Sales Performance Archives - Page 3 of 7 - Braveheart Sales Performance

Why Your Hot New Sales Tips Will Fail to Deliver

I recently responded to a reporter’s query about the best new tips and tricks for sales coaches to help their sales teams increase annual revenue by a factor of ten. Reflecting on where the most powerful opportunities lie, I concluded the best path to exponentially boost revenue for most companies is not through “hot new sales tips and tricks.” Rather, it will be found by going back to the basics. Only organizations that already have a functional sales foundation in place are well-poised to benefit from new strategies and techniques. Sustainable performance can’t be achieved via shortcuts. What follows is […]

Sales, Business and Life Lessons from the Head Ball Coach

Those of you that know me well know that I am a Florida Gator. You also may know that my husband had the pleasure of coaching for Steve Spurrier, and that my son is a quarterback at the University of South Carolina, where he has had the privilege of being directly coached by Coach Spurrier. So I am selfishly saddened by Coach Spurrier’s decision to resign. But I also feel blessed to know him and to have felt his impact on so many parts of my life. I even have a special picture of him holding my daughter when she […]

25 of the Best All-Time Sales Quotes

Looking for a quick shot of sales expertise? We’ve compiled 25 easy-to-digest, practical and motivational sales quotes from leading sales experts. It’s a blend of oldies but goodies with a sprinkle of new quotes that you probably haven’t read anywhere else.

Here’s one of mine:

“The only two reasons why salespeople fail are: 1. They don’t do enough of the right activities; and 2. They aren’t good at doing the activities when they do them.”

– Gretchen Gordon

Quotes from the Women Sales Pros Network

“High-level buyers want to talk to people who know more than they do. They hunger not for information […]

3 Benefits of Continuous Recruitment for Sales

Written by Frédéric Lucas. This was originally posted by our OMG Partner affiliate in Canada, Prima Ressource and has been translated from French with minor adaptation.

On the sales manager’s list of tasks, recruitment ranks low among priorities. When there is a need for one or more salespeople, managers dive into recruitment and put all their forces into battle. Often, just to hire the “least worst” candidates at the end of the recruitment process. TWEET THIS

However, the trend is increasing that companies need to recruit salespeople continuously.

Obviously, the first benefit of continuous recruitment is the ability to hire more quickly when the sales organization […]

How Do CEOs Sell Effectively When They Lack Sales Skills?

Written by Frédéric Lucas. This was originally posted by our OMG Partner affiliate in Canada, Prima Ressource and has been translated from French with minor adaptation.

Who is your company’s top seller? Is it by chance the CEO or business owner? Have you ever wondered why a CEO might sell more than a salesperson, despite having less finely-honed sales skills? (That generalization reflects the fact that salespeople are devoted full-time to sales while CEOs must wear many hats).

Who is the Top Seller at Many Companies? The CEO or Owner.

Business owners are often the best sellers of their company — NOT because they have developed special skills […]

Be an Exception to the Latest Depressing Stats on Consultative Selling

Hello. Are There Any Consultative Salespeople Out There?

I read a fantastic, albeit depressing article that was published yesterday by Dave Kurlan, founder of Objective Management Group (OMG).

Periodically, OMG mines the data on the thousands of salespeople that are assessed using their tools each year (now over 1 million salespeople in total). What they have learned is that the average consultative seller competency has not improved much over the last four years. Despite so much more information out there about sales effectiveness. And despite the hundreds of training and development companies that exist to try and improve sales skills of sales […]

Sales Digest: Make Your Pipeline More Effective

Braveheart Sales Digest
Focus On: Improving Your Sales Pipeline

The inaugural edition of our sales digest was well-received, so we are doing it again around a new theme: the sales pipeline. If you follow Braveheart’s Sales Management Blog, you have likely heard me refer to the “fluffy pipeline syndrome.” It’s a real thing that can seriously undercut sales performance.

In 2013, The TAS Group reported that only 46% of sales reps feel their pipeline is accurate. Find out what leading sales experts have to say now about building and maintaining an effective sales pipeline.

From the Women Sales Pros Network:

Title: Your Sales Pipeline is Not […]

10 of the Most Harmful Questions Salespeople Still Ask

Written by Frédéric Lucas. This was originally posted by our OMG Partner affiliate in Canada, Prima Ressource and has been translated from French with minor adaptation.

You’ve probably heard some absurd questions from vendors, and told yourself that it was not the way you were going to do business. There is no reason to repeat the mistakes of others.

I have assembled a list of the top 10 wrong sales questions that are frequently asked, despite their detrimental effect on the sales process.

If you are a salesperson and still use any of the questions listed below, it’s time to re-think your approach.

If you are a […]

Sales Digest: How Old-School Salespeople Can Stay Relevant

Braveheart Sales Digest

Focus On: How Old-School Salespeople Can Stay Relevant

Headlines periodically appear to predict total doom and gloom for old-school salespeople. Earlier this year, Hubspot’s Emma Snider blogged about Forrester’s prediction that a full million “traditional” sales jobs will be lost before 2020 (Forrester also predicted growth for sales consultants). But Snider more recently reassured us sales folk that we are still relevant after all, based on new Gartner research published in the Harvard Business Review.

In fact, Gartner’s research indicates salespeople are “more important than ever,” ranking them the single most influential factor for B2B sales (above references, events, white papers, sales […]

How to Structure Your Sales Compensation Plans

It seems that compensation plan structure is a hot topic with many Braveheart clients. The following are a few things to keep in mind when structuring compensation plans for your sales team.

1. Not all salespeople are money-motivated.

In fact, from the work that we do with clients and the thousands of assessments we see of salespeople, it appears that the majority of salespeople are NOT motivated solely by money. This means that ─ for most salespeople ─ increasing the commission opportunity will not necessarily incent them to behave dramatically differently. You could lower the base so substantially that they can’t survive […]