CSO Insight Study Results are Troubling – Has the Canary Died Yet?

CSO Insight Study Results are Troubling – Has the Canary Died Yet?

Seleste Lunsford, Chief Research Officer of CSO Insights discusses the startling results of their latest World-Class Sales Performance Study: All that Glitters is Not Gold, with Funnel Radio host Jim Obermayer.  Lunsford talks about how the respondents in the study reported increases in quota attainment and revenue last year, however, key metrics show a decrease in adherence to sales best practices from previous studies.  The authors of the study state that there is possibly a misleading nature of sales effectiveness metrics collected from the nearly 1,000 sales organizations.   Is this a canary in the coal mine scenario?

The survey shows that world-class sales organizations have systems driving performance that smaller organizations lack.

1. Why is the report so important this year?
2. What was the triggering event that prompted the study?
3. Is this study generally only about companies with large ticket products and services?
4. What are the most startling results?
5. What are the sales effectiveness metrics that alarmed you?
6. Does the study tell the reader what to do about the failures?

 About the report and how to get a copy:  

“All that glitters is NOT GOLD” 2019 World-Class Sales Practices Study

Sections:

Section I: The Deceptively Shiny State of Sales

Section II: Customer Engagement

Section III: Performance Support

Section IV: Strategy Alignment

Study Parameters:

The 2019 World-Class Sales Practices Study collected data from more than 1,500 respondents from January through March 2019. The analysis was conducted on responses from 949 sales leaders. This sample was global in nature and spans across B2B industries, with particularly strong representation from the technology, manufacturing, healthcare, professional services, and banking/finance sectors.

GET THE REPORT

GET THE REPORT SUMMARY

About Seleste Lunsford

Seleste Lunsford has consulted with sales and service organizations for more than 20 years, helping them acquire, grow and retain client relationships. As Managing Director of CSO Insights, Seleste guides CSO Insights’ research focus areas and define its market deliverables.

She has co-authored two books, “Secrets of Top-Performing Salespeople” and “Strategies that Win Sales.” She’s proud to have supported some of the world’s most recognized companies including AAA, Alliance Bernstein, American Express, Arrow Electronics, Citibank, Convergys, U.S. Department of Defense, Office Depot, Traveler’s Insurance, and Verizon Wireless.

About CSO Insights

Independent research backed by one of the world’s premier selling and service brands

 CSO Insights is the independent research arm within Miller Heiman Group^TM, dedicated to improving the performance and productivity of complex B2B sales. The CSO Insights team of respected analysts provides sales leaders with the research, data, expertise, and best practices required to build sustainable strategies for sales performance improvement. CSO Insights’ annual sales effectiveness studies, along with its benchmarking capabilities, are industry standards for sales leaders seeking operational and behavioral insights into how to improve their sales performance and to gain holistic assessments of their selling and sales management efficacy. Annual research studies address sales and service best practices, sales enablement and sales performance optimization.

When No One in Your Company Agrees about the Definition of a Qualified Lead

It is easy for marketing management to be misled into thinking the prospect’s experience is taken care of by the CRM system, Marketing Automation and eventually salespeople, but this isn’t the case. 

The more we automate the more we rely on software to do a job that needs a personal touch. 

Author, sales guru, and lead generation professional Dan McDade, is our guest from Prospect-Experience and he discusses the over-looked field of prospect experience management. McDade says this failure is needlessly costing companies 10-20% of closed sales every month.  This except is taken from his original program which can be heard here:

The Prospect Experience Isn’t Marketing Automation or CRM

McDade has a history of knowledge in the sales lead management and lead generation fields having been the CEO of PointClear for 20 plus years. He is now the managing partners of Prospect-Experience which solves the weaknesses in B2B companies he sought to repair when the leads he created for clients went begging for attention from his clients sales and marketing people. 

