Posted on August 31st, 2010 by Dave Stein
TweetThe skills and traits for success in a sales management position overlap but are very different for success in a direct selling role. That means that if that salesrep, no matter how well they have performed, does not possess the specific skills and traits required for success in that management job, they are likely going to [...]
Filed under: Hiring, Leadership, Research | 6 Comments »
Posted on February 8th, 2010 by Dave Stein
TweetI just received a copy of Improving Corporate Negotiation Performance, a new study published by UK-based Huthwaite International and Connecticut-based IACCM—International Association for Contract and Commercial Management. Huthwaite, along with other leaders in the area of negotiation like Think Inc! and The Bay Group, vigilantly drive the critical point that negotiation shouldn’t begin when a [...]
Filed under: Book Recommendation, Measurement, Research, Sales Training Companies | 2 Comments »
Posted on December 2nd, 2009 by Dave Stein
TweetDave Brock wrote a terrific post about sales process. It sparked me to write about an issue that has been troubling me. I’m not going to put forward any more arguments on the subject of whether or not process important in selling. There is enough research out there—from ESR, from other research firms, and a [...]
Filed under: Methodology, Opportunity Management, Research, Sales Training Companies, sales process | 11 Comments »
Posted on October 9th, 2009 by Dave Stein
TweetI thought I’d bring you up to speed on a few things going on. First, several new books on selling have recently been published: Smart Selling on the Phone and Online by Josiane Chriqui Feignon. Josiane gets it. I normally don’t endorse books like this, but because inside salespeople so often don’t have the skills, [...]
Filed under: Book Recommendation, Industry Analyst, Presentations, Research, Sales Training Companies | 3 Comments »
Posted on July 21st, 2009 by Dave Stein
TweetFortunately, it’s a busy time for us at ESR. Right now, we’re providing advice and guidance to a number of companies that are actively evaluating strategies and solutions for sales performance improvement, but based on the economy, the state of the sales training industry, and the mistakes they’ve made in the past, have to finally [...]
Filed under: Economy, Leadership, Marketing, Methodology, Research, Sales 2.0, Sales Training Companies, sales process, social media | 7 Comments »
Posted on May 4th, 2009 by Dave Stein
TweetWhat’s going on here? Sales training has been around for more than 100 years. Yet every year, new approaches appear with the promise of being “The Silver Bullet.” Old approaches—even those that are relevant to fixing the proble—are labeled “old-school,” and rejected. On Amazon.com there are 29, 469 books under the category of “How to [...]
Filed under: Account Management, Buyers, Economy, Industry Analyst, Professionalism, Research, Technology | 26 Comments »
Posted on April 10th, 2009 by Dave Stein
TweetUpdate: This conference is sold out. I’m delighted to be both presenting and participating in a panel discussion at the Sales 2.0 Conference in Boston on May 21st. Using recent research from ESR’s Sales Training Vendor Guide, I’ll talk specifically about technology-enabled learning—how technology is changing learning and why today, effective sales learning requires technology. [...]
Filed under: Research, Sales 2.0, Sales Training Companies | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 8th, 2009 by Dave Stein
TweetESR’s Sales Training Vendor Guide: Third Edition was published this morning. The Guide analyzes, compares, and contrasts 23 leading sales training providers across many areas including: Solutions Range Range of Target Companies Range of Target Audiences Range of Training Programs Adaptability Range of Instructional Aids & Tools Quality of Instructional Design Measurement Programs Post-training Reinforcement [...]
Filed under: Book Recommendation, Buyers, Methodology, Research, Sales 2.0, Sales Strategy, Sales Training Companies, Technology, sales process | No Comments »
Posted on March 26th, 2009 by Dave Stein
TweetI’ve been involved in a number of posts on The Customer Collective where there have been some personal attacks by a few social media zealots against some of us that have a more balanced view of the capabilities and tools required for effective B2B selling going forward in this new(est) economy. Jonathan Farrington1, Dave Brock, [...]
Filed under: Buyers, Economy, Professionalism, Relationships, Research, Sales Strategy, Technology, sales process | 5 Comments »
Posted on March 23rd, 2009 by Dave Stein
TweetA few weeks ago the folks at Kadient briefed me on their approach and their sales performance improvement tools. As you would expect, I posed the chicken-and-egg question with respect to what order a company should implement Kadient’s tools versus installing and implementing a sales methodology. I liked their answers. I picked up a tweet [...]
Filed under: Big Wins, Competition, Methodology, Opportunity Management, Research, sales process | 12 Comments »
