Is it Zoom Fatigue or Just Bad Meetings?

Our vocabulary has changed over the past year. I recently wrote on Forbes.com about some of those words. Here’s a phrase I didn’t write about: Zoom fatigue. A year ago, that wasn’t even a thing. Heck, most people had never used Zoom. Now, it is a well-known and oft-used term that everyone seems to understand. Let’s talk about what Zoom fatigue is and isn’t – and determine if ... by Kevin Eikenberry

The Seven Types of Sales Managers

With all the effort managers put forth in a valiant attempt to create a thriving company culture or salvage a once positive work environment, at the core of every healthy or toxic workplace is the boss, manager, or supervisor. All roads go back to the manager. And if the manager isn't willing to change, then, in the end, nothing will, especially your company's culture... by Keith Rosen

How to Use Buckets to Improve Sales Performance and Coaching

When it rains it pours, especially when it's coming down in buckets!..Buckets are important, especially when you're attempting to coach up a salesperson or even improve your own sales performance.  If you don't have the OMG evaluation at your fingertips and can't lookup the scores in 21 Sales Core Competencies, or see which attributes need to ... by Dave Kurlan

3 Referral Selling Skills All B2B Sales Reps Should Practice

Top B2B sales reps acknowledge that building their professional skills is the reason for their success. They know getting to the top of their game takes practice—deliberate practice. Just like running a marathon, mastering a sport, or becoming a virtuoso musician takes practices, so does building referral selling skills...But adults resist practice. We get paid to ... by Joanne Black

Are Your Sales Suffering From Go-Along-to-Get-Along-itis?

Missed sales forecasts happen for a variety of reasons, one being the feared condition of go-along-to-get-along-itis. This affliction is the avoidance of identifying the sales elephant in the room, which results in unqualified opportunities in the sales pipeline and writing practice proposals for prospects that are never going to buy...If you’ve been in sales long enough, you’ve ... by Colleen Stanley

Effectiveness Comes First

Effectiveness comes first. To be precise, your efficiency goals should be aligned to your effectiveness goals. Getting both right–efficiency (doing things right), and effectiveness (doing the right things)–is a challenge. Let’s approach it step by step...Think about it this way: Training sessions that make sense for marathon runners are not appropriate for sprinters, even if both want to win an Olympic gold medal. The disciplines are ... by Tamara Schenk

Customer Engagement Is Your Secret Weapon To Beat The Competition

The idea of customer engagement has been talked about for years, but it wasn’t until the past two or three years that a critical mass of companies began attempting to improve their customer service and experience through engagement... Just for clarification, the term customer engagement refers to the interaction between a company and its ... by Shep Hyken

Instead of Tricks and Tactics Do This

I recently conducted a role play with a younger salesperson who once worked at a large organization that engaged outside sales trainers. During our session I was struck by the fact he had used my first name six times in about a three-minute conversation. So, I asked him about it...He said he was taught in his previous job to use a prospect’s name at least at least three times in a voicemail message. I know ... by Gretchen Gordon

Time To Decide How You View Time

We make decisions about time how we use time every day.  Some decisions are hard to make, others, we don’t even think about.  One of the most common decisions is not to decide, to avoid the choice and the task.  People choose to punt for a number of reasons, but the common element is the decision they made or not.  So, when it comes to ... by Tibor Shanto

Think Outside the Marketing Box: Communication Skills to Build Sales Relationships

Selling is a lot like dating. Think about it: cold calling is like making the first move; clients might “play hard to get” at first by quibbling over details; and trust is essential to move to something longer term...In these socially-distanced times, we’re more likely to match on Tinder (or LinkedIn) than meet at a crowded party. But as in ... by Darryl Praill