How to Use Your Leadership Superpowers

Let’s face it, we’d all like to think we’re great leaders, but thinking isn’t getting and I’ve heard managers admit that deep inside, they have doubts about their ability to lead. Our guest today, Professor Bryan Bennett,  believes that inside of every manager there can be Superpowers if tapped and nurtured. In this program with host Jim Obermayer, Professor Bennett tells us why you have superpowers that can be accessed and appreciated by your team. Professor Bennett is an author, professor, consultant and data scientist.

• What are leadership superpowers?
• How did you arrive at this concept?
• How many of these superpowers does a leader need to have to be effective?
• Explain how leaders can obtain these superpowers?
• Who are some of the leaders you’ve met who possess some of these superpowers?
• Are there any limitations to these superpowers?

 About Our Guest

Professor Bennett is the Executive Director and founder of the Healthcare Center of Excellence. He is the primary researcher and blogger for the Center of Excellence website as well as a blogger for the HIMSS Future Care website on the subjects of Big Data and healthcare technology transformation.

Professor
He is a course developer and adjunct professor for Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies where he is responsible for the development and teaching of predictive analytics management courses for international and domestic markets. He also teaches consumer behavior for West Virginia University’s Integrated Marketing Communications graduate program as well as leadership and analytics courses for Judson University’s Management and Leadership program.

Author
He is the author of Competing on Healthcare Analytics: The Foundational Approach to Population Health Analytics. The book is a practical guide to implementing population health analytics and makes a clear argument for how an analytics initiative should be implemented using his foundational approach.

Consultant / Data Scientist

He started the Center of Excellence after hearing the challenges healthcare executives were having to implement predictive analytics programs. Many were concerned with ‘reinventing the wheel’ when it comes to analytics since successes experienced by other healthcare organizations were not being shared and they were challenged with identifying and keeping analytical talent. He is a certified data scientist and certified lean six sigma green belt.

Scout by Miller Heiman Drives Seller Actions and Changes Outcomes with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Miller Heiman Group, the flagship 40-year-old company in the sales training and consulting space, has introduced integration of “Scout” for Microsoft Dynamics. In this program, Dana Hamerschlag, Chief Product Officer of Miller Heiman Group, discusses how Scout improves daily sales productivity and CRM compliance which frees up face to face sales time.  Hamerschlag also explains what tools sellers should focus on to get the most out of their CRM.

About our Guest

Dana Hamerschlag is the Chief Product Officer with Miller Heiman. In her role at Miller Heiman Group, Dana leads the global product organization and is driving the continued innovation of technology solutions.

Dana brings more than 15 years of experience in technology companies backed by venture capital and private equity, where she has run product management, product marketing, strategy, and operations. Previously, she served as Vice President of Product Management at Ellucian, where she led the CRM business and significantly grew revenue from $0 to $38 million, paving the way for a $3.5 billion transaction.  Dana spent the early part of her career at The Boston Consulting Group.

 About Miller Heiman Group

 Miller Heiman Group is the global leader in providing organizations sales methodology plus sales technology to drive revenue and change business outcomes. The company’s training, consulting, technology and research solutions align process, people, tools, data, and analytics to prepare sales and service organizations for the future of selling. For more information, visit www.millerheimangroup.com.

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Funnel Radio is hosted by James Obermayer and sponsored by the radio/podcast company the Funnel Media Group LLC.

CSO Insights’ Surprising Results: Revenue Up, Performance Down

Seleste Lunsford, Chief Research Officer of CSO Insights discusses the surprising results of their latest Sales Performance study with Funnel Radio host Jim Obermayer. She talks about how the 900  companies in the study report that 95% are on their revenue plan and yet other parts of the report show some disturbing sales performance outcomes that show there could be trouble on the horizon. It appears companies are hiring more sales reps, but sales performance is down per rep; this means sales expenses are up and with any downturn there will be large problems.

About the report and how to get a copy:  

Selling in the Age of Ceaseless Change: 2018-2019 Sales Performance Study.  

