SBI BlogRevenue Growth Insights

Coaching & Training

How to Conduct a Virtual Sales Call & Connect with Customers

We receive a lot of inquiries about how to help sales reps improve their ability to engage with clients effectively—espe...

21 Aug 20

10 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Pivoting to Virtual Learning: Your Questions Answered

We recently hosted a webinar with Sam Herring from Intrepid by Vitalsource to discuss how to make the pivot to Virtual a...

1 May 20

13 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Virtual Sales Training During COVID-19 Travel Restrictions

Many of our clients are concerned about how the evolving COVID-19 outbreak and related travel bans will impact their bus...

14 Mar 20

4 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

How to Prioritize Your Time as a Sales Manager

Learn how to use a prioritization system based on Stephen Covey's principles; to stop spending too much time stuck on ur...

8 Aug 19

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Turning Your Salesforce Into A Learning Force

In this episode, we discuss how sales is changing, how sales training needs to respond to the new complexities in the ma...

10 Jul 19

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Win More Sales Negotiations by Asking Yourself These Crucial Questions

Before your next sales negotiation, ask yourself these questions to ensure a successful outcome—a great sales negotiatio...

23 May 19

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

TACTICs For Managing Difficult Negotiations

Managing difficult negotiations is not easy, the TACTIC model can help you deal and communicate with a manipulative sale...

20 May 19

8 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Partner & Build Long-Lasting Relationships with Procurement

Instead of struggling to negotiate with Procurement, learn how to work with them. These questions will show you how to b...

16 May 19

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Maximizing Your Negotiation Leverage with Power Sources

Learn how to develop a stronger value proposition. These reasons will help you improve your negotiation leverage to sell...

26 Apr 19

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

How to Build Confidence in Sales & Close Deals

Sales is about the transfer of confidence. In this Q&A, we discuss five ways you can build your confidence to improv...

7 Mar 19

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

SaaS Demo Best Practices: Preventing Post-Demo Prospect Silence

On this Q&A episode: "What's the best way to follow-up with a demo? Even though my demos go really well, the prospec...

7 Dec 18

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

How to Deliver Product Demos that Convert

On this Q&A episode: "Why most product demos miss the mark, and what can I do to improve my chances of success?" If ...

2 Oct 18

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

The Mindset of a Top Performing Sales Professional

On this Q&A episode: "What makes up the mindset of a top performing sales professional? What are the characteristics...

11 Sep 18

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Selling Against a Competitor (When You Think They're Better)

On this Q&A episode: "What do you do if your competitor's product is better for the client?" If you can't see the vi...

19 Jul 18

5 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

How to Prevent a Prospect Going Silent After Your Proposal

Don't let prospects go silent after responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP). In this Q&A we discuss strategies yo...

27 Jun 18

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Get Effective Sales Coaching Program to Align Managers for Success

It’s no surprise that high-performing sales teams have managers who spend more time coaching, as evidenced in our Sales ...

17 Apr 18

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

How to Knock Your Next Sales Interview Out of the Park

Attention prospective salespeople—here’s a hint. If you want to work on my sales team, you have to show me you can sell....

19 Mar 18

5 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Why Sales Managers Don't Coach (and What to Do About It)

The evidence for the benefits of coaching is compelling. Not only can it help develop your reps and improve selling skil...

2 Mar 18

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Most Important Sales Metrics You Should Track Every Month

How many new appointments does it take to hit your sales quota? Sales Managers have access to more tools, reports, and d...

13 Dec 17

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

B2B Competition: 4 Steps to Beat The Competition in Sales

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles – Sun Tzu, 512 BC B2B sales m...

27 Sep 17

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Is a Sales RFP Worth Your Time? 10 Criteria to You Can Use to Assess

One of the most important decisions a sales professional can make is whether to pursue a deal. Chasing bad, unqualified ...

12 Sep 17

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Top Account Sales and Reorganization Strategies

One of your accounts is being reorganized. Your contacts were advancing an opportunity, but now everyone is entering a s...

1 Aug 17

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

How to Be Successful at Enterprise Sales

In this Q&A video, we lay out what it takes to be successful in enterprise sales and the best way to deal with procu...

13 Jun 17

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Managing a Healthy Sales Pipeline: Why Less Is More

For many sales teams, a full sales pipeline is reassuring. It means their salespeople have plenty of potential deals to ...

24 Apr 17

4 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

B2B Sales Prospecting: Knowing When to Persist & When to Move On

In this episode, Florin from Loopio asks How many "no's” are you willing to get from different people within an account ...

6 Apr 17

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

When to Follow Up on Lost Sales Deals & How To Effectively Do It

In this episode, Gerardo Dada asks: What is the best way to follow up with lost sales opportunities? Ray Makela, Chief C...

4 Apr 17

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

6 Questions to Coach a Gritty Sales Team

I’ve written before about Angela Lee Duckworth’s concept of “grit,” which she discussed in her popular TED talk, “Grit: ...

30 Mar 17

3 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

5 Sales Meeting Agenda Items That Will Help Your Team Grow

On this episode, Kenneth Vogt, owner at Vera Claritas asks: What do you cover in your weekly sales meetings? If you have...

8 Mar 17

5 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Selling Value Instead of Price When Prospect Wants Discount

On this episode, we discuss how to respond when a prospect asks for a discount. Our Chief Customer Officer Ray Makela ta...

15 Feb 17

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

6 Reasons Why Corporate Sales Training Fails

Organizations in North America spend over $2.2 Billion dollars every year training their sales teams (source: Training I...

19 Dec 16

8 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

The Problem with "Pushing" to Close the Sale

On this episode a sales training manager asks: Should a salesperson ever push to close the sale? I know many people say ...

2 Nov 16

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

How to Improve Your Sales Hiring Process Success Rate

On this episode, Mary Ann, MBA asks: In today's business landscape constantly changing e.g. new products, competition, c...

11 Oct 16

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Top Producer Analysis: How to Clone Top Sales Performers

I recently had the opportunity to hear Mike Kunkle, Senior Director of Sales Enablement at Brainshark, speak about Top-P...

27 Sep 16

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Cold Calling: How to Get Past the Gatekeeper

On this episode, CEO of ioFunnel Ankur asks: Often after dropping an email or LinkedIn message we try to follow up with ...

23 Sep 16

6 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Overcoming Seasoned Sales Reps Resistance to Training

On this episode, Muralidhar Rao, CEO, Executive Education, Regenesys Business School, India asks: How do you deal with t...

5 Aug 16

4 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

What to Do When a Prospect Isn't Ready to Buy

In this episode, Daniel asks: A prospect has told you they’re interested in your product but not for a few months or qua...

28 Jul 16

4 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Why Sales Training Leads to Better Results, and How to Track It

When we ask our clients about why they're embarking on sales training, we often hear that they "haven’t done it in a whi...

22 Jul 16

4 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

The #1 Trait to Look for in a New Sales Rep

Finding salespeople is easy but finding the right salespeople is a challenging task. Plus the cost of a bad hire is high...

24 Jun 16

8 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

How to Create a “Gritty” Sales Team

Psychologist Angela Duckworth defines Grit as the combination of passion and perseverance. She studies Grit for a living...

31 May 16

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Why Sales Management Skills Should Be Your Top Priority

Changing the skills, behaviors and culture of the sales organization is hard. Most sales executives, sales enablement ex...

18 May 16

7 min read

By Ray Makela Read More