Here is your 2022 sales and marketing plan
LinkedIn
August 24, 2021
In case you missed it, the Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch have banned cold calling and have moved all their people to social selling. This isn't some trendy tech company that might have decided to do this on a whim, this is a very conservative financial services company that has made a decision based on data.
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
Why being an analogue company is OK
LinkedIn
August 20, 2021
This week I spotted a conversation on LinkedIn where a bunch of cold callers got together in a huddle and talk about how great cold calling is.
We all love a bit of nostalgia. It reminded me of my parents telling me that the music was better in their day.
We often get salespeople coming to us day and day our asking for help. They say that all their leaders know about is cold calling and send emails and to get more pipeline is to make more calls and send more emails. And that dear reader is totally fine.
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Tags: Social, Leadership, Sales
Do you have a "digital hope" sales strategy?
LinkedIn
August 13, 2021
Panel Discussion: 8 Questions to Prepare CSOs for Postpandemic Success
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Tags: Social, Future of Work, Sales
Accelerating digital skills is one of the top priorities for finance leaders
LinkedIn
August 03, 2021
In this article I explain how digital is impacting the Finance and Procurement departments and how the modern digital business needs to empower it's team(s) with digital skills.
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Tags: Procurement, Leadership
Can social selling help me get past gatekeepers?
LinkedIn
July 28, 2021
Well in the past, you called people up and pitched your product or service or you sent an email and pitched your product and service or even before that you wrote a letter and pitched your product or service. Companies built "infrastructure" to stop these calls, emails and letters getting through and bothering company executives. A whole industry grew up in terms of trying to get your message in front of people. The gatekeeper was born.
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Tags: Social, Leadership, Sales
Can social selling help me if my prospect list is out of date?
LinkedIn
July 21, 2021
Can social selling help me if my prospect list is out of date?
I was once given a prospect list and one of the companies had not existed for 10 years.
So what can you do if you are new to a territory or set of accounts and need to create desire for your product or service for the first time?
At the end of this article is a whole bunch of articles that you might also find useful.
If this article has been useful and you think it would be helpful to your network or individuals then please share it. Please also tag in the individuals.
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Tags: Social, Leadership, Sales
Can I use social selling to sell into a territory?
LinkedIn
July 05, 2021
Many article are written about sales but they tend to assume either a sales person is selling into one account, or a handful of accounts. What if you are selling into 100s or 1000s of accounts?
The word I would always use when managing teams that had a territory of 100s or 1000s of accounts was "coverage". How as a salesperson do you get coverage of your territory?
How are you going to speak to as many people as you can in the short time you have, after-all the average salesperson has only 200 days to make their number.
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Tags: Leadership, Sales
Why Your Sales Aren’t Growing
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July 13, 2020
by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn We are often called into companies and what they say to us is the following:- We are operating in increasingly challenging market, suffering from declining pipe and increased pressure on margin. Previous strategies that relied heavily on our insta
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
The Five Cornerstones of Social Selling
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July 09, 2020
by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn When, Adam, Alex and I set up the business coming up to four years ago, we never thought that we would ever make so much impact to so many companies. There were a number of foundations to Social media that we decided on and still keep to:- All..
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
The Importance Of Salespeople Blogging in Times of Adversity
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June 20, 2020
by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn I watched Alex Low going a presentation today for the Association of Professional Sales (APS) it always amazes me how Alex can turn what is a “complex” piece of software like Sales Navigator and can break it down, so it looks so easy to use.
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
How Covid19 Changed The Modern Buyer and Changed Sales and Marketing
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June 08, 2020
by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn I’m doing a webinar on Thursday and I’ve just got off a practice call. It’s partly, to test the technology, (ironically a person from Huawei, couldn’t connect as they use an old version of Microsoft Internet Explorer), it was a
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
Why This Management Consultancy Chose Social Selling
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May 29, 2020
by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn In the Tweet that has been circulating, the question is asked “who lead the digital transformation of your company?” The choices being A) CEO, B) CTO and C) Covid-19 With Covid19 being circled. There is an irony about this that is very true. P
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
Why You Need to Make Your Product Strategic In These Difficult Times
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May 18, 2020
by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn I bet you are wondering why this article isn’t about working from home, managing people who work from home, new sales plans etc. Why would I write about making your product strategic? Well actually, it might mean the difference between selling a
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
Covid19 – So What Are You Going To Do to Get Out of This Mess?
