Peak Sales Recruiting

One of our colleagues manages an enterprise sales team and shared some great insight on the “CRM Dashboard trap.” CRM’s are powerful – the dashboards can be updated with a mouse click, downloaded or browsed by our blackberrys and PDA’s and show us what is going on across the team at any moment. The running [...]

One of our readers recently asked us what sales management books we find most useful. This is a great question. I have read more than 100+ books on sales and sales management. Sales Management books I recommend include: 7 Secrets to Successful Sales Management – Wilner The Ultimate Sales Machine – Holmes ProActive Sales Management-  [...]

Interesting interview between Selling Power and Matt Ferguson – CEO of CareerBuilder. He talks about trusting the CSO to lead and holding them accountable. Also comments that he is not that big on forecasts because he believes “sales people need to be and are overconfident.” Video interview below

Ain’t that the truth! Here is Brooks Group’s take on what it takes to be a master sales manager. Great list. Management know-how Teambuilding expertise Sales knowledge Problem solving Morale building Time management Product knowledge Political skills Account management Goal setting skills Motivational techniques Self-management Business acumen Interpersonal skills Supervisory skills …and why it’s important. [...]

Last day of the quarter and it is never over until it is over. Here is some inspiration to keep you going during the last hours of the quarter – read whichever is appropriate: IF YOU ARE STILL WORKING TO HIT YOUR TARGET: “Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever” – Lance Armstrong IF YOU ARE [...]

Rick Spence from the Financial Post wrote about the book “The Contrarian Effect: Why It Pays (Big) to Take Typical Sales Advice and Do the Opposite” by Michael Port and Elizabeth Marshall. He comments that the book contains common sense advice such as “increase your likeability factor” and “customers want a relevant and valuable offer [...]

I love quarter end. Having spent many years selling myself, I remember the rush of the countdown and closing everything you can to hit your quota and get into accelerated commissions. I also enjoyed the competition amongst all the reps hustling hard and getting super creative to not only hit their own numbers, but to [...]

The strength of your leadership determines the production from your sales force. We asked the most successful VP Sales how they spend their time and what they focus on to ensure they are meeting or exceeding the company’s sales plan. Here are the three most common habits across the leaders: 1. Focus on the top [...]

Sorry if the title of this post offends anyone, but hey, this is 2009! Warm and fuzzies are awesome but they don’t pay the bills. So if you are like many sales managers right now, you are looking at a good percentage of your team underwater on their targets. Perennial top performers seem unaffected by [...]

Year end is almost on us. Here are some tips for finishing strong. Review your pipeline and put extra effort on the key deals that need to close. Make sure you know the customer’s drivers – if they are like most companies, they are experiencing tough times – if you are introducing year end promotions, don’t [...]