with a salesperson, up from 53% just two years ago. B2B sales is a dynamic and challenging world with modern buyers wanting to purchase from modern sellers. It's time for sales organizations to step up or be left...Read more

Blog Post

Telling a Story with Your Data

23 January 2018

A powerful sales performance management tool can work wonders in improving the performance of your salesforce. In my 5 years interacting with these systems, I’ve seen implementations that range from Grimm to fairy-tale. Gathering sales data and sharing reports with your team in a coordinated platform can give you insights...Read more

Webcast

Four Characteristics of a Sales Dynasty

19 January 2018

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Dynasties consistently outperform their peers. Unfortunately, many sales organizations find themselves conflicted by their need to deliver near-term results and their desire to build a sustainable sales engine. Learn how to achieve both these objectives simultaneously in this web session.

Corporate Visions

16 January 2018

Webcast

Reducing Stalled Opportunities in the Sales Pipeline

16 January 2018

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Sales opportunities stalled due to no decision? wreak havoc on growth-focused sales forces. Over time, these stalled opportunities pile up, obscuring more actionable opportunities. Eventually, management finds these "sclerotic" pipelines of little use at all. Now new research indicates why so many opportunities fall victim to no decision, and how...Read more

Webcast

Empowering the Sales Organization with Analytics – Last In a Three Part Sales Planning Series

15 December 2017

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Sales leaders often have more data than they know what to do with. This webcast helps sales leaders sort out the metrics that matter most to driving sales force performance. The last in our three part sales planning series, this session features approaches to coordinating key performance metrics across functions...Read more

Blog Post

Behind the Scenes of the annual Sales Force Productivity Conference’s Panoramic Photo

11 December 2017

Every year at the Sales Force Productivity Conference, the Sales Management Association invites photographer Shawn McElroy to capture a group photo of the attendees. At first glance, the conference attendees appear to be seated in a line around the stage. However, the photo is actually a panoramic photograph with the...Read more

Webcast

Building a Sales Enablement Charter for 2018: Lessons from HubSpot

11 December 2017

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Running headlong into the world of sales enablement? You're not alone. According to new research from CSO Insights, 59% of organizations surveyed now have a dedicated sales enablement function, a YOY increase of more than 26%. Another 8.5% cited plans to add this function in the next 12 months. In...Read more

Webcast

Implementing Incentive Compensation Changes – Part Two of a Three Part Sales Planning Series

29 November 2017

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Though not all firms radically redesign incentive compensation plans each year, many make changes intended to drive significant behavior changes and shifts in sales force focus. This session, the second in a three part series on sales planning, details how to ensure incentive compensation plan changes align with business goals,...Read more

Webcast

Sales Forecasting Fundamentals – Part One of a Three Part Sales Planning Series

17 November 2017

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Many sales effectiveness leaders are currently focused in preparing new sales plans for the coming year. This webcast reviews the essential elements of sales forecasting, and kicks off a three part series on sales planning best practices. Topics addressed include establishing consistent practices that ensure year-round forecasting and pipeline management...Read more

Allego

9 November 2017

Blog Post

In Sales, Cash is King, but Non-Cash Incentives are a Close Second

8 November 2017

17 October 2017

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Sales Operations’ Impact on Sales Talent Management

6 October 2017

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Smart sales organizations capitalize on every available opportunities to improve sales talent management. One often under recognized contributor is sales operations. Sales ops departments contribute mightily to salesperson effectiveness, job satisfaction, and sense of engagement. This webcast explores approaches for maximizing salesperson success and satisfaction through sales operations' contributions.

Blog Post

What Sales Force Productivity Conference Session Are You Most Excited For?

4 October 2017

Each year at the Sales Force Productivity Conference we feature cross-industry practitioners discussing their best ideas. This year’s sessions include speakers from 3M, The Coca-Cola Company, Cox Automotive, Google, Gulfstream, Microsoft, Nuveen, Siemens, Thomson Reuters, VMware, x.ai, Xerox, and many more. We’ve curated sessions focused on real-word practices, led by...Read more

Webcast

Supercharge Sales Performance with Data

29 September 2017

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We want actionable information, not data challenges. In the age of big data how can sales leaders avoid being caught up in information overload? Having access to so much information can sometimes feel as if we re swimming in it. As a sales leader, you want to make the most...Read more

Blog Post

21 July 2017

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For many organizations, sales forecasting is a massive exercise in futility. No matter the approach, it always seems to consume a tremendous amount of energy and produce a dubious result. It doesn't have to be this way! During this session, attendees learn a simple, new approach that will forever change...Read more

Blog Post

27 February 2017

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Sales organizations have always invested in their most important customers, by providing customized solutions, dedicated personnel, and other resources. More recently, firms are adopting these high-touch approaches to broader customer segments, using enabling technology and anemerging discipline known as “Account-Based Marketing (ABM)”. Account-Based Selling (ABS) describes how sales forces execute...Read more

Webcast

Research Update: Enabling Indirect Sales Channels

23 February 2017

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This webcast features a first look at recent research on sales channel enablement. The research examines support tactics for indirect sales channels -- salespeople, agencies, affiliates, and networks engaged (but not directly employed) by vendor firms. Special focus is given to indirect salesperson effectiveness, and how selling firms can affect...Read more

8 November 2016

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We kickoff a five-part series on sales performance management fundamentals with a webcast on account segmentation and lead scoring by Rowan Tonkin from Anaplan and Tony Yeung from ZS Associates. This topic focuses on aligning sales coverage with marketing strategy, and touches on account reassignments, an often problematic issue that...Read more

Blog Post

25 October 2016

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Most sales organizations believe in the value of a defined selling methodology. But when it comes to selecting a specific methodology, consensus can be hard to come by. Consultative selling, insight selling, challenge selling; the list of alternatives the list goes on and on. How should a sales leader select...Read more

