Sales succession

INDUSTRY NEWS

Sales succession

Logan Roy, the patriarch of the hit TV series Succession, isn’t a role model by any stretch of the imagination. However, as a sales leader, you do need to plan for the succession of your top sales reps – ideally with a lot less drama, infighting, and betrayal. It’s pretty common to promote top reps to sales managers, but you could be missing out on a mutually beneficial interim step. According to Peter Ostrow, VP and Research Director at Forrester, sales leaders should take a look at the emerging role of the field sales coach. Successful reps get to share their knowledge with aspiring AEs while also validating to leadership that they have the chops to manage a sales team. Logan would take a different approach, but let’s not be Logan.

Stormy sales

If it wasn’t bad enough that global warming is fueling more extreme and erratic weather conditions (Earth Day plug!), economic cooling is creating a lot of uncertainty in the market that makes it nearly impossible for sales leaders to execute rigid Go-to-Market plans. In a turbulent economy, you need to plan for unpredictability. According to Gartner Senior Director Analyst Stephanie Curry, sales organizations need to learn how to embrace economic chaos and build agility into GTM plans. When your business faces hurricane-force economic headwinds, you want to make sure your sales strategies can bend in the wind like a palm tree and not snap like a power pole.

Slaying dragons and closing deals

Break out your tiny resin wizards and 18-sided die. Dungeons & Dragons is making a huge comeback. The creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving skills developed from this epic role-playing game are now making their way out of the basement and into the boardroom. Are we suggesting that playing D&D will make you a better business leader? We would, but a major media outlet beat us to the punch/unarmed strike. Inc. magazine examines how taking on the role of Dungeon Master can help leaders deal with the unexpected and make the most of their team’s skills. It turns out that your mom was worried about nothing.

IN THE GROOVE

No more blind prospecting

Prospecting without research is like tossing darts at a dartboard – while wearing a blindfold. If you want a pipeline that can deliver more return on your time, you need to change how you research. Learn how to prospect 3x faster by following proven list-building tactics on the Daily Sales Show by JB Sales. In this lively episode, you will hear Sell Better Host, James Buckly, having an in-depth conversation with Groove customer and Eltropy VP of RevOps, Greg Larsen, as well as seasoned sales professional, Patrick Seibt. With these best practices, you will not only find better opportunities, but also close them with more success. (Bonus: get a quick summary on the Groove blog).

LEARN SOMETHING NEW

Whale success stories

When Marlin and Dory are searching for Nemo in Finding Nemo, they run into a rather large obstacle – a whale that swallows them whole. Terrifying at first, the whale turned out to be a friendly giant that helped Marlin on his way to successfully finding his son (sorry about the spoiler). In sales, coming face-to-face with a whale might seem intimidating too, but without trying your luck at enterprise-level deals, you aren’t going to win big. If you want to score a whale, you need to read Anthony Iannarino’s guide on how to close enterprise-level deals. Don’t let fear stop you from taking the plunge – a whale might be swimming just below the surface.

Sales self-care

While closing the next big whale for your company is important – you are too. Sales is a fast-paced and stressful career, and if sellers don’t slow down and prioritize themselves, they risk burning the candle at both ends. But don’t just take it from us, learn the 10 things top sellers do to stay charged and resilient on the LinkedIn Sales Blog. From meditation to listening to music, and spending time enjoying life outside of work, this article is sure to inspire you on some self-care practices. Go get that massage. You deserve it. 

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