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Recommended Blogs of the Sales Cylce

February 26, 2010 in Sales 2.0, Technology, sales | Tags: , , , , , , , | by insideviewblog | 1 comment

Today’s post highlights blogs that are terrific resources to managing, maintaining and mastering the sales cycle. We’ve broken them out by three stages of the sales process that they specialize in – lead generation, lead management and lead nurturing/qualification. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments.

Lead Generation

B2B Lead Generation Blog: Brian Carroll, CEO of InTouch and author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, runs a blog about B2B lead generation, sales leads and marketing for the ‘complex’ sale.

Dig It: SalesDog.com is one of the Internet’s most visited sales-success sites, with insight from several of America’s leading sales experts, bringing practical selling tips and strategies to salespeople, sales managers, business owners and entrepreneurs.

The Virtual Handshake: A resource guide for Web 2.0 technology users, including blogs, social network sites, virtual communities, relationship capital management software and more.

Lead Management

Sales Lead Management Association Blog: Articles to help you become more successful in the lead management sales business process. The blog allows you to respond to posted articles, share your thoughts, opinions and ideas.

Sales and Sales Management Blog: Paul McCord, best-selling author, sales expert, coach and trainer, provides insight about sales and sales management issues, specializing in sales trends and topics including introductions vs. referrals, use of incentives and much more.

Lead Nurturing/Qualification

The Online Marketing Blog Network: The network brings together expertise from the sales and marketing online community, contributing news, ideas, strategies, commentary, insights, research and more

Inside Sales Experts Blog: Shares thoughts about best practices for sales, lead generation and nurturing and revenue generation, including trends, tips, models and metrics.

B2B Sales and Marketing Blog: Industry discussion about lead generation, qualification and nurturing, focused on providing ideas about global business-to-business sales support, growing the sales pipeline and increasing sales numbers.

For an expanded list of all-things-sales blogs, check out the Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales Skills.

Most Entertaining Sales Commercials

February 10, 2010 in Technology, sales | Tags: , , , , , | by insideviewblog | 4 comments

With all of the buzz surrounding Superbowl commercials, we wanted to build a list of our favorite, most entertaining sales commercials – all for your entertainment.

The videos below are a great mix of metaphors, infomercial pitches and, well, some we cannot categorize. Although they may not be of the highest quality, they are certainly entertaining.

Leave a comment and let us know your all time favorites.

Ever get the feeling that you’re working with a bunch of monkeys?

The Credit MacDaddy plugs his business with an awkward rap

“EZ Divorce Law” now known as “DivorceDeli.com”

Larry Love, owner of “Better Days Auto Sales,” loves his cars and loves you

Vince with ShamWow here…

Motivize! Pulverize! Realize! with Get Your Basketball On

The Red House Furniture’s theme cannot be described in one caption

Bobby Denning  furniture and appliances and reality and auction and…

An insurance company going for the scare factor

Social Media Tips for Sales

February 2, 2010 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | by insideviewblog | 2 comments

In December, we posted The InsideView 20 – The Top Sales Industry Social Media Users, which highlighted 20 sales professionals who are paving the way for social media use throughout their respective industries. This innovative group of sales execs, writers, trainers and analysts are finding terrific new ways to translate news, intelligence and theory, ultimately driving new trends in the world of sales.

We recently asked the group if they had any advice to share with their peers. What we received was advice, best practices, cautions and words of wisdom that will surely help the remainder of the sales industry dive in to the tempered waters of social media, and navigate the terrain of the traditional sales industry.

Tibor Shanto, principal and founder of Renbor Sales Solutions Inc.

If you have something to say, say it, say it loud! Join LinkedIn and take some time to find groups in line with your interests, then speak up. Share your blog posts, join discussions, answer questions and take advantage of any other way to be vocal.  Once you have contributed to a discussion, Tweet about it. Not only will you be able to get solid feedback about a variety of topics, but you can then take those ideas and blog about it. From there, you can tweet it – a very effective and cyclical cylce.

LinkedIn creates an ongoing opportunity to involve new people, new views and perpetuate your learning and ability to expand your network as people learn about you and your thinking. From there, build relationships and carry the conversation off line – sometimes these people will be sales leads, industry experts or at the least, people you share common interests with.

