Colleen’s Blog

How often does your sales team take the time to reflect?

Good deals get stuck when you lack access to the right people to successfully close a sale.

This week, I want to explore sales goals. I know we all have them. Our companies set them for us, our leaders set them for us, and perhaps you set some for yourself.

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.