Selling to Big Companies Blog

Sales Learning in Bite-Sized Chunks: New Resource for Professional Development

To me, the most important thing a seller can do is to become the differentiator! And the only way to do that is by investing time and resources in professional development.

Well I have some good news for all of you!  I'm one of the exclusive authors and sales experts featured on CanDoGo. They've just launched a brand-new site with thousands of tidbits of advice on sales, personal development, leadership and motivation.

Here are three links that go to some of my videos on CanDoGo.

• Personalize Every Contact
• Getting Your Voice Mail Message Heard
• The Overwhelming Corporate Mystique

Of course, that's just a start of what you'll find on CanDoGo. Enjoy the learning - and then put it to good use!

Top Sales Resources - October 2008

Top Sales Experts Share Their Top Articles

This ebook, compiled by Jonathon Farrington of Top Sales Experts, is filled with excellent advice from the best in the business, including: Colleen Francis, Paul McCord, Mark Hunter, Leslie Buterin, Kelley Robertson, Keith Rose, Linda Richardson and me.

You'll find tons of good ideas in here that you can use immediately. Registration required.

Stunningly Awful Demos

If you need to demo your products to customers, you'll want to read this article by Peter Cohan, author of Great Demo!  He covers the "Top Ten List of What NOT To Do."

Discover if you're making these sales-deflating mistakes: download StunninglyAwfulDemos now.

How to Use Social Media to Drive Sales Results

Check out this excellent white paper from InsideView. You'll learn how to use intelligence from your social network and company resources to:

• Increase your prospecting productivity, while decreasing time spent on research.
• Identify opportunities you didn't know existed
• Enhance the quality of your customer interactions.

In my opinion, InsideView has the best business intelligence tool available. I love what they're doing and recommend it every time I speak.

So get on it. Download their white paper now and learn what you're missing. I am not a techie type person, but this is simple & makes your life 100 times easier

Top Sales Resources - August 2008

The One Piece of Advice You Need
to Get the Fees You Deserve
Once again, Rain Today has published an excellent ebook. With contributions from Alan Weiss, Jeff Thull, Andrew Sobel, and Bruce Marcus among others, you’ll learn what's really important and what you really need to know about pricing your services.

Download the report  here. Registration required.

Selling into the Big Fortune 1000 Companies
This guide, written by SalesQuest, includes tips on qualifying prospects, getting past gatekeepers, increasing call back rates from voicemail, picking the right targeted companies to go after, critical success factors in lead gen programs and more.

Download this 12-page guide now. Registration required.

Top Sales Resources - July 2008

Check out these "how to" and "get you thinking" resources.

The Plot Thickens: Why Case Studies Create New Customers
I'm a strong advocate of using case studies in account entry campaigns. That's why I liked this ebook by copywriter Charles Brown. To learn how to create powerful case studies, you can download The Plot Thickens here.

 

Tell the Whole Truth, by Clinton Korver
Here's a ChangeThis manifesto that challenges our ethics. As sellers, it's particularly tempting to shade the truth or withhold some information. To learn more about truth telling, and how to use it with discretion & wisdom, download this ebook now.

Closing the Gap: The Sales and Marketing Alignment Imperative
The CMO Council recently completed a study analyzing the gap between marketing & sales organizations. Click here to download the Executive Summary.pdf  For more info, you can purchase the full study.

Top Sales Resources - June, 2008

Top Sales Experts, Summer Edition

This excellent ebook features articles by everybody who is anybody in sales today. You'll find articles by Keith Rosen, Joanne Black, Jonathon Farrington,  Wendy Weiss, Paul McCord and Dr. Tony Allesandro.

Sales SheBang 2008 speakers featured in this ebook include Kim Duke, Colleen Francis, Leslie Buterin, Kendra Lee, Anne Miller, Lori Richardson and me. Click to download your free copy.

Why Marketing Stories Have Catch

In this excellent ebook, Ardath Albee shares how you can use stories with Catch Factors to transform buyer attention into engagement and consistently tip purchase decisions in your favor.

Click to download your copy. While you're there, stay a while to read Ardath's always insightful articles. If she's not in your RSS feed today, she should be!

Sales Secrets eCourse
Sales expert Colleen Francis of Engage Selling offers a free 10-day intensive eCourse when you subscribe to her newsletter. Colleen's advice is rock solid. I know you'll get a lot from it! Click to sign up now.

 

Top Sales Resources, April 2008

Can LinkedIn Increase Your Sales?
by Jill Konrath, Selling to Big Companies

If you're wondering if social media is worth it or a waste of time, check out my newest ebook. Learn how others are leveraging LinkedIn to connect, create opportunities and more. Click here to get your copy.

