Top 10 B2B Sales Blogs from 2016

This year VA Partners celebrated ten years of business in sales and marketing and, throughout that time, we’d like to think we’ve learned a thing or two along the way (other than realizing that the first four seasons of Dexter are much better than the last four; seriously, just let the rest of the story be a mystery). And, just as we did on the subject of B2B Inbound Marketing, we’ve compiled a list of our most popular blog posts on the topic of B2B Sales from 2016. So, if you haven’t already taken a peek at some of these throughout the calendar year, we urge you to grab a treat, sit back, and give them a read. Who knows, we might be able to help you learn a thing or two as well.
 

1. The Experts: The Role of Social Media in the Sales Process

As digital continues to grow, it touches many aspects of a business, including the sales process. In this post, the experts give us insight into what the role of social media plays in the sales process, both in their organization and on the larger sales landscape.
 

2. The Pros and Cons of Outsourced Sales

Organizations of any size are faced with questions on a continuous basis around insourcing or outsourcing certain activities. This can include items such as HR, finance, bookkeeping and sales.
 

3. Matching Your Sales Commission Structure to Your Corporate Goals

There are a number of things to consider when putting together a sales commission plan that motivates your salesperson and is aligned with your corporate goals.
 

4. 7 New Sales and Marketing Tools We’re Using in 2016

Here at VA Partners, we are always on the hunt for new sales and marketing tools. We do this for a few reasons: to ensure we’re on the pulse of what is new and exciting in the sales and marketing world, to improve our craft and form new best practices, as well as to increase our productivity as much as we can.
 

5. Death of an Old School Salesperson

There will still be a role for B2B salespeople in the future, the role is just changing. Here are some of the attributes and capabilities of the modern salesperson.
 

6. Free to Paid: Top CRM Options for Startups

Although you may be tempted use to simply use Excel or a spreadsheet for your CRM to keep it simple, using a real CRM system has many benefits. A CRM can help you create workflows, trigger reminders/notifications and keep detailed notes on all the interactions with your customers or prospects.
 

7. 6 Sales Tactics for the Following Up with Prospects

A direct approach when you contact your target is effective. The key though is to try and get around the gatekeeper if they have one and to ensure your target has a few moments to speak to you.
 

8. A Few Keys to Driving Your Sales Growth

Driving sales growth is key to any business’ success. Getting to a point of driving solid growth takes effort, investment and a lot of hard work. We work with a wide variety of companies ranging from pre-revenue startups to large corporations, and here are a few of the factors that we have found led to the best long-term sales success.
 

9. Sales Success: Selling Wider and Deeper

Oftentimes, people forget that once you have “sold” your client, you now have to keep selling and delivering to ensure you keep them. As part of this process, to ensure long-term sales success it is always recommended that you try to go “wider” and “deeper” into an Account.
 

10. Worst Sales Advice: Tips on What Not to Do

Someone stops by your house trying to sell you VoIP services or a new furnace. Do you let them in to your kitchen table for a talk? No. Same goes for your target customer. Do not stop in uninvited. Instead, book a meeting so you have some dedicated time from your prospect where they can listen and focus on the value your solution brings.

Instead of waiting until next year for another list of our most popular content, try checking out our Twitter feed. You won’t leave dissatisfied.
 

Top 10 B2B Sales Blogs from 2016