Which presentation do you remember?

PowerPoint overload! We get it at every conference or big meeting. PowerPoint is a staple of podium-based speeches that fill the day. What a great environment to evaluate what works and what doesn’t work. Read more

New Sales Enablement Ideas – SAVO’s AMPs, Part 8 – First-Line Sales Leadership

The first-line sales manager arguably has the most important role in any organization. Key performance indicators such as percent to plan, growth, close ratios and employee engagement can almost always be linked to the leadership, coaching and mentoring provided by the sales manager. Read more

New Sales Enablement Ideas – SAVO’s AMPs, Part 7 – Customer Focused Content

Your brand is the key to your success; it’s what differentiates your organization from your competitors. It’s critical for all customer-facing employees to project the brand your organization has worked so hard to establish; everyone must consistently deliver the same message. Yet, it is crucial for your sellers to be able to customize and target messages based on specific selling situations. Read more

How to find the right sales coach

The Sales Playbook is one of my favorite topics. So, when the Corporate Executive Board and their Sales Executive Council (SEC) announced their most recent research was entitled Rewriting the Playbook, How High Performers Win the Consensus-Based Sale, I was one of the first to register for the event highlighting their findings. Read more

New Sales Enablement Ideas – SAVO’s AMPs, Part 6 – Subject Matter Expertise Promotion

Who are the critical Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) inside your organization? If you’re like most companies, there are far more than you think. Leveraging this army of expert insights can make the difference between success and failure. Identifying and promoting their knowledge isn’t easy – but it is critical to your sales team’s success. Read more

New Sales Enablement Ideas – SAVO’s AMPs, Part 5 – Guided Selling

In the fifth of an eight-part series on SAVO’s new consulting services, titled AMPs, we discuss guided selling. Many of us would call this a sales playbook that provides prescriptive sales guidance based on specific selling situations. But the term sales playbook is a little overused and misunderstood. Read more

Is there room for storytelling in business settings?

This post first appeared as a guest blog on the Corporate Executive Board.

Is storytelling appropriate in business? Is there a place for incorporating an engaging tale in the commercial world? I believe there is, but after sharing my ideas about storytelling in the boardroom and beyond for the past year, I encountered many who disagree. Read more

Football season brings sales playbooks

Sales used to be a lot easier – and I’m talking about the late 1990s, not the 1950s. You built relationships with customers and stood out when you presented enterprise solutions vs. single products and services. Read more

Getting a job is selling; learn from the best

You may not have a career in selling, but the job hunt is all about selling. The hunt for your next role is like a full-time sales job. You are working a wide number of prospects, qualifying each one, presenting yourself as the solution and working towards closing the sale and getting the job. Read more

Ken Revenaugh speaks to CEB members

July, 2010 – Fast Track Tools founder Ken Revenaugh spoke to Corporate Executive Board members on July 13, 2010 to highlight the value of a detective workshop in moving sales people to value selling mindset. One of CEB’s research programs, the integrated Sales Executive Council (iSEC), recently published a case study describing a member company’s success in using the detective workshop. Read more