Blog
7 Costly Mistakes in Sales Forecasting
With the arrival of another new year, many companies are already tracking their sales results against annual sales forecasts. Inevitably, some will discover that their sales results are not measuring up to the quotas and outcomes that they expected. Of course, conditions in the marketplace and customer behavior often dictate sales success or failure, but another common reason for failing to reach sales targets is the forecast itself. Disconnects between your sales forecast and the [...]
This Year Is A Great Year To Start Your CRM Initiative.
As various holidays wind down and we head into the New Year, many of us will make resolutions to implement positive changes and improvements in our personal lives during the coming year. The New Year is also a great time to make resolutions in business; to roll out new initiatives on an organizational level and embrace tools that can drive success during the coming year. A CRM can provide enormous boosts to productivity and greatly [...]
5 Ways That Sales Reps Can Use Social Media to Drive Leads
For companies looking to grow their business, content marketing has become an important strategy. This helps drive traffic to their websites and generate new sales leads by providing engaging and educational content that is useful to their prospective customers. By posting and sharing helpful content through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and YouTube, companies can target important search keywords and topics that their prospective customers are searching for and exploring online. And, by [...]
This Year, Achieve Your New Year’s Resolution!
The New Year is a time of celebration and reflection. It allows you to look back over the past year and celebrate your successes as well as focus on the things in your life that might need improvement. Although making a New Year’s resolution is very popular, few individuals actually reach their goals. Of the 40% of Americans who make New Year’s resolutions last year, only 8% actually achieved their goals. The key to successfully [...]
How to encourage positive reviews and brand advocacy among customers
When it comes to building your brand and growing sales, turning your highly satisfied customers into brand advocates is one of the best strategies you can deploy. Brand advocates are the people or customers who talk favorably about your business or products, passing along valuable word-of-mouth messages that often influence others to buy. According to research by Nielsen, the Keller Fay Group, and Forrester, as reported by the brand advocacy solution Zuberance, brand advocates are [...]
What are some online Christmas promotional tactics for small business owners?
Christmas is just around the corner, but there is still time for small business owners to leverage the season when it comes to sales. There are some last minute promotional tactics for small business owners that can measurably increase sales while also jump-starting customer loyalty and brand recognition. Email Marketing One of the most straightforward ways to accomplish a good online presence is to send out a blast email to your customer base. You can [...]
How To Get Referrals From Your Existing Customers
Too often, businesses overlook referrals. They expect referrals to take care of themselves, or they just don’t know how to get to them. But referrals are among the most significant sales tools at your disposal. They cost you very little to encourage and receive, and they should be a focal point for your business if you are looking to drive more opportunities and generate more sales. So, how do you change your habits to start [...]
What is the Difference Between a Contact Manager and a CRM?
If there was one question that I wish I would get more often it's this: What is the difference between a Contact Manager and a CRM? You may have heard the term contact management as it relates to software for managing interactions with your customers or clients. Most “Contact Managers” or Contact Management Software will allow you to keep track of notes that are related to a contact record. Outlook is a good example of [...]
What if Your Competitive Situation Just Got a Lot Tougher? by Jill Konrath
This post originally appeared on Jill Konrath’s website and is republished here with permission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obki7U9m-Jw It’s so easy for us to get stuck in our ways and only think of incremental changes to what we’re currently doing. But to be effective today, we need fresh sales strategies – and those only come when you start asking yourself different questions. Here’s a challenge to get you to expand your thinking: What would you do [...]
Four ways to Unite Your Sales and Marketing Teams
Whether there is one salesperson or 1,000 salespeople outfitting your front line, it’s important that they have the right tools to convert opportunities into sales and ensure your company’s success. Working with your salespeople to identify their needs and provide these tools is the most efficient way to ensure that a company’s sales interactions and marketing communications are consistent, relevant, and designed to drive the sales pipeline. Here are four ways you can bring your [...]