The latest from LevelEleven

Too much data can turn sales management into micromanagement. It’s a slippery slope. Ubiquitous sales technology allows sales leaders to track practically every part of their sales organization, so they try to. You probably know people who do this. You might be one of them. But micromanagement can have dangerous effects on your company: employee disengagement, misallocation of manager time...
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In the U.S alone, thirty-eight million people start their day by eagerly fastening a device to their wrist that isn’t for fashion or keeping time. It’s a fitness tracker. And these little gadgets have swept the nation. People love having instant access to their performance, activities and goals; they enjoy tracking their progress throughout the day; and they are addicted...
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How many salespeople do you actually need? Leaders in sales management grapple with this question often. Salespeople can be expensive, and the number you really need depends entirely on your company sales targets, style of sales team and individual quotas. The short answer is that each individual salesperson’s quota should add up to more than your company quota (because you...
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Modern sales leaders must engage in sales coaching on a daily basis. This doesn’t mean spending onerous amounts of hours reviewing every detail of each rep’s pipeline. It means seizing every sales coaching opportunity as it comes about. You see, sales coaching comes in all shapes and sizes. Coaching reps around key deals is important, but it’s just as important...
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After more than a decade in sales management, Heather Monahan says her biggest fear is losing her best reps. We can’t blame her. Research from The Bridge Group found that the average rep turnover rate is 34 percent. What’s even more worrisome is that one in ten companies experience turnover rates of over 50 percent. Heather is the chief revenue...
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Sales team motivation is no longer just carrots and sticks. In fact, research from Daniel Pink has found that when it comes to complex and creative tasks like selling, extrinsic motivators (punishments and rewards) aren’t as effective as intrinsic motivators. Daniel outlines his research in a TED Talk: Extrinsic motivators work for routine, algorithmic tasks. And that’s how sales used...
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In account-based sales development (ABSD), growing and managing your team is just as important to success as figuring out your sales strategy, itself. Sales development reps are at the front lines of your account-based everything approach. You not only need to hire the right people, but you’ve got to onboard, train and coach them to success. This takes more than...
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