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May 13, 2020
by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn I’m amazed how quickly the world has changed, I’m trying to get a meeting with a friend of mine and he said he would be free, after three in the afternoon. Strange, I though, because I had a pre-covid19 mindset. Dave has children, surely he wo
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
Covid19 – Why You Shouldn’t Furlough Your Sales People
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May 04, 2020
by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn A friend of mine, in sales has just contacted me, he’s been furloughed. I’m totally baffled why a company would do this, as I am, why a company has furloughed a marketing friend of mine. Sales and Marketing is the engine room of a company and
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
Covid19 – Investing in People During the Coronavirus
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May 01, 2020
by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn Just off the phone from a Senior VP and he shared some really interesting insight. Research shows that 70 – 95% of people are now working from home and his view was that with Covid19 we have “re-imagine work”. He joked that maybe we need
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
Why You Need Opinion Not Thought Leadership in Turbulent Times
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April 28, 2020
by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn One of my team recently posted something on LinkedIn. A friend of mine said “that should split opinion”. It did, and that was a good thing. We shouldn’t be afraid of polarising opinion, the people that agree with you, will buy from you, th
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
Social Media Has Grown Up - But Have We Noticed?
linkedin
January 28, 2020
Social media has changed society and its changed business. Just think, the Arab spring, the ALS Ice Bucket challenge and turn on the TV News and it will be about who has tweeted. You may not like the freedoms that social media gives us in society, but the genie is out of the bottle.
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Tags: Social, Leadership, Future of Work
Agent of Change? - It's Your Time
linkedin
January 20, 2020
Here at DLA Ignite we believe that Social Media has had a transformative impact on both society and commerce.
This is evidenced by the fact that we switch on the TV at night and the News is about who has tweeted this and tweeted that. In fact the news is often about what has been going on in social media, rather than actual journalism. As a person you may not like this, but it is the way that mobile, the internet and social media has changed the world.
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
11 Leadership Books to Start Your New Year
linkedin
January 14, 2020
Here are reviews of the last ten books I’ve read, I hope this blog enables you to make choices on some of the amazing books out there.
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
5 Leadership Books to Sharpen Your Leadership Skills
linkedin
November 11, 2019
If you are a new manager, want to be a manager, or just want to deal with people "better" this is the book for you. Julis is no "management guru" there are no rules or laws, this is just simple, straight forward advice based on her experiences at Instagram / facebook. One of the things I like is her honesty, she does not make out she is some management superhero. We all make mistakes, right? She shares with you her mistakes and what she learned. I'm already implementing a number of her recommendations and suggestions.
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
What We Need in This World is More Love and Compassion
linkedin
November 07, 2019
Sunday night we went to see Elton John play the Sussex County Cricket Ground In Hove, next to Brighton in the United Kingdom. (Sorry, work pressures has meant this has been sitting in my inbox for a few weeks. :) )
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
7 Sales and Marketing Books to Kick Off Your Fall!
linkedin
October 16, 2019
Mark is a honest writer, he writes about Marketing as it is in 2019. People are pissed off by being bombarded with marketing messages; adverts, cold calls, unsolicited emails. So what do we do? We filter this all out, either by using ad-blockers, just blocking cold callers on our iphones using standard technology or just using standard functionality in email to create rules so we are not bothered anymore. The smart marketers are those that recognize this and do something about it. and this is what Mark covers in his book -- You should be aware that Mark's book is a "why" .... he tells you why this is happening. It is not a "how", that is how you can do something about it. He does offer case studies (they are all B2C examples) of how people are trying to compete with this today, but does not give you a "kit bag" of things to do. The thing that worries me most about the book is I don't think Mark goes far enough. Some of the examples can be argued are still "old school". Anyway a must read for the modern marketer!
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
11 Books to Kick Start Your Start-Up!
linkedin
September 18, 2019
Every now and again you come across a book that is not just interesting, informative, insightful or educational, and not just changes the way you think, but changes the way you see the world. Mindset takes you through a journey of the differences between a "growth mindset" and "fixed mindset" what that means and how you can make a difference.
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
If You Go to San Francisco there is Social Selling in the Air
linkedin
June 27, 2019
Adam Gray and I are on a flight into San Francisco, we have been asked by a client to help them with their social selling transformation. We are also here to have meetings with some more clients, prospects as well as meet with some contacts.
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Tags: Social, Sales
Clear Air Turbulence - DLA Ignite The Past, The Present and The Future
linkedin
June 05, 2019
I’m sitting writing this on a flight to Joplin.
For us at DLA Ignite DlaIgnite.com it’s a proud moment. We are on our way to on-board our third US partner / reseller / licensee.
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Tags: Social, Future of Work, Sales
6 Ways to Gain Influence With B2B Buyers
linkedin
April 16, 2019
This blog first appeared on the DLA blog here
I remember when I started in sales some 25 years ago. Buyers were painted as some mythical being that could make life or death decisions in some opaque way. Like the Roman term Pollice Verso (or verso pollice), a Latin phrase meaning “with a turned thumb“, that is used in the context of gladiatorial combat. It refers to the hand gesture or thumbs signal used by Ancient Roman crowds to pass judgment on a defeated gladiator. Thumbs up they lived, thumbs down they were executed.
