A Winning Sales Play
We've finally found the tool to easily create sales playbooks to standardize, evolve and train various sales processes. Playboox, a San Francisco firm and MXL partner, guides the clear development of sales process(es) and keeps the essential sales playbook dynamically in front of the salesperson. Both rep and managers benefit from clear insight into deal progress, planning, and performance.

"Playboox enables us to capture what our best salespeople do and lock it down for the rest of the team to mimic or learn from." - VP Sales

Build, Develop, XLerate
Today's Inside Sales team is highly productive and lower in cost. Many firms are moving to this model today where products and services can be sold from "mission control" and outside/direct reps are increasing expensive to maintain and control.

The challenge is in building and driving the Inside Sales Machine. MXL Partners offers an Inside Sales XLeration service that builds and manages the team inside or outside your organization.

Whether you have a team that needs a boost or a team you need to build, let's talk about it.

When They Don't Call Back
You leave a message, send an email, then wait for something, any thing that let's you know they know you're there. They've gone dark on you. It's happened to all of us. Especially these days. What's a salesperson to do?

There are 3 Reasons why people don't return your calls: 1) You're not compelling, 2) They're too busy, or 3) They're not interested. In light of this, there are 3 Keys to successfully getting prospects or customers to return calls:

1. Develop a Compelling 20-40 Second Phone Message. There's a logical flow to a crisp message/pitch that hooks one to listen, respect and respond. Note: your email should have the same structure.
2. Follow-up Appropriately. Don't give up too soon, but don't overdo it. Place up to 4 calls over 2 weeks before moving on, or call back next quarter, as appropriate.
3. Remember Not Everyone Buys. Some people/companies are just not good prospects right now. Don't blow your chance to do business with them in the future. Be gracious, professional, and "live to sell another day."

An Art and a Science
Setting quotas is both an art and science, with a heavy leaning toward science. Established organizations have a history of territory performance to guide year-to-year adjustments. For Start-ups, as well as companies in Transitional growth and Scaling stages with new products, the quota setting challenge is real and laden with heavy implications.

Determining appropriate variables such as territory opportunity, sales value, lead flow, closing ratios, etc., is one issue in itself; applying them appropriately given today's market conditions is quite another.

There's a movement back to basics as adjustments abound. Don't shy away from mixing the art with the science.