Colleen’s Blog

Have you considered the power behind being ubiquitous in your industry?

Strategic pivots can help you during these times.

Sometimes, it's OK for your business and sales not to grow. You read that right.

Today's global pandemic is an extraordinary public health crisis. As we get past the immediate challenge of doing what's necessary and wise to stay well and safe, the next big question is: "What must I do to keep going professionally?" Answer that by looking at the best practices of top sales leaders. The wisdom there is timeless. It applies to every tough situation—including this one. 

I was working with a group of sales managers at a workshop a few weeks ago and one of them introduced this strategy. It was a very simple strategy of implementing an account plan when you didn’t have a sophisticated account planning process.

There’s one thing I’ve noticed with organizations and people who are really good at bringing new business: they are good at operationalizing value. These organizations and people have closing ratios higher than the average: 40% to 45%, as opposed to the average of 25% to 30%.

   A few months ago, I was privileged to be invited to a seminar hosted by Gartner featuring a small group of top level thought leaders in sales. There were about six of us around the table and we got a preview of Gartner's research that they were rolling out at their sales summit later in the year. We assessed and discussed the research—in particular, how it applied to our clients.

A few weeks ago, I had a rousing discussion on LinkedIn about the downside of pushing too hard as I recently did a Facebook Live video about pushing hard until the end of the year.

I've been working with a business owner who's been struggling with the concept of accountability because she just doesn't want to fire people for not hitting their goals or penalize them for not doing the things she wants them to do.

A few weeks ago, I ran a Facebook Live video and we talked specifically about tactics and strategies to sell in a crowded marketplace. One strategy that came up that was so important to anyone who was watching was the concept of frequency and reach.