In 1869, Russell Conwell, an American Baptist minister, was traveling in the Middle East, and his Arab guide shared a story: A man wanted to become rich so badly that he sold all his property and traveled the world in search of diamonds, only to find none. Alas, the new owner of the land discovered […]
Sales Development System, Sales Enablement Insights, Sales Management
How to Partner Effectively With Sales Enablement
Knowing how to partner effectively with Sales Enablement may be the key to unlocking breakthrough sales team performance. In the most positive connotation of the word, to “enable” means to make possible, to aid, to assist, to support, and to facilitate. Typically, we think of enabling others, but in this post, I will place more […]
Sales managers, if you don’t make sales talent development your top priority, then you’re not really doing your job. There was a rather popular Forbes article a few months ago written by Shep Hyken, entitled, “57% Of Sales Reps Missed Their Quotas Last Year.” The main thrust of the article is to highlight what appears […]
Sales Development System, Sales Management, Sales Training, Uncategorized
How to Develop Millennials Into World-Class Sales Leaders
A new generation of sellers and value creators is on the job today, and we have a golden opportunity to develop millennials into world-class sales leaders. Based on my birth year, I am a member of Generation X, but I consider myself a generation-straddler because my siblings were born between 1955 and 1963, at the […]
Sales Development System, Sales Enablement Insights, Sales Training
Smarter Sales Training Starts with Smarter Learning Objectives
Once upon a time, a private company in the aviation industry approached us because the VP of sales wanted “closing skills training.” His evidence: CRM data showing abnormally long sales cycles for their industry, plus personal experience in the field with sales reps following up but not closing. We came into the situation after the […]
Sales Development System, Sales Enablement Insights, Sales Training
Getting More From Sales Training: Three Strategies and A Bobsled Analogy
Companies spend a massive amount of time, energy, and money on sales training, only to find the vast majority of the effort wasted. If you’ve ever been to sales training where the manager or facilitator exhorts sellers to take “one good idea” from an entire day (or two) of training, you know the story. Why […]
How’s this for a Mission Statement? Specialized Sales Systems exists to help companies build their own specialized sales systems that drive revenue growth. Breakthroughs in technology and process make this process better and cheaper than traditional sales training. It sounds clear to us, but as Matt McDarby and I began sharing our message with the […]
Industry Insights, Sales Development System, Sales Enablement Insights, Sales Process, Sales Tools
What is a Sales Development System?
What is a Sales Development System? If you’re unfamiliar with the term “Sales Development System,” it may be because the sales training discipline historically suffers from a lack of systems thinking! Now is the time to familiarize yourself. Systems thinking is required if you need your sales force to take results to the next level. […]