Sales and Marketing – BL – 1

Can you name five challenges facing your sales team right now? Of the challenges you can identify, are they based in data — or guesswork?... Read more »

While many salespeople focus on making their sales decks flashy, fun, and exciting, they do little to ensure that their presentations address the prospect's top concerns and offer an irresistible solution.... Read more »

Return on sales is one of the most important metrics your organization can track to gauge the health of your business and test the logic behind your budgeting and sales strategies. The figure is reported as a ratio and shows how much of your overall revenue results in profit versus... Read more »

During the sales process, you’ll discover people within the company who have the authority to make decisions. These individuals are also more likely to have insight into the team’s budget to purchase what you sell. That means, along the way, you’ll gather more information about how qualified the prospect really... Read more »

You’ve just wrapped up a call with a prospective consulting client. They’re interested in working with you. Congratulations!If you’ve found your way to this blog post, it’s safe to assume you now need to develop a consulting proposal for this client — and you need help doing so.... Read more »

Do you have a well-developed network? Are you self-directed? Do you have an impressive portfolio filled with client success stories? You might be ready to become a consultant, but it can be difficult to know where to start.... Read more »

In 2022, costs for consumers rose to their highest points in recent history.... Read more »

Imagine you run a brick-and-mortar store and a customer comes into the shop and wants to pay for a product. But, they don’t have any cash and would like to pay with a credit card. To accept the customer’s payment, you’ll need a payment gateway, or point of sale (POS)... Read more »

The workplace has seen a flurry of changes in recent years — from an influx of remote workers to the exile of cubicles in favor of open spaces. But one thing hasn't changed: the importance of business etiquette. Business etiquette is a set of unwritten rules that guide how people... Read more »

Having a receipt scanner can make quick work of filing your expenses. Whether you're managing finances for your small business or filing taxes, you have to know where your money is being spent. Receipts from your purchases are likely to get lost in a sea of documents and miscellaneous papers.... Read more »

Imagine you were asked to speak at an event. How would you prepare?... Read more »

Most salespeople aren't born ready to take on the field — with no need for guidance or insight. That's why leaders need to leverage effective sales training techniques to set reps on the right course and facilitate their professional growth.... Read more »

First impressions matter, and when potential clients find your real estate website, they'll be looking for information about you and your expertise. The best way to share these details is with a bio that provides background on your real estate experience.... Read more »

Sales teams and entrepreneurs need to know their target market. You can get there by asking yourself, "Who is the ideal fit for my offering? What are their interests and priorities?"... Read more »

In the past, many people believed the sales process would provide each salesperson with the ability to win the deals they pursued, making it possible for every salesperson to hit their sales targets. Like many promises that seem too good to be true, this one never came to fruition.... Read more »

In B2B sales, our messaging has changed, even if most sales organizations haven't made any significant adjustments. Those who are using an outdated approach may feel confident they have command of the message, only to discover that their clients no longer respond positively to it. Having command of the message... Read more »

Whether you call it a funnel, a pipeline, or deals in stages, it's crucial for sales leaders and sales managers to know that their sales team is creating and pursuing the opportunities that ensure they can reach their targets. But managing a sales force and their pipeline presents challenges, many... Read more »

Success in sales results from a relatively small number of skills. These skills make up the fundamentals of B2B sales. By mastering these sales fundamentals, you create and win new opportunities. We will first explore the fundamentals of creating new opportunities, then turning our attention to the fundamentals of capturing... Read more »

The most important thing you need to know about using LinkedIn for prospecting is what not to do. The social platforms require a different strategy, one that is based on a pull approach instead of a push approach. Most of the people using LinkedIn for prospecting practice an approach we... Read more »

Your prospective clients don't want to make a bad buying decision. The more important it is to get the decision right, the more your contacts are going to look for someone who is One-Up, a person with greater knowledge and experience that qualifies them as an authority and expert in... Read more »

