The Boston Red Sox had a mediocre team in 2024. They had too many left-handed hitters, not enough starting pitching, an undependable bullpen, and by far, the worst defense in the MLB. Sure, they won half their games, but they lost the other half – many of them games they should have won. Most sales teams win fewer than half their “games,” and while defense can’t be blamed, pitching can! Unlike the Red Sox, most sales teams have too much pitching (demos and presentations)!

I believe today’s customers are overloaded and overwhelmed by too much information, so making any decision is a challenge. You may think this is only important to your marketing and salespeople, but in reality, it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer’s decision process. Every aspect of your business must be about sales.

The corporate world loves buzzwords and slide decks. Words like “synergy” and “alignment” fly around in meetings as if they have some magical power to motivate people. But if you want to inspire people to drive real change, there’s a secret weapon that works every time: storytelling. Yes, good old-fashioned storytelling — the kind that gets people talking, connects teams and, believe it or not, fosters a little healthy competition.

Top salespeople are successful because they sweat the details. They probe for pain, help their prospects, and run effective sales calls. They listen closely to what their prospects say, effectively determine the right solution, and ask for help when they need it. Top reps are articulate, assertive, and direct. And most importantly, they don’t use “weasel words” — words or phrases that subliminally undermine their credibility.

What will this emerging technology mean for service teams? Here are early thoughts.

Customer service organizations today are fighting an uphill battle. Service agents face record case volumes, and customers are frustrated by growing wait times. Often, to manage the caseload, agents will simultaneously work on multiple customers’ issues at once while waiting for data from legacy systems to load.

I have spent the past two decades on stages around the world as an auctioneer at the world’s top fundraisers and galas. I spend most nights negotiating with audience members to buy things at a higher price than they expect to pay when they walk in the room—it’s how I raise record funds for charities across the globe.

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.