A great sales manager understands the need to inspect the work of their sales people. However, it is nearly impossible to accurately evaluate the sales funnel without an unwavering, formal, structured, customized sales process. How can you have a good, healthy conversation about pipeline if you don't have a well-defined sales process and sales methodology in place? The answer is, you can't.

The vast majority of conversations between managers and sales reps are wrapped around the number. What are you going to do this month? How much are you going to sell? Where are we on this deal? While discussing the number is an important piece of the puzzle, sales management and coaching should consist of much more substantive discussions. 

Sales coaching and development must be tied to a structured process and methodology. Sales process is the defined steps to move a deal through the funnel. These steps are customized for each company. How you move from step to step within the process is sales methodology. If you listened to episode #106, Brian Signorelli talked about HubSpot and the formalized process and methodology they adhere too. That process is essential to the success HubSpot is experiencing!  

Sales coaching is essential to developing the strengths and mitigating the weaknesses of each sales person. It is important to encourage growth so reps can fluidly move through the sales process. If everyone within the organization is held to the same processes and sales methodologies, you will have better prepared reps closing at a much higher rate. The job of the manager is to keep reps focused and motivated and to teach them how to be better at their position. The end game is to improve sales performance for the entire team.

The discipline of the sales process and methodology are invaluable to you as a manager and coach. It enables you to:

John and Lindsay discuss sales management and coaching on this episode of the Funnel. It's a sales podcast, it's a marketing podcast, it's a sales AND marketing podcast! Listen and discover how you can take your management game to the next level and achieve maximum sales success.

This week on The Funnel, John and Lindsay are joined by their good 

friend Whitney Harmel of Intero Advisory. Whitney is a LinkedIn Trainer, Coach and Presenter for individuals, sales teams and company recruiters looking to maximize their profile and utilize the platform to it's fullest capacity. 

When LinkedIn was developed in 2003, it was the place to go and look for a job. Now, it is so much more than that. LinkedIn is a community of social citizens; a place to create a digital footprint. Think of it as your own personal branding tool. Your profile is your link to others within the community. Own it and make it shine!  This platform is about content.  How can you produce your own content, share third party content, become a thought leader within your industry? There are 340 million people on LinkedIn worldwide; more than half of the world's professional population. If you are not there and utilizing the tool, you are falling behind. 

Whitney discusses best practices, and some of the do's and don'ts of the using the platform.

LinkedIn is about a business strategy, not collecting and gathering friends. When you are a member of a group, participate. Be seen as a valuable member of the group and define your role as a thought leader within the community. Publish content that is relevant. Build a profile that showcases your credibility in your industry. If someone looks at your profile, they are vetting you and your company. For sales people,  this creates an opportunity to send a message and reach out to prospects. Want to learn more? Check out the Intero Advisory blog for some great content.

Listen to John and Lindsay on your favorite sales and marketing podcast and keep filling the funnel!

This week on the Funnel, John and Lindsay are joined by special guest Dr. Sean Carton. Sean is the Director of The Center for Digital Communication, Commerce and Culture at The University of Baltimore as well as the Chief Creative Officer at idfive.  

The professor and author of 8 books discusses his article In the Digital Age we are our own News Source based on the results of a study published in January 2015 by Edelman, the world's largest PR firm. This is the 15th edition of their  “Trust Barometer” study, a global survey of 27,000 people between 25-64 years old in over 27 different countries. Every year the survey is taken to examine the idea of trust and how we as consumers trust (or distrust) institutions such as corporations, government, and media. For the first time in the history of the survey, people indicated that they trust their own ability to find news and information more than they trust traditional media to find it for them. This major shift in consumer behavior and has large-scale implications.

What effect does this information have on sales and marketing teams? One of the findings of the study was that content created by corporations is highly trusted.  You must create great content. On the sales front, don't sit back and wait for someone to find your product, establish an online presence. Consumer trends have shifted; content creation and establishing a positive digital footprint is key to getting in front of your prospect before you are aware they exist.

On this week's episode of The Funnel, John and Lindsay discuss sales people morphing into the role of trusted advisor for their client. How do you begin to build trust with clients? How do you become that person they go to when they need answers? This discussion focuses on specific actions sales reps can implement to improve their sales skills.

Provide valuable information and position yourself as a thought leader within your field. You are the subject matter expert. Interact in a manner that you influence how your client's view their relationship with you.  You will recognize you are their trusted advisor when your client calls before making a decision; asking you for advice in an area where you have nothing to offer or sell. When your influence develops into credible and dependable advice sought out by your client, you have evolved. Find us at www.alignment-group.com.

This week on The Funnel, John and Lindsay have plenty to say on the topic of social selling and sharing. The traditional sales motto ABC: Always Be Closing, is old and outdated. Not long ago, professionals accepted interruption based marketing as part of business because decision maker needed to be aware of updated products and services. As technology evolved, so did the consumer. Buyer 2.0 is tech savvy and able to quickly and accurately research information online. Where does that leave sales people? If they have updated their techniques and actively embraced social selling, in a great position.