Blog Post

Avoid Staring at Your CRM Reports: An Interview with Jason Jordan

23 October 2016

We all know the struggle. The CRM report comes out and you stare at it, willing it to easily give you the information you need to cultivate leads and foster higher performance in your sales reps. Here, Jason Jordan, Partner at Vantage Point Performance, tells us how to avoid the...Read more

Blog Post

Your Incentives Plan May Be Bringing Down Your Revenue: An Interview with Lindsay McGregor

20 October 2016

Itâ€™s a reality weâ€™re all facing as more and more millennials enter the workforce: commissions and bonuses are no longer a sales repsâ€™ biggest motivator.Â In some situations, your incentive plan may actually be hurting your companyâ€™s revenue.Â Lindsay McGregor and Neel Doshi have conducted extensive research, questioning thousands of...Read more

Webcast

From Boss to Coach: Turning Great Sales Managers into Great Coaches

19 October 2016

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Success in sales isn't based solely on following a set of mechanical, process-driven rules. It begins within the head and heart of the salesperson. Unfortunately, few managers are well equipped to understand a salesperson's internal drivers/barriers, much less have a meaningful discussion about them. Sales leaders end up ignoring the...Read more

Webcast

Research Update: Investment in Salesperson Skill Development

13 October 2016

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Sales forces are change-intensive organizations. With each new shift in market demand or buyer preference, sales organizations may change sales messaging, sales performance expectations and job descriptions; in some cases, firms may even recast fundamental assumptions of how their salespeople deliver value to customers. Managing through this kind of change...Read more

25 August 2016

Should you take the risk and promote your top-performing salesperson to manager? The stakes are high. You’re not only going to lose a great player on the field, you’re also making a bet that their outstanding current performance will translate into this new role. The debate over whether the...Read more

Webcast

How to Map Sales Enablement with the Buyer’s Journey

25 August 2016

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High-performing sales leaders know that the buyers now drive the sales process, and sales teams trained to navigate the buyer journey can close more deals and build stronger relationships. During this live webcast, Octiv chief marketing officer Brad Gillespie and GameTime VP of Marketing & Product Development, Fred Wiechmann, discussed...Read more

Webcast

Sales Talent Assessment: When, Where, and Why You Should be Utilizing a Structured Approach

11 August 2016

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Will and skill: two ingredients essential for a successful salesperson. Innovations over the past decade help managers drive and measure will, but fewer tools offer insight into skill. Often sales candidate selection is left to inexperienced field sales managers poorly-equipped to assess talent or hire effectively. In this webcast, we...Read more

Webcast

Sales Development: An Emerging Selling Role Driving Sales Productivity

3 August 2016

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High-growth technology firms are abuzz with sales development? ? a specialized sales role focused in prospecting. Sales development reps (SDRs) concentrate on lead development, outbound prospecting, and moving prospects through the earlier stages of the sales funnel, before handing them off to others in the sales force. SDRs are widely...Read more

Blog Post

How To Hire The Right Sales Ops Manager

29 July 2016

In crew, coxswains don’t row the boat, but they use their intelligence to help the boat run more efficiently. They steer the boat straight, keep everyone on rhythm, and correct any technical errors. Much like the coxswain, a sales operations manager might not sell themselves. Rather, they enable the sales...Read more

Webcast

Secrets to Making Your Sales Methodology Stick

28 July 2016

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Sales forces spend countless hours installing new sales processes and training salespeople to execute them. But despite these investments, most fail to reach adoption levels sufficient to make the new sales methodology stick. The reality is that successful sales transformation requires both short-term and long-term steps that engage and align...Read more

Webcast

Sales Messaging: Managing Quality, Consistency, and Effectiveness

12 July 2016

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Sales organizations with predictable, profitable revenue growth are defined by consistency in process, messaging, and execution. This webcast focused on how high performing firms establish consistent practices in these three areas. Using case study examples and best practice management approaches, presenters detailed how to develop effective sales messages, link them...Read more

Blog Post

16 May 2016

This blog has focused recently on the new realities facing B2B sales organizations as buyers take increasing advantage of more information, analysis tools, and online feedback from fellow buyers. Indeed, sales teams have ceded much of the power that traditionally enabled them to enter into the sales funnel and control...Read more

Blog Post

How Important is Sales Process for Sales Performance?

11 May 2016

As sales managers, it’s our job to drive sales performance. The question is: what actions, specifically, should we take to do that? Recently, the RAIN Group Center for Sales Research undertook a major study to determine what those actions should be. The results were fascinating, especially as they relate to...Read more

Research Brief

Research Brief: Assessing Sales Tools

4 May 2016

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Over the past two decades, technology-driven innovation has profoundly changed selling and sales organizations. PCs and smart mobile devices are now essential selling tools; CRM platforms are virtually ubiquitous; and new applications appear daily to help automate, enhance, or speed up how salespeople sell. This research examines how business-to-business firms...Read more

Webcast

The Technology-Enabled Sales Coach

28 April 2016

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Technology is transforming how sales organizations sell, but also how they're managed. Among technology's greatest potential management benefits relates to coaching salespeople -- an activity under-prioritized and poorly supported in most firms. This webcast explores multiple technologies that amplify, automate, and enhance management's coaching efforts. Our expert panel will present...Read more

Webcast

Indecent Proposals: How Your Proposals Undermine Sales (and How to Fix Them)

21 April 2016

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In many companies, proposals are not effective as they could be. In some, proposals may actually turn business away. For a variety of reasons, sales organizations often overlook the importance of well crafted, effectively presented proposals. As a result, a vital sales tool goes under optimized. In this webcast we...Read more

Blog Post

15 December 2015

The term “sales operations” describes a set of activities that support sales force efficiency and effectiveness. The Sales Management Association’s recently completed research into sales operations’ practices, challenges, priorities, and emerging trends reveals new insight into this emerging corporate function. This research found that sales operations departments are most...Read more

Blog Post

5 November 2015

In part 1 we shared how greater access to information has fundamentally changed the way B2B customers buy products and services. As buyers take more control of their purchasing journey, they seem to enter and exit the sales pipeline at various points in the buying process. This essentially renders the...Read more

