Social media has completely transformed the way people interact with each other—including the way sales professionals interact with customers and prospects. Social selling is one of the hottest trends in the business world, yet many sales professionals remain skeptical of its effectiveness.

But, take one look at these statistics and you’ll see that social selling produces serious results (source): Continue reading “15 Social Selling Quotes to Inspire Your Sales Efforts”

As a B2B sales rep, you already know objections are an unavoidable part of your job.  Yet, as we explained in a recent blog post, there are many tips and tricks sales reps can use to bypass common objections during the sales cycle.

Research shows price objections are the number one objection sales rep face—but half of all price objections are phony (source). Most of the time, when a prospect says, “I can’t afford it,” they’re not usually talking about price at all. They’re really saying, “You haven’t demonstrated the value of your product and therefore, I’m not ready to spend my money on it.”   Continue reading “4 Foolproof Ways to Beat Price Objections”

Reporting allows sales professionals and managers to stay on top of their team’s performance, uncover key insights about customers and the sales cycle, and develop new strategies to increase the effectiveness of their entire sales organization.

But, there’s a downside to sales reporting too. If you don’t take the right approach, your sales reports can be a waste of time– or worse, they can inspire poor decision-making and negatively impact many aspects of your business. Continue reading “5 Ways Your Sales Reports Are Hurting Your Business”

A win/loss analysis is the process of studying past business deals in order to generate valuable insights about your company’s selling practices. The insights garnered from this type of analysis can be instrumental in growing your business and increasing revenue.

In fact, companies that conduct win/loss analyses consistently outperform those that don’t in the following areas (source): Continue reading “How to Conduct a Win/Loss Analysis in B2B Sales”

Are your sales forecasts tied to reality? Is sales forecast accuracy more of a pipedream within your sales organization? Does the speed of your sales pipeline resemble molasses? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’re not alone.

In fact, less than half of all forecasted sales opportunities actually result in a sales win. Just under a third result in a competitive loss, and nearly a quarter result in the prospect deciding to do “nothing” (source). Needless to say, this paints a less-than-promising picture of sales forecast accuracy. Continue reading “Increase Sales Forecast Accuracy and Speed Up Your Pipeline”