Guest Post by Selena Silvestro, Director of Ground Floor Strategies at The Selling Agency and weekend warrior baseball fan in the bleachers. Read on for first-hand sales advice for Small Business Owners, Solopreneurs, and Sales Pros in Small Businesses: Every business lives and dies by its ability to build revenue. Unfortunately, roughly 80% of businesses...Read More

Back to School. Depending on your age and child rearing status, these three words may be cheers to your ears or bring tears to your eyes. Me, I’m slightly more of the “tears” camp as I feel the dread of all the homework, projects, and general busy-ness of the school year creep up on me...Read More

Many businesses in a B2B channel get their start by filling a need or having a solution that provides a jump on the market. Or maybe, you, as the owner, took your experience and started your business with a front loaded customer base that followed you. However your business got started, there comes a time...Read More

We’ve descended into total “ball” season, folks: football, baseball, the other “football” affectionately known as soccer, and even volleyball. In our house with two sporty kids, right now we’re either playing a game, practicing for a game, watching a game, or talking about a game. I’m writing this post after my daughter’s volleyball practice tonight...Read More

Watching the sales activity of several sales teams lately, I have come to the conclusion that these teams are truly confused about the differences between MARKETING and SELLING. I work with many small businesses where the business owner and/or the small sales teams sell and there is often NOT a marketing department within the company....Read More

Last post we started the series, “Selling for Non-Sales People” to give a framework and roadmap for those of you who may be business owners, bankers, lawyers, consultants, fundraisers, directors, or anyone who doesn’t have the term “Sales Pro” in their professional title. Everyone is in sales in some capacity – selling ideas, services, influence,...Read More

Last week I was working with a business owner on her sales process. She had engaged a prospective new client and we were discussing the next steps to close this large opportunity. She was nervous, understandably, and she really wanted and needed this account and all the working capital and credibility it would bring. In...Read More

This post evolved from a conversation with a colleague, Gina Trimarco, of Pivot10 Results, a leadership, sales, and service trainer, a studier of people, and a fantastic business sage. Gina uses analogies and metaphors in much of her training and coaching so I challenged her to take part in our March Madness Business blogging and...Read More

What is your conversion rate and why is this little number such an important indicator of your company’s performance and health? In the big picture, understanding your conversion rate helps you know exactly how much it costs you to gain a new customer. This can help you plan your budgets and determine your pricing and...Read More

Earlier this year, my friend and super sales trainer, Alice Kemper asked me my thoughts about the term “Sales Playbook”. I had shared with Alice that we build these often and help our clients execute these plans and she’s heard the term frequently lately and wanted to know if it was a “buzz word” or...Read More