Don’t Miss: Top Insights From the SEC Membership

Here at the Sales Executive Council, we’re all about the ideas that set best-in-class sales organizations apart. To that end, check out these comprehensive, one-page summaries of the top insights, advice, and tips sourced from your peers across the SEC membership on topics such as sales training, CRM, sales process, and account planning.

Talent Development

Generating Proactive Rep Demand for Training | See how ADP generated rep-driven advocacy for behavior change by building pre-training “buzz” and restricting access to training to make it more desirable.


Getting Reps to Assert Control of Sales Interactions | See how DuPont helped reps assert control of sales interactions by giving them a road map for how negotiations should unfold.


Improving Reps’ Questioning Skills | See how Oakwood used Detective Workshops to instill a questioning mindset in reps.


Using Realistic Role-Plays to Build Challenger Rep Skills | See how St. Jude Medical used customer ‘proxies’ as role-play partners to create practice scenarios that are high on realism, but low on risk to the company.


Getting Reps to Master New Skills in Two Days | See how Siemens improved reps’ retention of new skill training through experiential practice, using manager/rep coaching trips.  

Sales Tools

Using iPads and Tablets as Sales Tools | See how LexisNexis and ENDO Pharmaceuticals use tablet technology in sales and how they piloted it within their sales organizations.


Driving Sales Tool Adoption | See how W.W. Grainger used its tool pilot phase to map out the adoption behaviors of the entire sales force and identify the messaging strategies that maximize adoption of the tool.


Shifting to a Next-Generation CRM Strategy | See how NBC Universal created a CRM system that allows reps to easily share experiences and advice for working with particular customers, segments, sales pitches, and collateral.

Customer Management

Verifying Customer Readiness to Buy | See how ADP developed a tool that syncs seller activities with buyer signals—tangible actions that verify a customer’s readiness to move forward in the sale.


Transforming Your Sales Pitch into a Teaching Message | See how W.W. Grainger built a Commercial Teaching sales pitch and addressed challenges around adoption of the new pitch by its sales force.


Creating a Joint Account Planning Process | See how Cargill engaged key customers prior to building account plans, identifying in advance a mutually agreeable engagement strategy.


Increasing Deal Profitability with Deal Desks | See how NetApp and Life Technologies established Deal Desk functions tasked with advising and supporting field sales on deal economics.

Sales Force Management

Shielding Your Reps from Low-Priority Initiatives | See how Kodak screened all inbound requests with a rigorous set of filters to identify, prioritize, and ultimately select the most critical ones for reps.


Incentivizing Cross-Company Deal Collaboration | See how Dimension Data encouraged team selling on global opportunities using variable incentives.