The term (or a portmanteau?) that we all hear a lot in sales management is “A-Player” and you typically hear it in “you should only hire A-Players”.  But what does that mean – what is the definition of an “A-Player” in sales? Here is a great definition – see this…  Read More >

We all know that Sales Coaching is a critical job of any sales manager, whether a front-line manager (FLM) or a senior sales executive. Most FLMs know that Pipeline is one of the top 2 things in Sales and will need to focus their coaching on Pipeline Management but also…  Read More >

Hiring sales talent is the top priority and probably the most urgent skill for a CRO / VP of Sales (or a CEO who is hiring their sales executive).  However, most companies’ sales hiring process is not done well – I’ve seen this often. Here are a couple of tips…  Read More >

A VP of Sales must operationalize a process for all the Sales Managers to conduct assessments of the Opps in the Pipeline during an Opp Review meeting and check for “Red Flags”.  Otherwise you get a lot of “UFOs” (i.e. “Unlikely & Failing Opportunities”) that you just don’t want or…  Read More >

As a VP of Sales, you know your reps don’t have unlimited time to work their live deals.  You must coach them to prioritize their Opps in the pipeline to ensure that they are on track to hitting its goals.  By analyzing the Pipeline and focusing on the highest probability…  Read More >

Finding good salespeople is hard but it is much harder if you don’t have a process to make your hiring systematic and scientific. While some of the hiring can be an art, a lot of it can also be a science too.   Key Steps: First create a good Sales Org…  Read More >

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.”  – W. Edwards Deming ——- These are the topics the CEO & CRO of a $20M-$100M+ in ARR PE-Backed company must consider: First Step for PE Portfolio Companies Engineer & Optimize an Effective Sales…  Read More >

I was recently asked what a new Sales Leader should do during their first three months (i.e. the first quarter) at their job.  And just the other day, I saw a link from SBI posting a video where Matt Sharrers (the CEO of SBI) asked Eric Vermillion (a former CRO of BlueCat)…  Read More >

  According to Private Equity International, PE firms are looking to boost portfolio company valuations while operational issues are becoming increasingly more complex. Source: https://www.privateequityinternational.com/record-demand-operating-partners-gps-seek-boost-portfolio-company-value-survey/ “Operating partner roles are the fastest-growing positions in private equity…” Here is value creation in 5 charts: https://www.peievents.com/en/event/operating-partners-technology-forum/value-creation-in-5-charts/