As we’ve mentioned in an earlier post – scaling your sales team is a big responsibility as a Stretch VP of Sales. Recruiting, hiring and on-boarding Managers, Account Executives, SDRs, Sales Engineers and even Sales Enablement is a full time gig – especially as a Stretch VP, since you likely don’t have…...
6 Sales Skills You Can’t Coach
As your company grows, you will inevitably need to add sales people to your team. You'll create the job ad, get tons of applications, screen lots of resumes, and start interviewing. But now, the big question is, "what are you looking for in a sales candidate?" There are a multitude…...
The Only Three Skills That Will Matter In 2020 And Onward
Recently, I was speaking with a group of students at Columbia University. One brilliant student asked a simple question: “What are the most important skills for anyone to learn to have a great career in 2020 and onward?” I struggled for a short while and then summarized them as…...
Emotional Intelligence Matters in Sales
Emotional intelligence is a valuable skill in any career, but even more so in sales. Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage and monitor your emotions, and influence and understand the emotions of others. Someone with high emotional intelligence does not allow their emotions to dictate their decisions or actions;…...
Building a Sales Team That Stays: Recruiting and Retaining Millennials
If you're a B2B sales manager, you're always concerned with filling your open sales representative positions. We hear you, and we feel for you. Last year, we received countless questions from customers and partners seeking our advice on how to attract and retain sales representatives, particularly Millennials. So we…...
What Is A Successful Sales Personality?
How do you rank above your competition if you have the same education, willingness, and resources provided to you as every other sales representative applicant? The personality traits of top salespeople may have a significant impact on their success. Personality traits among salespeople, such as being trustworthy, friendly, and modest,…...
3 Ways to Motivate Your Sales Team — Without Stressing Them Out
It’s widely accepted that if you are in sales, you will have a quota. Achieve your quota, good job. Miss your quota, bad job. Miss your quota by a lot or miss it multiple times: no job. This creates stress for individual sellers and the sales organization as a whole.…...
7 Tips to Skyrocket Performance In Small Sales Teams
You don’t need a big sales team to make a lot of money. Small sales teams can perform incredibly well if you get the right balance of skills, motivation, and resources. But how can you go about that? How can you inspire your sales team to go above and beyond?…...
Hiring Sales Reps: 3 Tips for Better, Faster Sales Hires
What’s your approach when hiring sales reps? Companies often hire sales reps who have knowledge of, or even a passion for, the brand’s product or industry — which is great because it gives you a team of “walking brochures” who can spout off all the benefits of your product.…...
Public Image: What Agencies Must Do to Attract and Retain Talent
A now all-too-familiar narrative in the insurance industry is that attracting and retaining talent will continue to be a challenge. Why? There are a range of reasons that boil down to, in part, perception. Simply put, the public’s perception of insurance does not meet reality. Time and time…...
Creating a Sales Culture: What It Is & How It’s Done
Your organization has a unique culture. Good or bad, planned or not, it does. And as a leader, it’s your responsibility to lead by example and help shape the company culture. So, how do you know if you’re doing the right things as a leader to make your sales culture…...
Best 12 ways to build a successful sales team right now
Some sales departments look like Darwin’s theory in action, where everyone is focused on a personal result instead of teamwork. Perhaps an individual employee’s quest for career development is playing into the hands of companies, but only to those that set short-term goals. Let’s find out how to create a…...
Hiring New Salespeople (While Keeping Up With Business as Usual)
Like most things in life, hiring sales talent is a matter of timing. Especially since the best candidates with strong sales skills are usually snatched up within 10 days. Unfortunately, you generally need skilled talent more than they need you. Add to that the dramatic pace of business, and it can be very…...
9 Traits of Sales-Driven Managers
I’m often asked by brokerages to help consult and coach their management teams to improve performance, predominantly of the sales managers. A high-performing, top manager is operating at peak performance: increasing revenue and marketshare, recruiting and creating adoption of core service affiliates, and successfully retaining their agents and building successful cultures. Here…...
Why Sales matters in any business
Let’s take a look at some of the reasons and ways sales is important in every business. Sales provides customers with the solutions they need With business it’s all about problem-solving. Finding a gap, or an area where someone needs a product or service, and filling that need for them.…...
