Monthly Archives: February 2010

H-Rep Sell Cycle Time: 16 Months. E-Rep: 37 Days

February 26, 2010 – 8:09 am

Average Sell Cycle Time:  16 Months
E-Rep Assisted Sell Cycle Time:  37 Days
I left something out of the E-Rep Success Story I blogged about recently.  Frankly, I was so focused on the fact that my E-Rep helped close a deal within the first 4 months of its existence that I completely lost sight of a [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in E-Rep, Metrics | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

The beatings of the sales team will continue…

February 23, 2010 – 7:01 pm

Sales is notorious for being the most expensive yet least accountable department in just about any organization.  It’s quite interesting to watch what happens when a sales manager increases rep accountability with a monthly territory review process.
Monthly territory reviews, one rep at a time, have always been a key fixture in our Sales Process Engineering [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Best Practices, CRM | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

I’m addicted to podcasts

February 18, 2010 – 9:03 am

I’m addicted to podcasts.  Here are a few reasons why:

Continuous learning is essential. Our world moves really, really quickly and change is rampant.  I fear becoming obsolete.

Podcast content is of extremely high quality and value. Sure, there’s lots and lots of superficial garbage out there, but it’s easy to find more good stuff than I [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Learn!, Podcast | Tagged , , | Comments (9)

Discipline, Opportunity Management and Value Propositions

February 17, 2010 – 9:09 am

Three things you really, really need to think about…
Listen to the latest Think About It… podcast

Subscribe

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Best Practices, Podcast | Comments (0)

An E-Rep Success Story

February 13, 2010 – 3:04 pm

130 days.  That was how long it took my electronic alter ego, my E-Rep, to close his (it’s?) first deal.
Technically, I guess I could claim to have had an E-Rep since July of ’99 when I launched The YPS Group and put up a web site, but it wasn’t until September ’09 that I really [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in E-Rep, Video | Comments (1)

An E-Rep Example

February 10, 2010 – 6:23 pm

The E-Rep concept is not only a powerful selling tool, it’s also versatile.  Here’s an example of a community symphony drumming up interest in their “Noteworthy 5K” road race fundraising event.  Watch it, then send me your thoughts on you can use the E-Rep approach to help sell your products and services.

More thoughts on E-Rep:

Is [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in E-Rep, Video | Comments (3)

Sales tips from a shot-putter??? Are you serious???

February 10, 2010 – 8:28 am

All the really good sales reps I’ve known have invested a lot of energy in constantly improving their skills.  They look at their process, innovate and measure the daylights out of it.  Shot-putter Parry O’Brien did the same thing.

Think About It…

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (3)

Discipline is hard, but CINing is easy

February 7, 2010 – 9:28 am

Reading Todd Schnick’s recent post about Minimalist Marketing reminded me that once again I need to re-learn an old lesson.  Maybe it would be more accurate to say re-re-learn,  or even re-re-re-learn or…  In any case, my spin on Schnick’s main point is that it’s way too easy to get way too busy, but it’s [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (2)

Selling with video (…better get busy)

February 4, 2010 – 8:27 am

Here’s my hypothesis: Short, well-done video clips posted on blogs, corporate & social media web sites, embedded in e-mails and referred to on LinkedIn and Twitter can generate a 15% increase in sales.
Here’s my action plan:

Execute a video-based campaign to raise funds for a community symphony (Project launched yesterday)
Execute a video-based campaign to sell two [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Best Practices, E-Rep | Comments (2)