Two heads are better than one

December 3, 2021

Welcome to?The Closer, Groove’s weekly round-up of notable news from the frontlines of the sales industry.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Two heads are better than one

Eyes, chopsticks, AirPods. There are many things that are better when you have two of them. Salesforce would appear to agree, as they just promoted their chief operating officer Bret Taylor to co-CEO. That big piece of news came out of Salesforce’s Q3 2022 quarterly earnings report on Tuesday. If you’re wondering what Bret will bring to the role and how he’ll work alongside Marc, you’re not alone. Insider was also curious and conducted some research to better understand Salesforce’s new co-CEO . Given the success records of both leaders, it sounds like a familiar adage will be proven true once again - two heads are better than one.

Diversity wins

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are getting a lot of attention for their ability to improve employee satisfaction, engagement, and performance. Multiple studies demonstrate how organizations with a diverse workforce outperform diversity-challenged ones, but what if you got a little more specific? What if you could know whether more diverse sales teams close more deals? That would be really interesting to know, which is probably why LinkedIn commissioned Forrester to understand the impact of diversity on sales performance .? If you’re interested in higher sales forecasts, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction, you might want to give the study a read.

Surviving the Great Reshuffle kerfuffle

As a sales leader focused on retaining top talent and driving revenue, you’re likely very familiar with the latest COVID-induced trend rattling organizations around the globe: The Great Reshuffle. Employees jumping freely between jobs certainly complicates your ability to grow your team and keep track of buying committees, but it’s not all doom and gloom. With everyone facing the same challenges, now is the perfect time to make changes to stand out and take advantage of new opportunities. From multithreading to tracking the right signals, Crunchbase recommends six sales strategies for standing out in the Great Reshuffle .

IN THE GROOVE

Gartner on Sales Engagement?

Faithful readers of The Closer will already know about the “Market Guide for Sales Engagement Applications , November 2021” published by Gartner a couple of weeks ago. If you’re a Gartner client, you’ve no doubt already poured through all the analysis, recommendations, and vendor profiles proffered by analysts Dan Gottlieb, Shayne Jackson, and Ilona Hansen. For those with less access or short attention spans not capable of easily processing nearly 30 pages of analysis, you can find a couple of key insights from the Gartner “Market Guide for Sales Engagement Applications” on the Groove blog. You’re welcome.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW

The mother of all listicles

The internet loves a good listicle, and B2B sales is no different. Seven tips for this, five strategies for that. If you’re looking for sales advice to up your game in 2022, you’ll find no shortage of options - and that’s the problem. There are so many articles, it’s difficult to know where to begin. If only there was a listicle of sales tip listicles that were grouped together by a reputable sales training organization. If that’s your wish too, you’ll be excited to hear about The Rain Group’s “66 Sales Tips to Boost Your Success in 2022 .” This is no ordinary listicle - it’s a collection of nine listicles broken down into helpful topics covering nearly every aspect of sales. If you love lists and crushing your number, this advice really adds up.

Leadership, at your service

When it comes to sales leader role models, I think we can all agree that Alec Baldwin’s character in the iconic sales film Glengarry Glen Ross should be out of the running completely. Instead of finding any opportunity to badger and berate their sales teams, successful sales leaders look for opportunities to inspire, guide, and empower them. In fact, this model is so successful that it even has its own name: servant leadership. There are many skills you need to master as a servant sales leader , and sales performance company Janek has written them all down on their blog. It’s time to see what’s possible when you turn the ABCs of sales into “always be serving.”

Congratulations. You’ve reached the end.

We love that you came all the way to our blog to read The Closer, but there’s an easier way to stay informed. If you fill in this?high-tech newsletter subscription form ,?we’ll send the next issue straight to your inbox.

If you can’t wait until the next issue to hear from Groove, you can always follow us on?LinkedIn ?and?Twitter .