Written By
Lori Richardson
Today, like yesterday, has been professional development for me, and it made me wonder about how you and your sales team go about learning and gaining new perspectives.
I’m in a boardroom in the DC area at Gartner, the global research & advisory firm. Annually they invite in sales and marketing thought leaders to hear about their most recent research in B2B sales and marketing and they invite us to share what we are seeing in our own worlds – which as a group encapsulates many industries, sectors and sizes of companies.
This roundtable event was started by CEB – the Challenger folks - about six years ago. When CEB was acquired by Gartner I wondered if it would continue – and it has. I’m personally thrilled because Gartner has done some great research and education on women in sales, a passion of mine. Additionally, there are some really smart colleagues of mine who I learn from and I share what I am seeing as well.
The bigger discussion we share is around B2B sales and marketing helping our buyers buy in a complex and busy world. I’m looking forward to Day 2 today and will share my top takeaways in a future post about how we can better support and help buyers.
For now, I wonder, do you ever sit down in a roundtable manner with people outside of your company to walk through your sales process, or your sales retention issue, or to hone your value proposition? It is an amazing opportunity if you make the time and space for it. Are you even open to feedback to improve?
How do you get outside of your “bubble” that you and your team live in?
How do you learn what you don’t even know to ask about?
The great thing about the profession of sales is that you must learn on an ongoing basis – you never know it all. If anyone around you thinks THEY know it all, they’re wrong.
This is how you keep from being Uberized, or you actually become the Uber of your industry.
More on my learnings from this event shortly.
In the meantime, share what you’re learning with others, set up a brainstorming session, or just plan to listen more and talk less for the next week – see what happens.
Lori Richardson is CEO of Score More Sales, a top B2B sales strategy firm helping mid-sized companies grow revenues by solving key issues in their sales department - like recruiting, retention, diversity hiring, process, pipeline and leadership Lori is also President of Women's Sales Pros - a community created to help move the needle for more women in sales and sales leadership roles. Lori helps She speaks at CEO groups on topics of sales growth and the importance and value of diversity. Clients include companies in the technology, telecom, manufacturing, distribution, and professional services industries.
Lori received the 2019 "Lifetime Achievement Award" from AA-ISP (American Association for Inside Sales Professionals - The Global Inside Sales Association) and is a LinkedIn 2018 Top Sales Voice.
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email lori@ScoreMoreSales.com | My LinkedIn Profile | @scoremoresales