Sales enablement has to include bringing in salespeople, who are either new salespeople, or veteran sales reps who have not brought our solutions forward in the same way. In this video, Professor Deva Rangarajan explains that the average business sale includes 6.8 people. Selling means understanding the different benefits that those different stakeholders want to Read more about Training and tools are central to sales enablement[…]
In the third part of Duncan Chapple’s interview, Dave Eckert explains winning sponsors and creating sales enablement success. Earlier installments are on getting started and on providing value to sales. After getting sales enablement basics in place, we want to win some sponsorship. The first thing we need to do is to find somebody in Read more about Sales enablement: Dave Eckert on winning sponsors and success[…]
In the first part of my three-part interview with Dave Eckert, he outlined the foundations for the sales enablement of analyst relations. In this article, he outlines what AR must and must not do, as well as brutal truths about how to gain the resources needed. What analyst relations must provide to sales We’re going Read more about Dave Eckert: Five things analyst relations must provide to sales[…]
Dave Eckert, who led the SageCircle analyst relations consultancy, is one of the most experienced veterans of the analyst relations community. His work helped SageCircle stand head and shoulders above other firms on issues of sales enablement. I had the chance to interview him. In the first of three SageTalk posts based on that interview, Read more about SageCircle alum Dave Eckert on getting started with Sales Enablement[…]
Analyst relations teams often lack internal support. I was surprised when that comment was viewed by 16,000 professionals in just three days, and 21,000 before the week was up on LinkedIn. The audience attracted by a rich discussion on the post, which involved several of the smartest analysts and analyst relations people I know. I wrote Read more about 21,069 reasons why analyst relations needs more than budget[…]
Gartner’s rapid evolution poses three profound challenges for analyst relations managers, and this blog is changing course to respond to them. Gartner’s role-based research, the rapid rise of user reviews and the consequent impact on marketing communications are all immense shifts. 1. Unlimited impact of role-based research. We don’t know what the full impact will Read more about Gartner’s symposium shows three new challenges for analyst relations managers[…]
You’re thinking it, aren’t you? You wonder if paying analyst firms will improve your placement in comparative reports, get you included in other reports, get you mentioned in speeches, and recommended when analysts talk to buyers. You don’t want to insult them, but you want to know. Isn’t it all pay for play? We Read more about Guest Post: How to Pay Analyst Firms for Better Coverage[…]
Professor Efrem Mallach, Kea Company’s research director, has managed Win-Loss Analysis for many vendors. After a recent Gartner blog post, I asked for his thoughts. Best practice win-loss At the best-practice provider, writes Mallach: “our WLA program was totally separate from sales management. We promised sales reps that their data would remain confidential. Once word Read more about Efrem Mallach: Win-Loss Analysis must be separate from sales management[…]
What have Box, Dropbox, Nest, Evernote, Cloudera, Palantir and Instagram in common? They were all designated a Cool Vendor by Gartner. So, what happened to the Cool Vendors? We identified over 1250 tech companies that were nominated as a Cool Vendor by Gartner. We surveyed some of them to evaluate both the impact the designation Read more about Gartner’s Cool Vendors says winning boosts sales[…]
IT megavendors should see their loss of the ‘Powerhouse’ label as a more than a shift in rhetoric. Many analysts think the emergence of cloud solutions is eroding their market power. For a long time, high technology analyst firms used to discuss the powerhouse vendors. These were colossal firms, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP. What Read more about Will the “Powerhouse” vendors survive?[…]
The Analyst Sales Impact Matrix is one of the most-requested custom analyses produced by our Analyst Value Survey. Over the years, the AVS has gathered the opinions of thousands of users of analyst services about how they use analysts, and for what. […]
The Analyst Sales Impact Matrix is one of the most-requested custom analyses produced by our Analyst Value Survey. Over the years, the AVS has gathered the opinions of thousands of users of analyst services about how they use analysts, and for what. The main report is a massive document, around 180 slides, but it does not answer Read more about How to use the Analyst Sales Impact Matrix[…]