Some of my long-term problems had such simple solutions. If only I had thought of the obvious solutions first. For example: For decades, I could not drive for much longer than two to two and a half hours before my eyes would get so heavy that I risked falling asleep at the wheel. Day or night, year after year, all of our trips were based on how far I might have to drive. And then I discovered the solution. Sunglasses.

Sales leaders often default to a binary view when stratifying or tiering their customers, leading to the creation of two broad account categories — key accounts and “non-key” accounts. Many times, the “non-key” accounts are further stratified into sub-tiers focusing on different engagement strategies or resourcing models.

We’re in one of the most frustrating economies in recent memory. It’s not a full-on recession yet because, despite layoffs in tech, unemployment is generally low. But inflation is high, interest rates are high, and people aren't buying like they used to. And it's causing some serious sales slumps.

As the pressure for sales teams to succeed increases, so too does the need for sales leaders to develop their sellers’ skills and potential. But there are a couple of problems preventing them from doing so. First, many sales leaders rely on an outdated sales leadership approach.

Today, there is hardly any more popular topic than artificial intelligence (AI) — its current capabilities, its future possibilities, its benefits and dangers. While AI will certainly be helpful and impactful, not even experts and scholars know what the “AI revolution” will look like ten or twenty years from now, nor when the true “year of AI transformation” will be.

A study of B2B companies found that just one in 20 was able to consistently grow sales faster than sales and marketing expenses. As companies seek to cut costs in an uncertain economy, increasing this commercial productivity is a smart strategy. Research shows the three ways companies can do this are to refine the go-to-market model, turn every rep into an A player, and make sales and marketing support more efficient.

Few things can be more critical to your company's growth than your sales process. But when you step back to evaluate your team's methods, you may wonder whether your process is more of a hindrance than a help. After all, as important as traits like persistence and having good people skills can be in sales, they aren't going to be enough to create a winning process on their own.

I don’t know about you, but I’m relieved to see high-pressure sales tactics get dumped in the waste bin of history. The popular thinking used to be that the only way to succeed was to talk fast, instill fear, and constantly push for a close. None of that is conducive to a great experience for buyers OR for salespeople.

Sales leaders' roles will undergo significant changes due to the integration of AI in sales processes. AI is going to have a major impact on sales professionals and sales leaders need to increase their digital literacy and experimentation in using AI to modernize their organizations, not only will AI impact inside sales, direct sales and also customer service operations.

Persuasion is not a speech, it’s a process — a process of learning about your audience, earning their trust, and building a case that takes into account their interests. These skills are important in any situation, and essential in times of limited resources

Sales reps never seem to have enough days in the month for all the phone calls, emails, meetings they need to have with buyers. Add to that the management and administrative tasks that go with every sale, and even top performers may end up exhausted and frustrated. They need help improving their productivity—to maximize sales results while reducing the cost, energy, and time spent on each deal.

Objections are unavoidable on sales calls, but encountering one doesn’t necessarily mean an end to the conversation. If you’re able to anticipate what your prospect’s objections will be, you stand a better chance of overcoming them. At Trellus, their AI sales coach detects objections, provides real-time suggestions to guide reps during the call, and measures the effectiveness of those suggestions based on different metrics.

It has always been essential for businesses to maintain a solid reputation. However, this has taken on another level of importance in the modern context. Social media, 24-hour news cycles, and the ubiquity of information have put reputational issues at the forefront of any organization’s strategy. Efforts must be made in terms of public relations, brand management, and leadership reputation, but it cannot stop there.

Businesses are bound to make mistakes and disappoint their customers. But how you build your apology message and your careful attention to executing it appropriately can make the difference between losing those customers or increasing their loyalty. When delivered well, your apology message can improve the customer relationship to the point where it is stronger than if the mistake had never happened — a phenomenon known as the service recovery paradox. In this article, the author outlines five steps for writing an effective apology message and explains why it’s important to share the apology process internally and with external stakeholders. It not only shows vulnerability from the organization but also shows other customers that the company can be relied upon in times of distress.

If you’re an ambitious salesperson, building and delivering compelling sales presentations should be your focus in the new work environment. Salespeople who master sales presentations in the virtual and hybrid workplace will outshine their techno-novice counterparts and make a mark on the prospects they seek to convert into clients.

The pandemic changed the world and customer expectations, and the most successful companies recognize that their customer experience needs to change in turn. But many leaders are deploying the same digital customer experience (CX) strategies that they used in 2019, thereby risking customer defection and dissatisfaction at a time when they can least afford it. This article addresses three common CX missteps, and strategies to address them before your competitors seize the opportunity. By engaging cross-functional teams in CX discussions and understanding customer values, leaders can ensure that their brand remains relevant for years to come.

In recent years, the role of technology, especially the role of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, has significantly increased across a variety of industries. Customer service is one of the industries that has been introduced to the capabilities of AI technology, and businesses are turning to it and other evolving technologies to improve the quality of their business and the customer’s experience.

Using ineffective and poor sales words and phrases can damage your sales conversations. In the modern world, where sales are driven by science, our choice of vocabulary can emotionally connect or disconnect with our buyer’s brains and emotions in different ways. Sometimes, using the wrong choice of words can make your prospects think and feel differently about both you and your company with the click of a finger. A slip of the tongue can rapidly change the dynamics of a conversation and sales opportunity.

Objections are unavoidable on sales calls, but encountering one doesn’t necessarily mean an end to the conversation. If you’re able to anticipate what your prospect’s objections will be, you stand a better chance of overcoming them. At Trellus, their AI sales coach detects objections, provides real-time suggestions to guide reps during the call, and measures the effectiveness of those suggestions based on different metrics.

Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, service robot technology has been on the rise in the past few years. Self-service automated kiosks are here to stay, and robots are the future of customer service. service robots must be designed and implemented the right way, otherwise customers — and human coworkers — will avoid interacting with them. Robot technology should not simply be added as a novelty, but carefully integrated to deliver value to customers and support employees — maintaining a balance between automation and human interaction.