Prospecting is Changing
By Nigel Edelshain, Sales 2.0

This excellent ebook focuses on ideas & strategies you can use to harness this change and to tilt the playing field your way.  Download ProspectingIsChanging.pdf

67 Tips for Presenting Like a Pro
By Anne Miller, Chiron Associates

Written by a top presentation expert, this ebook is filled with golden nuggets that will keep you on top of your game. Download PresentingLikeaPro.pdf

Top Sales Resources - March, 2008

Decisive Presentations
This FREE 1-hour online program by presentations expert John Windsor of Creating Thunder is excellent. It's designed to help salespeople make a stronger, more compelling  connection in their presentations to customers, clients, and  prospects.

You will gain valuable insights that will significantly impact your sales success. Click here to go to the launch page.

Cold Calling 2.0: The Next Generation of Prospecting
Check out this white paper written by lead generation expert Marguerite McLeod-Fleming of The Result Source. You'll discover new strategies and tactics that integrate technology, sales process improvement and collaboration to achieve extraordinary cold calling results.

Definitely worth reading. Download it now.

What Sales Really Needs from Marketing

I was just reading John Jantsch's article on Those Idiots in Sales Just Don't Get It! on the Duct Tape Marketing blog.

Since he was clearly talking about me - and most likely you, if you're reading this - I felt an overwhelming need to respond quickly to set the record straight. 

The issue is with MARKETING. That's right. They don't know what sales needs. And the stuff they give us to do our job doesn't work in today's business environment.

That's why I wrote this ebook, What Sales Really Needs From Marketing: 7 Strategies to Get More & Better Prospects in Your Sales Pipeline.

Make sure the Sales & Marketing leaders in your organization read this ebook today. It will definitely get them talking!

Download What-Sales-Needs-from-Marketing.pdf

(P.S. John also wrote a post on Those Idiots in Marketing Don't Get It. Both of us are trying hard to get sales & marketing together.) 

Award-Winning Ebook

It's always fun to be part of a winning effort - and especially when it's a Gold Medal awarded by Marketing Sherpa for best B2B Opt-In Email Campaign.

Last August, RainToday published an ebook called, The One Piece of Advice You Can't Generate Leads Without. It featured articles by 10 top lead generation experts including me (Jill Konrath), Ardath Albee, Brian Carroll, Mike Schultz, and Roy Young & Ann Handley from MarketingProfs. Over 10,000 readers have downloaded this ebook since that time, making it a tremendous success.

Good Sales Resources

Check out these resources. I know you'll find them worthwhile.

How to Write a B2B Complex Sales Lead Generation Letter that Attracts Sales-Ready Leads
Jim Logan of the Accelerate Business Group has just published the 2nd edition of this excellent special report that shows you how to use direct mail to create more sales opportunities.  Download your copy now.

Creating Digital Footprints Your Prospects Can Follow
This ebook by Harry Hallman of Octane Interactive provides a good overview of the multitude of digital strategies your company can use to augment and drive your marketing and sales process. Click here to get your copy.

Webinar: Trash Talk & Delete Buttons

A Candid Look at Marketing From Your Prospect's Perspective

I don't often speak to marketers, but when I do I'm a bit tough on them. My focus is always on how they can help the sales force increase their prospect base, speed up sales cycles, improve sales productivity and win more sales.

In short, I think there are soooo many things that they can do that will really have a measurable impact. But in many cases, they just plain miss the boat.

If you check out this recent webcast of mine, you'll discover what I have to say about to Marketing about:

• What it takes to capture the attention of today's time-starved corporate decision makers who are expected to do more, in less time and with fewer resources.
• The new "Rules of Sales Engagement" that will totally transform their lead generation strategies.
• What your salespeople need from you to radically impact their ability to turn leads into sales.

Feel free to share this with the marketers in your organization. And, if you're in sales, I guarantee there will be some fresh information in here for you too!

Listen to Trash Talk & Delete Buttons now.

Sales Ideas from World-Class Coaches

The Elite Advisor has pulled together an ebook featuring an all star cast of world-class sales coaches. In it, you'll find these excellent articles:

• Salesperson or Trusted Advisor?, Bill Bachrach
• But I Could Never Sell, Bob Burg
• The Brand Called You, Peter Montoya
• Creating Value in the Age of New Wealth, Dan Sullivan
• You Can Ask for Referrals Without Begging, Bill Cates

My article on Secrets of Top Sellers is also included. To read the entire ebook, click here:

Download SalesIdeas-WorldClassCoaches.pdf

Catch Me, If You Can

That's the name of this excellent new ebook by Ardath Albee of Marketing Interactions. In my opinion, Ardath is one of the best voices out there today on how marketing can nurture leads till they're ready to hand off to sales. She "gets it" - if you know what I mean.

