Closing Time: quick insights from sales & marketing experts

Sales reps often get tangled in complex tactics, losing sight of the basics that truly matter. But in today's competitive market, what really stands out? Exceptional customer experience. In this engaging episode of Closing Time, Neil Rogers, a marketing expert, speaker, and author of "Bar Tips: Everything I Need to Know in Sales I Learned Behind the Bar." Neil draws from his book to highlight the...

Sales cycles taking longer. More people on buying committees. It's not your imagination – B2B sales is getting more difficult for both vendors and buyers. On this episode of Closing Time, we welcome Allyson Havener from TrustRadius to discuss the 2024 B2B Buying Disconnect Report and why this is 'the year of the brand crisis.' Allyson shares data-backed insights around the shrinking shortlist of p...

Still sending the same boring emails? You may get lucky here and there, but your open and response rates are likely abysmal. Sam McKenna, CEO of #samsales consulting, says that personalization in sales outreach is the key, but you need to take it even further. Genuine, research-based engagement will always win over generic, high-volume tactics. In this episode of Closing Time, Sam shares practical...

Ready to take your business to new heights? One of the biggest roadblocks to growth can be outdated tools that can't keep up with your ambition. This is especially true for mission-critical systems like your CRM. You need a solution that scales alongside you, not hold you back.  In this episode of Closing Time, Jerome Redmond, CEO of American Truck Training (ATT), shares his inspiring story of how...

Sure, getting leads from marketing is great. Leads served up from your SDR team? We love it! But real revenue growth happens when AEs are also self-sourcing pipeline. Sales leaders, if you want your AEs to get excited about outbound, it's up to you to explain the "why" and enable them with fresh tactics for success. In this episode of Closing Time, Jason Bay of Outbound Squad helps reps and their...

Small changes...BIG results. If you want to grow your business, spending money on getting more web traffic may seem like the right move. However, Sahil Patel and his team at Spiralyze take a different approach. Why not increase conversions from the traffic you already have?  In this episode of Closing Time, Sahil shares specific tactics to increase web conversion rates on landing pages and web pag...

Quality discovery questions separate good sales reps from great ones. In this episode of Closing Time, Chip House welcomes Krysten Conner, a sales coach whose résumé includes experience at Outreach.io, Salesforce, and Tableau. Krysten shares five of her nine 'deal doubling' discovery questions, making you come across as informed yet curious and positioning yourself as a helpful advisor rather than...

If you're not directly serving clients or customers, then what's the point of having a CRM? Nonprofit companies, especially in dynamic industries like film and television, face unique challenges—they must navigate industry shifts, uphold value for their members or communities, and ensure smooth operations without increasing costs. And having a powerful CRM like Insightly on your team can make all...

It doesn't seem that long ago when SaaS purchases were easy to make based on the needs of one team or individual. Those days may be gone forever.   Whether real or perceived, SaaS bloat emerged at a time when cost-cutting became the top priority, and it's up in the air as to whether the industry will ever recover.   In this episode of Closing Time, Eric Christoper shares compelling data from Zylo'...

Since the advent of the telephone, cold calling has been a staple in the world of B2B sales. For decades, call volume has served as a primary measure of a salesperson's success. But hold the phone—times (specifically, the buyer's journey) are changing! In the modern selling landscape, the old-school cold call is starting to feel a bit frosty. To cut through the noise, buyers need to see personaliz...

How does fostering internal and external communities in B2B help drive sales? Organizations that build an internal community around sellers to boost engagement and morale have more success. Similarly, organizations that build an external community of engaged users via forums and social media help convince sellers to trust them. Join author Simon Severino in this episode of Closing Time to learn ho...

Is your manufacturing business bogged down by manual data entry and slow processes? You're not alone—many manufacturers still use spreadsheets or legacy systems to run their operations. Until a few months ago, Moduflex, a UK-based manufacturer, was among them. In this episode of Closing Time, discover why Insightly is considered the best CRM for manufacturing and how Insightly CRM + AppConnect rev...

