Seth Prezant
CEO & Founder | Continuous Sales Training for Teams | Staffing & Recruiting Sales Training | Speaker | Sales Team Retreats | Sales Enablement and Role Play Coach | #HikeYourSales
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The #1 reason sales teams are not hitting quota…I was doing research on RepVue last week and my mind was 🤯Scores of companies reaching only 25…30…47% of their quota attainment.In fact, most companies are below 70% and that’s barely a C- in grade school! If you are a founder, CEO, or VP of Sales, this post is for you.Here's the countdown why sales orgs are not hitting their quotas counting:#3) Forecasting. Quotas are usually based on company’s forecasting, which takes customer insights, market trends and historic data into consideration. Post covid was a tsunami of growth…some companies riding a wave of 20-46% YoY growth. But as we all saw last year, tides have changed. According to insights from Quotapath, 450+ Finance, RevOps and Sales Leaders reported that 91% failed to hit sales quota expectations for 2023. As much as we all wish this would continue, the market has stabilized. Responsible and more accurate forecasting will only help set challenging, yet reachable quotas.#2) Sales Leaders are stretched thin.Sales managers today are carrying 10+ direct reports. How is it possible to properly and intentionally do daily check-ins, weekly 1:1’s, continuous role plays, and proper pipeline and deal reviews with your folks? There’s just not enough time in the 10 hour day! In an effort to reach poorly forecasted sales quotas, executives are tightening the screws on sales managers to ramp up their team’s outbound activity, headcount, and revenue. At the same time holding sales managers responsible for employee engagement (on the job happiness), work-life integration, hitting 100% of every KPI, and onboarding new sales people to produce within 90 days. Phew! C-Suite, listen up. Sales leaders truly want to spend time growing and developing their teams and not in meetings that could have been an email. Let them lead or else they'll leave. #1) Lack of sales training.According to Task Drive, nearly 70% of all salespeople say they have not received any formal training in sales from their company– instead, they describe themselves as “self-taught”.Yet companies that invest in training are 57% more effective at sales than their competitors! Sales executives take note:According the Brevet Group, continuous training is said to result 50% higher net sales per sales rep. 50% increase in net sales!If you want a better ROI (return on individuals), implement continuous sales training in your organization. Not sure how to do it? I got you covered. Hike Your Sales Training and Community is designed for your team’s continuous sales enablement and training. It’s a low cost investment for high growth return. DM me to start the conversation and hike your team's sales. #sales #salestraining #salesforecasting #HikeYourSales #salescommunity
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Marc Mac
Starting conversations
6mo
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absolutely agree 100% with your number one reason.. training. CONSISTENT TRAINING>. the problem is that sales leaders fall in to two categories: 1. They barely spent time as outbound SDRs, their success in that role for 3 months afforded them a promotion and another etc and now they dont have the ability to train or coach either because they dont know how to coach or train, or they simply dont have the answers the reps are looking for, but should be smart enough to point them in the right direction ((i.e. hire you to train them ongoing) 2. too many meetings and focused on the next role and simply dont have the time to do consistent training.
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Richard Saling
CMO. Affiliate Marketer. Real Estate Investor. Passionate about assisting American Families, Entrepreneurs, and Businesses achieve more cash flow.
6mo
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Why most sales organizations don't have daily or weekly training requirements is beyond me.
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Luke Beckley
Data Provocateur. Data enablement Specialist, Co-founder of Uncharted Summits, Chief Compliance Officer for Hope4, DPO & Head of Privacy and Data Governance at Correla
6mo
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Brilliant post my brother, loving the statistics and what you're highlighting here is that Sales is a people game, not a numbers game. Better forecasting will come from better understanding of your employees and their wellbeing... which in turns gives them a better starting point to understand their customers, their behaviours and how to understand how to sell to them.And YOU are the man to make people get this!!
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Dan Drucker
Empowering Fundraisers with Real-World Strategies | Live Virtual Workshops for Lasting Donor Connections & Renewed Purpose
6mo
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Forecasting has two components - leaders knowing their salespeople, and salespeople knowing their prospects. While data is important, if those two relationships are not deep enough, forecasting will be way off.
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Andrés Angulo
Senior AE @ Amplemarket | B2B Marketing & Sales | We're hiring!!!
6mo
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Love these videos! Specially if you are giving insights while in a walk!
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Martin MacArthur
I’m That Kidney Transplant Sales Guy 🚀 head of sales @ The SD Lab | Sales Development, Sales Coach, Repeatable & Scalable Growth Expert
6mo
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Great post here filled with valuable info! As for your second point regarding sales leaders being stretched thin I think this is where outsourcing & fractional partners can help eleviate some of that stress. When it comes to outbound this is one of the problems we help solve!
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Eric Gjerdevig
Developing high-performing sales professionals of the future!
