Start 'em Young
My son, a college senior at Cal Poly, participated in the
National Collegiate Sales Competition in
Atlanta this past weekend. Over 130 other
students from over 60 major colleges and universities
competed in an individual tournament-style format
some have referred to as the "Olympics of Collegiate
Selling."
Contestants were tasked to sell a popular
SaaS-based solution to real executives from major
organizations. Each were evaluated on their
approach
and rapport,needs identification,
presentation, handling of objections,
closing and communication skills.
Each student had to win school level competition to
advance to the national event.
Wow. I never saw this type of formalized academic
sales training and development when I was in school.
Nothing like starting 'em young. Good for the students;
good for the recruiters.
My son made it to the quarter finals. In his final sales
call he said he was uncovering needs so well that he
hit the time limit before closing. Hmmm.
Proud Pops nevertheless.
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Management's Top 3 |
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Sales Management's Top Objectives for
2010
CSO Insights recently published their
2010 Sales Performance Optimization
study of over 2800 companies. When asked
what are the top three objectives they have for their
sales organization for the next 12 months, chief sales
officers answered as follows:
- Increase Revenues
- Capture New Accounts
- Increase Sales Effectiveness
Not too surprising given the economic climate. Grow
revenue and add new customers, of course. As
pointed out, increasing sales effectiveness
can take several forms - improving people, process,
technology and
knowledge.
What are you doing to increase sales effectiveness?
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Top Sales Experts Webinar |
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Successful Selling is All in the Mind
MXL's Michael Griego has been invited to debate this
topic in a panel discussion with 3 other sales experts.
This 1-hour session, part of the Top Sales Experts
Roundtable Series, will be taking place on
Tuesday, March 16th at 9:00am PST.
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Coaching and Training |
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Increase Sales Effectiveness with Custom
Coaching and Training
Many firms today engage MXL Partners to come onsite
monthly or bi-monthly to speak at their sales meetings
and/or conduct brief custom sessions as a training
series over
several months. Sessions can include sales rep and
management topics from Mike's book 42 Rules
to
Increase Sales Effectiveness.
- Sales Super Stars - optimizing the sales
mindset, sales time management, selling activities,
sales goals
- Territory Management - planning and
prioritizing accounts, territory, strategic accounts,
business development growth strategies
- Sales Presentation - strategic proposition,
phone
and email pitch, testimonial stories, executive
whiteboarding
- Sales Meetings - call prep, probing and
questioning, qualification, sales presentation,
handling/answering objections
- Closing Strategies - the professional
close, customer decision plans, sales
negotiations
Our Sales Management track includes the following
topics:
- Sales Manager - optimizing sales culture,
scoring and profiling sales reps, coaching and
mentoring, optimizing team meetings, accurate
pipeline/forecast reporting, effective territory
reviews
- Sales Process - building process and
playbooks, optimizing forecasting process, CRM and
sales operations, planning and hiring, quotas and
compensations, and more!
Let us team with you to increase the effectiveness of
your sales organization.

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Achieving Excellence |
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Excellence Achieved
"Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to
do better." - Pat Riley, NBA Coach
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