Webcast

Building a Better Sales and Marketing Team

5 November 2015

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Sales teams are learning to shape the sales process to follow the buyers journey. Along the way, many organizations realize their sales and marketing efforts are poorly aligned not only to buyers' expectations, but poorly aligned with one another. Exposing these gaps is the first step toward closing them. This...Read more

Blog Post

Building customer relationships is increasingly difficult for salespeople. Face time with buyers is dwindling, while the rise of electronic auctions, RFPs, managed procurement, and third-party buying influences make it tougher than ever to demonstrate value and differentiate offerings. In this panel discussion, we examine strategies for building valuable customer relationships,...Read more

Blog Post

Critical Checkpoints On the Path to Quota

17 August 2015

Your sales team has an end goal in sight quotabut do they know how to get there? It is a long way from prospecting a new account to making a final sale. There are lots of twists, turns and decisions sellers have to make along the way to closing a...Read more

Webcast

Research-Based Sales Forecasting Practices Proven to Improve Accuracy

7 August 2015

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Every company forecasts revenue, but few are happy with the results. Despite highly-focused effort and attention, most sales forecasts are frustratingly inaccurate. So how can this critical activity be improved to yield better outcomes? Join best-selling author Jason Jordan as he shares findings from a joint research project with the...Read more

Webcast

Closing Forecasting Gaps

30 July 2015

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With the recent quarter close, sales leaders are preparing reports on last quarter's wins, forecasting next quarter's outcomes, and identifying gaps to solve for this quarter. This webcast addresses common forecasting challenges, focusing on how leaders can fine tune forecasting strategy, and better align metrics and selling activities to improve...Read more

Webcast

Sales Forecasting: Ten Practical Ideas for Improving Usefulness and Accuracy

21 July 2015

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Sales forecasting yields insufficient insight to many sales leaders, yet few firms know where to start in building better forecasting practices. In this Sales Management Association web panel, three experts present a series of practical ideas for improving forecast accuracy and enhancing the insights it offers sales leadership.

Research

Research Brief: Benchmarking Sales Manager Activity

16 July 2015

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Sales managers have an outsized-impact on sales force productivity. That impact is shaped by decisions sales managers make in allocating their time. We wondered, are organizations optimizing sales management’s time allocation decisions? The Sales Management Association undertook a research effort to answer that question in our recently-concluded sales manager activity...Read more

Blog Post

5 June 2015

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Few companies would discourage salespeople from making sales calls, even when sales effort reaches the point of diminishing returns. But that’s exactly the right thing to do, when incremental activity no longer correlates with incremental sales. Response curves help management determine how many sales calls – or other sorts of...Read more

Blog Post

6 March 2015

Sales forces effective in salesperson onboarding – getting new salespeople up-to-speed efficiently – enjoy surprising productivity advantages over their peers, our recently-concluded research shows. These firms have 10% greater sales growth rates, and 14% better sales and profit objective achievement. But onboarding isn’t easy – just 40% of firms with...Read more

Webcast

Research Update: Sales Forecasting Effectiveness

27 February 2015

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A study of emerging trends and best practices for sales leadership. This research examined sales forecasting in business-to-business organizations. Research questions identified core practices, processes, and resources considered essential to forecasting; revealed factors that contribute to effective sales forecasting; and determined how salespeople and managers interact in sales forecasting initiatives.

Webcast

Five Key Trends Shaping Sales Compensation Today

26 February 2015

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New technology, new research, and an evolving work force are changing the landscape of sales compensation. Listen in on this webinar to find the 5 biggest trends shaping sales compensation, why they re occurring,and what it means for your role. Specifically, we will cover: Globalization of sales compensation and thecentralization...Read more

Webcast

2015 Sales Execution Trends Research Findings

23 February 2015

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Feel confident in what you’re going to achieve in 2015? Want to see what your peers said? Qvidian surveyed sales and marketing executives from companies around the globe to better understand their outlook for 2015. They’ll share what they uncovered, including: Executive management priorities imply that most organizations continue to...Read more

Blog Post

Analytics: The Backbone of On-Demand Sales Training

20 February 2015

On-Demand Sales Training vs. Live Sales Training It’s no secret that part of the value of live and in-person sales training is the opportunity to engage in discussion and practice the art of selling through real-life simulations and role play. And of course, in-person training provides sales trainers with the...Read more

Webcast

The Art and Science of Setting Quotas

16 February 2015

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Quota setting is consistently at or near the top of the list of sales compensation challenges for most companies. One reason is because ineffective quotas can derail even a well-designed sales compensation program. Many sales organizations consider poorly-set quotas among the chief threats to sales force motivation. Prevailing practice contributes...Read more

Research

Research Brief: Sales Performance Reporting

16 February 2015

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Sales performance reporting guides leadership’s decision making, and represents an important information management priority for many firms. This research investigates the use of performance reporting in business-to-business sales organizations, and identifies management priorities and best practices. Specific areas of focus for this research include: Identifying current approaches for provisioning sales...Read more

Webcast

Uncover Hidden Insights in Your Sales Comp Data

13 February 2015

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Sales compensation programs are a treasure trove of data. The best companies know that it's important to make optimal use of such information - but it hasn't always been easy. This webinar will explore how new developments in natural language-based cognitive computing promise to help your compensation team see non-obvious...Read more

Blog Post

9 January 2015

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For years, the Holy Grail of training has been the ability to go beyond information delivery and simple skills assessment to identify a direct, positive impact on business results. Sales managers in particular are frequent victims, frustrated by their inability to associate training investments to sales performance and new revenue...Read more

Blog Post

A Guaranteed Way to Doom Your Sales Manager Training

8 January 2015

Does sales manager training fail to deliver expected results at your organization? Perhaps change happens for a brief period of time, but before long, things go back to the way they were before the training. If this sounds like your organization, you are not alone. In fact, disappointing sales manager...Read more

