Are You In It To Win It?
If I get into a game, I play to win. What nobility is there is playing like a slacker? What virtue is purposeful mediocrity? None! I live my life to be a winner. Have
Welcome to the Sales Gravy blog, where salespeople and sales leaders get better every week. We publish new sales training articles and podcast episodes three times a week, covering prospecting, cold calling, objections, negotiation, and leadership, written by Jeb Blount and the Sales Gravy trainer team.
If I get into a game, I play to win. What nobility is there is playing like a slacker? What virtue is purposeful mediocrity? None! I live my life to be a winner. Have
Do you long for a life lived in high gear? One that is filled with joy and achievement? It is possible! How would you like to kick your life into high gear? I can
When you are winning deals, it’s easy to slip into a euphoric mindset and completely forget about the process that got you there in the first place. Out of all the sales rules, there
What would happen to your business results if you just said “no” a little more often? Building business demands that you, as the solo professional, wear many hats. In wearing all of these hats,
Hark back to who you were on interview day. We promised to deliver above and beyond. Chances are, we gave it our all for a while, settled into a groove and have gotten lazy
Working smarter with people entails three key activities: assigning the right number of people, identifying roles and planning compensation strategically. Sure-fire Ways to Work Smarter with People Your sales force is defined by the
Data can do more than tell you facts about your own business. It also can reveal important information about what’s going on with your competitors in the marketplace. How to Be Data Savvy In
Prospecting is More Than a Cold Call There are six steps to more effective prospecting campaigns will help you reduce pure cold calling and engage highly qualified prospects. “Why won’t salespeople prospect? All they
The 5 Essential Elements Of Personal Prospecting Emails Breaking new ground with prospects is the initial hurdle you need to climb over on your path to a sales call or meeting. Before you start
The Virtual Selling Book Club Guide Mastering virtual selling techniques gives you a massive competitive advantage because it allows you to engage more prospects & customers, in less time, at a lower cost, while
How to Stand Out in Virtual Meetings Virtual selling is the new normal. Here are three tips for preparing yourself for a successful transition onto the virtual sales stage and for making a good
Tips for Effective Pipeline Reviews Avoid standing in front of the board next month and telling your reps that you missed the target… AGAIN. A pipeline review gives you and your reps an opportunity
How to Reach Your Prospect With Email If you want your prospect to open, read, and act upon your emails, start using these three actionable steps and instantly increase your email response rate. We
Just Send Your Material Here you’ll find five new scripts to help you separate the real buyers from those prospects who will just end up wasting your time. One of the biggest traps sales
Building Relationships On Sales Calls Building a relationship with someone you can’t see can be difficult, but simply changing the way you talk can make a big impact. Here’s six tips for using the
Cold Calling is Alive and Well With New Rules Cold calling is one of the most targeted, efficient and effective ways to reach potential customers but there are new rules for cold calling in
A professional actor would never walk out onto a stage without warming up their instrument to make sure they are communicating at their best. What is your most powerful sales tool? Your website? Video
Just as there is a set of best ways to paint a room, so there are sets of best ways to ask a question, seek an appointment, build rapport, make a presentation, close the
If you’re going to bypass mid-level gatekeepers, you have to be strategic, and you also have to use the right tone & pace, so you can be perceived as someone who truly cares about
Whether you are just learning the language of sales or improving your game as an already successful SalesMaker, there are six timeless principles to keep in mind. The sales industry has changed dramatically over
I’m not ready to just toss voice mail out into the sales-o-sphere — there’s still hope and opportunity for it to hold a prime spot in the sales mix. But that will require a
Today’s sellers need to be agile and actively looking for problems and opportunities they can help their buyers address or capture. Have you ever thought about the type of sales role you are in?
Don’t confuse your sales role with role-playing. Role-playing sends most sellers running for the nearest exit. Everything Terry was taught about sales reinforced the idea that he had to be, “larger than life,” or
It’s when we humble ourselves and admit we could do better and continue to push our activities, efforts, and risk for being humbled that we find the greatness we can really achieve. I cringed
Want to build rapport quickly and get people to like you more? Notice, and bring up similarities. You can easily find out some useful info on a person’s LinkedIn profile or company bio if it’s
The best way to measure sales productivity is with leading indicators—the KPIs and metrics that predict future revenue and let you fix problems before sales dry up.
Most sales team meetings fail because they aren’t actually about selling. Mike Weinberg says the fix is simple: stop running status updates and start running meetings that make your team more aligned, more energized,
Jumping in to save a rep’s deal feels like leadership, but it trains your team to call you instead of solving problems themselves. Real sales leadership means coaching the rep, not closing the deal
If you want to know how to scale a sales team, document your sales process and prove your close rate before you add headcount, then decide whether your next hire is a leader or
Most sales forecasts fail for a reason no CRM can fix. Sellers stop telling their leaders the truth the moment honesty starts costing them something.
Summary The most effective sales compensation strategy for getting a small team focused on high-value complex deals is to layer a significantly higher reward on those deals without reducing incentives on transactional ones. Pair
Summary When the market shifts, your salespeople are not going to figure it out on their own. That’s your job. As a sales leader, your responsibility is to see the change coming, get ahead
Summary: Most sales managers confuse empathy with sympathy and pay for it in team performance. Jeb Blount breaks down the real difference, why listening first is the most powerful coaching move you have, and
Summary: Q1 is feedback, not failure. Top-performing sales teams use a Q1 sales strategy review to assess whether they have an execution problem or a focus problem, then make targeted adjustments heading into Q2.