Tag: Sales

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10 Sales Phrases You Definitely Want to Avoid During a Pitch

Overcoming your fear of sales is a key goal for entrepreneurs, new business founders, and people transitioning to the sales field. The only way to combat fear is through repetition - and in the context of sales, this equates to cold calls or emails. According to Salesforce, 92% of all interactions with customers happen over a phone call. While an introductory email can warm up a lead ahead of time, avoiding calls and scheduled meetings is almost inevitable, yet it has to be approached professionally and respectfully to your prospect. According to a survey led by HubSpot, there's a dramatic… Continue Reading
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7 Strategic Ways to Build a Strong Sales Team For SMEs

Sales productivity is the rate at which members of the sales team acquire revenue for the business. High sales productivity is often a combination of several factors: Saleability of the Product The sales strategies used to sell the product Sales team management Individual sales team member’s ability to sell A strong sales team is one that hits quota and generates significant revenue for the business. However, building a strong sales team is often a process that combines hard work and luck. 1. Establishing the Right Mindset as SME Executives Everyone in charge of their own business should sell. That includes… Continue Reading
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Mastering the B2B Sales Process: How to Effectively Reach Decision Makers

Budget and timing are the two major reasons why businesses and salespersons lose B2B deals. This is according to a report from Chorus. This gives emphasis to the fact that the B2B sales process is a long one and it needs strategic approaches not only in budget and timing but also in other key aspects. To be successful in B2B sales means to have a deeper appreciation of B2B processes and sales stages, determining and reaching the decision-makers, and knowing how to go through the sales process efficiently. Understanding the B2B Process The B2B process takes longer than B2C since:… Continue Reading
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How to Attract Better Prospects

What are the best ways and the best practices for attracting better prospects for your business? 53% of the sales leaders surveyed by CSO Insights claim that their top barrier to reaching their goals is their team’s inability to generate enough qualified leads through prospecting. A qualified lead is basically any company or individual who could become your potential customer based on a certain criteria and the information they have provided. Note that there is no standard criteria for all types of businesses. You can develop your own criteria based on a number of factors. Sales teams want to focus… Continue Reading
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14 Reasons Why the Website RFP Process Is Really Broken

One of the most painful roadblocks of the web ecosystem is the practice of creating and submitting RFPs (Request for Proposals). And among the leading reasons why we transitioned to WordPress retainers back in 2014 was precisely due to how broken this process is. (The other key goal was focusing on recurring revenue.) But since the process of recruiting agencies and freelancers is so ridiculous at large, let's look up some raw data. 80% Of All Projects Fail The most trusted and authoritative source of data in terms of project success and failure rates is the CHAOS report by the… Continue Reading
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4 Sales Case Studies (And Key Takeaways)

A report from CSO insights indicated that the percentage of salespeople making quota has dropped from 63 percent to 53 percent over a five-year period—from 2012 to 2016. The reasons for this could vary: Selling has become more challenging with the changes in consumer behavior.Salespeople’s selling techniques are not as effective anymore as they were five years ago.The supply of goods offered has saturated the market The sales distribution has spread thinly among individual salespeople. Regardless of the reason, selling comes with its challenges and some selling scenarios make it even more challenging than it already is. [Tweet "Selling comes… Continue Reading
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5 Powerful Sales Prospecting Strategies for SMEs

I remember landing my first consulting clients by sales prospecting through the following channels: ReferralLinkedInCold outreach The first one came from a friend providing consulting in a different field. He did reach out to me and asked if I was interested - so that worked out pretty well (a warm reference plus a vetted client). #2 was through LinkedIn. I signed up in 2007, joined a few groups, added the folks in my circle. I met some local peers who were building a community of a sort - similar to what “LinkedIn Local” is nowadays. #3 was a cold call… Continue Reading
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Why You Have to Target Non-US Markets For Higher Profits

Currently, the United States is the world's largest national economy. Its GDP for 2016 is $18,56 trillion, hosts the majority of the biggest companies in the universe (that we know of), and is notoriously known as the "land of unlimited possibilities." [caption id="attachment_12254" align="aligncenter" width="730"] GDP for the US over the years - source[/caption] It's only natural to target the US market when selling services, or products, and aim for a higher percentage of visitors, users, and customers living in the States. It's the goal of many entrepreneurs and a target for their marketing teams. A study quoted by Reference.com… Continue Reading
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Sales Tips For Bootstrapping a Development Startup

Software developers often think about starting a business of their own. There are freelance and remote working opportunities, the job requires understanding business models, and the pay is great. Of course, the tricky question is - how to land repetitive customers? 4 Strategies For Bootstrapping Without A Sales Background [caption id="attachment_13303" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Checklist from https://articles.bplans.com/business-startup-checklist/[/caption] Sales skills are paramount for founders. Founders are the best salespeople in a business over the first years. They are passionate enough to work crazy hours for minimal pay for years, living and breathing their own business. Not everyone is born a salesman though… Continue Reading
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Introverts Are Great In Sales And Marketing

Despite of my tendency to get involved with public speaking at conferences and universities and being a band member, I tend to define myself as an introvert. I don't enjoy large crowds and clubs full of people, and I have a small circle of people that I stay in touch with on a daily basis. Plus, different tests and studies define me as mainly introvert (since there's no definitive black or white for anything). Introverts are often having a hard time selling their services. Extroverts are being more vocal, and also able to connect to prospects at conferences, call random leads… Continue Reading