Blog Post

Measuring Doesn’t Always Equal Managing

22 December 2014

As a sales manager, you are responsible for a lot of metricsâ€”really important metrics, in fact, including revenue growth, customer retention, product mix, and dozens of other performance metrics. But these metrics are more than numbers to you and your sales force because they define your forceâ€™s performance. Whether you...Read more

Webcast

Process vs. Technology – The Battle for Sales Productivity in 2015

18 December 2014

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Less than a third of companies didn't see ROI from their sales technology investments in 2014, according to a research study conducted with the Sales Management Association. Meanwhile, 54 percent of high-performing sales teams have a clear, well-defined process. These two statistics illustrate what could be the most important question...Read more

Webcast

Improving Your Sales Team’s Closing Skills and Win Rates

15 December 2014

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Top-performing sales organizations understand that closing is much more than a single event. Rather, it’s a process of successful decision-making that happens long before the contract is ever signed. Winning or losing the sale often is a direct reflection of how much insight and help sellers add to buyers’ decision-making...Read more

Webcast

Research Update on Sales Onboarding Practices

11 December 2014

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Onboarding programs attempt to accelerate new salesperson productivity and new hire success rates. Our recent research examines sales onboarding programs in business-to-business firms. Join us for this webcast, in which we’ll provide preliminary findings from the research, addressing issues such as: Onboarding program best practices Supporting tools and platforms used...Read more

Blog Post

Process vs. Technology: Which Comes First in the Battle for Sales Productivity?

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Though most firms acknowledge first-line sales managers’ critical role, few organizations react quickly enough in responding to sales manager turnover. Vacant manager positions have an outsized impact on sales performance, since an entire sales team may be adversely affected. By developing sales manager “bench strength,” firms can more quickly react...Read more

Blog Post

3 November 2014

Does your sales forecasting accurately predict the future results of a sales force? Staying apprised of trends and best practices for sales leadership is one way to improve upon forecasting effectiveness…. and to make sure you re not about to be a cast member on Sales Forecasting: What NOT to...Read more

Webcast

Preparing the Sales Plan: Best Practice Approaches from High Performing Sales Forces

29 October 2014

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It’s planning season for sales organizations – a whirlwind of activity that includes reviewing performance, assessing forecasts, assigning growth targets, building budgets, aligning territories, and allocating quotas. Unfortunately, many sales plans don’t produce what the sales organization most needs: insight into what changes are required to meet performance expectation, and...Read more

Webcast

Escaping the Horrors of Sales Compensation

29 October 2014

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There are few things more critical to a company’s top and bottom line results than sales compensation. Businesses can't survive without sales, and sales compensation is the primary vehicle to inspire motivation and track and reward sales success. Yet even as businesses turn to enterprise systems to streamline key processes...Read more

Blog Post

30 September 2014

Fall – the time of year when sales compensation managers review pay plans, dissect performance data, and determine next year’s sales comp plan changes. It’s also the time of year when freshmen college students are matriculating in Literature 101 classes, reviewing syllabi, buying books. Coincidence? Hardly: turns out that sales...Read more

Webcast

Driving Sales Profitability through Incentive Compensation

25 September 2014

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Sales organizations must do more than simply grow the top line – they must grow revenue profitably. And most firms empower salespeople with enough decision-making authority to impact profitability. Decisions that involve pricing, product mix, solution development, and customer expense management can all profoundly affect profits as well as sales....Read more

Blog Post

15 September 2014

Conference Archives

Course: Better Sales Management Through Better Time Management

15 September 2014

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Learn how to take back your calendar and focus on the high-impact activities that drive sales results! If there’s one thing that sales managers DON’T have, it’s enough time to do all they need to do. So what happens? The important stuff (coaching) gets squeezed out by the urgent stuff...Read more

Conference Archives

Sales Training ROI Measurement Framework

15 September 2014

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Quantifying sales training's value proves difficult for most firms. Worse yet, credible measures of sales training efficacy can yield disheartening results. ES Research, for example, has reported that 90% of sales training has no lasting impact after 120 days. This course offers practical insights for measuring sales training ROI, and...Read more

Conference Archives

Optimizing Market Coverage to Drive Organic Growth

15 September 2014

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With limited resources to deploy in the market, to achieve today’s aggressive growth objectives it’s critical that those resources be deployed optimally to maximize market coverage and drive results. This workshop with Marshall Solem and Scott Sims from ZS Associates explores how to apply best practices and address vital real...Read more

Conference Archives

Motivating the Sales Force with Incentives

15 September 2014

18 August 2014

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Sales organizations thrive in competitive environments, but how should sales leadership respond when competitors take unfair advantage? This webcast reviews several common competitive scenarios faced by sales management, explains their legal context, and suggests proactive management approaches for avoiding outcomes disadvantageous to your firm. Presented by Elarbee Thompson attorneys Richard...Read more

Blog Post

Pursuit of Performance: Findings from the 2014 Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study

20 June 2014

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Learn how trends in the complex business to business landscape are evolving with the latest findings from the 2014 Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study. In this webcast, Joe Galvin shares for the first time the collection of behaviors that lead to World Class Sales Performance in the current...Read more

Blog Post

Is the Cloud? Nebulous to You?

4 June 2014

You probably know what it is, but do you know why the Cloud matters to your sales organization? The Cloud has changed how buyers buy, how employees work, and how sellers go to market. Everything is faster. There is an expectation of instant gratification. With this shift, the way we...Read more

Webcast

Five Sales Coaching Best Practices

30 May 2014

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Organizations implementing new sales methodologies often face a stark realization: despite huge investments in training, new approaches simply don’t work. Sales coaching can dramatically remedy these expensive failures. This webcast explores five “must have” qualities of effective coaching programs, and provides tactical suggestions for sales coaches. Topics include: Focusing...Read more

Webcast

Managing the Cloud-Enabled Sales Force

27 May 2014

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Technology is changing how organizations direct and support field salespeople. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the explosion of cloud-based productivity tools. In this webcast, we review strategic trends in cloud-based sales force enablement, and examine case examples and best practices from three leading cloud innovators.

