Archive

April 3, 2023 Adam Norton

3 Skills That Drive Successful Sales Management

We often get asked the question “what are the most important skills I need to consider when training my sales managers?” It is a very important question and one that requires a thoughtful, evidence-based response. So, what does the evidence say about the most important sales management skills? Can we really distill it down to […]

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April 3, 2023 Adam Norton

Are You Creating a Culture of Dependency in Your Sales Force?

How independent are the sales reps within your sales force? Are your sellers in constant need of support from sales management? If so, it can wreak havoc on your company’s revenue goals and bottom line. So what creates a culture of dependency within a sales force? There is one simple answer—leadership. Your sales management leadership […]

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June 16, 2022 Adam Norton

5 Common Mistakes Sales Teams Make in the Early Stages of the Buying Journey

The early stages of the buying journey are vital to sales success. Read on to learn some common mistakes sales teams make at this stage and how you can avoid them. In our last article, we gave you an overview of the buying journey, the process by which organizations and decision-makers within them come to […]

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May 26, 2022 Adam Norton

How to Navigate the Buying Journey

In today’s sales arena, buyers have more power than ever. The internet has opened up more options and research to buyers than they’ve ever had. This presents a unique and exciting challenge for sales forces. How do we make sales when we do not have the leverage we’ve traditionally had throughout the sales process? Traditionally, […]

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May 5, 2022 Adam Norton

Opportunity Coaching: Making the Most of Your Pipeline Data

Opportunity coaching can have an outsized impact on your sales objectives. For one of our clients, improving their opportunity coaching meant a 54% improvement in revenue won, and a 71% improvement in the number of deals won, even 18 months after our training. So far in our series on how to get the most out […]

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April 22, 2022 Adam Norton

What is Pipeline Coaching and Why Is It Important?

Effective discussions and coaching around sales pipelines can lead to 15% more relative revenue growth. By Michelle Vazzana Sales Pipelines are a big deal. We conducted research with the Sales Management Association (SMA) and when surveyed about how frequently sales teams expected to meet to discuss their pipelines, over 50% of sales managers answered at […]

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April 14, 2022 Adam Norton

The Secret Behind the Highest Performing Sales Teams: The Three Levels of Sales Agility

What started as a research journey into high-performing sales teams led us to a surprising discovery. We reviewed the data we’d gathered on over 10,000 sellers and more than 1,600 sales managers, and what we found is that Sales Agility is a cornerstone characteristic of organizations that consistently hit their growth targets. So how did […]

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April 1, 2022 Adam Norton

Organizational Agility: The Most Effective Way to Achieve More Sellers at Quota

Our research shows that sales managers who focus on Organizational Agility, and coach to activities, get 35% more of their sellers to quota. What is Organizational Agility? Organizational Agility is the ability to match the marketplace reality and sales execution to organizational goals and desired results. Organizations that have frameworks around linking market-facing sales activities […]

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March 24, 2022 Adam Norton

Want to Grow Your Sales? Build A Strong Foundation

VantagePoint’s research shows that on average, sales training programs that focus on Foundational Agility see a 30% increase in average selling price. What is Foundational Agility? Foundational Agility is the ability to: Assess the buyer’s location within the buying journey Determine and plan the best course of action Execute that action effectively and use feedback […]

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March 18, 2022 Adam Norton

One Bad Sales Manager Can Cost You $3.5 Million

Yes, your hunch is correct. The number one revenue killer for many sales organizations is bad sales management. A VantagePoint/Sales Management Association study of 518 sales managers in Fortune 500 sales forces showed that: • The top 25% of managers exceeded their team targets by an average of 15%. • The bottom 25% of managers […]

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