Sales Insight Roundup: The Week in Sales Enablement | Oct 20, 2014
The sales insight roundup gathers news, research and provocations from thought leaders in sales and leadership. Here’s what we found interesting this week:
WHY SALES PEOPLE MISS THEIR NUMBERS
From Forbes
“In the sales force, we obsess over the skills of our sellers. We send them to sales training programs to develop their selling skills. Then we observe their sales calls to see if they’re demonstrating those skills. We coach them on what to do and what to say in front of their customers. And that’s all good. But is it sufficient?
Many salespeople fail to reach their potential not because of poor skills. In fact, an average salesperson can typically make a sales call that’s good enough to win the sale. Rather, many sellers fail because they’ve made bad decisions leading up to the sales call.”
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORK – INSIGHTS FROM INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS COULD SOON FIND THEIR WAY INTO THE OFFICE
From Kellog Insight
“At least some management research identifies a ‘honeymoon’ period after a new employee comes on board, followed by a dip in job satisfaction. An intervention like Finkel’s has the potential to arrest the decline. Sure, some staffers may pooh-pooh the exercise as pointless or absurd, but ‘it’s not exactly a big time commitment,’ Finkel points out, and it might just lead to a more satisfied work force.
‘One thing that amazed me about the results of our first study,’ says Finkel, ‘is that the intervention not only made people happier in their marriages, it made them happier with their lives in general. If workforce interventions have similar results, that’s an astounding return on a 21-minute annual investment.’"
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO BECOME A THOUGHT LEADER
From Marketing Profs
“Our society generally frowns upon bragging. Your mom may have even scolded you when you tried to toot your own horn. We recall her wisdom every time we are cornered by colleagues who blow hot air about how smart they are.
But can we surmount the "mom hurdle" and accept the fact that bragging, done right, can help you further your career and your business? Most assuredly. But don't think of it as bragging, think of it as becoming known as a thought leader. Let's take a look at three content-delivery approaches you can use to launch a thought leadership campaign for yourself…
1. Speaking
2. Writing
3. Research”
FOUR STEPS ON THE ROAD TO ORGANIZATIONAL GROWTH, DOMINANCE, OR IRRELEVANCE
From Seth Godin
“We see the same four steps, over and over: Struggle… Servant… Bully… Utility….. While the easy examples to find are the famous, international ones, this can happen on the micro level, within industries or locations or sects as well.
I'd like to believe that the goal is to figure out how to live a life in the servant stage, to create an organization that doesn't become a bureaucratic haven or an avarice-focused engine of profit.
As markets shift faster (networks grow faster now than ever before in human history) there's more opportunity to find a sweet spot that dances between servant and utility.”
Comment below with other articles you found interesting this week or comment with your opinion of the Insight Roundup articles.
