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Balancing AI and Human Expertise for Lead Gen
In a recent article titled "AI is Overhyped. The Future of Lead Generation Lies in Human-Machine Harmony," the discussion around AI's role in lead generation struck a chord with me. As a seasoned professional, I’ve witnessed the transformative impact of AI on our industry, but add human expertise and the true potential is…
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Harnessing the Power of The Decision Tree Method
I recently came across this article that recommend using an issue tree (or a decision tree) method and I was intrigued by it. My initial thoughts were about how helpful this could be for many of us, regardless of role, but especially for my friends in a Solutions Engineer role to delve deeper into customers' business…
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Transforming Sales Pitches
Reading this article on articulating differentiation was a game-changer for me. It emphasized aligning my product's unique features with my prospects' specific needs. By focusing on what's truly important to them, I've been able to craft more compelling pitches and close deals more effectively. This approach has not only…
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Thriving in a Dynamic Market When Low Hanging Fruit Becomes Scarce
This article offers some great insights on adapting sales strategies that are essential reading for anyone navigating today's volatile market. It offers practical tips and a forward-thinking approach and helps equip sales professionals to stay agile and responsive to evolving customer needs. Highly recommended for those…
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Unlocking Success: The Power of Confidence and Conviction in Sales
As sellers, confidence and conviction are powerful tools. When we wholeheartedly believe in the value of our offerings, it resonates with our customers. Remember, what you do matters. Aligning confidence with our products or services isn’t just about sales—it’s about genuinely understanding that we positively impact our…
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What do you want from your manager?
What are the top traits that you look for in a sales leader? We're hosting an event on "How to get the most out of your manager" on June 7th, and we'd love to hear from you before we go live. You can also check out this article from Ascender on some of the most commonly sought after traits.
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The 4-Day Work Week Debate
This blog covers the idea of a 4-day work week and takes us on a thought-provoking dive into a workplace trend that promises increases in productivity and employee well-being. The pandemic and the past few years have brought many new shifts in attitudes about the integration between work-life and home-life. It’s important…
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Navigating RevOps Trends for 2024
I found this to be an insightful read on RevOps trends for 2024. Embracing cutting-edge technologies, refining revenue operations analytics, and prioritizing customer-centric strategies are key to staying ahead in a marketplace that is changing ever-faster. How are you leveraging some of these insights in your RevOps team?…
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Customer Success is the key driver of Net Revenue Retention (NRR) in 2024
A must-read for anyone looking to stay ahead as more boards become focused on customer success’ critical nature. This article brilliantly captures the evolving landscape of customer success. Emphasizing proactive engagement, hyper-personalization, and AI-driven insights, it paints a vivid picture of how businesses are…
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Customer Dragging Out a Deal?
If you've been in sales long enough, you’ll encounter situations where a customer drags their feet on making a decision. Once follow-up messages start to go unanswered, it's probably time to take a step back and think critically about where the deal may be stuck and how to get it moving forward. This article will help you…
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Unlocking Customer Loyalty
Check out this article on leveraging Net Promoter Score. It provides a deep dive into fostering lasting connections with clients, and explains the importance and potential benefits of measuring your own NPS. It really is a great read for sales teams aiming to elevate customer experiences and drive sustainable growth. You…
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Leading Vs. Convincing: The Art of Questioning
It is crucial to guide a business conversation with insightful questions, as this enables prospective clients to identify their own needs rather than being told what their problems might be. The key here is to lead rather than convince. This approach leads to more productive discussions than merely pushing solutions on…
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Leveraging Trap-setting Questions During Discovery
The insights on leveraging discovery and trap-setting questions have transformed my sales approach by connecting solutions to prospects' business problems, driving urgency, and securing funding. This article provides you with a fantastic overview of what questions you should be asking during the discovery phase in order to…
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Are You Leveraging LinkedIn for Lead Generation?
Utilizing LinkedIn for lead generation is crucial in today’s competitive business landscape. With its vast network of professionals, targeted search filters, and content-sharing capabilities, it offers unparalleled opportunities to connect with potential leads and help to grow your business. Do yourself a favor and don’t…
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Unlocking Sales Success: The Art of Solving Business Challenges Through Strategic Questioning
As a successful seller, understanding that the key to effective sales is solving a significant business issue for your potential customer. This blog post reaffirms this notion, highlighting the importance of pinpointing a major business challenge to create urgency and secure funding in deals. John Kaplan's timeless advice…
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Understanding Personality Styles Is A Game Changer In Sales
One of the best things that you can do as a seller is to recognize and adapt to different buyer personality styles. When you learn to do this, it can significantly increase your sales success by fostering stronger rapport and connection with each individual client. Tailoring your communication approach to align with the…
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Traits of Elite Sellers
Hello Ascenders! Our recent article, Five Traits of an Elite Seller, generated some interesting discussion on LinkedIn; hoping to extend the conversation here. Which ones resonate the most for you? How did you acquire the traits you didn't already possess? If you were to add a 6th trait that translates to top-tier sales…
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Follow up to questions from our January Webinar!
Hey Ascenders! I’ve gone through each and every question that was asked during our January Ascender Insights webinar (replay linked here), and wow! There were some great ones in here! I’ve listed the questions with my answers below and hope you take the time to read them and process them. It’s really powerful stuff you…
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Focusing on truly being "in the Field" in 2024 - would love your feedback
One of the big things I have been prioritizing early this year is being in person, in the field. Over the last 2 months I have spent around 50% of my time in the field, live with prospects, customers and partners. I have made it a non-negotiable to show up in person regardless of the title of the persona. Looking back on…
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Don't just check boxes
I just saw another post about curiosity and it made me think about how I see people on my team struggle most when they're just trying to check off boxes. You should be curious and really dig into what the business problems are while also tying things back to your product. I know this reads really basic, but it's the number…
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How would you recommend to continue a conversation if the potential client doesn't seem interested?
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Take it to the next level.......
My name is Herb, and I'm delighted to join Ascender. I'm a strategic sales executive ay Hyland Software and I'm a passionate individual that loves working with and learning from customers. I'm looking forward to connecting and learning from like-minded individuals, share knowledge, and engage in meaningful discussions.
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Customer Success and Sales Teams
Customer Success Managers have improving NRR via up-sell/cross-sell as a responsibility and key performance metric. I'm eager to work collaboratively with Sales Teams to achieve these goals and excited for the empowerment this training will bring. I've been in the SaaS industry for the last 7 years - previously at Oracle,…
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Gaining Commitments
Since we need to earn the right to continue the conversation, what are some of the safe questions that help establish ourselves as salesmen that we deserve to be in this conversation?
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What can I do if a prospects says “I now someone that has a better product”
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What’s the best attitude after an objection?
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Pre-call planning not going as planned
Effective pre-call planning is crucial in sales, but what happens when the plan doesn't go as designed? What are the correct steps to take when you find yourself deviating from your initial pre-call plan? Share your experiences and strategies for adapting to unexpected situations in sales calls.
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What could I do if lose the commitment at the end of the conversation?
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Leveraging Multiple Offers to Build Partnerships
I am working a deal with more than 5 locations currently. Based on their previous experience with other providers and some tech challenges they face due to location, we would be a huge advantage to them. We can try to win the deal on $ value, but that seems like small potatoes for us on the value side and doesn't send the…
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What are some things that we should stay away from in our opening statements going forward?
What’s some of the topics or questions that we should really be looking to avoid in our opening statements?