Sales Skills

We published 139 sales posts in 2016. Here are the 7 you need to read to dominate 2017!

Steli Efti · December 26, 2016

"Thanks for the advice. Since implementing it, we have doubled our close rate." — James Kennedy, Founder, ProcurementExpress.com

Every day, readers of our blog send us emails like these. They implemented our advice, saw results and share their wins with us.

This year, we published 139 sales posts. With every post we publish, we always aim to provide a ton of value to the millions of people who read our sales advice.

That's why we’ve picked the 7 best posts we’ve published in 2016. If you want to kill it in 2017, read these. Whether you’re a sales rep or a sales manager, there’s something for everyone in here.

1. How to respond to "I don't have time"

If a prospect truly believed your solution could double their productivity or increase revenue by 30%, would they rush you off the phone with “I don’t have time”? No! They would make time.

When a prospect says “I don’t have time”, they actually mean “This isn’t worth my time.” [Tweet this!] It’s your job to demonstrate the value of your solution and why it’s worth their time.

This objection could appear on the first cold call—or later in the sales process. Here’s exactly what to say to convince prospects to make time during any stage in the deal. Read more.

2. Are your salespeople closing bad deals? Here's how to fix it!

Not every closed deal is a good deal. [Tweet this!] While your salespeople might get richer by closing any prospect with a pulse, selling to the wrong customer will kill your business.

In SaaS, you can’t close a deal once and call it a day. You must constantly provide value for customers to justify paying you each month—and that starts with selecting the right customers. Bad customers are costly: they require more support, increase your churn rate, and will badmouth your brand.

Get your salespeople closing the right deals by:

Drilling in how their choices affect the company’s metrics.
Leading by example by turning away bad deals.
Rewarding the right behavior.

Setting your sales team back on the right track starts with these three steps. Read more.

3. 3 models of effective sales team organization

Effective sales teams are made, not born. [Tweet this!] Part of that means deciding how to organize your sales team.

Should your sales team work as islands, each salesperson left to sell by themselves? In an assembly line, with salespeople specializing in a specific stage of the sales cycle? Or as a pod, a small group responsible for the entire journey of specific customers?

Each model has its strengths and weaknesses. However, the right model is one that will drive maximum results and create the best cultural fit for your organization. Explore which model is right for your business. Read more.

4. 3 unusual ways to make your sales emails stand out

“Delete.”

That’s the fate of most sales emails. Busy prospects don’t want to read another boring email. [Tweet this!] They want to read emails that are relevant and valuable.

Optimizing the subject line and body of your emails is a good start but isn’t enough. Stand out from the crowd and increase your response rate with these three unusual tactics. Read more.

5. 10 objection handling techniques every B2B salesperson should know

If you aren’t prepared to handle objections, you’ll lose the deal to someone who is. [Tweet this!]

However, preparing to handle objections doesn’t have to be a shot in the dark. Prospects tend to have the same objections. That’s why we have listed the top 10 most common objections and how to handle them.

If you’ve ever been thrown a curveball by “Your product/service is too expensive” or “You’ve got a great product, but we’re going to go with [the industry standard]”, this list is for you. Read more.

6. How to onboard a sales team in 4 weeks

Most companies spend months onboarding new sales reps. It’s expensive and time-consuming for the company, frustrating and boring for the new reps.

Sales is like swimming—in order to learn, you have to get in the water. [Tweet this!] Instead of training salespeople for months, train them in 4 weeks. They’ll go from making cold calls and receiving direct feedback on their first day, to being able to manage themselves.

They’ll learn what they need, as they need it, instead of being overwhelmed by useless info.

For an even more in-depth approach to training reps, the free 4-week sales onboarding schedule is included to show you what to do, hour by hour. You can even customize the schedule and share it with your reps. Read more.

7. 8 CRM-ready sales email templates

To create a well-oiled sales machine, every single part of the machine must work. [Tweet this!]

One common detail sales managers overlook is making their email strategy scalable. Instead, every salesperson is left to their own devices, losing deals over email and not knowing why. The solution? Email templates.

Email templates allow your sales team to start on the same foot. By consistently reviewing the results and tweaking your templates, you can experiment your way to better emails.

Get started with these eight sales emails covering every stage of the sales process. They can be copied and pasted straight into your CRM. Read more.

Crush it in 2017

Whether you want to send better emails, manage objections better, or organize and onboard a sales team better, these seven posts have you covered.

Which of these posts was most valuable to you? Help spread the word and share this post with your sales team. [Tweet this!]

Also, tell us in the comment section what your most important sales goal for 2017. Then, make it happen!