Sections:

• Revenue Are up Sales Performance is Not.
• Customer-Centricity Separates Top-Performing Organizations
• Lead Generation Suffers from Organization Silos
• Planning improves New Account Capture
• Account Renewals Dominate Revenues
• Win Rates of Forecasted Deals Vex Sales Leaders

Roughly 900 global sales leaders were surveyed to identify the four main objectives underpinning their performance improvement efforts in the coming 12 months. These main objectives were improving lead generation, capturing new accounts, expanding penetration into existing customers, and increasing win rates. The purpose of this report is to show how sales organizations today are performing in terms of these objectives, how that compares to recent years and what successful companies are doing that’s working for improving sales performance.

GET THE REPORT

GET THE REPORT SUMMARY

About Seleste Lunsford

Seleste Lunsford has consulted with sales and service organizations for more than 20 years, helping them acquire, grow and retain client relationships. As Managing Director of CSO Insights, Seleste guides CSO Insights’ research focus areas and define its market deliverables. An experienced business leader, Seleste has led a range of consulting, product development, professional services and operations functions.

She has co-authored two books, “Secrets of Top-Performing Salespeople” and “Strategies that Win Sales.” She’s also written articles on sales effectiveness found in Selling Power, Entrepreneur, Chief Learning Officer and PharmaVoice, as well as DestinationCRM.com and HR.com. She’s proud to have supported some of the world’s most recognized companies including AAA, Alliance Bernstein, American Express, Arrow Electronics, Citibank, Convergys, U.S. Department of Defense, Office Depot, Traveler’s Insurance and Verizon Wireless.

Seleste earned both her bachelor’s degree and MBA from Florida State University.

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Funnel Radio is hosted by James Obermayer and sponsored by the radio/podcast company the Funnel Media Group LLC.

Is There an ROI for Sale Enablement?

Ahh, the sweet promise of Sales Enablement.  If only the right content could be created to support what salespeople really need to sell.  If only sales training were more than product training. If only sales enablement enabled salespeople to be the best that they can be. If only the marketing and sales people could talk to each other to discuss sales enablement. If only sales enablement would benefit the prospect. 

Our guest this week, the Chief Readiness Officer at Brainshark says all of this is not only possible but when solved it brings a ROI that any CFO would be proud to claim.  Find out about the three baskets of measurement that Jim and Brainshark say are not only possible, but expected when Sales Enablement is done right.

Jim Ninivaggi Chief Readiness Officer

Leveraging more than 30 years of B2B sales productivity expertise, Jim leads Brainshark’s sales enablement and readiness strategy. Jim previously worked as a sales enablement analyst with SiriusDecisions, where he provided clients with data, insight and thought leadership to maximize sales effectiveness and accelerate revenues. Today, he uses his knowledge and expertise to prepare the Brainshark sales force with the knowledge and skills to optimize every buyer interaction.

Why Brainshark?

For nearly two decades, our solutions have helped companies improve the way they communicate with, educate and inspire their customer-facing teams.

Today, we’re proud to provide our customers with the most comprehensive, proven platform for sales enablement and readiness.

More Ninivaggi  from Sales Pipeline Radio on the Funnel Radio Channel

Sales Enablement’s Evolution from a Front Row Seat with Jim Ninivaggi

The Continued Evolution of the Sales Enablement Function

The Prospect Experience Isn’t Marketing Automation or CRM

In the chaos of the marketing and sales tech stack, it is easy for marketing management to be misled into thinking the prospect’s experience is taken care of by the CRM system, Marketing Automation and eventually salespeople, but this isn’t the case.

Author, sales guru, and lead generation professional Dan McDade, is our guest from Prospect-Experience  and he discusses the over-looked field of prospect experience management. McDade says this failure is needlessly costing companies 10-20% of closed sales every month.

