How do you motivate and increase the productivity of an already highly optimized business development team? That was the challenge our business development team faced in April as we pushed to outperform ourselves and set a record number of appointments. Many sales organizations struggle to keep their business development reps (some call them sales development…

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How does the saying go? Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life … The folks at memoryBlue seem to have this figured out, which is why their Facebook status caught our attention: Using gamification to incentivize successful sales behavior has long been a part of the culture at…

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Whether you’re a chief marketing officer, sales manager or VP of sales, ramp to revenue is a high priority. Ramping reps faster is top of mind because it can shorten sales cycles, help you launch products more quickly, and accelerate revenue growth. Elay Cohen, CEO and co-founder of SalesHood and former senior vice president of sales…

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CEO Dave Elkington was lounging on one of the fancy couches he recently had installed in the XANT offices on Thursday afternoon. It was a rare occurrence that signaled the calm before the storm. Elkington was preparing to participate in The Great Executive Dial-Off, a challenge issued by the company’s sales development specialists who contact…

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When you’re hiring sales reps, how do you evaluate crucial attributes like ambition and resilience? Traditionally, sales managers consider a candidate’s track record, such as experience, education and GPA. But this standard resume information is not a reliable indicator of future success because it doesn’t measure a person’s internal drive or ability to overcome adversity.…

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How does a sales rep hit 150 percent of earnings while only achieving 70 percent of overall quota attainment? Easy. He chases the spiffs, contests and bonuses. It’s called gaming the comp plan, and you can’t really blame the rep. Erik Charles, principal incentives strategist at Xactly, says this nightmare scenario actually happened at a…

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Having worked as an inside sales rep for the last couple of years, I have noticed a few obstacles that frequently trip up salespeople. Common obstacles include: Difficulty reaching prospects Bad leads Staying positive in the face of rejection How can business development reps overcome such obstacles? Many would say it’s all about work ethic.…

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Fredrick was hired as an appointment setter for the inside sales division of a medium-sized company. After a few months, he realized the job wasn’t a good fit and quit. This is an example of the biggest challenge facing the rapidly growing inside sales industry–hiring and retaining quality reps. During his presentation, “Profiling for Profit,”…

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Some sales leaders don’t think they have time to spend coaching and inspiring their teams. If that’s the case in your organization, noodle on this: How much time are your sales reps wasting with prospects who aren’t going to buy anytime soon? Employees who lack inspiration and motivation are really good at killing time and…

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