Webcast

Research Update: Management’s Sales Coaching Impact

23 May 2014

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Our most comprehensive sales coaching research to-date, this study examines sales managers’ practices, priorities, challenges, and impact areas related to sales coaching. Specific focus include: Which sales coaching objectives represent the most important management priorities? Where are managers focusing coaching efforts? Where and how is sales coaching most impactful? What...Read more

Blog Post

Your Crummy Sales Reports Are Costing You a Bundle

14 May 2014

Sales management considers performance reporting essential, and sales managers are often the loudest constituents served by sales operations departments. But our recent research suggests that salespeople, not their managers, may be a more important “customer” for performance reporting. Our study’s 85 participating business-to-business firms rated the amount of time their...Read more

Webcast

Mastering Sales Force Change

5 May 2014

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Implementing sales organization change is notoriously difficult. Yet sales organizations are frequently faced with circumstances that require large-scale change initiatives. How do successful firms drive change in the sales organization? This webcast reviews critical success factors associated with four common sales change initiatives: launching new offerings, entering new markets, changing...Read more

Webcast

Evaluating Territory and Quota Management Effectiveness

1 May 2014

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Judging the effectiveness of territory and quota assignments is difficult. Firms, markets, and industries may each have unique challenges making quota setting and territory alignment problematic. However, there are characteristics common to highly effective territory and quota management efforts – characteristics critical to driving desired selling behavior and profitable...Read more

Blog Post

Who Will Help Me Bake This Quota? A sales crediting fable.

23 April 2014

Once upon a time there was a little red hen who lived in a big sales organization. She had three fluffy yellow chicks. One morning as they were busily scratching about the yard, looking for something to eat, the little red hen found a prospect. “Look!” she said. “See what...Read more

Webcast

Accelerating New Salesperson Productivity: Strategy and Best Practices

14 April 2014

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Productivity lost as new-hire salespeople ramp up costs sales organizations dearly, and new-hire failures even more. Yet sales forces too often adopt a "sink or swim" approach to new salesperson success - accompanied by management's grudging acknowledgement that new salesperson turnover will be forever high. A better approach is...Read more

Blog Post

13 March 2014

Close your eyes and think about one of the following songs: Michael Jacksonâ€™s ABC, Queenâ€™s Bohemian Rhapsody, or Neal Diamondâ€™s Sweet Caroline. Can you hear the beat in your head? Do you remember the chorus? How about the lyrics? Does it evoke a certain emotion? Music is amazing in the...Read more

Webcast

The Next Level of Transparency: Improving Sales Leadership’s Performance Insights

6 March 2014

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There is no status quo in sales, only constant evolution. Too often, the speed of change facing sales leaders forces them to make decisions without data - or worse, with data that isn't trusted. What's needed are data gathering and reporting platforms that keep pace with business changes, and...Read more

Blog Post

Sales Dashboards – New Research and Free Toolkit

2 March 2014

What makes a great sales dashboard? It’s more than just clever visual design or the latest technology. In fact, sales reporting standards are evolving quickly with innovations in data accessibility, technology, and analytics. We’re hoping to capture a few new insights into business-to-business sales organizations’ reporting practices through our latest...Read more

Webcast

Fire Your Coaching Model

21 February 2014

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Many firms consider sales coaching important, but remain unsatisfied with their coaching model. In fact, basic approaches to sales coaching have often been in place for decades, despite their lackluster impact. Management training reinforces poor-performing coaching approaches, guaranteeing the same poor outcomes. Breaking this cycle of failure must start with...Read more

Webcast

Lead to Money: Aligning Finance with Sales and Marketing Processes

14 February 2014

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We all agree that sales and marketing alignment is critical. Companies that have the two teams working together reap the rewards. But the "lead-to-money" process isn't fully optimized without integrating Finance’s involvement. This webcast outlines how an optimized lead-to-money processes combines the coordinated involvement of the Sales, Sales Operations, Marketing,...Read more

Webcast

Management’s Sales Planning Tune-Up

13 February 2014

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Effective sales plans require a wide-ranging set of inputs: performance targets, segmentation strategy, territory and quota assignments, expense projections, incentive compensation approaches, and more. Bulletproof plans distinguish sales organizations that execute flawlessly from those with poor direction and underwhelming results. What makes a great sales plan? This webcast examines...Read more

Blog Post

Our First Google Hangout! (We’ll Pass On Seconds.)

12 February 2014

Several weeks ago we held our first Google Hangout â€“ a discussion on Sales Leadershipâ€™s Social Strategy. The discussion featured Richardsonâ€™s CEO David DiStefano and Gerry Moran, SAPâ€™s Head of Social Media, North America. Weâ€™d hoped also to include a speaker from InsideView, who couldnâ€™t join because of technical issues...Read more

Webcast

Sales Performance Management Strategy for 2014

7 February 2014

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Does your organization have a clearly articulated strategy around Sales Performance Management? If not, you probably should -- research shows that companies that invest in sales performance management have a higher percentage of reps that make quota, lower sales turnover, shorter sales cycles, and faster revenue growth. This webinar is...Read more

Webcast

Social Strategies for Sales Leaders

1 February 2014

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Sales organizations are embracing social selling, taking advantage of social media’s new approaches for reaching buyers. Along the way, sales leadership faces a new set of management challenges. This session – our first hosted on the Google Hangouts platform – explores emerging issues impacting the social sales manager. Panelists: David...Read more

Webcast

Making Sense of Sales Crediting

24 January 2014

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Who deserves credit for closing a deal? In many organizations, the answer is complicated. Sales that involve more than one seller, long decision horizons, or multiple customer touch points often require a complex crediting scheme. Sales organizations that credit sales effectively do these things well: they anchor their crediting model...Read more

