Sales productivity
Work harder not smarter?
Go ahead and slap your forehead in disbelief when I tell you this – it is hard to sell to someone unless you know who they are. Yet most of the sales people I talk to cries about the ugly state of their data. Most complain that they don’t have time to clean it.
Data, like [...]
what is that thing in the CRM punchbowl?
Not too long ago, a prospect asked us to review their sales and lead generation programs because lead flow had dropped significantly. This concerned them because they had just finished a significant new product launch with a well- known interactive marketing agency. We agreed to sniff around.
Every reptilian instinct in my body wanted to find [...]
Selling is complicated – what is working for you?
Just got an invite to join the world’s largest study on complex sales. In its seventh year, more than 21,000 sales professionals have participated in the Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study to date. Each year, the results are analyzed to help Miller Heiman sales experts identify the activities that are producing results in the [...]
Does social media generate leads?
These are my experiences. The answer to the headline question is “yes and no.” Let me explain by talking about a few different ways we’ve converted social media activity in new business. Later, when I have more time, I’ll talk briefly about a few things that didn’t work.
TWITTER FOR LEADS? Personally, no. We have seen [...]
How big is your rolodex and does it matter?
Had a great conversation with a job hunting friend. He’s a tried and true sales guy – always beating his quota. A great rolodex, healthy w2s and all the trappings those things bring. He told me recently about an interview where the VP of Sales wanted to actually see his rolodex – wanted to see [...]
Take the survey
Our most recent project – requested by our clients – is a survey to better understand the role of B2B lead generation as the essential function that unites sales and marketing.
Macon Raine clients have the opportunity to participate as part of the Sales Leadership Advisory Board (SLAB) – a peer network of accomplished sales and marketing executives. [...]
SharePoint for Project Management
I met Dux Raymond Sy a year or two ago while doing some work for Bamboo Solutions. Dux is an expert in leveraging technology to enhance project management. He is the author of SharePoint for Project Management.
What is SharePoint? For those of you living in a cave, SharePoint allows individuals within an organization to [...]
A “no stupid deals” policy will strengthen your brand
One of my clients taught me a great lesson about selling, branding and marketing. Sometimes, in our quest to find revenue, we forget something more important and more lasting – trust.
Your goal as an organization is to deliver on your commitments reliably and predictably. By doing so, you build the trust needed to sustain a healthy relationship [...]
Building trust in professional services selling and marketing
Over the past few months, we’ve spoken to dozens of managing partners in professional services firms about ways they find new business. Every person interviewed said that a vast majority of new business was generated via their “networks and trusted relationships.”
Trust is a shared belief that you can depend on one another to achieve [...]
Automating Transactional Email
Email newsletters are common method of selling and communicating with customers.
But often overlooked is the idea of using rules-based automation inside the traditional and transactional email exchanges common to the sales process.
Sales people and the marketers that support them can creatively use rules-based email automation to put simple events such as customer birthdays and event [...]