In Catch Me, If You Can, she explains the Five Catch Factors that determine if a prospective customer pays attention to your messaging or not. It is so aligned with my philosophy, that I suggest sellers read this ebook. Additionally, forward it to your marketing colleagues. They need it!

What Sales Really Needs from Marketing

On LinkedIn today, Bob Apollo posted a question about "problem marketing." It's been a pet peeve of mine for an eternity. In fact, that's why I wrote this ebook last year.

To be successful, Marketing needs to work hand-in-hand with Sales. But this happens far less often than it should. If Marketing had its way, we'd all be talking about our unique methodologies, robust systems and one-stop shopping. With today's customers, that just doesn't cut it.

Whether you're in Sales or Marketing, you'll find ideas that can stimulate much-needed discussion. Download "What Sales Really Needs From Marketing".

What Top Sales Experts Have to Say

You'll definitely want to download this excellent new ebook featuring articles by some of the best sales experts in the world including:

Joanne Black, Jeb Blount, Leslie Buterin, Kim Duke, Jonathan Farrington, Mark Hunter, Paul McCord, Anne Miller, Keith Rosen, Wendy Weiss, Kelley Robertson, Clayton Shold and more. (me, too!)

With 26 articles to chose from, you're bound to find answers to some of your key sales challenges. It's currently a bonus offer when you subscribe to the Top Sales Experts newsletter. Plans are to convert it to a hardcover book in the upcoming months, so get your copy now.

What's the One Piece of Advice You Can't Generate Leads Without?

That's what RainToday asked a bunch of experts in B2B lead generation. The answers are illuminating. You're going to want to read this complimentary new report right away. It's hot off the press today!

This special, 36-page e-book includes 10 all new articles written by these experts - and yes, one of my articles is included. There's a lot of valuable information included that you'll want to know about, first hand.

The expert authors and advice includes:

1. Trash Talk And Delete Buttons: A Candid Letter From Your Prospective Client
   Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies (ME!)
2. More Is Not Better If You Don't Know How To Nurture
   Brian Carroll,  CEO of InTouch Inc and author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale
3. Find Out What Your Sales Team Considers A Lead
   Stefan Tornquist, Research Director & Sean Donahue, Senior Reporter, MarketingSherpa
4. If You Can't Measure It, Don't Do It
   Suzanne Lowe, President of Expertise Marketing and author of Marketplace Masters
5. Automate Lead Nurturing To Increase Lead Generation Effectiveness
   Laura Ramos, Vice President of Forrester's Marketing Strategy and Technology Team
6. Generating Leads By Finding Buyers In Trouble
   Larry Bodine, Owner-Operator of LawMarketing Portal and Larry Bodine Marketing
7. Tales To Keep Them Talking
   Ardath Albee, B2B Marketing Strategist, Marketing Interactions
8. Promising Prospect - Or Dead End? Start By Defining A Lead
   Roy Young, President with Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs
9. All Sound And Fury, Signifying Nothing: Executing Your Lead Generation Plan
   Mike Schultz, Publisher, RainToday.com and Principal, Wellesley Hills Group
10. B2B Sales Lead Success Checklist
    M.H. (Mac) McIntosh, B2B Marketing Consultant, The B2B Sales Lead Experts

Get The One Piece Of Advice You Can’t Generate Leads Without now.

New Podcast on Selling to Big Companies

Brian Oates of Daxle Business Podcasts just interviewed me about how to crack into corporate accounts - the major focus of my Selling to Big Companies book.

He got me talking quite passionately about what it takes to be succcessful today - and even more so, about what doesn't work.  Listen in.

Top Sales Articles

Need some good sales tips and fresh perspectives?  If so, you might want to check out this new ebook, "Top Sales Experts Share Their Top Articles: Volume 1." 

One of my favorite articles "Passing the 'Tell Me More' Test" is included in this compilation. Additionally, you'll find articles by Colleen Francis, Jonathan Farrington, John Boe, Andrea Nierenberg and more.

You can get this ebook from the Top 10 Sales Articles site.  Enjoy!

Ebook: The Interaction Value Track

If you're looking to leverage online B2B marketing interactions to drive demand and shorten your sales cycle, you'll want to read The Interaction Value Track: Where the Rubber Meets the Road in Online Customer Interactions.

This highly informative ebook was written by Ardath Albee, President of Einsof and prolific blogger at Marketing Interactions.  As she says, "Isn't it time for marketing to have quantifiable evidence for how their efforts contribute to sales results?"

I totally agree!