SalesNote )
March 2009
In this issue
  • Genius Selling
  • Sales Process 2.0
  • Sales Effectiveness Tip
  • New Book by Mike Griego
  • Quotation
  • Stepping Up Sales Managers
    The team is settling down after all the meetings, product announcements and adjustments. You've got reps and managers sorted out and in place. Now it's all on the sales team to hit targets and bring in the quarter.

    Actually, it's all on your sales managers who own the number, some carrying bags while leading the field troops, others in roles of mentor and driver. Either way, the job is tough, relentless, and the stakes are high. So why is there very little training for first-line sales managers? It's already a difficult and important job, yet we often throw our most promising players out there to sink or swim.

    There are 4 Core Areas of Competency required for effective Sales Management:

    1. Building Process and Sales Culture
    2. Driving Goals and Accurate Forecasting
    3. Hiring Winners and Building Team
    4. Deal Coaching and Mentoring Skills
    How well trained are your sales managers?


    Genius Selling

    Impact Sales and Marketing
    The gap narrows as solutions like Genius.com help deliver real sales value from marketing activity. This Redwood City firm delivers email marketing and lead generation campaigns that uniquely prioritize and qualify leads for sales reps for further follow-up. All without IT or heavy marketing administration. Thin but deep is good. Typically for 10+ reps.

    "We are 100% confident that it makes us money every day we use it." - VP of Marketing

    Sales Process 2.0

    Sales Process 2.0 Webinar
    Adherence to dynamic, optimized processes can move companies toward "trusted partner" status with their customers. Recent research by CSO Insights finds only 13% of firms reaching this optimal level. Clearly room for improvement.

    Sales process is not what it used to be. Sales Process 2.0 is about helping salespeople succeed by providing easy access to best practices and tools for any given point in the sales cycle. Companies spend $16 billion per year on sales technology and training but are still disappointed in performance, ROI and adoption rates.

    There's a new wave of power tools that marry technology and methodology training to drive selling excellence. Join a free Sales Process 2.0 Webinar on April 8th at 8:30am to learn and see a demonstration.

    Sales Effectiveness Tip

    Superstar Salespeople
    What makes a sales rep a star? Producing results and bringing in the numbers, of course. What do top producing reps, i.e., Superstars, all have in common? The attributes and make-up of Superstar Salespeople are like the balanced 5 points on a star:

    • Driver - a self-starter
    • Technician - technically self-sufficient
    • Facilitator - manages one-to-one and one-to-many communications
    • Empathizer - can express identification with others
    • Server - a humble and healthy sense of self
    While these gifts and attributes may come naturally to some, they can be honed and developed to a finely-tuned balance.

    Got any Superstars?

    New Book by Mike Griego

    42 Rules to Increase Sales Effectiveness
    Michael Griego, MXL's founder/president, sales consultant and trainer to Fortune 500 firms and leading Silicon Valley technology firms, has reduced the keys to sales effectiveness to 42 rules in his forthcoming book 42 Rules to Increase Sales Effectiveness. This book, to be released in September 2009 by SuperStar Press, applies modern fundamentals to all selling efforts, from high-tech enterprise sales to the non-technology sales.

    Quotation

    Leaders and Managers
    "Leaders manage change. Managers control process." - Anonymous

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