Chad Levitt, Account Executive at HubSpot, Author of the New Sales Economy Blog

In “Six Simple Steps to Reach More Prospects,” Chad shares his insight about connecting with your target accounts and contracts: “If you are wondering if these 6 steps will work — they do — I use them everyday with success. The beauty of these 6 simple steps is that they are easily repeatable and do not waste your time on unnecessary tasks.”

Identify your target account

Go to Jigsaw.com and type your target account into the search field and click ‘go.’ Select the contacts you would like to connect with at your target account

  • If the company’s main line is the only one listed, call and ask the operator to give you the direct extension. The operator will usually give it to you. If they try to put you through say you will reach out again later and hang up.

Go to Google and type in the name of your target prospect and the company’s name

  • Many times you will find their LinkedIn profile, other social media networks and affiliations. Explore their LinkedIn profile and social networks and get to know your target contact. You may also find related news items that may be relevant.

Send an introduction email that you should have saved in a template to save time

  • Make quick changes to your template to personalize email, and let your target contact know in your email you will be calling shortly

Call back in a few hours to connect with your prospect

  • If they respond to your email before you call them, immediately call back – they are usually at their desk. Leave a compelling voicemail if your target contact does not pick up the phone and mention your email. The combination of your email and calling will greatly increase the chances of reaching your target contact

Brian Jones, president of Industrial Interface, Inc.

Don’t be a business

The Internet allows people in every job to consume information that they find interesting at work.  If you can present relevant and useful information to your potential customers that is also fun and interesting, then you are well on your way to creating a valuable online brand.

It’s not always about marketing

Internet users can smell marketing speak a mile away. Why? Because it’s usually meaningless drivel that conveys no real benefit to anyone. Social media marketing is all about people sharing with other people. You need to personify your brand to compete in this space. If your company is just sharing its most recent product information, then no one is going to care. Don’t be afraid to be personal, funny, controversial and casual when representing your brand online.

Trust your product

If your product stinks, then all the marketing in the world isn’t going to help. If you’ve created a valuable website and clearly share the benefits of using your products, then users will be engaged when they get there. You won’t always have to push your products on customers through these online avenues.

Choose the right medium

There are a lot of popular social media sites that aren’t useful to every brand. LinkedIn is for professional networking and business information, while Facebook is reserved exclusively for fun personal interactions. B2B social media efforts need to be highly targeted to be successful.

Monitor the right metrics

Lots of people are interested in lots of stuff online, so traffic isn’t always a key to success. Look to customer sign-ups, calls or some other action that represents a real prospect doing something on your site. Getting a thousand people to your site is useless if no one takes the actions you need.

Joanne Black, founder of consulting business for Referral Sales, No More Cold Calling

Joanne’s tip is short and simple, but provide a sound perspective about LinkedIn.

Personalize your LinkedIn invitation

When I receive the standard invitation, “Please join my professional network on LinkedIn,” I know the person is reaching out to a list of people. I respond to a personal connection, as do most people. Use your invitation to re-connect, share a few short sentences about what you are doing or comment on their profile. It makes a world of difference. Also, do not accept invitations from people you don’t know.

Onward in 2010

February 2, 2010 in Shameless Self-promotion, notifications | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | by insideviewblog | Leave a comment

The ever-relevant concept of efficiency prevails during times of economic uncertainty. At InsideView, we spent the majority of 2009 developing our sales intelligence technology, so that our customers can do more with less and ultimately, close more deals faster. We’re proud of how far SaleView has come to be able to help salespeople be more informed and generate greater results. As we move into 2010, we reflect on 2009 and acknowledge the success of our clients and InsideView, while keeping sight of the ‘next steps’ for the coming year.

Over the course of 2009 InsideView received highly regarded accolades from the sales community, including :

  • JMP Securities Hot 100 List of best privately held software companies
  • High praises from the research firm Aberdeen Group in their independent study
  • Being ranked as the highest-rated application at the salesforce.com AppExchange
  • Being named alongside Google and Facebook by CRM Magazine as a “Rising Star” in companies pushing the boundaries of social CRM

In the latter half of 2009 we partnered with NetSuite and released an application to leverage social networking, including Facebook and Twitter, within both Customer Relationship Management and Enterprise Resource Planning.

