Sales Training|Sales Management|Consultative Selling|Sales Performance

Read the Blog...

The Solution Selling® Blog offers informal on-demand learning and thought-leadership articles and insights into sales best practices. Click on the links below to read more, or visit www.solutionsellingblog.com.
Optimizing Sales Effectiveness for Portfolio Companies ◄

The most critical factor following venture and private equity investments is whether the portfolio company will consistently meet its EBITA targets. In many cases, companies that have attractive product and service offerings may be immature with respect to sales process, methodology, and operations.

CLO Magazine - Six Ways to Rethink Sales Training for Today’s Economy ◄

Delivering learning to salespeople, who are often pressed for time and skeptical about the value of development, can be a challenge. But in this market, their survival might depend on it. “Many people don’t understand the demands and pressures on salespeople,” said Robert Kear, chief marketing officer and partner at sales training provider Sales Performance International. “It’s the most visible and measurable job in the workplace. The outcome of your performance is out there every day, every week, for everyone to see. Not many people would be willing to work under those circumstances.”

The Importance of Change Agents ◄

evo•lu•tion n : a process of continuous change from a lower, simpler, or worse to a higher, more complex, or better state

Are You Ready For 2012? A Quick Look Back At 2011. ◄

New to the Solution Selling Blog? Or are you a committed reader? Welcome and welcome back. At SPI we are more committed than ever to be the go-to thought-leaders of the sales performance improvement industry. We are consistently looking ahead to changes in the marketplace, trends, tools and learning methods to influence our practices and programs. We incorporate research and feedback into our decisions and work diligently to forward the knowledge and skills we pass on to our clients. So in with the new year and out with old. But… before we move forward with a wealth of new sales knowledge in 2012, let’s take a brief look back to see what mattered most to readers in 2011.

Rumors of Solution Selling's Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated ◄

Solution Selling® has to weather the trendy selling phrases that pop up… “Provocative selling”… “Sales challenger”… “Outcome based selling”… (Insert your own trendy phrase here). The irony is that while all of those are relevant approaches, they’ve been approaches inherent in Solution Selling® for years.

What’s YOUR “Strength of Sale?” ◄

Sales organizations are not very good at objectively assessing the probabilities of winning sales opportunities. By default, they spend more that 50% of their precious selling time on opportunities that are lost to competition or to “no decision.” There’s also a subtle, deeper problem with this issue. What the research is really telling us is that sales organizations are not applying process and structure to selling on a consistent basis, so they have no real way to understand where sales “quality” problems exist, and how to address them.

Exploring Impact and Growing the Sale ◄

As sellers, we need to explore how a critical business issue flows through an organization. One person’s critical business issue can become the reason for someone else’s problem. This “pain” could be a problem, critical business issue, potential missed opportunity, or goal that anyone in the organization is trying to overcome.

Do You Really Understand Your Customer's Problems? ◄

I have the opportunity to speak with the sales leaders for a lot of small and medium-sized businesses. One common sales challenge I have been hearing a lot lately is that sales people are not having consultative dialogues with the customer. As a result, sales cycles become longer or win rates drop. Let me paint the picture.

From College to Account Director: Loni Bernhard ◄

Last week I interviewed a sales executive, we decided to continue the trend. This week I interviewed Loni Bernhard, Account Director at a national hotel and resort chain.

30 Years of Experience and Counting, An Interview: John Winslow ◄

For our blog this week, I interviewed sales executive, John Winslow. John is currently the Vice President of International Sales for a billion-dollar orthopedic company. Since 1982 he’s worked in domestic and international sales for several Fortune 500 medical supply companies

« Jan Mar » February 2012
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
29	30	31	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	1	2	3

2012	News Event:
Feb	Sales Performance International Launches China Website
Jan	Sales Performance International Expands Life Sciences Focus
Jan	Announcing Sales Performance Review: A Dedicated Website for Sales News and Feature Articles >>>
Jan	ES Research Thought-Leader Panel Webinar: Measuring the Impact of Sales Training 1/11/12, 12:00 ET >>>
2011	News Event:
Nov	Sales Performance International Named Top 10 Sales Training Firm by Selling Power >>>
Nov	Webcast: Sales Process and Buyer 2.0, hosted by Keith Eades and Jurgen Heyman >>>
Nov	Sales Performance International Announces Expanded Pressence in China >>>
Oct	SPI Announces New Mobile Learning - Solution Selling® mLearning and New PC Application >>>
Oct	Sales 2.0: Sales and Marketing Sales 2.0 Conference; Keith Eades featured speaker >>>
Oct	Webcast: Maximize Q4 Sales Revenues for SMB's >>>
Sep	Webcast: Change or Die! Adapting Value Selling to Fearful Buyers >>>
Sep:	Speaking Event, Keith Eades in Stockholm, Sweden: Super Charge Your Sales >>>
Aug	Regional Academy Public Workshops in Mexico City, Mexico >>>
May	Regional Academy Public Workshops in Charlotte, Toronto, London and Beijing >>>
Apr	Webinar: SPI and ES Research present "The Future of Sales Training - This Time It's Personal" >>>
Mar	Sales Performance International Customers Outperform Peers >>>
Mar	SPI ReceivesTraining Industry's 2011 Top Sales Training Award, 5th year >>>
Mar	SPI reçoit le prix pour “Top Sales Training Companies” de la part de TrainingIndustry >>>
Mar	SPI krijgt onderscheiding van TrainingIndustry voor beste trainingsbedrijven op het gebied van verkoopmethodologie >>>
Feb	ASTD and SPI Sustainable Training, Four Key Approaches; Seminar,Atlanta GA >>>
Feb	Annonce que Jürgen Heyman rejoint le Comité Exécutive comme Vice Président et Directeur Générale de SPI Europe >>>
Feb	Kondigt aan dat Jurgen Heyman wordt aangesteld als Managing Director SPI Europe, lid van de Management Board en Vice President >>>
Jan	SPI and Training Industry Webinar: Re-Thinking Sales Training - 2011 and Beyond >>>
Jan	SPI Launches New Branding and New Website >>>
Jan	SPI Announces SellingStream Continual Learning Program >>>
Jan	SPI Announces Solution Selling University Expansion with Regional Academy >>>
Jan	SPI Announces Jurgen Heyman as new VP and GM at SPI-Europe >>>
2010	News Event:
Oct	SPI and Landslide Announce Landslide CRM for Solution Selling >>>

Sales Performance International

SPI News and Events

Read the Blog...

Regional Academy Course Calendar (Public Workshops)

« Jan Mar » February 2012
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
29	30	31	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	1	2	3

« Jan Mar » February 2012
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
29	30	31	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	1	2	3

« Jan Mar » February 2012
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
29	30	31	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	1	2	3