In today’s incredibly digital world, there’s still no substitute for the personal touch that great customer service can offer — whether in person or online. However, companies and brands need to bring their A-game these days.

The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly finite. If you’re lucky and you live to 80, you will have lived about four thousand weeks. This truth, which most of us ignore most of the time, is something to wrestle with if we want to spend our limited time on this earth well.

We live in a world buzzing and flashing with distractions: Slack messages sidle onto screens, phones vibrate with breaking news and chats from the group chat, and worries about COVID and other threats break our concentration. No wonder staying focused can be a challenge.

The business world has changed drastically during the pandemic. It demands innovative ways to speed up the skill acquisition of employees. Training organizations now require a training design that enables much faster development of employees’ skills and performance. Not all training designs are equipped to achieve or support that speed.

That strategy execution is one of the greatest organizational challenges is nothing new. The causes of derailed strategies have been well chronicled — from not actually being strategies, to organization dysfunction and misalignment, to excessive internal focus.

Job burnout is on the rise, according to several surveys. People are feeling emotionally exhausted, detached from their work and colleagues, and less productive and efficacious. This makes them more likely to suffer health consequences, need sick days, and quit their jobs.

A high-paying client calls to say he’ll be in town tomorrow and would like to come meet the team. The manager panics, scrambling to extract the team lead from her country house, the client liaison from the South of France, and Jack … where does Jack even work from these days?

Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) have been a mainstay for key account management for some time. But just a few years ago they—and for that matter, the whole customer success function—were the new kid on the block. And they were difficult to pull off. It was hard to get the right data, hard to build a case for value, hard to predict success and alter implementations.

Sales leaders today agree that there’s an increasing gap between buyers and sellers. In our annual sales performance studies, sales leaders tell us that organizations struggle with advanced engagement capabilities and they’re challenged to strengthen sales relationships.

B2B selling involves a myriad of choices about how to engage with customers. Sales organizations and salespeople spend an enormous amount of time planning which customers and prospects to spend time with and what messages to focus on. Typically, a high-level annual plan anchors more detailed quarterly plans which get broken down into even more granular periods.

An effective sales team has proven to be a leading factor in companies’ performance and growth throughout the pandemic. For those of you responsible for enabling a sales force, this is great news. Your work and contributions are likely noticed and applauded company-wide.

Determined, intelligent and unafraid of knockbacks – all traits of great sellers.

Salespeople are also having to adapt to new technology, buyer behavior and other factors outside their control, while still striving to hit targets.

Investing in sales training to improve selling skills is one of the wisest decisions any sales manager can make. But what’s the best way to find a sales training company that will get you great results? Here are seven key areas to consider as you evaluate different options.

Yesterday I watched a toad walk across the outdoor side of our kitchen window. Picture it! I wish I had video but it ran so counter to what I have observed toads doing over the past 65 years that I froze. I performed a google search and found exactly one image of a toad on a window. Please understand that the dirty window and sill are not mine - I found the image via a Google search.

Dale Dupree is the founder and CEO of the Sales Rebellion. He draws on his many years of sales experience to coach sales professionals in developing innovative and creative approaches to their craft. Dale is also one of the hosts of the popular Selling Local podcast. He joined Predictable Revenue to discuss how to create experiences that cause familiarity, fuel relevance, drive curiosity and give your prospect a reason to meet.

Whatever managers previous fears about remote work, the pandemic has proved that most knowledge workers can get their daily tasks done just as well from their living rooms as from the office. Study after study confirms most people's personal experience that, at least for those without child care, health, or other challenges, productivity has actually inched up with the advent of widespread remote work.

From less social interaction to more opportunities for autonomy, if you’re an introvert, chances are you’ve enjoyed working remotely over the past year plus. On the other hand, if you’re an extrovert, you may have found yourself less productive and more irritable at home, struggling to recreate the external stimuli you had in the office to motivate you.

The Rolodex and the Filofax disappeared a while ago, but we’re still not all using the tools that make it easier to coordinate people and time.

I use Calendly to book various kinds of 1 on 1 discussions. I set it up to have access to certain windows in my calendar.

As the world—cautiously but inexorably—returns to the office, an inescapable concern is how to deal with those who don’t want to return.

That’s a fair question. Some people are going to oppose returning to the office versus working at home. That opposition is legitimate. It could be rooted in work–family balance, flexibility, commuting, workplace distractions, comfort, clothing, conformity, or a hundred other concerns.

The ability to strategically negotiate with others drastically impacts the success of your training organization and business at large, both in closing individual deals and sustaining long-term business relationships. One of the most fundamental elements of a successful negotiation is understanding the client’s needs. Often, the easiest tactics are overlooked while negotiating. This includes relating to the other party, gauging emotions and/or choosing the right time and place to talk business.