Sales Strategy
Learn to think strategically about the role of the sales function and then develop go-to-market plans and a sales organization that can deliver on-target results.
Coronavirus Will Change Sales and Marketing
The following conversation was conducted between Dr. Philip Kotler and Dr. Karl Hellman (representing Sales Insights) in early April 2020. *** Sales Insights: Professor Kotler, you have written, “When the COVID-19 crisis is over, Capitalism will have moved to a new stage. Consumers will be more thoughtful about what they consume and how much they […]
Sales Strategy During COVID-19
There are numerous possible responses by the sales function to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales executives must formulate a functional strategy as their corporate counterparts do the same. The quick creation of a revised sales strategy not only helps the sales force respond to current realities, but it also lays the foundation for generating critical, frontline […]
Sell Like People Buy
Sixty-three percent of salespeople consistently behave in ways that hinder their performance. They may be following the latest “Sell like me” fad book. Or they may be trying to mimic colleagues. But the study in this HBR article which looked at 800 salespeople’s behaviors and results show they are just guessing about how people buy […]
5 Steps to Unleashing Revenue Growth with the Right Sales Process
When organizations fall short of their profitable growth goals, they habitually look to the sales organization to drive more productivity and wonder what should change to improve performance: Sales roles and behavior? Incentives and compensation? Quotas and performance expectations? Yet too often a core factor that causes poor sales performance is overlooked. Too many companies […]
Sales’ Role in Strategy: Is It Changing?
In September of 2019, Sales Insights had the pleasure of interviewing Frank Cespedes. He is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School and the author of Aligning Strategy and Sales: The Choices, Systems, and Behaviors that Drive Effective Selling. This book is widely credited with awakening the C-suite to the central role of sales in […]
Make Quota Setting a Strategic Sales Management Process
During a drive from Atlanta to Chapel Hill, Mark Donnolo was interviewed about his forthcoming book: Quotas! Design Thinking to Solve Your Biggest Sales Challenge (due October 15, 2019). The following is a summary of that conversation. What motivated you to write a book on quotas? The topic of quotas has become something of a […]
How to Accelerate Organic Growth in a Tough Market
The core logic of the conventional sales approach is that if a brand is sufficiently different and better than competitors’ brands, consumers will come to prefer it, and actively seek it out for purchase. But it very often doesn’t work out that way. Customer Buying Process Every customer goes through some type of buying process […]
Dimensions of Sales Performance: A Practitioner’s View
Here are some of the top reasons for poor sales productivity, as identified by sales managers and practitioners: Lack of focus on target accounts. Poor design of the sales coverage model. Absence of relevant sales methodology and support for the sales process. Inefficient territory design and uneven distribution of accounts. Misaligned sales commission plans. Lack […]
Digital Disruption and the Sales Strategy Imperative
While Daniel Pink had many powerful insights and recommendations for the sales profession in his book To Sell is Human, in one key respect he was wrong. He asserted the sales profession was flourishing, but it is actually struggling. Digital technology is fundamentally disrupting the sales function. Sales Jobs are Stagnant A rigorous analysis […]