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MXL SalesNoteTM



June 2013

In this Issue
MXL's Revenue XLerator
Summertime Reading
Rule #18 - Reading Makes Perfect
Og Mandino on Sales
MXL Partners
Revenue XLeratorTM Program  

 

We've seen the same sales issues cut across startup organizations from $0-$20M in revenues, to scaling growth companies from $20M-$100M in revenues, and to enterprise organizations from $100M-$1B and above.

 

In no particular order, but very real, here are just 10 key sales revenue issues and challenges we see companies of all sizes facing:

  1. Missing Quarterly Targets
  2. Under-Performers
  3. Inconsistent Process
  4. Ad hoc Sales Messaging
  5. Forecast Inaccuracy
  6. Undisciplined Activities
  7. Insufficient Qualification
  8. Territory Prioritization
  9. Poor Lead Generation
  10. Weak Opportunity Management

At MXL Partners we've packaged a proven, best-practices 6-10 week Revenue XLeratorTM program for emerging to scaling growth companies that are experiencing sales challenges.

  • XL Startup
  • XL Sales Growth
  • XL Enterprise

You're not alone. There is an efficient and effective fix that can be tailored for exactly where you're at and where you want to go.

 

Send us a note if you'd like to set up a conversation and discuss how we can help.

________________________________ 

 

New 2013 2nd Edition!

     

42 Rules to Increase Sales Effectiveness

by Michael Griego 

 

Foreword by Mark Leslie, Venture Capitalist and former Founder/CEO of Veritas Software

Amazon.com  

"This book rocks - I've got pages dog-eared and notes throughout!" - Enterprise VP of Sales  

 

 

"42 gems that any entrepreneur can use to their company." - Start-up CEO 

 

"An excellent, well-written guide that de-mystifies the process for repeatable sales success." - VP Business Development 

 

 

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How Startups Grow Up 
A variation on a known theme for starting companies continues to be in force. Actually same theme - young, fearless, creative, engineer-driven - but now in tiered competitive cubicles of incubators and accelerators clustered in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area and around the globe. Organized to attract and for vetting top technologies and entrepreneurial talent with the lure of venture funding and mentor guidance, these pools of top talent are the new business schools of sort. Why spend the time and money to get an MBA when you can get funding in accelerated time and make your millions by the time you're 30?
    
Tough Lessons
It's not that simple, of course. Getting into these competitive "boot camps" for startups is one thing. Passing levels of mid-term and final exams or "demo days" in front of potential suitors/investors is another thing. Staying successful and surviving to another round of funding is yet another hurdle. Small wonder that few go the distance. Experience and tenacity breeds success eventually...hopefully...maybe.  
 
What Does Sales Have to Do With This?
Good question. In many cases, these bright young firms are the anti-Sales; that is, the future of commerce without pesky salespeople to sully the environment. Some will grow up to be Facebook, maybe, or Dropbox, or Box. Wait, salespeople exist in the latter, even "enterprise salespeople" - the bane of some entrepreneurial idealists.
 
Yes, as these firms grow up, even those with an admitted B2B2C model, the need for serious and skilled salespeople emerges. No matter if only Inside Sales - the new low cost model - or with strategic Outside Sales, the world still requires competent people engaging sophisticated buyers/users and effectively articulating products, solutions and services. They'll never go away. Good news for us; bad news for idealists.
  
Accelerating Revenue?
MXL Partners is spending more time with growing companies who recognized the need to accelerate revenue, to sell stuff. What we do with Fortune 500 companies applies also to $100M companies, $50M companies and those less than $10M (even very early revenue ramp).
 
Who they sell, What they sell, Where they sell, How they sell, What they say, and How to manage and continue a thriving organization are serious issues that need crisp clarity.
  
Ask about our Revenue XLerator Program
                             More... 

Summertime and the Reading is Easy and Worthwhile

          

Summer's here! Great time to catch up on reading that pays off! Check out my book and others on the Sales Summer Reading list found here.

 

Books by Dave Kurlan, Jill Konrath, Keith Rosen, Ken Thoreso, Mark Hunter, Nancy Bleeke and others.

 

Remember, Rule#18 - Reading Makes Perfect. The cumulative effect of consistently reading good material for the profession you have chosen, and your personal life, even only 15 minutes a day, is profound.

                                                                             More... 

Rule #18 - Reading Makes Perfect  

(2nd Edition)

    

In Rule 13 one of the three components of PAR Time was to spend 15 minutes daily reading industry publications and/or inspirational material on sales and motivation. Indeed the cumulative impact of reading 15 minutes daily over the course of a career is profound.

 

I learned this lesson as a naïve young college student during my first time spent away from home on a summer job. As explained in Rule 16, I worked for The Southwestern Company of Nashville, Tennessee, as a student salesman. At the beginning of my first summer, after driving into Nashville for one week of sales training with thousands of other students, we were each given a box of materials. Apart from sales scripts and training materials, the box contained three books: 'How to Win Friends and Influence People,' by Dale Carnegie, 'The Magic of Thinking Big,' by Dr. David Swartz, and 'The Greatest Salesman in the World,' by Og Mandino. At that point in my life, I had only vaguely heard of Dale Carnegie and his book; the others were completely foreign to me.

 

We were instructed to spend 15 minutes each morning reading these books between the time we awoke and the time we knocked on the first door at 8 a.m. While my sales roommates thought this suggestion was silly, I wanted to follow the instructions of successful Southwestern managers so I could earn the average $2,500 summer commissions dangled in front of us for successful student salespeople....

 

What's on your reading list? 

More...

Og Mandino on Sales        

 

"Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do so with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again."   

 
- Og Mandino, American business motivational writer and speaker