Mike Schultz's Blog, page 9

Boost Ramp-Up Speed and Retain Sellers with Effective Onboarding [+Turnover Calculator]

Given the investment companies make in hiring, training, and managing their sales force to get maximum results, it’s imperative sales and enablement leaders understand how they can make the most of that investment and retain the best sellers once hired.

Our Top-Performing Sales Organization research, in which we analyzed data from 472 sellers and executives, revealed that the process for onboarding new sales hires and getting sellers to full productivity is strongly correlated to key measures of a well-functioning sales organization.

How to Win Big Sales Opportunities with Big Plays

Too many sellers have similar problems:

Bloated pipelines filled with dead wood
Lack of clarity on what opportunities to focus on
No plan to win their biggest, most important opportunities
Losing too often to the competition

[Checklist] How to Choose a Sales Training Provider

When you invest in sales training, you’re committing time and resources with the distinct possibility of failure. From misaligned goals to lackluster adoption, there are many reasons why sales training doesn’t achieve desired results.

Proper planning is a must for sales training that works. That means doing your research and finding an effective training provider to partner with and guide you through the process. Fortunately, you can set up your organization for success when it comes to sales training. The 22 green flags in this checklist give you a rubric to analyze potential providers, ask good questions, and form the foundation of your decision making. Download it as a quick reference or refer to our more detailed rationale below.

How to Sell to the C-Suite

Most sellers want to have better meetings with senior executives but don’t know how to do so. They want to get away from surface-level pitches and have actual conversations. They envision meetings that build deeper relationships and uncover more ways they can help their clients.

Speaking to senior executives can be intimidating. Many sellers, when asked what’s holding them back from talking with the C-suite, say things like, "I don't feel comfortable," "I have nothing to offer to them," or "I'm not at their level."

How to Build Trust with Skeptical Executives

Sometimes, talking to the C-suite is easy. Conversation flows. You find common areas personally and professionally. Ideas bounce back and forth. Before you know it, work is underway.

But sometimes, it isn’t easy—even if you’ve been following the tips for selling to the C-suite. Maybe the executive is all business, guarded, and hesitant to share. When faced with a skeptical executive, you might be tempted to give up and invest your time and effort elsewhere. In some cases, moving on may be the right answer. But often, building a close, trusting relationship with a skeptical executive can be a catalyst to your success.

How to Host Sales Kickoffs That Engage and Energize Sales Reps

Remember back in pre-pandemic days when sales teams conducted lavish SKOs in person, perhaps with an option to dial in? Things are a bit different today. Some organizations are returning to in-person sales kickoffs, some are holding exclusively virtual events, and others turning to some form of hybrid event. Either way, the same challenge remains:

How can you deliver an engaging SKO that spurs reps on into the new fiscal year?

Selling on Social Media: Tips and Strategies for Success

Once upon a time, there was a notion that social media was unnecessary for selling; it was a novelty and not a staple. At the time, some believed that enterprise-level decision makers couldn’t be reached on social platforms.

Now, social media is a necessity to establish credibility with potential buyers.

Top 10 Sales Resources of 2022

It seems like the world of sales is moving at a breakneck pace. Between new digital tools, hybridized sales teams, and economic shifts, it can feel overwhelming to keep up with everything. And it can be tempting to try to be everywhere and do everything at once just to stay competitive.

Happy Holidays from RAIN Group!

As we enter the holiday season with the New Year right around the corner, it’s easy to think about next year and beyond—to a future lead by our children. And though they’re resilient, no one has felt the effects of the last few years more than our world’s kids. Limited, reduced, and eliminated resources means many are without the tools and support they need to thrive and grow into happy and healthy teens and adults.

6 Ways to Build Client Loyalty in Sales

Client loyalty can make or break a company. Loyalty is tied to buyer satisfaction and their experience buying from you—but it’s tough to earn.

Fred Reichheld, author of The Loyalty Effect and creator of the Net Promoter System, found that most corporations lose 50% of their customers every 5 years, 50% of employees in 4 years, and 50% of investors in less than one year.