Phil Lauterjung

Archive for the ‘Sales Strategies’ Category

Over the years I have read and heard much about competing and collaborating.  I’m sure that most of you have too.

Today, Charles Green posted a very compelling article regarding these two words.  I found it to be very thought provoking and he has apparently tweaked the Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs at Harvard Business School.  I have to admit that I just love a good rowdy debate.  Read more... (496 words, 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

We are now in the dreaded fourth quarter, and some are saying that the recession is over.  Maybe, maybe not.  That doesn’t change the fact that sales teams everywhere are scrambling to put up bonus-earning numbers for 2009.  That, of course, assumes that you were dealt reasonable quotas to begin with.  Okay, okay I hear the grumbling already about that topic.  You’ll need to take that up with your boss – I can’t help with that one.  Read more... (480 words, 1 image, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

There are plenty of theories about this topic and much of it is wrong.  That is if you accept the findings of a study done by MIT (the brainiac university) and InsideSales.com.  They actually had a professor (Dr. James Oldroyd) with a PhD head the study, so I’m guessing that might have a little credibility with you.

They examined 3 years of data across six companies that generate and respond to web leads, from over fifteen thousand leads and over one hundred thousand phone call attempts.

They focused on one question for this study:  Read more... (561 words, 4 images, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

When I used to work at a Fortune 500 company we had a VP who was very provincial concerning his department.  Whenever another VP got a little too involved in his area he would  tell that other VP in no uncertain terms to “get out of my sandbox.”  I’m not quite sure why that has stuck in my brain all these years, but someone else can do the psychoanalysis on that.

I have seen that attitude persist in a lot of companies today between sales and marketing.  If you don’t believe that check out some of the other blogs on  the subject.  It’s been a hot topic lately – a lack of alignment between sales and marketing.  Read more... (500 words, 1 image, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)

As the recession wears on more and more companies are trying to find sales nirvana.  The number of articles, postings, tips, tricks, and short cuts are increasing every day.  But, once again, reality bites.  Point-of-the-post alert!! – There are no short cuts, only hard work!!

A report released a few months ago by Dow Jones and CSO Insights on Sales Performance Optimization noted that the number of companies using a formal or dynamic sales process decreased this year.  The reason they concluded that happened was that it required hard work.  An astounding 63% of the companies surveyed only had a random or informal sales process in place.  I hope I don’t need to tell anyone that those companies had worse sales results than the 37% with a formal or dynamic sales process.  Read more... (482 words, 2 images, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Photo - Flickr (Kattni)

I have often found it amusing how many sales managers insist that their salespeople must sell to CEOs.  I mean, think about it.  How many salespeople are there compared to the actual number of CEOs?  If all of those salespeople were successful, when would those CEOs get anything done?  They’d spend all their time meeting with you and me.  Hmmm, maybe that’s why it’s so hard to get an appointment with a CEO?  Read more... (628 words, 1 image, estimated 2:31 mins reading time)