A couple of weeks ago, I attended an industry conference with a few of my customers to do some face-to-face networking. As I walked around to different booths it was amazing to see the number of people using iPads, tablets, their smart phones and other technology devices to take notes, capture contact info, show videos [...]
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How to Combat the Shrinking Length & Size of B2B Sales Cycles
A few weeks ago, Marketing Sherpa posted a marketing research chart revealing changes in the average length of B2B sales cycles. The data shows that year-over-year, sales cycles are getting shorter. This goes hand-in-hand with their research that B2B deal sizes are also decreasing year over year. Average Length of B2B Sales Cycle Average B2B [...]
B2B Sales: How to Stay Relevant in the Age of the Internet
At a recent Selling Power event the keynote speaker, Gerhard Gschwandtner, posted slides with the following stats: By 2020, over 85% of the transactions between businesses will be completed without human intervention. (Source: Gartner Group) Buyers will have completed 60% of the info gathering prior to speaking with a salesperson (Source: Sales Executive Board) Of [...]
Increasing Influence over Technology Buyers with Your Content
Today’s Internet-enabled and socially-empowered buyers have made it clear that end users – not marketers or sales executives – decide what good content looks like and how it should be distributed during the sales cycle. So how do you know what is going to “stick” with buyers and what won’t when they’re in the driver’s [...]
Sales Professionals Getting Low Scores with Buyers
“Value selling” is becoming quite the buzz phrase these days, and with good reason. Over the past decade there has been a definite change in the way B2B buyers are approaching buying decisions and interactions with sales people. Today’s buyers are more empowered, skeptical and frugal than ever. But at the same time, their purchase [...]
The Ever-Changing Role of the Sales Enablement Manager
The growing demand for sales enablement programs in organizations over the past decade has also created a demand for Sales Enablement Managers. It seems these days, companies are hiring right and left for this position. But with so many different interpretations of sales enablement, what does this role actually look like? A quick Google search [...]
3 Things You Never Have to Say Again on a Sales Call
In sales, when we’re talking to potential customers, there are phrases that we find ourselves saying out of habit. These “go-to” phrases seem to just slip out of our mouths without even thinking about it. I’m just as guilty as the next person when it comes to some of the biggies like, “Do you have [...]
While US Bond Ratings are Plummeting, Enterprise Software Spend is Rising
A few years back when the recession hit, businesses put infrastructure investments on hold—postponing important additions and upgrades to hardware and software right and left. Not the ideal situation if you were an enterprise software salesman! While we may not be in the clear yet for the economy as a whole, in the business arena, [...]
Sales or Marketing: Who Should Own Sales Enablement Efforts at Your Company?
“Who should own sales enablement efforts in your organization?” Earlier this month we started a discussion thread on this topic in the LinkedIn Sales Enablement Leader Exchange group. The response from our peers in the industry was overwhelming! While the discussion is still ongoing in this social networking group, we wanted to share some common [...]
Today’s Top Sales Enablement Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Sixty-five percent of sales reps can’t find content to send to prospects, 56% of companies have trouble measuring content effectiveness, 40% of companies have multiple sales portals. I found these IDC stats while researching the biggest challenges B2B organizations face today with sales enablement. The research brought to light some major issues sales and marketing [...]
