Posted on March 6th, 2009 by Dave Stein
Sales training is more than 100 years old. With few exceptions, it’s not very sexy. Many salespeople believe (PDF) they’ve been through enough of it to last a lifetime. For many reasons, most of their managers don’t see any value, so they take a tactical, event-based approach just to check the “trained my people this [...]
Filed under: Buyers, CRM, Economy, Hiring, Methodology | 15 Comments »
Posted on March 5th, 2009 by Dave Stein
As ESR continues to assess our clients’ sales challenges, we maintain that having the wrong people in the sales jobs is, in many cases, the biggest inhibitor to the success of a training intervention. My interview with Todd Harris of PI Worldwide highlighted one of the tools available for sales leaders to get an objective [...]
Filed under: Economy, Hiring, Interview, Measurement, Professionalism | No Comments »
Posted on March 2nd, 2009 by Dave Stein
A lot more salesreps are working from home now than even a few years ago. But working from home isn’t for every salesrep or every company. Now’s the time to look at this issue. It could mean the difference between your home-office reps making their numbers or not. A post on (Jigsaw’s CEO) Garth Moulton’s [...]
Filed under: Economy, Measurement, Pipeline, Professionalism, sales process | 8 Comments »
Posted on February 25th, 2009 by Dave Stein
ESR has a unique perspective on sales performance improvement. We don’t deliver sales training or sales consulting. We’re sales training industry observers, analysts, researchers and advisors to our clients on what works in sales effectiveness and training. Here’s what’s been going on at ESR: A large client in the financial services sector is working very [...]
Filed under: Buyers, Competition, Economy, Hiring, Measurement, Methodology, On the Road, Opportunity Management, Presentations, Research, Sales 2.0, sales process, Sales Strategy, Sales Training Companies | 4 Comments »
Posted on February 9th, 2009 by Dave Stein
When it comes to marketing, Miller Heiman leads the pack. I recently spoke with Elizabeth Vanneste, their Chief Marketing Officer. Elizabeth brought Miller Heiman into four telecommunications companies where she had previously worked. She joined the Miller Heiman team last June as a sales VP and took over marketing three months ago. Elizabeth shared with me [...]
Filed under: Buyers, CRM, Economy, Marketing, Methodology, Opportunity Management, Relationships, sales training, Sales Training Companies, Technology | 3 Comments »
Posted on January 7th, 2009 by Dave Stein
One of the top firms among the 26 sales performance improvement providers ESR covers is Performance Methods, Inc. (PMI). Founder and managing partner Steve Andersen is recognized as a thought-leader in the demanding and often misunderstood area of strategic account management. (Listen to Steve in an ESR/Podcast.) To understanding what a strategic account management methodology [...]
Filed under: Account Management, Big Wins, Buyers, coaching, Competition, CRM, Economy, Measurement, Methodology, Professionalism, Relationships, Sales 2.0, Sales Strategy, Sales Training Companies | No Comments »
Posted on December 29th, 2008 by Dave Stein
Pick one or more of the resolutions below. Commit, execute, enjoy the results. I’ll never hire another sales rep who can’t get the sales job done. First, completely understand the position and the skills and traits required to be successful. Evaluating whether a candidate meets those requirements requires a series of two to three structured [...]
Filed under: Big Wins, Buyers, CRM, Economy, Hiring, Leadership, Measurement, Methodology, Opportunity Management, Research, sales process, Sales Strategy, Sales Training Companies | 6 Comments »
Posted on December 22nd, 2008 by Dave Stein
Read McKinsey’s recent article, The downturn’s new rules for marketers (registration required). I was pleasantly surprised to see some sound advice about sales organization function and structure in the article. The real meat for those of us on the sales side is near the end of the piece, beginning with, “Reprioritizing sales function.” There is [...]
Filed under: Economy, Leadership, Marketing, Research | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 17th, 2008 by Dave Stein
I’ve heard the term “rolling disclosure” a few times on the political TV shows recently. So far as I can tell, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was the first to use the term in 2001. Matthews: “He told us what he knew as soon as he knew it, not when it suited him. There was no ‘rolling [...]
Filed under: Competition, Economy, Professionalism, Relationships, Sales Strategy | 3 Comments »
Posted on December 16th, 2008 by Dave Stein
When I worked coaching sales teams I generally took a tough, if not black and white, position on responding to blind RFPs. My clients heard me say again and again, “Follow conventional wisdom: If you didn’t write it, your competitor probably did. Let’s come up with more productive ways to spend your time.” (Now I’m [...]
Filed under: Book Recommendation, Buyers, Economy, Marketing, Methodology, Pipeline, Research | 5 Comments »
