SalesBlogcast MindShare

A short saying often contains much wisdom.

-Sophocles

Companies who assign the responsibilities of lead generation and selling to the sales people are doing themselves a disservice. When sales people are required to cold call to achieve quota, the company faces two distinct issues: a higher cost of sale and higher turnover of sales people. Yet when a company takes a keen interest in feeding its sales people, the opposite happens: increased revenues, improved sales force productivity, and an improved working environment. When sales people are enabled to sell more, it is a great environment to work in – everyone wins.

This excerpt from a guest post by Jeremy Miller is one of the most fiercely debated posts ever on SalesBlogcast!

I think his views are really important for small business owners, especially, to take heed.  More than anyone, small business owners feel like they’ve been burned by sales people.  As a result, they are very cautious about the time and money they invest in their sales team… especially when it comes to marketing and lead generation. In addition, owners are accepting the idea that if they retain a sales person for 18 to 24 months… they’re doing well.

When a business owner thinks that way, their sales people catch on very early on… and the disloyalty begins.

So what’s the solution?

The most successful small business owners commit to both marketing and sales.

If you are going to commit… commit all the way!

…there’s nothing you can’t do!

Ooohh New York x2

Grew up in a town that is famous as the place of movie scenes
Noise is always loud, there are sirens all around and the streets are mean
If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere, that’s what they say
Seeing my face in lights or my name in marquees found down on Broadway

Even if it ain’t all it seems, I got a pocketful of dreams
Baby, I’m from New York
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New Yoooork!

On the avenue, there ain’t never a curfew, ladies work so hard
Such a melting pot, on the corner selling rock, preachers pray to God
Hail a gypsy cab, takes me down from Harlem to the Brooklyn Bridge
Some will sleep tonight with a hunger for more than an empty fridge

I’m gonna make it by any means, I got a pocketful of dreams
Baby, I’m from New York
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These street will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New Yoooork!

One hand in the air for the big city,
Street lights, big dreams all looking pretty
No place in the world that can compare
Put your lighters in the air, everybody say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

In New York
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New Yoooork!

As strange as it might sound, the key to success in startups is not always knowing where you are in your revenue and profitability growth cycle. Instead, it’s much more important to keep track of people, strategy and capital – and in that order.

Understanding the strengths of your team – and your leaders in particular – allows you to build the details of your strategy that you can proactively manage.   Aligning your strategy with your team’s strengths increases your chances of staying focused on sustainability.

You are probably wondering, “What is Tungle?”…

Here’s the cool part! Check out how it integrates with LinkedIn…

In a perfect world, the best ideas would be the easiest to execute. Or, at the very least, there would be some correlation between the quality of an idea and the probability that it becomes a reality. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Ideas don’t happen because they are great – or by accident. Ideas are made to happen through a series of other forces.

Making Ideas Happen = (Ideas) + Organization & Execution + Communal Forces + Leadership Capability