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Tags: Sales
Why Your Recruitment Process is Discriminatory?
linkedin
December 04, 2018
A good friend of mine is looking for a job. Long story, but she has just left a big US software company because she needs to focus on her family and not keep having nights away. Which is fair enough? She wasn’t fired, she left of her own accord and I will explain why.
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
Why Cold Calling is Like Drunk Driving!
LinkedIn
October 08, 2018
This blog previously was published on the DLA blog here. (This blog was written before the 25th May 2018 when the GDPR regulations came onto statue. Little did I know how right I would be!). My friend Graham Hawkins published one of our articles last week and I was surprised by the response and it got me thinking.
The article was about GDPR, which if you didn’t know is new data privacy regulations in Europe. Data privacy isn’t new in Europe it’s just that the laws have been updated for a modern world...
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Tags: Social, Marketing
How Companies Using Cold Calling Will Gradually Go Bust or Be Purchased
LinkedIn
October 05, 2018
This blog originally appeared on the DLA blog here. My co-founder, Adam Gray and I were both in Melbourne, Australia with Graham Hawkins of Sales Tribe. Graham explained how companies using cold calling, cold email and advertising were in slow decline over more efficient methods like social selling, where you can get higher faster. And the can get higher revenue results...
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
Why you are NOT Social Selling but Selling Over Social
LinkedIn
June 01, 2018
This article previously appeared on the DLA blog here
Cold calling, cold outreach call it what you will, if somebody contacts you or me and we don’t know them, regardless of “platform”.
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Tags: Social
It’s not about AI. It’s about Data & Data Science
LinkedIn
May 28, 2018
This blog was previously posted on the DLA blog here
If you are thinking about investing in “AI” as the new shiny tool that will save your pipeline, close rate, customer acquisition – I implore you, don’t.
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Tags: Social
Spamming, Cold Calling and Annoying Ads – Know Your Rights!
LinkedIn
May 25, 2018
This article previously appeared on the DLA blog here
In 1982, UK Punk Band, The Clash released a song called “Know Your Rights”
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Tags: Social
If you are not connected, how will you know what your market’s intent is?
LinkedIn
May 24, 2018
We have a mantra at Digital Leadership Associates. Sell through your network, not to your network. What we mean by this is that you want to move your personal brand, content, sales story as far away from you as possible so that you can be found.
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Tags: Social
7 Books to Transform Your Thinking This Summer!
LinkedIn
May 22, 2018
If you know nothing about artificial intelligence and work in sales, this is a great "beginners" guide. It explains in detail the "why" artificial intelligence WILL become everyday (and already is) commonplace in sales.
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Tags: Design Thinking, Social
5 attitudes that say your organisation’s not ready for all-out social media
LinkedIn
May 21, 2018
The article goes through how a friend of mine was (he still is) getting C-Level meetings using social media.
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Tags: Social
How GDPR Transforms How we Sell…
LinkedIn
May 17, 2018
Regardless if you are a US based company or a European company if you sell into Europe then you have to comply with GDPR.
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Privacy
Have We Seen the End to Sales Commission?
LinkedIn
May 14, 2018
I was lucky enough to meet the Australian, Graham Hawkins when he was over in London just before Christmas.
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Tags: Social, Sales
Does Anybody Actually Know What Adding Value means?
LinkedIn
May 10, 2018
My co-founder, Adam Gray tells a story, he had to buy some radio advertising. The sales guy explained the ROI, etc and the impact. Adam asked, what do you mean by impact?
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Tags: Social
200 Blogs in 20 Months – What Have We Learned?
LinkedIn
May 06, 2018
In this blog, I’m going to take you through some context of what DLA is all about and why, how we go about marketing, how we generate content and inbound our ROI (return on Investment).
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Tags: Social
Why Salespeople Need to be Able to Read a Set of Company Accounts
LinkedIn
April 30, 2018
After leaving university I joined a company called International Computers Ltd (ICL), which has long been absorbed into Fujitsu, on their graduate scheme.
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Tags: Social, Sales
How as a Small Business We Became GDPR Compliant
LinkedIn
April 26, 2018
There are a lot of articles on GDPR which you can find on Google. But not all of them agree. In fact, the confusion is tangible. Many people think they can sit out GDPR or it does not apply.
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Tags: Social
Struggling to Get Your Emails Read by Journalists and Influencers?
