Why are enterprise sales so dismal? Approximately 40% of all enterprise sales reps don’t make quota! That’s right, you heard me! Only 60.9% of sales people achieve quota each year (Source: HubSpot)! Why is it that with all the modern tools and methods that fewer sales people are succeeding. Sales may think it’s because the […]
On June 20th, the MITEF San Diego Chapter hosted Drones Over San Diego, a panel discussion with local UAS innovators. Led by moderator Commander David Place Ret. US Navy, executives from the rapidly growing industry around unmanned aerial vehicles (also called UAVs or drones) came together to discuss the opportunities and challenges in this hot […]
More and more lately, new startups and established, growing businesses are looking to develop marketing teams. Unfortunately for those new marketing hires, the term “team” is only loosely applicable. That “team” that these fast growing or newly funded businesses hires is all too often a team of one and that’s an SEO Specialist. A single, […]
Here is how I’ll be attending Dreamforce 17 #DF17 for free this week! No, I don’t mean I am sneaking in the back door. I’ll be using Twitter. Here are 5 steps to attending Dreamforce 17 or any other conference, tradeshow or event virtually using your social media skills. Step 1: Research in advance Look […]
If you have more than 30 sales reps and plan to add inside sales or grow your team in the next 12 months, you need to be thinking about building out sales enablement services. If you have more than 300 reps, your ROI for implementing a formal Sales Enablement Function this year will start to […]
Intent Data is a term you will be hearing more about if you in B2B sales or marketing. There are two types of Intent Data, internal and external. Internal is the information we collect about buyers on our own online web sites such as what pages they read, what blogs they looked at, what content […]
October is the ideal time to create your marketing budget plan for 2018. This year, here are some things you might want to take into account in your planning. B2B companies are spending more on marketing than ever Marketing budget as a percentage of revenue varies by industry Expect to include sales enablement in your […]
As the weather starts to cool and pumpkin spice aromas fill the air, that means it’s time to start thinking about 2018 marketing budgets. And that’s when this thought pops back into your mind: What’s the value of a CMO? Do I need one this year? Most small to medium sized B2B businesses and tech […]
Recently I had the honor and privilege to moderate a panel of San Diego Sales Enablement experts. Sales Enablement is a growing topic of discussion as companies look for ways to increase revenue or make sales more effective without adding headcount. However, it’s still a very new topic and most companies are at the ad […]
If you want to increase your revenue, focus on honing your sales process before you add headcount. First, let’s agree on what I mean by a sales process versus a sales method. According to a Sales Benchmark Index article by John Kenney, “a sales methodology is the ‘how’ of selling as a skill set.” A […]
I listened to the sound of a small jackhammer for the better part of this past week. Each day, I’d look out, and think, “Today, they must be done! The sidewalk isn’t that big!” And then another day I’d listen to the sound of a small jackhammer grinding away at the sidewalk for another 8 […]
I have a Top 1% SSI score and you can, too. Here’s why you should care, especially if you are in sales or marketing. You make a living generating leads and trying to reach prospects, right? You want them to trust you? Your LinkedIn Social Selling (SSI) Score is your indicator of your personal brand […]
We’ve seen a lot of so-called Social Selling experts declaring the end of Cold Calling or telling us that if we hit a certain number on our SSI score, social selling will cause buyers to flock to us. Sorry! That’s just wishful thinking. But does that mean Social Selling has NO VALUE in the Sales […]
At a recent AA-ISP panel discussion among highly experienced, rock star sales reps, what was the top requirement that they had after a strong culture? Training. Yep. The already successful, “trained” sales reps want more TRAINING. Each of them wanted a couple of weeks to learn the product and a playbook to work from. And […]
How do you know what’s going to work best to help prospects evaluate and buy your SaaS solution: Trial, Demo, or Tour? Let’s start with some definitions. Free Trial – Opt-in and Opt-out In thinking about offering a free trial, the first question you need to ask yourself is – do you want or expect […]
We have been seeing a growing trend where inside sales has been moved from reporting to sales to reporting to the marketing team. Some of the largest companies in San Diego and around the world have moved their inside sales teams under marketing. This has a lot of upside potential. But what we have observed […]
Today when we honor the many people who have given so much for the freedoms we revere, I want to talk about a lesser-known patriot who arrived at the right time and did what needed to be done to help then General Washington save the Continental Army during the terrible winter the Army spent […]
Recently, I read a post on LinkedIn that declared all panels suck. The poster had been at a conference and came away with this viewpoint. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. When set up right, panel presentations can be a lively and engaging way to get a lot of information out from different […]
When we talked with our panel of rock star sales reps recently, they were all about LinkedIn, declaring it “A gift to inside sales.” But when it came to Twitter, they were a bit uncertain. But anything that can help you learn more about a prospect is useful, right? Here are 5 ways you can […]
The San Diego AA-ISP Chapter’s May meeting asked 5 successful sales reps to share their secrets on how they manage their sales career. Our panel consisted of inside and outside reps and managers at all stages of their careers, working at companies ranging from startup to a large public company. Following are highlights from the […]