ABC: Always Be Connecting is the updated acronym for making sales in this evolving environment. Where do you make the connections? Connect with consumers where they are spending their time looking for information; online. However, the connection must be meaningful; not a sales pitch. Prospects do not want to be interrupted. They want to research and gain information online and then connect with a knowledgeable sales rep and engage in an educated conversation. Social sharing of valuable, informative information is key to embracing technology and setting yourself up as a thought leader within your field. LinkedIn is a professional forum that is a tremendous resource for social prospecting and sharing. Lindsay offers great advice on making meaningful connections on this platform. Listen today and get your sales engine going!

"The modern consumer is digitally driven, socially connected and mobile empowered. Sales Reps need to either adapt or be replaced."  ~Jill Rowley

In this episode of The Funnel John and Lindsay host a talk about a collaboration between their two companies to educate marketing clients sales teams to sell Inbound Leads. It's not enough to preach sales and marketing transformation into the sales 2.0 world. Developing a learning path for sales closes the loop from inbound lead development to sale. When revenue increases as a result of closing inbound leads you have achieved sales and marketing alignment. 

Google Plus as a social alternative to facebook hasn’t quite taken off. However businesses cannot ignore the benefits of Google+. Most businesses view social networks as a place to increase presence and visibility. Google Plus is more than that; it’s the best resource to maximize visibility on Google search pages.

Creating a GooglePlus page is a must for any business because it’s designed to work with Google Search. This includes potentially ranking higher on search results.

There's much more to Google+ than signing up for an account and sharing posts, however. Using Google+ effectively as a small business is all about integrating it with your inbound strategy to attract and engage prospects to become customers. Listen  to The Funnel as we discuss the benefits of Google Plus. 

In this episode of The Funnel we speak with Rob Mcdonald. Rob is a creative business consultant and writer. As the founder of Robroy & Company, LLC, a strategic communications firm, he helped organizations use their stories in ways that inspire their audiences, and drive revenue. Rob recently joined Broadsword an organizational performance improvement and engineering strategy company. He will lead the company’s inbound marketing efforts, as well as expand Broadsword’s solutions portfolio to help the firm’s clients improve their internal communications. Rob also writes a column for the Baltimore Business Journal

People love stories. We are social creatures and we love to relate to other peoples stories. If the goal is to  sales and marketing alignment the place to start is the corporate culture. Use storytelling to define corporate culture and build sales and marketing stories that articulate how you can help clients solve their problem.

Rob gives us the 9 steps he uses to develop a stories that define a company’s culture.

 1)    Get to the heart of your company: Why do you do the work you do?

 2)    Define your values: What core truths guide your organization?

 3)    Articulate your vision: How will you touch, move and inspire people?

 4)    Collect stories that prove it: What have you/your team been doing here that demonstrates your       purpose, values and vision in action?

 5)    Establish norms around sharing stories: WHEN and WHERE should you say WHAT to WHOM?

 6)    Coach the team to tell the right stories: How do you get the team aligned with your vision, and able to articulate it in their own words?

 7)    Disseminate stories: Which channels (sales calls, web content, email, blogs, webinars, ebooks, social media, whitepapers, podcasts, speeches, etc.) should you be using to share your stories?

 8)    Practice: How can you help the team (and yourself) get better at telling stories that reflect the company’s purpose, values and vision?

 9)    Develop compelling content: How do you reach more of the right people with your message?

They're back! We had so much fun with  Brian Signorelli and Rachel Plummer, we invited them back to the party! Brian is a Sales Manager and Rachel is a Channel Account Manager for Agency Partners with HubSpot.

On this episode of The Funnel we discuss some of the challenges HubSpot Partners experience when they take on the product. Specifically, how businesses transition to selling Hubspot.

This is where HubSpot shines.They provide a level of support that is second to none. HubSpot believes a partnership is designed to be a long term relationship. They spend time with their partners discussing goals, plans and challenges. They uncover and understand time lines for success. HubSpot helps businesses restructure or augment the way in which their enterprise is run and offer an exceptional amount of support to assist partners in reaching their goals.

Part of the hard work is teaching marketing agencies how to sell. It's unnatural for marketing folks to even think about selling. The relationship between the Channel Account Manager and the client is the ultimate success story in sales & marketing alignment.  Rachel is a salesperson and a dedicated Hubspot resource who spends quite a bit of time helping partners understand how to sell Hubspot's product. She is an important value add that is replicated across the Hubspot team. 

Inbound marketing is only a few years old and Hubspot already has over 12,000 customers. According to Brian, there are at least 2.5 million businesses that could use Hubspot. The sky is the limit and with employees like Rachael and Brian, I am confident in saying they just might reach it. you can find us at www.alignment-group.com

In this episode of The Funnel:  We define Inbound lead generation from a sales point of view. Embrace marketing and adopt Inbound strategies and your sales will increase. find us at www.alignment-group.com