Blog Post

Killer Kick-Offs

19 January 2014

Itâ€™s sales kickoff meeting season, the time when companies reveal strategy and marching orders to their sales forces. Kickoff meetings set the tone for the entire year, so thereâ€™s a lot riding on getting them right. To help you out, weâ€™ve put together a toolkit with some sales kickoff meeting-related...Read more

Webcast

Fixing Forecast Accuracy

17 January 2014

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Forecasting accuracy is a problem for sales organizations. Too often forecasts reflect little more than a sales force’s collective intuition about future results. Not the reliable predictor management needs. New approaches to forecasting are proving much more valuable. They combine technology, salesperson activities, and a focus on verifiable customer outcomes....Read more

Webcast

New Salesperson On-boarding and Enablement Best Practices

20 December 2013

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New salesperson onboarding programs address a productivity-killing problem for all sales forces: getting new sellers up to speed. Effective sales leaders are addressing onboarding with a range of tools, including new ways to measure onboarding success. This webcast presents best practices in salesperson onboarding for sales management. Topics Case examples...Read more

Webcast

Moving Proposals Online: Emerging Trends, Key Outcomes, and Best Practices

19 December 2013

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Proposals are a challenge for managers, customers and salespeople, our recent research suggests. Managers can’t get data on proposal activity, such as the number of proposals outstanding, and their status. Customers can’t understand overly-complex proposal documents, and salespeople can’t deliver proposals consistently, effectively, and quickly. Online proposal tools are...Read more

Blog Post

Like many companies experiencing hyper-growth, LinkedIn struggled to meet its sales teams’ reporting demands. Conventional business intelligence tools proved inadequate for team members, who were expected to make their own data-driven decisions. After recasting its analytics strategy, LinkedIn provided its decision makers with greatly improved visibility and insight, ultimately establishing its analytics...Read more

Blog Post

28 June 2013

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Social media is changing the way sales people interact with buyers and prospects. For sales managers, optimizing the sales organization’s social media utilization is an emerging priority. In this panel discussion, we ask two social media thought leaders to address sales leadership’s challenges and opportunities in managing social media engagement....Read more

Webcast

How Collaboration Advances the Sale

27 June 2013

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As selling gets more complex, salespeople depend more on managers, subject matter experts, and specialized resources to succeed with buyers. How do world-class organizations apply the right resources to the right deals? Join us to learn what world-class organizations do differently to support collaborative culture and effective social sales communities....Read more

Blog Post

12 June 2013

Our recent webcast Building a Winning Sales Management Team: The Force Behind the Force, featured two perspectives on first line sales manager effectiveness. ZS Associates, whose intellectual Godfathers Sinha and Zoltners recently published an eponymous book on this topic, have much to say about sales effectiveness generally, and have focused...Read more

Webcast

Research Update: Managing Sales Force Change

11 June 2013

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Managing large-scale change initiatives is a priority for most sales organizations. In fact, the prevalence and intensity of change in the sales force means that sales leaders must be among the most adept change managers in the organization. In this Research Update, we review findings from The Sales Management Association’s...Read more

Webcast

Building a Winning Sales Management Team: The Force Behind the Force

10 May 2013

CallidusCloud‘s Chris Lesar offered several ideas for improving proposal effectiveness on our recent webcast Optimizing Sales Proposals and Quoting. Lesar frames the discussion by suggesting fouressential elements in a CPQ (Configure, Price, and Quotation) process: Product Selection Proposals Negotiations and Approvals 4. Order Fulfillment Each element poses significant challenges, including...Read more

Webcast

Research Update: Developing Sales Managers

10 May 2013

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Sales manager effectiveness contributes mightily to overall sales force productivity, yet many firms are unsure how to develop sales manager talent. This Sales Management Association webcast summarizes results from a recently concluded Research Initiative examining how firms make sales manager training and development investments. Presented by Sales Management Association Chairman...Read more

Webcast

Research Update: Annual Sales Meetings — Best Practices in Preparation and Planning

7 May 2013

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For the sales organization, the annual sales meeting can be invaluable for communicating strategic priorities and setting the tone for yearly expectations. This Sales Management Association Research Update examines findings from a recently concluded Research Initiative on examining how large organizations plan for effective annual sales meetings. It provides insight...Read more

Blog Post

Sales Managers: Why Are They Different?

6 May 2013

We recently completed fascinating research on corporate training and development programs for sales managers. In a recent webcast (Research Update: Developing Sales Managers), research underwriter Business Efficacy’s Kurt Theriault joined me for a preliminary review of the study findings. The research show that firms spend less, per-person, on sales manager...Read more

Webcast

Optimizing Sales Proposals and Quoting

6 May 2013

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Technology is enabling new approaches to streamlining sales proposal and quoting processes for sales organizations. This webcast offers instructive insights for firms working to improve proposal and quoting effectiveness. Key topics include a review of: Technology’s role in enabling productivity The impact of improved management control Important process considerations for...Read more

Webcast

Replicating Top Performers’ Sales Success

24 April 2013

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Sales organizations that replicate their top performers’ strengths establish effective practices throughout their sales organization. This webcast focuses on how to identify teachable traits embodied by your best salespeople, and how to promote those traits throughout your organization using tools and technology. Presented by TinderBox and their client, Advisa, this...Read more

Blog Post

8 March 2013

Mercer’s Shawn Rossi discussed sales strategy development in a recent webcast, Sales Planning and Strategy: Optimizing Resources, Tactics, and Outcomes. Sales strategy, says Rossi, answers three questions: What, How and Where What What is your growth target? Many factors impact this – including budget resources, past achievement, and demand projections. Rossi...Read more

Webcast

Returning to Growth: Eliminating Bad Sales Management Habits

8 March 2013

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The recent economic downturn hurt more than sales performance – it allowed potentially destructive management practices to gain a foothold in many organizations. Hyper-vigilant forecasting, constant reporting, and increased spans of control are some of the sales management approaches borne of necessity in crisis, but which foster dysfunction during recovery....Read more