LinkedIn
April 23, 2018
“Struggling with getting your emails read by journalists and influencers? Join this free webinar to get real life examples with email templates on how to get responses from any influencer, entrepreneur, or journalist and four actionable strategies you can apply immediately to build relationships!”
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Tags: Social
Why We Need a Social Selling Suite of Applications
LinkedIn
April 20, 2018
In the conclusion to my book “Social Selling – Influencing Buyers and Changemakers” (available on Amazon) I leave with this rallying cry: When will software suppliers legitimise social selling by supporting it with a suite of applications?
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Tags: Social
Three Technologies That Have Become Business as Usual in 2018
LinkedIn
April 15, 2018
From time to time I get asked to give my thoughts on a radio show that the German software company SAP runs. It’s always great to attend, partly as there are always great guests on there and also because Bonnie Graham the host is such a bundle of positive energy. You always walk away energised.
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Tags: Social
Stop Right There – Before You Pitch To Me, Do This!
LinkedIn
April 11, 2018
At the recent Elevate conference in Copenhagen Gary Vee talked about that we are all trading attention.
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Tags: Social
Social Apps Don’t Work? Try Changing Your Social Culture Instead
LinkedIn
April 08, 2018
I recently spoke at a sales kickoff and one of the things we try and do before speaking in front of a large audience is get an understanding for what that audience thinks about social media, especially in the enterprise B2B (business-to-business) space.
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Tags: Social, Culture
Why Digital Marketing Like Athletics Has Its Cheats. How To be Clean!
LinkedIn
April 02, 2018
The other day, somebody showed me an article along the lines that you couldn’t organically distribute content on Facebook without using ads.
Now we all know that what drives Facebook is ad revenues, so they will be delighted if you buy ads on the platform.
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Tags: Social, Marketing
4 Awesome Books for Easter!
LinkedIn
March 28, 2018
in marketing this is really worth a read. Jillian is a Dr (in fact the first PhD in Social Media). She discusses through a case study, how brands are getting it wrong on the web with their web site design.
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Tags: Social
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Social Networks
LinkedIn
March 26, 2018
Ever since I started in work some 25 years ago I’ve been creating networks. In the early days that meant a folder that I put business cards in, my paper diaries, the people I met, my friends and my family.
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Tags: Social
How To Get Higher, Faster With Social Selling
LinkedIn
March 22, 2018
On our recent business trip to Australia, I was lucky enough to meet up with John Smibert. In this interview I talk with John @johnsmibert about how you get "higher, faster with Social Selling over legacy sales methods" like cold calling, cold emails, advertising etc.
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Tags: Social, Sales
“I Perceive There to be a Lot of “Noise” on Social Media”
LinkedIn
March 20, 2018
I recently spoke at a sales kickoff and one of the things we try and do before speaking in front of a large audience is to get an understanding of the audiences attitude to social media, especially in the B2B (Business to business) space.
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Tags: Social
Why You Must Read Sales and Marketing Books
LinkedIn
March 16, 2018
The other day I spotted a message from a social media guru where he said that people shouldn’t read sales and marketing books.
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales
13 Things to Ask Your Sales Department
LinkedIn
March 11, 2018
Earlier this week we posed a series of questions that sales professionals could ask the marketing team as we head into 2018.
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Tags: Social, Sales
13 Things to Ask Your Marketing Department
LinkedIn
March 08, 2018
Whatever your business, these are the questions you should be asking your marketing department, especially if you work in sales. And if you’re in marketing, drop everything and do them now!
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Tags: Social, Marketing
B2B Influencer Marketing: An Introduction
LinkedIn
March 05, 2018
Many of the articles on Influencer Marketing are B2C related, this one is totally focused on B2B
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Tags: Social, Marketing
In Sales? Your Personal Brand Matters More Than Ever
LinkedIn
March 01, 2018
Beware of the social media guru! I recently read an article by one of them about why personal branding for a salesperson was useless.
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Tags: Social, Sales
Why 2018 is the Year of Change in Digital Marketing!
LinkedIn
February 26, 2018
I know digital marketing hasn’t really changed that much over the last few years. For example, we changed our website, so it could be accessed via mobile.
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Tags: Social, Marketing
Using Sales Navigator in Q4 to Smash your Q1 and Q2 Number!
LinkedIn
February 22, 2018
We have just won a piece of business with a large global company. While I cannot tell you the name of that company, I can share with you their business issues and the solution.
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Tags: Social
4 Strategies For Coaching The Uncoachable Salesperson
LinkedIn
January 01, 1970
As a company that offers transformation to companies and not “just” sales transformation we understand well the issues around change management.
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Tags: Social, Sales
Social Selling Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers
Co-Founder and CEO at DLA Ignite
Sales Kick Offs