The sales process is the stages you go through to create and win new opportunities. What follows here is Sales Process 101, a simple, straightforward sales process you can use and customize.... Read more »

There are certain B2B sales conversations that are important to both the salesperson and their prospective clients. One of the reasons salespeople struggle to create value for their contacts is because the sequence of the conversations doesn't match their client's needs. Could improving your sales approach be as simple as... Read more »

If you want to create and win more opportunities, value-based conversations will do more than anything to differentiate you from your competitors and fill your pipeline. A large percentage of salespeople have been taught to pursue conversations they believe will help them to win new clients, with most of these... Read more »

During the past few years, B2B companies have been expected to drive continuous growth. So everyone’s instincts were to figure out what technologies they could add to their tech stack to unlock that growth. The resulting tech sprawl only got worse when Covid moved sales teams out of the bullpen... Read more »

At Outreach, we are continually improving our products based on customer needs and the latest technology advancements. During the current economic climate, everyone is being asked to do more with what they have to drive revenue. That’s why earlier this summer we announced general availability of Deal Health in Outreach Guide to... Read more »

With two consecutive quarters of declining growth in the United States behind us, a global economic downturn is rapidly becoming a reality. The war in Ukraine, China’s ongoing 0-COVID policies, Europe’s natural gas crisis, and rising inflation and interest rates in the U.S. will have far-reaching implications for all businesses.... Read more »

With the sudden investment slow-downs in reaction to economic uncertainty, organizations are seeing pipeline health and volume decline, putting forecast accuracy and revenue predictability at risk. In uncertain times, businesses can’t tolerate inefficient, inaccurate forecasting processes. Deals that are lost or slip impact revenue delivery, yet consistent target attainment is... Read more »

There doesn’t have to be confusion when figuring out if a content creator should be an influencer, ambassador or an affiliate. Each content creator represents your brand, each one gets paid whether its a fee, product, or a mix; and each should provide value to your company. The confusion between... Read more »

May holidays include shopping, celebrating, appreciation, and mourning losses. That is why it is important to get your messaging right. Don’t only look at your marketing messaging and imagery, look at what your affiliates, ambassadors and influencers are saying. What these people say is a direct reflection on your brand. ... Read more »

Not every page, blog post, or piece of content needs to have FAQs.  In many cases, FAQs are excessive and could hurt your SEO.  All of us get excited when we see new traffic coming in, myself included, but FAQs should be used to add value. I’m writing this guide... Read more »

If you’re reading this post you’ve been asked to forecast revenue (ROAS, return on ad spend) or a return on investment from influencers, YouTubers and bloggers.  It can seem tricky at first, but it is fairly simple. You just need to collect accurate data points to plug into the formulas... Read more »

Yes, influencers should absolutely be in your affiliate program and allowed to be affiliates.  But there are exceptions to this rule.  Before we get into when influencers should be affiliates and allowed in your affiliate programs, we should define the difference between the two. Influencers promote a brand or product... Read more »

Countless businesses (and potentially your own if you’re reading this) have gone from successful to the graveyard and at no fault of their own.  Whether it is a Facebook page that was given false metrics or got shut down without warning or what appears to be happening with OnlyFans.  Your... Read more »

There are a ton of people that have influenced the direction of the affiliate industry in both good and bad ways.  But this post isn’t about forums, conferences and associations (many in affiliate marketing are women lead and founded), this is about specific women that have shaped my path and... Read more »

A quick note before reading: I was originally going to publish this on Wednesday. Unfortunately a well known and very loved person in the SEO space died of Covid-19.  Even though this post is not for my SEO readers or the SEO space, it would have been inappropriate to publish... Read more »

Ready to create a gift guide for your blog, YouTube channel or a newsletter?  Then I’m ready to help! The post below is something I sent to the partners for some of the companies that hired me as their affiliate manager to help them grow their traffic and make money.... Read more »

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