Categories: Front-line Managers | Sales Coaching Tools | Sales Leadership | Talent Management
Top sales teams differentiate themselves with a proven system for finding and attracting elite talent. But landing strong candidates is only the first step in the journey. The best organizations know how to retain sellers with the most potential and ensure they’re positioned to perform and excel as they advance up the ranks. Making the move from sales rep to manager is a common career pathway. Some individuals may not be ready for this transition today, but could become ready with time and development. Others may prefer to remain as individual contributors. Learn to recognize the difference so that you can make wise choices in offering promotions. Support your entire team by using the following tips to identify management potential and lay the foundation for new manager success. Here are six attributes to look for in sales manager candidates:
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Categories: Front-line Managers | Sales Planning | Sales Process
Healthy sales pipelines and accurate forecasts are grounded in structured territory, account and opportunity planning processes. These processes provide sales managers with an unrestricted line of sight into their sales organizations. Without this line of sight, sales organizations often miss quota goals, forecast revenue inaccurately, and close the majority of deals late in the quarter – or year.
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Categories: Buyer Alignment | Company Alignment | Front-line Managers
At the intersection of recent economic shifts, restructurings and rapid technology development, the sales reality is changing. The rules of engagement have shifted, and the way that customers discover, assess and ultimately choose your product may look very different from a few years ago.
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Categories: Front-line Managers | Sales Leadership | Unicorn Companies
In 2013, a venture capitalist coined the term “Unicorn” to refer to privately owned firms valued at over $1B. Back then, only 39 companies fit the criteria. Legislation had cleared the path for private companies to pursue funding and Unicorns became less mythical. By 2020, there were over 600. The real Unicorn stampede occurred in the wake of pandemic-era restrictions, fueled by rapid tech adoption and an exuberant funding environment. During 2021 alone, 537 new Unicorns were minted. Today, there are over 1250. There is no roadmap for becoming a Unicorn, but there are common threads. Most have great timing with a disruptive idea, scalable technology and a relationship with investors marked by two-way trust. But once they've reached the coveted Unicorn status, how do companies maintain performance and continue their steep growth trajectory? For leaders at these companies who have reached great heights and want to keep the pedal to the floor, there are three critical areas they'll need to maintain and support continued success. First, fast-growing teams need a unified sales message to leverage clarity on the value they’re bringing to the market. Second, streamline your selling processes: qualification methods, deep discovery, capturing and sharing proof points – fine-tune each component into a repeatable process embedded in your operating rhythm. Third, maintain strong talent while emphasizing retention and development. Let’s examine these three focus areas:
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Categories: Economic Change | Front-line Managers | Sales Leadership
Changing course to weather the economic storm is a little like other initiatives that require leader visibility. To pivot successfully, you’ll need to rally the troops and build buy-in around the shifted approach. But unlike a launch, your plan for steering the ship through choppy waters comes with added background noise. Tightened budgets, longer sales cycles, and “not right now”... the realities of today’s market can take a toll on morale. In a challenging economy, it’s critical to retain and maximize the talent you have by providing support. In an environment where your sales organization may be asked to do more with less, you don’t want to risk losing your A-players. Without a clear understanding of your company’s future and plans for how you’ll move forward, economic challenges can make employees feel insecure. Your strategies to hit your revenue goals in a down economy can only be impactful if your workforce is committed to making them a reality.
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Categories: Front-line Managers | Opportunity Reviews | Sales Coaching Tools
For the modern sales organization, certain technologies are universal in the age of Sales 2.0. We rely on CRMs and continuous learning platforms to increase the efficiency of our sales force and drive organizational outcomes. The recent economic downturn has most sales organizations looking for ways to achieve even greater cost efficiency and support revenue-driving activities. One high-impact area where leaders are choosing to invest is manager enablement. Emerging sales technologies can optimize opportunity reviews and coaching to increase front-line manager effectiveness. These managers have a unique potential to impact your organization’s success; an investment in their efficacy is an investment in overall sales velocity.
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