Liz Gelb-O’Connor and I will be speaking together at the upcoming Social Shake-Up conference in Atlanta September 15-17. Liz will be sharing her experiences introducing social selling to ADP’s inside sales team. I will be channeling my inner Terry Gross and asking the interview questions. Come join us September 17 for our 11:45 session. Then join…
For several years after writing the Sales 2.0 book with Brent Holloway, I was a consistent and disciplined blogger, with a target of producing at least one blog post every week. This year, I decided to try something different. Given how inundated everyone seems to be with content – and frankly how anxiety-ridden I became…
Mike Volpe (HubSpot’s CMO), Ken Krogue (insidesales.com’s President) and I will engage in a live Google + Hangout debate on this popular topic on Wednesday January 30 at 11 AM PST. To join us and watch online, visit our host’s Google + page (Software Advice’s Managing Editor Derek Singleton.) Here are some key points I plan…
A condensed version of this post appears this week on the SAP Sales Effectiveness blog, along with additional Big Ideas from Hank Barnes, Sales Benchmark Index, Dave Brock, Bob Apollo and the SAVO Group. We were asked to answer this question: “If you were having a conversation with a friend and they asked you for…
Anneke’s Note: This post is by my colleague John Philpin, who asks really thought-provoking questions. Enjoy! Have you ever thought about how caught up we get in titles and departments and naming things? For example, someone once described their role to me as follows … “Actually I am in Sales. Specifically Inside Sales. Well really…
“The social revolution is a trust revolution.” This statement appeared on the 9th slide of Marc Benioff’s opening keynote, “Business is Social,” during his kickoff of Dreamforce 2012 last week. It followed some compelling statistics proving that the trends toward social media adoption in business are undeniable: 1.3 Trillion in value can be unlocked through…
I just finished reading Susan Cain’s book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. Most of us already know if we tend toward introversion or extroversion based on whether we feel drained or energized after networking events, days full of meetings, or even dinners out with friends. If you want…
McKinsey is arguably the best known and respected management consulting brand in the world. Their customers share that distinction: they are the Fortune 100, the largest and most recognized global companies. As owner and founder of a 20-year-old consulting business, I looked forward to interviewing Jon Vander Ark, who co-leads McKinsey’s Sales practice and is…
If you are building a new inside sales team or expanding an existing one, you know that recruiting good people can feel about as easy as qualifying for the Olympics. Most companies’ job postings sound alike: they seek to hire sales development /lead generation reps or quota-carrying inside sales professionals with at least 3-5 years…
Oscar-nominated film, Moneyball, starts with this quote by superstar Mickey Mantle: “It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing all your life.” Are your sales veterans saying the same thing about selling? How open are they to change in order to improve their performance? As I watched this film (like…