Webcast

Sales Planning and Strategy: Optimizing Resources, Tactics, and Outcomes

5 March 2013

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Recent surveys of sales, sales operations, and executive leaders found that optimizing “sales strategy” is expected to have the greatest impact on sales force productivity. (Greater than improving pipeline management, quota setting, sales compensation, or sales training.) Given it’s perceived importance, you’d think most companies would be good at sales...Read more

Webcast

Four Steps to Creating an Effective Sales Dashboard

5 March 2013

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Sales executives deal with a daily barrage of data - forecast numbers, pipeline velocity, lead volume, territory effectiveness, win/loss reports. The biggest challenge is figuring out how to consume the data and translate it into better decision-making. How is this accomplished? The answer for an ever-increasing number of successful professionals...Read more

Blog Post

25 October 2012

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Sales organizations confront large-scale change initiatives on a regular basis. First-line sales managers are essential to implementing meaningful, sustainable change, particularly in large organizations. This panel discussion explores how firms are implementing sales force-wide change through a focus on transforming the front line sales manager role. Topics include: Sales management's...Read more

19 October 2012

The “SMART” goal setting methodology is well known (“SMART” goals are “Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time-related”). In a recent webcast Iconixx Software’s Bruce Jackson and Carolyn Jenkins described how SMART goal setting should apply to KPI (“Key Performance Indicator”) development. KPIs are often used as a kind of short-hand...Read more

Blog Post

The Crummy Conference Bag You Won’t Be Getting

14 October 2012

Remember that crummy conference bag you didn’t get at last year’s Sales Force Productivity conference? You’re not getting one at this year’s conference either. Do you need another crummy conference bag? One you schlepp around for three days, full of stuff you aren’t even sure you want? An ugly, logo-slathered...Read more

Blog Post

Sales Management: Welcome to the Funhouse

11 October 2012

Step inside the sales organization (most any large sales organization). You’ll see things that overwhelm the senses, confound reason, boggle the mind. Buyers will violate long-established natural laws governing customer behavior. Salespeople will perform activities that serve no purpose, and be paid for outcomes that they do not influence. Investments...Read more

Blog Post

Sales Management: The Force Behind the Sales Force

1 October 2012

ZS Associates’ Andy Zoltners is fond of posing the following question: If you had to decide between having a team of excellent salespeople with an average manager, or having a team of average salespeople with an excellent manager, which would you choose Itâ€™s a question he asked the general session...Read more

Research

Revolution in Sales: The Impact of Social Media and Related Technology on the Selling Environment

30 September 2012

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Greg W. Marshall, William C. Moncrief, John M. Rudd, and Nick Lee Republished from The Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management Over the years several articles have tracked the impact of technology on various aspects of the sales domain. However, the advent of social media and technologies...Read more

Blog Post

4 September 2012

Buy your salespeople iPads, and they’ll play more Angry Birds. But that shouldn’t stop you from pushing your sales organization to adopt tablets. That’s one finding from our recently concluded Study of Sales Force Tablet Computing Trends. Another is that salespeople are adopting iPads on their own as fast as...Read more

Webcast

Sales Manager Coach Thyself: The Development Strategy That Dooms Sales Forces to Fail

20 August 2012

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In recent years, the front-line sales manager has come into focus as a key point of leverage in the sales force. In particular, organizations are trying to improve their sales managers’ ability to coach their reps to higher performance. But what about sales managers themselves - who is coaching them?...Read more

Webcast

Case Study: Optimizing Sales Coverage

17 August 2012

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A sales organization’s coverage model aligns its selling resources with customers and market opportunity. Optimizing sales coverage represents an important priority for many firms as they plan for 2013. This Sales Management Association webcast features approaches for improving both sales coverage efficiency (doing more with less) and effectiveness (improving impact...Read more

Blog Post

Why Sales Coaching Fails (and a Research-Based Model That Works)

16 August 2012

Coaching As you read the word ‘coaching’ above, one of several thoughts might have come to mind. Perhaps you recalled the coaching model that your company wants you to use with your reps. Perhaps you were reminded that you haven’t been doing enough of it recently. Or maybe you thought,...Read more

Blog Post

Technology Might Fix The Sales Coaching Problem

12 August 2012

“Coaching” salespeople yields tangible productivity benefits for sales forces, as research (including our own) has shown. Yet although coaching is considered important by sales organizations, it is under-supported by executive leadership (see the exhibit from our research below). And despite acknowledging coaching’s benefits, very few sales organizations field credible coaching...Read more

Webcast

Sales Coaching’s Technology-Enabled Future

10 August 2012

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Technology is re-shaping the essential work of sales managers. This Sales Management Association webcast shows how management’s coaching effectiveness is dramatically amplified through the use of mobile recording technology, speech-to-text analytics, and innovative coaching delivery methods. Presenter Marc Miller, SpearFysh CEO and author of A Seat at the Table details...Read more

Research

Tablet PC Usage by Sales Organizations

1 August 2012

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The Sales Management Association’s research on tablet PC usage among business-to-business sales organizations was conducted in the first half of 2012. Target participants were sales and sales operations management within the Sales Management Association's membership and online community. Research objectives included understanding adoption trends among sales organizations, the impact of...Read more

Webcast

A Blueprint for Productive One on One Sales Coaching

25 July 2012

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In the rush to embrace “coaching,” sales organizations expect managers to offer salespeople one-on-one coaching sessions. As implemented by most firms, these are low-value, time-wasting affairs. For coaching to work, management must forget the common view of what a successful one-on-one coaching session should be; namely, focused on past performance,...Read more

Blog Post

Research Brief: Motivating the Sales Force [Spring 2012 Chapter Focus]

9 July 2012

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This spring's Sales Management Association chapter meetings in Chicago and Atlanta included panel discussions on "Motivating the Sales Force." [Our spring meetings were the first featuring a common topic, something we'll continue as we add new chapters (including Houston and Twin Cities in the fall).] In support of these sessions,...Read more