McDade has a history of knowledge in the sales lead management and lead generation fields having been the CEO of PointClear for 20 plus years. He is now the managing partners of Prospect-Experience which solves the weaknesses in B2B companies he sought to repair when the leads he created for clients went begging for attention from his clients sales and marketing people. 

Funnel Radio Channel: Nov 29th: Singer, Sixsmith, Marks, Muessig, O’Connel and Stulz

For those with a long workout or miles to go before you sleep hike, listen to six programs on the Funnel Radio Channel. 

Click to hear all programs sequentially.  Or click on the program links below to listen to individual 25 minute podcast replays of the live program.  

These are the Funnel Radio Channel Programs for November 29th, 2018.  They are offered sequentially as broadcast.  

Quite a broadcast day for our 5th Thursday of the month.  Patrick Morrissey and Mat Singer kick it off on Predictable Revenue Radio with the topic - Making Sales Enablement Work for 2,000 salespeople. Mari Anne Vanella welcomes Dan Sixsmith on Outstanding Outbound tackling What Sales Leadership is in Denial About. Insights from Leading SMB & CRM Pundit Gene Marks on CRM Radio with host, Paul Petersen. Matt's guest is Gillian Muessig, CEO & Co-Founder Outlines Venture Group  @SEOmom Topic: B2B Start-up Sales Lessons, Mistakes & Best Practices. Kyla and John talk about Five Factors Creating Elite Sales Mindsets on Asher Sales Sense. WVU MarComm today closes out with host, Cyndi Greenglass and her guest, Larry Stultz talking about Ideation Techniques, Concept Development and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). Join us and listen live or catch replays from any of our shows.

9:00 am Pacific: Predictable Revenue Radio by @Altify with host, Patrick Morrissey @PatMorrissey

Guest: Mat Singer
Topic: Making Sales Enablement Work for 2,000 Salespeople

https://goo.gl/ozSFsP

10:30 am Pacific: Outstanding Outbound by The Vanella Group with host, Mari Anne Vanella @vanellagroup

Guest: Dan Sixsmith
Topic: What sales leadership is in denial about

https://goo.gl/fSiqWv

11:00 am Pacific: CRM Radio by GoldMine with host, Paul Petersen @goldminecrm

Guest: Gene Marks @genemarks 
Topic: Insights from Leading SMB & CRM Pundit Gene Marks

https://goo.gl/LMDTDh

11:30 am Pacific: Sales Pipeline Radio by @heinzmarketing with host, Matt Heinz

Guest: Gillian Muessig, CEO & Co-Founder Outlines Venture Group  @SEOmom
Topic: B2B Start-up Sales Lessons, Mistakes & Best Practices

https://goo.gl/NSRAcg

12:00 pm Pacific: Asher Sales Sense by Asher Sales Strategies with host, John Asher @asherstrategies

Guest: Kyla O'Connell
Topic: Five Factors Creating Elite Sales Mindsets

https://goo.gl/8EHc4f

12:30 pm Pacific: WVU Marketing Communications Today with host, Cyndi Greenglass @directchick @larrystultz

Larry Stultz
Ideation Techniques, Concept Development and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

https://goo.gl/Muf8i2

5 Podcast Pre-Launch Tips

Podcasts continue to be a hot digital vehicle to reach at-work and away from work listeners. As webinars have waned in usefulness, radio podcasts have surged as the digital media with long tails to build thought leadership, a personal brand and a network that knows of you and your company. It is a friendly, entertaining, non-threatening, fountain of information. 

Podcasts  break through social media and lead generation clutter by connecting with the audience in an authentic manner. Some say social media and podcasting are the new resume.

But before you jump in-front of a microphone and spend 2-4 hours of recording and editing, give some thought about what it takes to be a successful podcaster.

