Sales Trend 9 – Marketing technology for better sales results

By / / Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, CRM, Marketing, Sales Forecasting, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Pipeline, Sales Results, Sales Trends

Guest co-author: David Hubbard CEO, Founder and Revenue Growth Expert for Marketing Outfield, New York, USA

Sales Trend 9 from our  12 Sales Trends Report for 2016 is about using Marketing technology for better sales results.

Sales and Marketing Technology – Which Trends Should You Pay Attention To?

No wonder we are confused. The number of vendors providing Advertising, Marketing OR Sales technology “solutions” has exploded in the last couple of years with it becoming a large multi-billion dollar industry with revenues growing at double digit percentages annually. There are now over 3000 vendors (and more in …

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5 things you can do to improve your sales results now

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Pipeline, Sales Results, Sales Tips, Success

Yes, the world of business and especially B2B selling is getting more complex every day. Buyers’ decision making processes, especially on larger deals, are taking longer, up to 20% longer than 5 years ago. And the decision making process usually involves a range of people not just one key decision maker. Making a good sale involves many moving parts.

So what can we do to improve our sales results now? Here are 5 things you can do immediately to help you win more sales and keep the sales momentum going.

  • Build Your Sales Pipeline: you usually need 3-4 times your sales budget …

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    Why managing sales inputs leads to sales disaster

    By / / CRM, Education in Sales, Performance Management, Sales Forecasting, Sales Management, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Motivation & Rewards, Sales Pipeline, Sales Results

    ‘Selling is a numbers game’ has been said more times than any of us care to remember.  And yes, numbers are critical to sales, however some organisations place far too much emphasis on the managing the numbers, especially their obsession with their salespeople’s input activities – i.e. number for prospecting (cold) calls, client meetings, numbers in the pipeline etc. This “management by numbers” approach is flawed and leads to confusion, distress and worst, poor sales results over both the short and longer term.  The approach fails to grasp that up to 80% of the activities of a sale are outside …

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    How many clients and sales are you losing out the back door?

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Customer Service, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Forecasting, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Pipeline

    Are you aware that it is six (6) times more expensive to acquire a new client than it is to retain an existing client?

    Keeping clients onboard and engaged with your business is just as important as your sales team finding new business sales with new and existing clients, however many businesses do not pay enough attention to the back end of their business leaving client retention to chance.

    Have you ever mapped the whole value chain of your business and looked at where your clients engage with your company?

    How many client touch points are there?

    The more …

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    Why B2B Buying Decisions Are Taking Longer Than Ever

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Mindful selling, Sales Coaching, Sales Forecasting, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Pipeline, Sales Planning, Sales Relationships, Sales Training

    Are companies taking longer to make buying decisions or does it come down to impatience on the part of the B2B sales person, in a hurry to reach their sales targets? It seems nowadays buying decisions are taking longer to make than in previous years. This slow purchasing process isn’t just happening at the enterprise level in large scale businesses, it’s extended right across the board.

    Protracted buying is dramatically slowing the sales process. The flow-on effects of such time delays are causing blow-outs in the cost of sale for many

    Why B2B Buying Decisions Are Taking Longer Than Ever Read Post »

    Why we should coach, manage & measure Sales Inputs rather than Sales Results

    By / / Coaching, Communication, CRM, Performance Management, Prospecting, Sales Forecasting, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Pipeline, Sales Training, Success

    Do you leave your sales results to chance? Well you might be if you are like most businesses that are too fixated on Sales Results – the Outcomes. Managing by numbers, sales managers can get blinded by measuring the number of sales made and revenue and profit margins achieved rather than focusing on the vital activities that produce these outcomes in the first place- The Sales Inputs.

    Every outcome is the result of its inputs. Every effect has its corresponding cause(s).

    Consider the following questions:

    • Do you know how your sales people actually achieved their …

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    What’s channel stuffing and why is it problematic?

    By / / Ethics & Values, Sales Forecasting, Sales Management, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Pipeline, Sales Planning, Strategy

    How much do you actually sell? How profitable are your sales? How accurately can you forecast your sales results? How many ‘returns’ do you receive? How often do you need to discount? How often are you left with old stock? What are your sales cycles? Are your sales people rewarded on volume only or on margin, account growth, account retention, and customer satisfaction?

    The answers to these and other key questions will tell you just how effective a sales force is functioning, how they measure their effectiveness, how they think about their business, their customers, their careers, and how likely they …

    What’s channel stuffing and why is it problematic? Read Post »

    What are the benefits of a CRM system in your business?

    By / / Collaboration, Communication, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, CRM, Sales Consulting, Sales Forecasting, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Pipeline, Sales Planning, Sales Relationships, Sales Strategy, Strategy, Value Proposition & Value Add

    First of all what does CRM stand for? CRM = Customer Relationship Management.

    The concept of CRM has been around for a long time. The original form of CRM was a manual card system kept by a sales person that usually sat on the sales person’s desk or alongside them in the car. These client cards sets were very valuable to the sales person as this is where they kept important customer information such customer contact details, key contacts in the company, a running commentary on their activities, personal and product preferences, buying patterns, business connections and so forth. Each card …

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