Carey Sperry

It’s July — 5 Questions Smart SMB Leaders Are Asking Now Midyear is when goals get real. Sales teams scramble. Leaders make tactical moves. Sound familiar? Here are the 5 topics leaders at small to mid-sized businesses are asking about: o  Revenue goals o  Sales execution o  Subject matter experts’ influence o  GTM effectiveness o  Cross-functional managers Which challenge hits your team hardest? Comment below and share a tip that's working for you! 👇 #SalesStrategy #SMBLeadership #RevenueGrowth #GoToMarket #SalesManagement

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Its not us, its our channel partners! I have heard this so many times...and almost always, there is more to it than just a non-performing channel partner. A typical channel partner has a line card with dozens of products, some may even compete with your product line. The channel partner sales team also has quotas, and the quarter ends for them at the same time :-) Their sales team will lead with products which are "easier to sell". If your product is not in that category, guess what... Making your product easy to sell is actually not difficult. Brand recognition and demand is critical. If the end customer has never heard of your product and asks for a competing product by name, most channel sales people will go with the path of least resistance. What can you do? Make your brand well known and/or make the value to the end user and the incentive to the channel attractive enough for the channel partner to spend the extra time and effort explaining your value to the end customer. Remember, the basic marketing 101 concept of "Push and Pull" still works! You push through your channel and you pull with your marketing. Make sure your channel is involved in both the strategies. If your existing channel partners are not successful, onboarding new ones may not change the status quo. Channel management is not easy, but when done right, it is a win-win for both. #channel #distribution #sales #reseller #tech #marketing

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Enterprise sales doesn’t simply scale with ad spend. It scales with reps who know how to drive deals forward. Clicks don’t close contracts and awareness doesn’t equal revenue. Long, multiple stakeholder sales cycles don’t respond to automated nurture tracks. If you want to grow enterprise, expand outbound. Train reps, not CPM dashboards. Most GTM leaders pour into digital, and wonder why nothing closes but you won't close 25K+ contracts online.

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💡 Prospects nervous about the economy? Don’t push the, guide them. This blog shares Sandler-approved ways to create urgency and help cautious buyers move forward. #SalesUrgency #SandlerSales https://hubs.li/Q03KhPTn0

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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 In distribution, growth is often pursued through operational efficiency, acquisition, product expansion, and pricing strategy. But there’s a critical lever that remains underutilized: your frontline sales talent (both sellers and their sales managers). In a market where differentiation is increasingly difficult, with tariffs, pricing pressures, and economic pressures, your people may be your most powerful and sustainable competitive advantage. There is a case for a strategic shift: treating sales talent not as a cost center, but as a growth engine. This means going beyond the rhetoric (and there's a lot of it) and actually investing in skill development to win more and grow more. Budgets are always an issue, so I explore how distributors can fund talent investments through smarter pricing, margin management, and operational efficiencies -- and then how buyer-centric sales methodology and frontline sales coaching can deliver measurable ROI and competitive differentiation. I’ll also examine the "human differentiators" that separate top-performing sales teams from the rest (and from AI). 🔹𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 ➡️ https://lnkd.in/euh6N_Mq If you'd like to learn more about value engineering or how to develop staff to their next level, reach out here or complete the form at the bottom of this page: https://lnkd.in/e2Ajpew ___________________________________ I'm 𝗠𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗞𝘂𝗻𝗸𝗹𝗲, author of 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗘𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 book, a full-cycle sales methodology, a complete sales coaching system, and a method for preparing your first-time sales managers to hit the ground running and get results through others. Contact me to learn more. 

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Good sales outreach comes down to timing, clarity, and personalization. It’s all about grabbing a prospect’s attention with a tailored message, and keeping that messaging short and simple. When sales reps know the message, the buyer, and the plan, every touchpoint gets stronger. We outlined some best practices to follow to help boost lead generation, and improve your conversion rates 👇 https://hghspot.co/4oNIb5C #GTM #RevenueEnablement #AIforGTM #B2BSales

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Is your sales process built for you or your buyer?   It’s easy to lean on a framework that helps you feel prepared. But if it creates confusion, friction, or extra steps for the buyer, it’s not doing what it should.   The best sales processes do both.   They help the seller show up with clarity, and they help the buyer feel confident in moving forward.   Here’s how to build a process that actually works for the person across the table.   What have you changed in your process to make it more buyer-friendly? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.   #VisualizeSales #ValueSelling #SalesProcess #BuyerFirst #SalesEnablement

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How is Tech is influencing the sales stages? Catch a preview from the latest podcast—full link in comments. #SalesTech #SalesStages #SalesPodcast

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Every sales leader has experienced this frustration: You’ve crafted a strong go-to-market strategy, yet your sales results fall short of projections. The issue may not be the strategy itself, but whether your sales team can execute it. Many sales leaders have an incomplete picture of their team’s strengths, gaps, and potential. The result is misaligned roles, ineffective training investments, and missed revenue targets. This post for Sales 3.0 Conference walks you through a three-step plan to assess your sales talent and build a team that can actually deliver on your strategic vision. https://lnkd.in/eC3T5SQ7

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Reps think momentum is created by activity.  It isn’t.  It’s created by direction. More calls. More follow ups. More decks.  That feels productive, but it rarely moves a deal forward. Deals accelerate when the buyer feels guided. Most buyers are overwhelmed.  Too many options. Too much information. Too many internal opinions. Your job isn’t to add noise.  Your job is to reduce friction. You don’t create momentum by doing more.  You create momentum by helping the buyer see the path forward clearly. Clear problem.  Clear next step.  Clear decision. That’s what moves deals. If your pipeline feels stuck, don’t ask how to increase activity.  Ask where you’re failing to provide direction. That shift alone changes how deals move and how buyers experience you. 

