Sales Jargon Causes Confusion Every industry is flooded with trendy terms and flashy acronyms. Influencers and marketers coin these terms to make things sound new and exciting, increase perceived importance, and capture attention. In our space, it’s “auto-dialer,” in others there’s “MarComTech”, “FinTech”, and many more, but what do those terms really mean? Everyone perceives […]

According to a study by CSO Insights, sales organizations are using an average of 10 sales tech tools, with a plan to add another four in the next 12 months. Affectionately named the “sales stack,” these tools are all supposed to help a salesperson become more productive and yield metrics that managers can use to […]

A survey of 450 C-Suite executives has shown that enterprises are hungry for mobile customer relationship management (CRM) apps. The study, conducted by market research firm IDC and enterprise resource planning (ERP) specialist ISF, showed that 31% of respondents identified CRM apps as most-wanted among enterprise mobile apps– more than any other type of mobile […]

There are so many factors that go into managing a sales development team. You need the right reps, a solid strategy and a repeatable sales process. However, one of the most important things that sales leaders need is insight into their SDRs’ activities. It seems simple enough, but unless you’re tracking the right data points […]

Depending on your price point, business-to-business (B2B) sales cycles can be long. And sure, it probably will take your reps longer to sell a marketing automation system than a TV — much more is at stake. But I can say with almost 100% certainty that your sales cycles are longer than they need to be. In my experience, the number […]

After Google released their fourth quarter 2013 earnings, one thing is clear: more people are clicking on Google AdWords than ever before. Paid clicks are up 31% year-over-year! While this shouldn’t come as a shock, what is infinitely more interesting is the fact that cost-per-click (CPC) declined 11% since the fourth quarter of 2012. In […]

Despite the changes of the last decade to the sales role, sales time management is still difficult. Reps face a ton of inputs – from Slack notifications to emails to calendar reminders and more. The tyranny of distraction makes it easy for reps to lose focus on what matters most very quickly: building customer relationships. […]

Things are going great with your sales contact, you’re making steady progress towards a deal. You’ve had several excellent calls with them. They seem to be fully engaged and enthusiastic about your product. They asked lots of questions during a recent demo and appear to be very excited about your customized proposal. You’re expecting a […]

When TechCrunch erroneously declared that “the phone call is dead” way back in 2010, we knew something they didn’t. While personal call volume was declining in lieu of text messaging, we were certain that business calls were actually becoming more important. And like so many substantially premature death declarations (email, SEO, American manufacturing and the Twinkie), reports of […]

Valentine’s Day is here again. Now I know some of you may associate this holiday with sending over-priced flowers, booking reservations a month in advanced for a lackluster prix-fixed meal or being not-so-gently reminded that you’re single (Hey, I used to be a Valentine’s Day hater myself). But then I came to the realization that any opportunity to show […]

The numbers are in. This year, the minimum cost of commercial during Super Bowl LII was $5 million for a basic 30 second slot. The biggest spender was Amazon, who claimed a premium 90-second ad. Combined with heavy promotion online and through social media, their placement efforts cost a whopping $14.9 million dollars. Interestingly, that […]

Some advice just doesn’t work. New parents can relate – they constantly receive unsolicited advice, often based on old wives tales, on parenting from friends, family members, even random people in the grocery store. Smokers from the big tobacco era of yesteryear can relate too. “More Doctors Smoke Camels Than Any Other Cigarette” an ad […]