5 Shocking Succession Planning Statistics

Competitive, challenging and constantly changing – that is today’s marketplace. As a leader, there is so little you can control, so many shifts happening that can negatively impact your ability to be successful... In a landscape like this, the leaders that succeed are the ones who are clear on what they can control, those who have razor like focus on their priorities, and those that understand that their best path to growth and ... by Meridith Elliott Powell

Forecasting Sales for the 4th Quarter

Sales has traditionally been an intuition-driven profession. Today, adopting that approach is a major competitive disadvantage. In our data-driven era, sales leaders need to make decisions in response to real-world market changes, up-to-date assessments of competitor activity, demonstrably accurate summaries of customer preferences, and company-wide data trends. Relying on opinion or “gut feel” means losing ground in the marketplace. Perhaps the most obvious situation where ... by Mike Montague

Thank You for the Feedback!

Everyone has thoughts and feelings about feedback. For most people, the first and most prevalent thoughts about that idea are negative. Think about it – if someone says to you “I need to give you some feedback,” are you immediately jumping for joy? Most likely not. Given that initial reaction, how can we improve our feedback effectiveness so that people welcome the feedback we give them?.. With a goal of greater feedback effectiveness, most people want to ... by Kevin Eikenberry

2 Questions That Will End Every Request for a Better Price

I was thinking about all the things we pay for that used to be free and are still free, yet we pay for them anyway.  How many can you think of?.. I get more  value when I pay for the features I want than I can get with free versions.  In other words, the pain of not having better tasting water, more listening and viewing options, and software that does everything I need, is exponentially greater than the savings I would realize from ... by Dave Kurlan

Are You Overwhelming Your Prospects?

Remember the acronym KISS? Keep It Simple Stupid. It is not a really emotionally intelligent way to coach a salesperson on how to improve their sales approach so remove the word stupid and you will find that KIS is a strategy top sellers are using in their sales approach today... Fact. Most of your prospects are overwhelmed. They are being bombarded with information all day long... The internet, social sites, texts, emails, phone calls, hallway conversations, television and you can ... by Colleen Stanley

Emails That Paid Off – with Metaphors

Some prospecting emails win business and some just disappear into the ether.  Clients of serial entrepreneur Yassin Shaar happily fall into the former group. His compelling persuasion tool that helped one client land $400,000 in sales? Metaphors!  Here’s how he did it... Yassin partnered up with a Google Ads agency in the real estate industry competing for new business against larger real estate lead generation firms as well as against the belief by prospects that they ... by Anne Miller

How to Make the Most of Your University Giving Days

In March 2021, Cornell University made headlines when its 14,411 donors managed to raise a whopping $10,040,921 in just 24 hours, thus breaking the school’s 2020 record by approximately $3 million!.. The 2021 Purdue Day of Giving made an even bigger splash by bringing in $52,489,367!.. These are some impressive numbers that you may think only high-profile institutions can hit, but what if your school sets five or six-figure fundraising goals?.. Don’t panic! You can still hit your fundraising goals by ... by Darryl Praill

How to Create a Referral Network

When done right, a referral network is a self-feeding machine in which you’re getting referrals regularly... Because your network knows you, and knows your business, the referrals they give you are much more likely to convert than your average lead. That means time spent nurturing and building your referral network equals time saved, because you’re not having to sift through poor prospects... Let’s dive into seven ways to create and grow your referral network... These have to be people like you. These are people who have goals like yours, work ethics like yours. Maybe they are not necessarily in your ... by Mark Hunter

Believe With Trust: Building Organizational Confidence

The ability to draw regularly from a deep well of confidence is a top predictor of successful performance. Experts know this and top-ranked salespeople do, too... But confidence isn’t just important at a personal level. It matters as much at an organizational level, too. Here’s why: confidence is a transferable feeling. So, it should come as no surprise that the word, borrowing from its Latin roots, loosely means to “believe with trust.”.. Sure, you trust in yourself… by Colleen Francis

What Peloton Taught Me

I could ride my exercise bike for free. But I don’t. Instead, I gladly fork over the equivalent of eight lattes each month to have a Peloton instructor look me in the eye and cheer me on, challenge me, entertain me, and empathize with me as I sweat... Sure the music is great, as are the high-fives, the leaderboards, and the other riders with more clever names than mine, like FreddieSpinzeJr or Rides4wine. But the real reason I work out harder and longer and more consistently with Peloton is due to the personal relationships I’ve developed with instructors like ... by Julie Hansen