If you’re a long-time friend of Factor 8, you probably already know some of my team – Steve Sharr, Kathleen Liles, Kelly Spencer, Mike Finsel. But you probably haven’t met our new marketing leader, CRO, graphic designer, sales rep, or team assistant. These are amazing people who very bravely joined me in sharing how COVID-19 is […]
Last week I shared the rough stages we’re seeing in companies’ responses to COVID-19: Step one was focusing on connectivity (WFH) Step two was focusing on morale and connections (Zoom happy hour anyone?) Step three was focusing on messaging (leading with empathy) —–somewhere around the present day ———- Step four is about re-aligning sales metrics, […]
In an informal survey of top Factor 8 clients and friends the week of May 18, 2020, our community reported and shared the following: 100% reported sales as down overall Most are at the “how can we help” stage of sales. Deals are getting stuck at the close Let me fill in a little background […]
Whether you’re an experienced virtual seller or just getting your “inside legs” after transitioning from face-to-face field selling, we all need more reasons to call our customers. This is because we don’t get to “bump into” customers in the hallways and because we tend to get less accomplished in sales phone calls (See this blog […]
Call Bridging is a critical skill if you’re used to face-to-face selling and now working the phones. In my previous posts I talked about call productivity and setting call goals as critical skills when transitioning from traditional selling to virtual selling. It’s because we often accomplish less on phone sales calls than traditional face-to-face sales […]
Everyone’s talking about selling with empathy right now, but truth be told I’m not seeing it executed extremely well. Here are some quick tips I’ve pulled from our Expert Listening and Questioning courses to help. Make sure you check out a REAL example of empathy in sales here. Quick note: If you’re not seeing activity […]
If you’ve been carrying a bag for a while, I’m going to be honest. The transition to “virtual” sales or inside sales can be rough. It feels like a wall has been placed between you and your customers. You’ll miss the face time. Deals seem stalled. Relationships aren’t quite as robust. And that’s not even […]
If you’re a seller whose “office” is face to face with your customers, you may be experiencing tougher times than the rest of us. Your world was full of vibrant interactions, personal relationships, handshakes and live presentations. You carried your world in your passenger seat and you’ve built beautiful relationships over many meals, drinks, and […]
In part 1, we talked about call planning. I hope you’ll check it out here as your outreach depends on getting to the right people with the right questions. Outreach So let’s talk about the outreach call, email, or social media message? Written My advice: keep it short, zero sales, and very human. Lead with […]
I can smell fear. You can too. And if we’re being pressured to produce pre-pandemic numbers I can smell the source. But if it’s leading to mass cold outreach and a tireless blast of pitch pitch pitch, these days it smells not just like sales C-list, it smells like sales Death. So let’s get intentional […]
I’ve loved hearing about leaders using this time of unreturned calls and stalled deals to sharpen the saw with their teams. Sure we’re all apprehensive, but so much is out of our control. These leading-from-the-front heads of sales are looking at their to-do list saying, “NOW I have the time I’ve been craving. What can […]
Last week the tooth fairy didn’t come to my house due to the Coronavirus. Hey, if a tiger can get it, so can a fairy. Frankly, I’m a bit worried about the Easter Bunny. Really: EPIC. MOM. FAIL. Me: Boy honey, I’m not sure why she didn’t come. (aw, crap!) What do you think could […]
Belly up for some great virtual management tips folks. This week we hosted OPEN BAR with 5 Friends of Factor 8 sharing advanced remote leadership ideas. Way beyond WFH, these rockstars went top shelf! 🙂 We had a GM, Consultant, Front-line Sales Manager, VP of Enablement, and VP of sales on tap (it’s getting punny […]
Should we be doing more or less sales training right now? Let’s talk about why some companies are doubling down on training right now (and some aren’t). We’re all in brand new situations today, but our companies, our people, and ourselves are affected differently. Some of us are: Facing layoffs and massive business downturns Ramping […]
I’m proud to share three opportunities to help our community: 1. OPEN BAR: Virtual Selling Expert Forum & Best Practice Sharing An exclusive closed session only for “Friends of Factor 8” hosted at The Sales Bar (hey, THIS bar is still open) Join five virtual inside sales experts and me while will sip & share […]
