Categories: Economic Change | Sales Leadership | Sales Transformation
Guiding a sales organization to growth through today's uncertain economy demands a higher level of efficiency. Changing customer needs and increased competition for budgets have the potential to expose gaps in the alignment of your go-to-market teams. Symptoms of misalignment show up as longer sales cycles, high rates of discounting, and the inability to close large deals due to buyer budget concerns. To get your sales teams firing on all cylinders and making aggressive progress on your growth goals, your most valuable tool right now is true organizational alignment. Here are three critical areas where organizational alignment supports sales resilience and growth. If you’re interested in how sales leaders successfully capture alignment in these three areas, check out this video of our recent panel discussion with three industry leaders. Boomi CRO Marcy Campbell, Battery Ventures Partner Bill Binch and NWN Carousel CEO Jim Sullivan shared insights on how they're aligning their teams for success in the current market.
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Categories: Front-line Managers | Sales Leadership | Unicorn Companies
In 2013, a venture capitalist coined the term “Unicorn” to refer to privately owned firms valued at over $1B. Back then, only 39 companies fit the criteria. Legislation had cleared the path for private companies to pursue funding and Unicorns became less mythical. By 2020, there were over 600. The real Unicorn stampede occurred in the wake of pandemic-era restrictions, fueled by rapid tech adoption and an exuberant funding environment. During 2021 alone, 537 new Unicorns were minted. Today, there are over 1250. There is no roadmap for becoming a Unicorn, but there are common threads. Most have great timing with a disruptive idea, scalable technology and a relationship with investors marked by two-way trust. But once they've reached the coveted Unicorn status, how do companies maintain performance and continue their steep growth trajectory? For leaders at these companies who have reached great heights and want to keep the pedal to the floor, there are three critical areas they'll need to maintain and support continued success. First, fast-growing teams need a unified sales message to leverage clarity on the value they’re bringing to the market. Second, streamline your selling processes: qualification methods, deep discovery, capturing and sharing proof points – fine-tune each component into a repeatable process embedded in your operating rhythm. Third, maintain strong talent while emphasizing retention and development. Let’s examine these three focus areas:
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Categories: Economic Change | Front-line Managers | Sales Leadership
Changing course to weather the economic storm is a little like other initiatives that require leader visibility. To pivot successfully, you’ll need to rally the troops and build buy-in around the shifted approach. But unlike a launch, your plan for steering the ship through choppy waters comes with added background noise. Tightened budgets, longer sales cycles, and “not right now”... the realities of today’s market can take a toll on morale. In a challenging economy, it’s critical to retain and maximize the talent you have by providing support. In an environment where your sales organization may be asked to do more with less, you don’t want to risk losing your A-players. Without a clear understanding of your company’s future and plans for how you’ll move forward, economic challenges can make employees feel insecure. Your strategies to hit your revenue goals in a down economy can only be impactful if your workforce is committed to making them a reality.
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Categories: Economic Change | Sales Discovery Process | Sales Leadership
Recently, we’ve all been living in a constant state of economic uncertainty. Market trends show a leveling off of growth and consumer confidence is steadily declining across global markets.
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Categories: Economic Change | Sales Leadership | Talent Management
Economic challenges can take a huge toll on workforce morale. Your sales force is likely encountering obstacles they haven’t faced before, and it’s possible that’s affecting their ability to win.
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Categories: Economic Change | Sales Enablement Technology | Sales Leadership
Sometimes change comes in the form of a tidal wave: immediate, dramatic, and undeniable. More often, change happens slowly and steadily: hard to perceive until we’ve drifted so far from the shore that we can’t see where we started. Whether you’re trying to minimize “drift” that’s occurred within your sales organization over time or respond to the immediate impact of the turbulent economic environment, ensure you’re focusing on crucial aspects that enable your team to succeed. Remain focused on the fundamental aspects of good selling while using every advantage to stay competitive in the modern selling landscape.
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