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𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘦 by Dixon & Adamson This book reshaped how we think about high-performing sales reps. The best don’t just build relationships—they challenge assumptions, tailor messaging, and take control of the sale. If your reps aren’t equipping buyers with new perspectives and driving urgency, they’re getting left behind. Required reading for any team navigating long, complex B2B cycles. #SalesStrategy #SalesBooks #BuyerPsychology #RecommendedReads #TheGansmanGroup

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Enterprise salespeople are often focused on the wrong competitor! They believe the companies they usually see in the marketplace, and may lose deals to, are their primary competitors. WRONG! The competitor that the high-performing sales pro must prepare for is "do nothing" or remain with the status quo. I discuss this in the attached article. I welcome your comments and questions. You can find additional sales tips and techniques in my blog at https://lnkd.in/gr97yqug or in my award-winning books.

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Every organization I know is evaluating and piloting AI Agents, so at Cresta, we just released a new guide for enterprise teams, and it should be extremely helpful. The Enterprise Buyer’s Guide to AI Agents is a practical workbook to help teams cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and evaluate vendors based on what really matters: long-term value, scalability, and integration. Get more info on the guide here: https://lnkd.in/ecqFXAFT You can download the guide here: https://lnkd.in/eM-ctev8

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Your best sellers have been with you for 10+ years. They know which procurement officers actually have budget authority. Which objections mean "not now" versus "not ever." Which competitors to name-drop and which ones to ignore. None of that is in your CRM. It's in your reps head. In a folder on their desktop. In the way they read a room that no playbook has ever captured. But what happens if/when that rep leaves or retires? 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗜 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗿𝗴: Companies with employees who have decades of institutional knowledge in peoples heads, local drives, in conversations that happen once and disappear.. Win patterns. Relationship maps. The unwritten rules of how deals actually close in your industry. And leadership is buying AI tools expecting transformation — while the knowledge those tools need to work is walking toward the exit. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹. Not because the models aren't good enough. Because the foundation was never captured. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲: The companies pulling ahead are building persistent, searchable knowledge systems now — before an exit or retirements hits. Every deal pattern documented. Every objection mapped. Every win/loss insight captured and accessible to AI. That foundation doesn't just help today's agents. It makes every future agent smarter from day one. It onboards new reps faster. It compounds. The companies waiting are handing AI an old playbook — and wondering why it can't perform like their 30-year veteran. If you are looking to capture your institutional knowledge, but you are not sure where to start, DM me. I love talking through these situations. And, I promise, its not that hard or time-consuming.

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In this episode of the Sales Performance Insights podcast, Frank Gustafson discusses the detrimental impact of assumptions on sales performance and emphasizes the importance of curiosity as a powerful tool for sales success. He provides practical strategies for sales professionals to replace assumptions with questions, fostering a deeper understanding of prospects' needs and motivations. The conversation also highlights the role of leadership in modeling curiosity and creating a culture that prioritizes inquiry over assumption, ultimately leading to more accurate forecasts and better customer relationships.   sales performance, assumptions, curiosity, sales strategies, leadership, sales success, sales insights, sales calls, sales techniques, sales training

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If you sell for a living, "Rewire the Sales Mind" by Bryan Neale and Bill Caskey belongs on your reading list. It's not a new book, it would be considered old now, but timeless in its wisdom. Most sales books stay on the surface. Questions, tactics, closing moves. This one goes underneath that, into the thinking patterns that drive all of it. I know this firsthand because Bill Caskey was the first sales coach and mentor I ever invested in, and from day one he never once talked to me about tactics. We worked on mindset, beliefs, the inner game, and how I was showing up in conversations. In less than a year, I doubled my income. At the same time, more customers were actually solving their problems and getting what they came for. I assure you, this had nothing to do with my raw intellect. Bill and others who’ve mentored me since would say the same ;) You may be born with warmth, which matters enormously in this profession. Caring is probably the most important trait in my book. But confidence and competence aren't personality traits you're born with, they're built. This book gives you the philosophy and mindset to build a rewarding career in sales deliberately. If you're serious about a long-term sales career, this is a rare resource I return to on my Kindle. If you plan to be in sales for a while, that's the work that compounds.

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🤔 QUESTION: Do referrals work in enterprise B2B or B2G selling, or are they only important in small business sales? 🙋🏻 I'm asking because on today's Sales Game Changers Podcast, I spoke with Craig Lowder, author of Trusted Advisor Confidential, about his advice for enterprise sellers and referrals. The short episode was a Sales Story and a Tip show. Find all Sales Story and a Tip podcasts at https://lnkd.in/eHgCMgPH. 🎤 EPISODE 763: Win with Referral-Driven Selling for Enterprise Sales Teams Says Craig Lowder 🎧📖 Listen to the show or read the transcript at https://lnkd.in/e2F8eg4n. 🎥 Watch the video on #YouTube at https://lnkd.in/eT25ien5 We’re not talking about random introductions or passive word-of-mouth. Craig shares how a structured system — one his clients have used to double lead flow and nearly triple income — can work just as well for sellers at large companies as it does for small businesses. 💡 Craig’s best tip: “You need to have a dedicated, proactive system to generate qualified leads and referrals weekly. Have you ever tried to sit on a one-legged stool? That’s why you need three strong referral partners in each category — it gives you balance and consistency.” ❓ Do you think referrals work in B2B or B2G sales? #SalesGameChangers #B2BSales #B2GSales #EnterpriseSales #ReferralSelling #SalesLeadership #LeadGeneration #SellingEffectiveness #CraigLowder

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