BLOG
SALES PERFORMANCE AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT INSIGHTS FROM AMY FRANKO
Video: 3 Questions Every Sales Leader Should Reflect On Before the New Year
As the calendar year draws to a close, many of us in sales find ourselves at a natural point of reflection. Whether you’re wrapping up your sales year or are midway through it, this is a powerful time to evaluate what’s working in your sales strategy and set the stage for even greater success in the new year. To help with that process, last year I created a worksheet, "10 Impactful Questions to Jumpstart Your New Year," designed to guide you through this reflection and planning. You can download it here. Expand Your Thinking with These Fresh Questions In addition to the questions in the worksheet, I wanted to share three additional prompts that come from my mastermind group, part of Alan Weiss's Growth Cycle. This small but mighty group of five or six professionals meets regularly, both in person and virtually, and has been a game-changer for my business and personal growth. If you don’t yet have a...
Sales Managers: How To Build A Sales Plan
When I think of a day in the life of a top seller, there’s a common theme. They invest their time in the right prospects, the right clients, and the right sales activities. In professional services, this focus becomes even more important, because many times they are balancing business development and sales along with client delivery.
How can you know what steps will move you forward faster, help you build strategic relationships, and accelerate sales results?
Having the right sales plan will help you get there.
In this week’s blog, I share strategies for building your sales plan for professional services. As a bonus, learn how you can receive your 2020 Planning Worksheet and The Modern Seller Lifetime Value Inventory.
Video: Your Number 1 Job in Sales
Hitting your production goals or meeting sales quotas is important, but there's a deeper responsibility that great sellers embrace: helping clients and prospects make decisions that truly benefit their business. This approach not only fosters trust but also leads to long-term success for both the client and the seller. So how can you incorporate this mindset into your existing sales processes? Here are two key strategies: 1. Highlight the Decisions Along the Way Throughout the buying journey, clients and prospects face a series of decisions, some large and impactful, others smaller but still significant. Your role is to help them clearly see these decisions. By guiding them through each step, you ensure they understand the importance of each choice and how it contributes to their overall goal. 2. Provide a Clear Path Forward Once the decisions are laid out, the next step is to help your clients or...
How Self-Awareness in Sales Transforms Your Approach
Self-awareness in sales helps you understand how your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors shape your actions and results. Pair it with self-leadership, and you'll show clients you're the right choice. ****** Mastering Sales Through Reflection Sales is very much a forward-looking profession, whether that is a new quota goal for the sales year, or helping a client look forward in their business. What I’ve learned through working with my clients and with my own experience as a seller is that there’s a helpful skill that requires us to look back instead of forward: self-awareness. In all of the years I’ve been writing this blog (since 2007), my post on self-leadership is the #1 most-read blog on the site. Self-awareness is closely related to self-leadership, but has some distinct differences. What is Self-Awareness in Sales, and How Is It Different from Self-Leadership? Self-awareness is the inward...
Video: 3 Steps to Learning a New Sales Skill
Whether you're learning a brand-new sales skill or refining an advanced technique, the journey to mastery typically unfolds in three distinct phases: awareness, application, and integration. Each phase builds upon the last, helping you transform a skill from a concept into a natural part of your sales toolkit. 1. Awareness: The Foundation Awareness is where the learning journey begins. It’s about understanding why a particular skill is valuable and what it takes to execute it effectively. This phase involves breaking down the mechanics—what are the steps, processes, and strategies involved? By developing a clear picture of the skill, you lay the groundwork for successful learning. 2. Application: Practicing in Real-Time Once you understand the skill, the next step is application. This involves practicing the skill in real-world or simulated scenarios. Role-playing sales conversations, for example, allows...
Top 10 Sales Strategy Takeaways from OutBound 2024
OutBound 2024 was packed with powerful insights on mastering the craft of selling! From AI’s role in prospecting to perfecting the fundamentals, here are my top 10 takeaways to sharpen your sales strategy and drive results. ****** OutBound 2024 is officially wrapped! What an awesome week of learning, networking, and motivation. As a keynote speaker, I always learn just as much as the attendees about the craft of selling, growing leadership skills, and the future of the profession. I’m sharing my OutBound 2024 Top 10 List. 10. This was an intentionally smaller conference, and I believe our best one yet. I shared the stage with several of the stars of the profession, and it was one of those events where I also got to know many of the attendees. I believe that speaker-attendee networking is the secret sauce of OutBound. 9. Role play it to get better at it. Nothing like role-playing a prospecting call, and...
Video: The Essential Role of Client Success in the Renewals Business
For sales organizations with a strong focus on renewals or maintaining a steady client base, a robust Client Success function is crucial to long-term success. While Client Success isn't the same as Sales, it operates alongside it to sustain client relationships, identify opportunities, and drive growth from within the existing client base. Why Client Success Matters for Renewal-Based Models In industries where products or services renew on a regular schedule—such as annual contracts or technology subscriptions—Client Success is the backbone of relationship management. From onboarding to ongoing support, Client Success ensures each client feels valued and has a positive experience with your organization, reducing the risk of churn. Key Functions of Client Success Client Success teams or individuals work to resolve potential issues and maintain consistent touchpoints with clients throughout their contract...
Sales Strategy: Use This Data Framework for Any Sales or Leadership Decision
Sales leaders: overwhelmed by data? This article introduces a sales strategy using a Data Framework to help cut through the noise. Learn how to balance data with context, avoid overload, and make confident, impact-driven decisions. ******** There’s usually no shortage of data in a sales organization. CRM metrics, forecasting data, deal velocity, revenue and profitability, marketing activity, industry-specific data, and research data are but a few. There are probably more you can add to this list! As it relates to data, I have a customer experience colleague who would talk about “using both the head and heart” when it comes to running an organization and finding balance with data. That includes interacting with customers, working with business partners, living in the greater community, or guiding internal teams. There are so many sources of data, how do we use it smartly to guide our sales decisions? How...
Podcast: Boosting Sales with Pipeline Velocity
In this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount, Jr. and I discuss pipeline velocity, qualifying deals, and the importance of asking the right questions in sales. Some highlights: Defining Velocity with Quality (00:12) Balancing Pipeline Quantity and Quality (02:45) Strategies for Declining Low-Quality Opportunities (07:03) Overcoming the Need for Approval in Sales (10:42) Overcoming Inertia (11:22) Identifying Sales Bottlenecks in Complex Offerings (15:38) Real-world Examples of Successful Pipeline Building (19:20) Outbound Conference Preview (24:45) You can listen to the episode here: Would you like to build your sales pipeline? Don’t let your competition get an advantage. I can help. If you want to know how to improve your prospecting strategies or you’d like an outside perspective, let’s talk. Contact me to schedule a conversation.
Video: Why Momentum Matters in Sales Strategy
Momentum is one of the most powerful tools in sales. When a sales process has momentum, it drives opportunities forward, keeping client connections strong and deal pipelines healthy. But momentum doesn’t just matter for individual deals—it’s crucial for sales strategy itself. After the initial excitement of creating a vision for where you want your sales and business growth to be in a year or two, it’s easy for that enthusiasm to fade. Without momentum, a well-crafted strategy can stall, impacting overall success. So, how can you ensure your sales strategy stays on track and achieves the impact you envisioned? 1. Identify Where Momentum Could Stall First, recognize where your strategy might lose steam. This could be due to gaps in accountability, shifting priorities, or even limitations in infrastructure, whether in personnel, process, or technology. Understanding these areas allows you to tackle...
Our Strategic Selling signature sales training program is now available online. This online sales learning program is ideal for professional services and B2B sales. Get started with 2 free lessons.