In May, InsideView also launched the Smart Cloud and Buzz Tab to incorporate real-time social media monitoring into all major CRM applications, while significantly enhancing our technology’s integrations with both Oracle CRM On Demand and Siebel CRM applications in support of Oracle’s Social CRM initiative.

We carry this momentum into 2010, and have no doubts that the new decade will be an era of Sales 2.0 technologies to make the life of the sales professional more efficient, more productive and, most important of all, more successful.

Aberdeen Highlights SalesView’s Performance

January 28, 2010 in Technology, sales, sales intelligence, software tools | Tags: , , , , , , , | by insideviewblog | Leave a comment

The Aberdeen Group’s recent study deconstructed the best-in-class inside sales deployments, surveying 476 organizations and found that sales practitioners using SalesView outperformed other companies in both performance and the adoption of best-in-class practices (as defined in this Analyst Insight). Aberdeen notes the significant increase in overall sales performance, quota achievement, win/loss and lead-conversion rates when compared to companies not utilizing the application.

Aberdeen cites SalesView’s technology, aggregating sales intelligence from social media and traditional sources, in turn increasing sales productivity and velocity. The study credits SalesView’s CRM integration with providing the following benefits:

  • 27% increase in overall productivity
  • 32% more sales reps achieve their quotas
  • 31% more sales reps see a better win/loss rate
  • 18% more sales reps convert leads to the closing stage

According to Peter Ostrow, research director for sales effectiveness at The Aberdeen Group, “Access to sales intelligence, especially when directly fed into CRM/SFA systems, is clearly one of the major enablers for the best-in-class companies in the study. Sales teams who are deploying InsideView’s sales intelligence application are indeed achieving 32% better performance than non-customers, in terms of current lead conversion rates and hitting quota, and year-to-year growth in revenue and win/loss ratios.”

Check out the entire report here.

How to Blow Out Your Quota in 2010 Webinar

January 26, 2010 in Interview, Sales 2.0, Technology, notifications, sales, software tools | Tags: , , , , | by insideviewblog | Leave a comment

Interested in learning how your organization can increase sales productivity and efficiency? Of course you are. Tune in tomorrow (Wednesday, 1/27) at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET for valuable insight from Peter Ostrow, the Aberdeen Group’s sales effectiveness research director. Peter will highlight the results and benefits of SalesView, along with other great perspectives.

The Webinar, “How to Blow Out Your Quota in 2010,” is complimentary and will teach you and your organization how to:

  • Achieve an average of 87% overall sales team quota
  • Increase average revenue by 17%
  • Experience an average of 7% improvement of lead conversion rate
  • Raise average selling price/contract size by 45%

Register in advance at http://tinyurl.com/yzm8c7t.

The InsideView 20 – The Top Sales Industry Social Media Users

January 7, 2010 in InsideView 20, Sales 2.0 | Tags: , , , , , | by insideviewblog | 10 comments

Social media is changing hundreds of industries and professions, and sales is no exception. To recognize those members of the sales industry who in their use of social media are bringing together important news, sales intelligence and theory, we are pleased to announce the full list of the ‘InsideView 20.’ This list of sales industry leaders is composed of sales executives, writers, trainers, analysts and more, all of whom are making savvy use of many of the social media tools available today and helping usher in the renaissance we like to call ‘Sales 2.0.’ These are the folks, who like InsideView itself, are doing their part to deliver us to the future of the sales industry – one that is highly connected, informed and efficient.

1. Mike Damphousse, CEO/CMO of GreenLeads
@damphoux
Company website: http://www.green-leads.com/

GreenLeads is a B2B company specializing in marketing strategies and leads. Mike has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and technology in an array of industries. He consistently tweets helpful links on the topics of lead generation, demand generation and a variety of other sales-related topics and regularly engages with his followers.

