Account Management

Much of a sales organization's success depends on what happens after the sale. That's the valuable role of Account Management, taking care of the customer once they have closed. These posts will help you succeed.

15 sales leadership lessons from top experts

by Michele McGovern

No matter how long you’ve been in sales – from a hot minute to a cool eternity – you can learn something new.

And why not? You don’t need to make all mistakes to learn from them. You don’t have to feel blindfolded as a first-time leader. And you don’t need to live every sales experience to understand all of them.

Instead, you can learn from what some of the top sales experts have gathered in their careers. We’ve compiled many of their best lessons – some learned the hard way, some learned through mentors and others learned through trial and error.

Here’s what our gurus have to say:

13 clues that a prospect’s ‘No’ is close to becoming a ‘Yes’

by Michele McGovern

“We just aren’t making a decision.”

Discouraging words from a prospect. But just the beginning of good things to come.

For sales professionals, a “no decision” isn’t a “no.”

In fact, when prospects say they aren’t ready to decide, they probably are a lot closer to a “yes” than you suspect. They give a lot of clues in what they otherwise do and say. And that’s when you want to shift strategies to get in line with where they are.

Here are 13 signs a prospect is close to a yes (despite claiming it’s a no):

11 motivational videos for sales professionals: Get ready to be pumped

by Michele McGovern

Stressed? Unmotivated? Lacking inspiration? There are millions of motivational videos to help you, but who has the time to sift through them all to find “the one?”

No worries. We did it for you – compiled 11 powerful motivational videos for sales professionals to inspire you.

They’re brief (most are about four minutes; the longest is just over 10) and surely one can help with your challenge du jour.

Read, watch, share.

11 sneaky tricks competitors are using to win your customers

by Michele McGovern

Your competitors aren’t waiting for you to screw up. They’re ready (and likely trying) to steal your customers right now.

Competition can be ugly, especially if you’re on the losing end. But it’s part of sales. The best way to win is to stay ahead of the competition’s attempts to poach your customers.

Knowing how they’ll try to steal your customers is your best defense.

Here’s what they’re doing when you aren’t looking:

53 questions to help you make great discovery calls

by Michele McGovern

The most awkward moments are over: You made the cold call. You stirred some interest. You earned the privilege to have a discovery call.

That single call could be the most important step in the sales process. You established some rapport through the cold call or successful marketing effort, but the discovery call will set the tone for the relationship with prospects (or soon-to-be-customers).

Now’s the time to learn and understand the prospects’ needs, pain points and goals. Then build the bridge between those and your solution.

Uproot embedded competitors: 22 ways Sales can make it happen

by Michele McGovern

Trying to uproot an embedded competitor is always worth a shot.

Here’s why: The biggest, most loyal buyers are also the most likely to look at and switch to the competition, a Harvard Business School study found. If you appear to be better, prospects will listen.

But it’s never enough to just tell prospects that your product or service is better. They need specifics. Hard-line comparisons. Insightful data. Real-time results. Testimonials from people they identify with.

If you’re armed with the right information and take a strategic approach, you can beat an embedded competitor.

To break loyalty, you may need to change your approach from prospect to prospect based on account size, depth of existing relationship or industry.

20 skills Customer Success managers must have

by Michele McGovern

Most organizations lose too many potential customers in the journey from prospecting to closing.

That’s why an increasing number now have Customer Success managers: a calculated role to hold prospects tight in the pipeline with personalized attention.

More than half of companies that have adopted Customer Success programs see a direct connection between what Customer Success managers do and increased income, according to research from The Customer Success Association.

What was once a position just popular and prevalent in the SaaS industries is now an emerging tool in all industries to boost sales and customer satisfaction.

Closing the sale: 25 revealing statistics you need to know

by Michele McGovern

You finally got the prospect to agree to a sale. You can breathe a sigh of relief … or not.

Getting to the close is seldom easy. And the next one will require the same kind of hard work.

Here’s what researchers have found salespeople are up against – and what works well – when it comes to closing.

Profitable shift in strategy: Focus on helping instead of closing

by Michele McGovern

If you follow the ABCs of selling, it’s time to reconsider your approach.

”Always Be Closing” is still an important mission for salespeople, but “Always Be Helping” is more profitable for the organization

Why? Because repeat customers spend 67% more than new customers, a Manta study found.

The numbers don’t lie. Help your existing customers, and you’ll boost sales.

Time to rethink: Customer Service is actually a profit center

by John Larson

(This guest post is by John Larson, author of Capturing Loyalty) How many times has one of your customers approached you with an issue or a problem? For instance, “I purchased this product from you, and it does not work.” Or, “I thought this product had feature X, but I found out it doesn’t and…

Account Management

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