For those new to podcasting, you probably may not realize it, but B2B podcasts from you and your company create multi-use content, testimonials, thought leadership, and relationships with industry leaders. Plus, podcasts create a personal brand for the host. Podcasts introduce you and your products to thousands of potential customers and those that refer customers, but there are five things you must have in mind to be a success. At the Funnel Media Group, publisher of the Funnel Radio Channel, after producing dozens of podcast programs with hundreds of thousands of listeners, we have found the following to be needed before you start your podcast.

1. You must be consistent: To gain followers (listeners and subscribers) you must produce a show that they can follow with regularlity. Once a month programming is very good, twice a month for moderately sized companies provides more visibility and a following. Weekly programs published from large companies and marketing departments are better when they can use the enormous amount of content which comes from each podcast.  
2. Decide why you are doing a podcast. Decide what your goals are before you start. Podcasting is about building and conversing with an audience. And as Jason Calicanis once said, “Audience equals power.” Do you want to introduce yourself to movers and shakers in your industry by interviewing them?  Do you want to build a personal brand? A podcast can create great testimonials for you and your company. Do you want to build a network of people that follow you?  How about creating content for your marketing efforts such as ebooks, nurture content, case studies, blog entries? Some podcasters have hundreds of listeners and they are happy, some thousands per episode.
3. Your show needs professionalism: Sound, host and announcer quality are important.  Music introductions, transcripts, separate announcers and commercials add interest and entertainment value. A professionally produced podcast from an agency that specializes in podcast production  can produce a podcast for the host and company including the storage site, studio, announcer, music, artwork, embeddable code, etc., for as little as $500 per episode.  You do not have to have an announcer voice, but you do have to be interesting, don’t take yourself too seriously, and remember if you have a guest, it is about the guest.
4. Content must be interesting: It is entertainment after all, don’t lose sight of this. Listeners want to learn in an entertaining way, it is expected. Entertainment has more to do with the guest and a tightly edited program than humor and sound effects. Each program’s title and its content must be stimulating and worth the time invested by the listener. Programs with “How-To” or similar titles are the most popular and long lasting. Using an industry personality’s name may help, but you have to use a giant name such as Marc Benioff in the title to benefit from it.
5. The ideal show length: An ideal program length should be determined by how much time a listener will give you. An hour is too long (most producers will agree) because the listener has probably reached their destination, come in from walking the dog or run their training circuit. 22-30 minutes is ideal for the listener who listens on a mobile device away from work. Longer than that and your guests may also run out of things to talk about; keep it short and less boring.

Bonus Tips for Podcasters

1. Hope is not a strategy. Use the content, don’t just record and post it and hope someone finds you. Your company can use the content many ways. Podcasts produce a plethora of content option such as testimonial quotes, blogs, nurture messages, ebooks, hard cover books, guest websites, white papers or case studies.
2. It takes time to build a following and network, but once build, you’re golden: Whether it is your company name or your name, it takes more than a few episodes to build a following. At 6-12 episodes, people recognize the company and that you are hosting a regular podcast. With each succeeding show you gain listeners, followers and a reputation. Considering how little time you put into a podcast (22-30 minutes a show) it’s a good investment.  How to Measure Podcast Contributions to Revenue.
3. Guests are easy to get:  Guests want the exposure as much as you do. 90-95% of the people you ask to be guests will agree. With over 500 executive interviews I can count on one hand the people that have turned us down, usually because of timing. Guest love to be heard, they feel honored that you ask. After all, it is all about them.

Follow these tips and you too can join the podcast personalities that reach thousands of listeners with thought provoking guests. Today’s mobile listeners want business entertainment and training without the clutter of so many social media outlets. 

If you want to pitch an idea for a podcast on the Funnel Radio Channel, contact me Susan Finch, [email protected], and let’s talk.

Shortcut to Your Personal Brand

Having your own personal brand, beyond words on a resume or your company biography, makes sense, is required and expected. It could be a sales management job, marketing management (of course); even CEOs, CIOs, CFOs and presidents have personal brand considerations.  When you consider creating your own personal brand, you’re investing in yourself and your future.

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