2. Anneke Seley, author of the book, Sales 2.0, CEO and founder of Phone Works
@annekeseley
Anneke’s blog: http://www.sales20book.com/wp/blog/

Anneke brings her expertise from the sales and technology industries to the masses through her books, articles and savvy use of social media. Her role as the CEO of Phoneworks, a sales strategy and implementation consultancy, and experience designing OracleDirect provide her with a uniquely informed insight into Silicon Valley. Anneke is a true Sales 2.0 leader.

3. Jonathon Hewitt, founder of SEO Sport
@gohewitt
Company Website: http://seosport.com/

Jonathon is founder of SEO Sport, a search engine marketing company. He has over a decade of internet marketing experience and is an unstoppable tweeter. John is constantly sharing tech and social media stories, providing his followers with a constant stream of smart, handpicked information on these areas.

4. Josiane Feigon, CEO of Telesmart, author, blogger
@josianefeigon
Company Website: Telesmart

Josiane started Telesmart over 15 years ago and has over 25 years sales experience in the technology sector. She is also the author of a couple of books the latest of which, Smart Selling From the Inside Out, came out this fall. She blogs on a very regular basis through the Telesmart company website and updates twitter all the time.

5. Trish Bertuzzi, President and Chief Strategist at The Bridge Group
@bridgegroupinc
Company website: www.bridgegroupinc.com

Trish Bertuzzi has over 27 years experience working in technology and more than 11 as president of The Bridge Group, a Sales Consulting company. She tweets frequently, sharing tips on sales, marketing, technology news and other interesting life tidbits. If you have an inside sales team you need to follow Trish.

6. Jill Konrath, Jill is the CEO and founder of Sales Shebang and the Chief Sales Officer and CEO of Selling to Big Companies
@jillkonrath
Company Website: http://www.sellingtobigcompanies.com/

Jill is not only CEO of the company Selling to Big Companies, she is also the author of a successful book by the same name. She tweets often and blogs on her company website about smart selling strategies. She has over 20 years of experience working in the B2B sales industry.

7. Alen Majer, Founder and Owner of The Science and Art of Selling, author
@alenmajer
Company Website: The Science and Art of Selling

Alen’s company, The Science and Art of Selling, trains, coaches and consults with executives and sales teams on sales strategy. His sales expertise also extends beyond domestic borders, as he speaks internationally and is the co-founder of the Sales Academy-Croatia and Sales Institute of Croatia. Alen is a prolific writer in both the analog and digital mediums; he is the author of several books including the most recent, Selling is Better Than Sex, and is constantly tweeting and adding content to his company website.

8. Joanne Black, founder of consulting business for Referral Sales, No More Cold Calling
@referralsales
Company Website: No More Cold Calling

Joanne has over 30 years experience in sales training and consulting. She is the founder of Referral Sales strategy-based business No More Cold Calling and has worked in a range of industries including retail, technology, finance, etc. She tweets, blogs and creates podcasts regularly on the secrets behind referral sales.

9. Chad Levitt, a sales associate at EMC Corp. and author of the New Sales Economy Blog
@chadalevitt
Chad’s blog: New Sales Economy Blog

Chad is not only involved in the business of sales during the day, but he writes on the topic for two highly regarded sales 2.0 sites, salesgravy.com and sales2.com. Chad stays up to date on anything relating to sales 2.0 and shares tons of information on this space via his blogs and Twitter.

10. Tibor Shanto, principal and founder of Renbor Sales Solutions Inc.
@renbor
Company Website: Renbor Sales Solutions Inc.

Tibor started Renbor Sales Solutions Inc. which helps businesses increase and better their sales by focusing on Objective Based Selling. Tibor has over 20 years experience ranging from leading global sales teams to telemarketing. He was very quick to join the online information revolution and continues to stay on the pulse of sales and technology, follow him on Twitter for a steady flow of great sales advice and news.

11. Chris Powell, VP of sales and founder of Industrial Interface
Twitter: @TechSalesLeads
More: Industrial Interface home

If you work in sales, you need to follow Chris on Twitter. His feed is chock-full of sales industry insights and links to relevant articles and studies.

12. Randy Ferrell, VP of Sales at Care2.com
Twitter: @randyferrell
More: Care2.com

Need another reason why Twitter is a brilliant service? You get to regularly see what is on the mind of a VP of Sales for a forward-thinking organization. Randy frequently tweets links to really interesting articles that are related to the issues his company works on, such as the environment, health, human rights and animal welfare.