Blog Post

17 May 2012

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The concept of “sales enablement” appeals to everyone staked to the sales organization’s success. For salespeople and their managers, it promises shorter learning curves and quicker access to essential information; for IT, sales enablement often involves applying truly innovative technology; and for sales leadership, sales enablement promises a more productive,...Read more

Webcast

Solving the Puzzle of Territory Design

16 May 2012

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New research shows that few companies are focusing on sales territory optimization. Yet intelligent territory design yields substantial productivity improvements - as much as 10% in a single year - to those firms who embrace it. Optimizing account assignments, territory design, and sales resource deployment might be the single highest-return...Read more

Blog Post

9 February 2012

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Sales forces often stumble in providing proposals to customers. Offerings are increasingly complicated, and customers more apt to demand customized solutions; as a result, getting approved, accurate proposals in customers’ hands represents a real challenge to many firms. Many are addressing this challenge by investing in cloud-based CPQ solutions, which...Read more

Blog Post

21 December 2011

We've published a new Research Brief from the smart folks at Sales Economics in the Sales Management Association's Resource Library. The paper poses the question, "Why do companies invest more in engineering how they buy stuff (i.e. their supply chains) than in engineering how they sell stuff?" The article then...Read more

Research

Supply Chain Has an Operations Plan. Does Your Sales Force?

21 December 2011

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Companies typically apply operations strategy to the supply chain, establishing clear principles and processes for operating, directed at specific goals such as reducing costs and speeding up delivery times. The leaders of consulting firm Sales Economics, Inc., explain that applying the same kind of strategy to the sales organization can...Read more

Webcast

Sales Operations’ New Social Agenda

15 December 2011

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Social media has changed the way customers buy, and redrawn relationships between buyers and sellers. In response, sales operations departments are refocusing support investments, and aligning social media strategy with their sales organizations. In this Sales Management Association webcast, we’ll review how sales forces are harnessing social media to find,...Read more

Research

Management Practices in Solution Sales–a Multilevel and Cross-Functional Framework

15 December 2011

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Business-to-business sales has changed from being an isolated function with little cross-functional influence to becoming an integrated part of long-term customer management and from an operational practice to a strategically focused part of business strategy. This suggests a need to change the unit of analysis from the activities and attributes...Read more

Blog Post

Sales Force Benchmarking Just Got Easier

8 December 2011

Ever tried to benchmark your sales organization’s performance? It’s not an easy or inexpensive proposition. Finding objective, credible data has usually meant commissioning research, or settling for an apples-to-oranges affair with poorly-matched data. Now Sales Management Association underwriter The TAS Group aims to change that with its new “Dealmaker Index,”...Read more

Blog Post

Why a Shorter Sales Cycle Isn’t Always a Better Sales Cycle

26 November 2011

I recently had occasion to pick up an old copy of Spin Selling, still one of my favorites – which I’d recommend to Sales Management and Sales reps alike. Something caught my attention that I didn’t see the first time around — fast sales cycles are not always the goal....Read more

Webcast

Training Sales Managers: Best Practices

3 November 2011

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Sales managers can have an outsized impact on the sales organization’s performance. Why then, do so many companies invest so little in sales manager training? Firms that skimp on sales manager training forgo a critical opportunity to impact overall sales force effectiveness. In this Sales Management Association webcast we outline...Read more

Blog Post

18 October 2011

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Sales coaching is a hot topic, and gaining recognition as a productive area of focus for sales management. Yet for many firms, coaching programs create more smoke than fire. Recent Sales Management Association research on sales coaching practices indicate that for most sales organizations, coaching is poorly implemented, inconsistently practiced,...Read more

Blog Post

Sales Transformation: the Next Re-engineering?

5 October 2011

A recent conversation with a COO got us thinking. After meeting with a top CRM vendor our client said: “Did you hear the number of times and ways they referenced sales transformation? Since when did segmenting the business, re-designing the sales process, and enabling it with better tools become a...Read more

Webcast

Measuring Sales Coaching Success

2 October 2011

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Many sales organizations embrace coaching as an essential sales management role. With good reason: coaching's impact on sales force effectiveness and salesperson development has a tangible impact matched by few other management activities. Yet even those organizations that make sales coaching a priority sometimes struggle with how best to measure...Read more

Conference Archives

2011 Sales Force Productivity Conference

1 October 2011

Blog Post

Five Places to Focus for Sales Productivity

30 September 2011

Our members are thinking hard about sales productivity. Some are scrambling to react to unexpected growth; others to cratering demand. Many are re-aligning sales organizations as markets around them change unpredictably. They’re in turns exhilarated, terrified, or uncertain in the current economic environment, but their focus on making salespeople more...Read more

Blog Post

The Crummy Conference Bag You Won’t Be Getting at Sales Management Association’s 2011 Conference

26 September 2011

We hate conference bags. If you're attending Sales Management Associations 's 2011 Annual Conference, don't plan on getting one. Who wants to schlep stuff you didn't ask for in a bag you'll never use again Instead, our conference attendees get a Poken. Poken is a small device that enables our...Read more

Webcast

Management’s Guide to Effective Sales Performance Reporting

7 September 2011

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Performance reporting provides an essential tool for salespeople and the managers directing them. In this Sales Management Association webcast, we present an overview of top reporting tips and best practices for accelerating sales performance and management effectiveness. Speakers will discuss specific examples of how reporting activities drive effective sales performance...Read more

Blog Post

Interview with SAP’s Juan Herrera

30 August 2011

Sales Management Association's Chairman Bob Kelly interviews Juan Herrera, Vice President CRM at SAP. The interview took place at this spring's excellent MIT Sloan Sales Conference. We'll be posting more interview video with transcripts over the next few days. {transcription}

Webcast

Sales Leadership’s Role in Managing Pricing

30 August 2011

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In this Sales Management Association webcast, we provide sales leaders with insight into common pricing related challenges, suggest ways to integrate strategic pricing principles within a sales management framework, and provide best-practice insight on leading firms' use of pricing to optimize sales effectiveness. Presented by Alejandro Erasso and Matthias Linnenkamp...Read more