If you're familiar with the 5 love languages, you know they are about how you love and want to be loved. Well, the dreamer-doer-driver model takes that concept to the office by clearly defining three types of leaders. It's about how you lead and how people on your team need to be led. On this episode of Closing Time, join Sangram Vajre from GTM Partners as he discusses the importance of knowing wh...

If you're still 'feature dumping,' we need to talk. It's time to start writing sales email cadences that make an impact and generate a response. In this episode of Closing Time, we hear from Kimberly Collins, VP of Strategy at #samsales Consulting. The team at #samsales has unveiled a new playbook for email writing, and Kimberly is here to share some highlights with us.  Watch the episode on YouTu...

If your company is not in a B2B buyer's initial consideration set for a purchase, the odds of winning the deal plummet. In fact, research shows that you have a less than 5% chance of closing the deal. How can marketers create awareness ahead of the buying process? You guessed it, with branding. In this episode of Closing Time, Jess Cook from Island provides tips for entering the initial considerat...

Running a successful healthcare business requires top-notch service and unwavering security. In this customer spotlight edition of Closing Time, Neuline Health CEO Frank Gray III shares how Insightly CRM's automation and customization capabilities empower his team to deliver best-in-class neurodiagnostic testing to healthcare providers and patients. Healthcare organizations like NueLine Health cho...

In today's SaaS purchasing climate, you are more likely than ever to be dealing with a buying committee. And those committees are getting larger. What does that mean to a seller? And how does the size of the buying committee make selling against the status quo even more difficult? In this episode of Closing Time, Doug Landis of Emergence Capital chats with Insightly's Dave Osborne about tactics fo...

Sales kick-off season is upon us. Whether yours is virtual or live and in-person, get ready to be inspired. Geoff Hendricks of Challenger joins Closing Time this week to share what he is hearing in the industry as the major SKO themes for 2024 – and the 2023 hangovers we're still dealing with. You'll learn how to future-proof your sales approach beyond SKO by establishing a culture of sales traini...

Imagine a world where you craft each piece of content, every email, and all sales pitches with one specific individual in mind.  Sounds time-consuming and unreasonable, right? But it's actually the approach used by businessman Warren Buffet as he writes his annual letter to shareholders. The letter is read by thousands, but written with one person in mind: Warren's sister, Doris. To make messages...

B2B buyers now spend 80% or more of their journey alone before engaging with a salesperson. So, when they do finally engage with sales, they expect minimal friction, a great experience, and easy access to information to help them make a decision. This is why Josh Fedie founded Salesrach.io - to organize the sales process in a way that makes sense to your customers and 3x the likelihood of closing...

The future of B2B sales is here, and it's powered by AI. As a salesperson, what features and functions of day-to-day AI do you need to be aware of? In this episode of Closing Time, Ross Simmonds of Foundation Marketing talks about the AI-powered features that salespeople can use today. Learn how to incorporate AI into your sales process, avoid the dark side that comes with it, and discover why emb...

You've heard the saying, "No one ever got fired for buying IBM," but do you know the psychology behind it? B2B sales reps often focus on how their solution is different, better, and has the latest features and functions. Buyers, meanwhile, are often fundamentally averse to anything revolutionary or innovative.  Their professional reputation is on the line with every purchase they make - especially...

What if AI has really just given us the ability to create mediocrity at scale? That doesn't actually help sellers or marketers write impactful emails that elicit a response, nor does it help foster brand authenticity. What does work is a three-step guide from Ann Handley, digital marketer, author, and content guru. Ann joins Insightly CMO Chip House to talk about the importance of relationships, c...

Is your team trapped in the inefficient cycle of 'checkbox marketing?' Quarterly webinar—check. Monthly newsletter—check. Weekly blog post—check. They're working at 110% capacity but only hit 50% of goals. In an era when marketers have higher expectations and tighter budgets, efficient growth in B2B is critical. Brendan Hufford founded Growth Sprints , a B2B marketing agency, to help companies ado...

Content marketing in 2024 looks different than it did in recent years. Why? Because the value of content marketing in B2B has been proven, so it's no longer a question of whether your content budget is funded but how much you will spend and how you'll optimize it. In this episode of Closing Time, B2B Marketing agency owner Ross Simmonds talks about getting more mileage from your existing content....