13. Paul Cummings, VP Sales and Marketing for Impression Management Professionals
Twitter: @paul_cummings
More: Impression Management home

Paul is VP of Sales at a sales training and leadership development organization, so following him is like getting a double dose of what you need in the Sales 2.0 world. From Webinars to articles – great stuff, Paul!

14. Helene Zemel, Senior Regional Sales Director for AmeriPlan

Twitter: @hzemel
More: Health Plans Plus blog

Helene tweets and blogs regularly, keeping her followers entertained and informed on both her personal interests (she’s a classically-trained pianist) and the issues shaping her professional world (healthcare reform and industry trends).

15. Megan Heuer, Research Director at SiriusDecisions
Twitter: @megheuer
More: Sirius Blog

Meg is a regular contributor to her company blog, examining topics like what sales really needs, and an active tweeter, sharing links and constantly joining the conversations she finds important. As part of the research team at her firm, she’s no doubt gathering a cornucopia of insight from the social Web.

16. Brad Trnavsky, President of Sales Management 2.0

Twitter: @bmtrnavsky
More: Sales Management 2.0 profile

In addition to tweeting about the latest sales and marketing resources, Brad has created an entire social community for the sales management profession at Sales Management 2.0 with more than 1,100 members. If you’re not tapped into that conversation, we highly suggest doing so now.

17. Maurice Cheeks, Apple Educational sales executive
Twitter: @MoCheeks
More: MoCheeks.com

Maurice is a frequent blogger, Twitterer and general social media force who shares thoughts about a wide range of subject from media to sales to philosophy — sounds about right for an Apple employee.

18. Alden Mills, founder of Perfect Fitness
Twitter: @aldenmills
More: Perfect Fitness blog

You’ve probably seen the Perfect Pushup device in stores and on TV, now meet the man behind the muscle by following him on Twitter and checking out his blog, which gives you extra tips and clearly written posts on how to get the most out of your workout. This former Navy SEAL is not only tearing it up in the gym, but is also active on the social Web. Great stuff for advancing his goal of “perfect fitness.”

19. Kendra Lee, President and IT sales expert at KLA Group
Twitter: @KendraLeeKLA
More: KLA Group

Following Kendra on Twitter is not only a way to get insight into the latest sales and marketing events, but also a clear answer to issues such as the best way to follow up with leads and why you should take a long, hard look at your actual sales processes.

20. Bill Rice, founder and CEO of Kaleidico
Twitter: @BillRice
More: Better Closer blog

In addition to founding a company that provides a CRM solution to the mortgage industry, Bill writes regularly on smarter marketing and social selling at his blog, and keeps his Twitter followers in the know on the latest tips and tricks for the best sales strategies.

The InsideView 20 – The Top Sales Industry Social Media Users

December 9, 2009 in Sales 2.0 | Tags: , , | by insideviewblog | 2 comments

Social media is changing hundreds of industries and professions, and sales is no exception. Though not everyone is ahead of the curve, there are a select few that are trailblazing for the rest of us.  To recognize those members of the sales industry who in their use of social media are bringing together important news, sales intelligence and theory, we are pleased to announce the first 10 members of the InsideView 20. This list of sales industry leaders is composed of sales executives, writers, trainers, analysts and more, all of whom are making savvy use of many of the social media tools available today and helping usher in the renaissance we like to call ‘Sales 2.0.’ These are the folks, who like InsideView itself, are doing their part to deliver us to the future of the sales industry – one that is highly connected, informed and efficient.

With out further ado, here are the first 10 members of the InsideView 20 (in no particular order):

1. Chris Powell, VP of sales and founder of Industrial Interface
Twitter: @TechSalesLeads
More: Industrial Interface home

If you work in sales, you need to follow Chris on Twitter. His feed is chock-full of sales industry insights and links to relevant articles and studies.

2. Randy Ferrell, VP of Sales at Care2.com
Twitter: @randyferrell
More: Care2.com

Need another reason why Twitter is a brilliant service? You get to regularly see what is on the mind of a VP of Sales for a forward-thinking organization. Randy frequently tweets links to really interesting articles that are related to the issues his company works on, such as the environment, health, human rights and animal welfare.

