PBTO S2E2: Jill Konrath – More Sales in Less Time

Who is on the show: In this episode, we host Jill Konrath. As a business-to-business sales expert, Jill’s ideas and insights are ubiquitous in multiple forums, both on and offline. Jill’s newsletters are read by 125,000+ sellers worldwide. Her popular blog has been syndicated on numerous business and sales websites. Why is she on the show: She was recently named one of the most influential people on sales by LinkedIn, among many other recognitions. What did i learn in this episode: As sales professionals, we are constantly busy and we are to find time on ever more busier executives so […]

Measuring sales-force effectiveness

One of the key challenges that I have seen in senior leadership is to measure the sales-force effectiveness. This becomes even more important if we are in an environment where revenue growth is difficult to come-by. So how does one measure the effectiveness of their sales-force. I think there are a few key indicators that show if the sales force is doing a good job or not: Revenue growth: The easiest and the most measured variable is the revenue growth. If the revenue is growing month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter, year-on-year, the sales-force is considered to be doing a good job. This shows […]

To sell more, stop selling

This may sound counter-intuitive but if you want to improve your sales, you need to stop selling and start to solve problems – known and un-known. The following process has really worked well for me: Listen to your prospect or customers. Ask them some probing questions around what is troubling them now or could trouble them in the near future Listen to what they tell you. In my experience, customers usually start by telling you that everything is great and there is nothing troubling them. Once this is finisher and still you do not interrupt them, then they will come […]

Sales Compensations

An effective sales team is always highly motivated. Most important way of motivating your sales team is through their compensation plan. This is also one of the most important aspects of the sales strategy that can have a big impact on the morale of your sales team and also to the sales they clock-in.  We need to consider different aspects before deciding on the compensation plans. Competitive landscape and the compensation offered by competitors Position of your product on the product lifecycle on the Profitability of your product Sales cycle time for your product Complexity of the sale involved Is […]