Hiring expenses are on the rise, with even small businesses often shelling out five figures for each new hire. Contributing factors include persistently low unemployment rates, an aging workforce, and a growing preference for freelance work. So when you finally find the right person for the role, it’s essential to onboard them quickly but effectively to make good on your substantial investment.

You’ve been able to generate sales leads — prospective customers who may want to buy your products or services — and produced enough interest to draw them to your website or location. They’ve taken action to identify themselves by calling or filling out a website form. They may have even expressed precisely what they’re looking for and want to purchase. However, when you try to close the sale, they balk or ghost you altogether. What’s going on, and how can you fix it?

Sales organizations face constant pressure to close deals and hit targets, never more so than in a price-driven market where budgets are tight, and every dollar is scrutinized. But what can we learn from the best-in-class sellers, who time and again exceed these targets? What are they doing that their peers aren’t? Our 2024 Sales Maturity Survey reveals the proven practices used by top-performing sales teams globally, detailing how they set themselves apart from their rivals.

Everybody needs sales skills. We all have something we want others to buy into, whether it’s an idea we have, a proposal we want supported, or a product we are pushing. When our pitch is successful, others help us achieve our goals. When it’s not, we feel disappointed (and often less wealthy than we had hoped). I learned to sell when I was building my company, leadership communications firm The Humphrey Group, over a 30-year period.

If you’ve ever worked the front lines, where you’re directly dealing with customers, you know that sometimes, a customer can’t be satisfied. It’s always a challenge dealing with a difficult customer, but many times, companies have hard and fast rules for how to engage with these customers, leaving employees in the position of facing anger, frustration, yelling, and even sometimes rage.

Everybody needs sales skills. We all have something we want others to buy into, whether it’s an idea we have, a proposal we want supported, or a product we are pushing. When our pitch is successful, others help us achieve our goals. When it’s not, we feel disappointed (and often less wealthy than we had hoped). I learned to sell when I was building my company, leadership communications firm The Humphrey Group, over a 30-year period.

It's probably the most famous challenge in sales, to say nothing of an increasingly dreaded interview question: "Sell me this pen." Even if people didn't know it before, the 2013 movie The Wolf of Wall Street made it famous. And the images of would-be salespeople foundering, trying to describe the positive attributes of a pen without any real sales strategy, are hard to forget once you've seen them.

Even if you don’t follow politics, you probably know that there is a Presidential Debate this Thursday evening.  Both candidates are preparing for the debate – albeit it differently – and you could say that because the debate will not have a live audience, there are similarities between the debate preparation and the preparation for an important sales presentation to land a big client.

My wife and I add plants to our perennial gardens each year. She chooses the plants and decides where they should be placed, and I have the important job of digging holes. One thing I have excelled at in my hole digging responsibilities is cutting into the coaxial cable that makes up our dog’s invisible fence, rendering it useless each time. As long as I know where the break is, I can splice it back together again.

Transitioning from a top salesperson to an effective sales leader is more than just a promotion—it's a significant step up that demands new skills and perspectives. And it’s risky. Elevating top sales performers into sales leadership roles doesn’t naturally make them effective sales coaches. They may not possess the skills or desire to transition into leadership roles, potentially leading to misalignment and dissatisfaction.

Successful salespeople possess many skills. They need the confidence to present sales pitches, the motivation to increase sales for their organization, and the passion and knowledge to promote your product or service. However, their most essential skill may be emotional intelligence. High-level sales involve emotionally connecting with customers. Creating genuine connections means understanding and harnessing your own emotions as well as your prospects’ and customers’ emotions.

If you've ever worked the front lines, where you're directly dealing with customers, you know that sometimes, a customer can't be satisfied. It's always a challenge dealing with a difficult customer, but many times, companies have hard and fast rules for how to engage with these customers, leaving employees in the position of facing anger, frustration, yelling, and even sometimes rage.

True story: Recently, my daughter was at a major brand car dealership with her boyfriend, intending to purchase a pre-owned car. Note I made up the numbers for the sake of my daughter's financial privacy, but the takeaways are still the same. The dealership asked for, let's say, $26,000 "all in" for the car, but my daughter had already decided that $20,000 was the most she would pay.

Prospects — the potential customers you want to sell to — are the fuel for the sales pipeline. Every prospect represents a possible deal. Growing your base of sales prospects and working to nurture them will grow your revenue. Even though sales prospecting is important, it may sometimes feel like you’re just wishing and hoping the right people will show up.

Today’s business landscape is ever-evolving, with market disrupters, automation technology, and global economic uncertainty putting businesses under pressure. That’s why achieving peak performance in sales isn't just a goal—it's a necessity—and your sales team constantly needs to find ways to boost productivity. Proven sales processes, like the Miller Heiman sales methodology, can transform your team’s productivity and drive sustained success. 

AI for sales outreach sounds great in theory. I know. I thought the same thing 15 years ago. For 10 minutes. Until I really thought about it. Then I laughed and went on to the next thing. Then last month, I wrote a controversial column called "We All Know AI Can't Code, Right?" in which I argued that while generative AI is good at creating compilable syntax

To convert buyers and investors, sharing product knowledge is important, but you need more. Sure, you have to know the products and services you sell in detail. But product knowledge alone is useless, and that is where many marketing plans run afoul of the first law of marketing: Put the Customer First. Customers don't buy products or services. They buy solutions to problems, relief from an itch, satisfaction of a felt need. In short, they buy benefits.

One of the most important skills I learned growing up came from martial arts -- stay liquid and fill the gaps. Being flexible will give you an edge in winning any match, whether you're fighting an opponent or brokering a deal. When I was a kid, I learned this the hard way. I was tiny and looked wimpy. I got picked on, beaten up, and mugged. So Ma enrolled me in martial arts at the community center. We went there almost every night to take classes and use the showers.

Aggressive salespeople are no more effective than passive salespeople but if I had to choose one over the other I would take my chances with the aggressive salesperson and attempt to get them to tone it down. While the challenges with passive salespeople are obvious, there is one mistake I consistently observe being made by aggressive salespeople and wouldn’t you know it, the salesperson approached us and made the mistake. That made me want to sit in a messaging recliner to get the stress out.

When you’re looking to grow your business, your sales teams are more important than ever. These three strategies could give your sales teams the edge they need to help you meet your organization’s growth objectives. Invest in your sales leaders - Align your sales process to customer needs - Motivate people with the right compensation strategy. Read on to find out how.