3. Paul Cummings, VP Sales and Marketing for Impression Management Professionals
Twitter: @paul_cummings
More: Impression Management home

Paul is VP of Sales at a sales training and leadership development organization, so following him is like getting a double dose of what you need in the Sales 2.0 world. From Webinars to articles – great stuff, Paul!

4. Helene Zemel, Senior Regional Sales Director for AmeriPlan

Twitter: @hzemel
More: Health Plans Plus blog

Helene tweets and blogs regularly, keeping her followers entertained and informed on both her personal interests (she’s a classically-trained pianist) and the issues shaping her professional world (healthcare reform and industry trends).

5. Megan Heuer, Research Director at SiriusDecisions
Twitter: @megheuer
More: Sirius Blog

Meg is a regular contributor to her company blog, examining topics like what sales really needs, and an active tweeter, sharing links and constantly joining the conversations she finds important. As part of the research team at her firm, she’s no doubt gathering a cornucopia of insight from the social Web.

6. Brad Trnavsky, President of Sales Management 2.0

Twitter: @bmtrnavsky
More: Sales Management 2.0 profile

In addition to tweeting about the latest sales and marketing resources, Brad has created an entire social community for the sales management profession at Sales Management 2.0 with more than 1,100 members. If you’re not tapped into that conversation, we highly suggest doing so now.

7. Maurice Cheeks, Apple Educational sales executive
Twitter: @MoCheeks
More: MoCheeks.com

Maurice is a frequent blogger, Twitterer and general social media force who shares thoughts about a wide range of subject from media to sales to philosophy — sounds about right for an Apple employee.

8. Alden Mills, founder of Perfect Fitness
Twitter: @aldenmills
More: Perfect Fitness blog

You’ve probably seen the Perfect Pushup device in stores and on TV, now meet the man behind the muscle by following him on Twitter and checking out his blog, which gives you extra tips and clearly written posts on how to get the most out of your workout. This former Navy SEAL is not only tearing it up in the gym, but is also active on the social Web. Great stuff for advancing his goal of “perfect fitness.”

9. Kendra Lee, President and IT sales expert at KLA Group
Twitter: @KendraLeeKLA
More: KLA Group

Following Kendra on Twitter is not only a way to get insight into the latest sales and marketing events, but also a clear answer to issues such as the best way to follow up with leads and why you should take a long, hard look at your actual sales processes.

10. Bill Rice, founder and CEO of Kaleidico
Twitter: @BillRice
More: Better Closer blog

In addition to founding a company that provides a CRM solution to the mortgage industry, Bill writes regularly on smarter marketing and social selling at his blog, and keeps his Twitter followers in the know on the latest tips and tricks for the best sales strategies.

Thoughts from Dreamforce 2009: It’s all about the Data

November 19, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | by insideviewblog | Leave a comment

Two days into this year’s Dreamforce conference and we’re noticing that data is a big trending topic.

And we’re ecstatic.

Quality of data is the key to the sales intelligence business and we pride ourselves in being able to deliver smart, fresh and complete information to sales people all around the world in real-time. BNET’s David Weir wrote an in-depth article today from Dreamforce on the changing landscape of sales intelligence industry and the increasing importance of data gleaned from social media. Weir gives InsideView’s Sales 2.0 business model a strong endorsement in the piece, noting, “Meanwhile, the legacy biz-intel companies are still out there, trying to adapt, but disruptive technology companies like InsideView look to me to be poised to eat their lunch.” To read the full article, please click here.

As we noted in our announcement earlier this month, the constantly increasing sources of data now available on the Web have led to the rapid abandonment of traditional editorial providers like Hoover’s and OneSource for Sales 2.0 solutions like SalesView, which are able to quickly aggregate relevant information from across the Web and deliver it immediately.

Throughout the #DF09 expo floor this year, you’ll see folks working in the “better data” realm left and right. Everything from ensuring accurate account views to monitoring sentiment information to the real-time aggregation end like we work in — and this all of course validated by the huge announcement from salesforce.com yesterday on their new Chatter launch — it’s becoming all about the data.

Just what we like to see!

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