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Top-performing sales professionals work the hardest – not necessarily! More cliches, lies, and poor advicepeopleare told and convinced to believe in sales. ‘Working hard' is not a substitute for doing great work; but often people walk around wearing the figurative badge of busyness, bragging about their 60-hour work week, packed calendar, or making some obscene number of calls. None of those things necessarily deliver the actual result we are pursuing – sales. Top sellers know that impact beats activity (or hours) every time. The market is continually evolving, and we are all getting better at ignoring numbers we don't know and deleting spam from our inboxes. The days of email sequences, scripts, limited prospect knowledge, and uncompelling messaging are dying. This requires a transition from volume to strategic selling. Outbound efforts need to be targeted,with relevant messaging. Our sales efforts need to be rich with vision, foresight, and ideas. It’s realizing that less can be more – a smaller, focused, scrutinized pipeline will lead to a higher close rate and more overall sales with less effort!What would you do if you wanted to double your sales next year? You can’t double your opportunities – that’s a math problem requiring you to either double your time or cut the time in half that you dedicate to each opportunity – both would result in a lower close rate. The best recipe for doubling your sales is to work fewer, but better opportunities. This requires us to rethink how we sell, how we qualify leads, what’s an opportunity worth pursing, and how we work. Let's make acrucial distinction here. Working hard is commendable, and for newersales professionals, a focus on activity can be beneficial as it cultivates good sales habits.In the absence of actual sales, activity is how we prove our efforts, but good habits encompasses more than just activity! Want proof?LinkedIn published a study a few years ago that showed that top performing sales reps worked fewer hours than average performing sales reps!#salesskills
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Usama Farooq✍🏻
LinkedIn Top Voice || BDM & Growth Manager || Digital Marketing Expert || Helping Businesses with Top-Notch Tech IT Solutions
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The one question pretty much every single CRO and VP / Head of Sales we work with is getting inside board meetings: "What's our plan to drive more revenue —without adding more people or pipeline?"Sales "efficiency," in short. But without letting sales velocity drop.It's a dual mandate, which makes for a really hard job. And sometimes, it’s easier to tackle a hard goal by flipping it upside down. To first ask, “Well, what’s an*inefficient*sales process look like?”Answer:One that has to win by force, not finesse. By constantly adding more people and pipeline (your two biggest cost drivers).If we model out your sales process, it’s just a set of rate/volume equations:- Volume: how many reps do you have selling?- Rate: how much does each rep sell?That’s the simplest version, and it gives you total Sales Capacity:- RRE (ramped rep equivalents)- RRR (revenue per ramped rep)And as your "RRR" increases, you’re waymore efficient.Because:(1) Driving up RRR retains talent and creates upside.- As % of reps attaining quote grows, attrition drops- When a role does open, it's easier to fill with talent- More tenured vs. new reps increases the % likely to exceed quota(2) Asmaller number of highly-productive sellersminimizes cost.Requiring more "RRE’s" to hit your annual plan means:- More first line managers to manage them ($$)- More benefits, payroll, and recruiting cost ($$)- More spend on pipegen to support them ($$)- More enablement & revops complexity ($$)So, while youcouldconstantly add more opps to the pipeline, to boost the "numerator" in the sales velocity equation — and then hire a larger number of lower-attaining reps to manage all those opportunities... — that’s not an option if efficiency is also a requirement.Which it is (back to the question in every board/leadership discussion rn).So the next question we hit is, how do you drive up revenue/rep (RRR)?→ Short answer:- Map sales stages to specific buying behaviors- Shift deal reviews to focus on the buyer's "internal sale"- Document a specific business case with each buying team- Invest in enabling (training, tech) the skills that relate to ⤴Can you drive more revenue with less people and pipeline?
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Bob Ciranna
🚀Improve Sales Growth by 20%! I help small & mid-sized manufacturers compete with larger manufacturers & boost sales, delivering a minimum 4x ROI on my services. Let's transform your business & drive success together!📈
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🔍 If Your Small/Mid-Sized Manufacturing Company Isn’t Growing Sales, Don’t Blame the Sales Reps – Look at the Bigger Picture! 🔍It’s easy to point fingers at your sales team when sales stagnate. But before you do, consider this:📊 Is Your Strategy Aligned?Are your sales reps clear on who your ideal customers are? Do they have the tools and support they need to close deals effectively? Do you have a clearly defined strategic sales plan with documented Goals, Strategies, Objectives, and Tactics? A lack of clarity in targeting and strategy can leave even the best sales teams struggling.B2B organizations are 20-40% more likely to achieve targeted sales goals by utilizing a written plan – Forbes Magazine 📉 Are You Focusing on the Right Metrics?Measuring activity is important, but are you tracking the right outcomes? It’s not just about the number of calls or meetings—it’s about driving value and growth. Shift your focus to the quality of customer engagements and overall profitability.🔄 Is Your Product/Market Fit On Point?The best sales team can’t sell what customers don’t want. Regularly assess if your offerings align with market needs. Are you solving the right problems for your customers?💡 Leadership MattersSales teams need strong leadership, clear direction, and a supportive environment to thrive. Are you providing the vision and support they need to succeed?Many smaller/mid-sized manufacturers fall short of this as they do not have dedicated sales leadership.As a business owner, it’s unrealistic to expect that you have time to run the critical day-to-day operations, AND also lead the sales efforts. As a Fractional VP of Sales, I partner with companies seeking strategic sales leadership. By providing expert guidance, I help organizations develop and execute effective sales strategies, coach sales teams, and drive revenue growth. This flexible model offers a cost-efficient solution to address sales challenges. - A study of 100 small to mid-sized B2B companies by Bridge Group found that those who hired fractional VPs of sales experienced an average revenue increase of 15-25% within the first year. Additionally, these companies were able to improve their sales team's performance, reducing the time to close deals by 30%. - A 2021 survey by Sales Benchmark Index found that companies utilizing fractional sales leadership typically saw a 25-50% increase in sales productivity within the first 6-12 months.Remember, sales success is a team effort! Before placing blame, ensure that your strategy, metrics, and leadership are aligned to drive the growth you’re aiming for.If you want to accelerate your sales growth significantly, DM me, and let’s discuss how I can help. #SalesStrategy #SmallBusinessGrowth #Manufacturing #Leadership #SalesExcellence
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Alex Zlotko
CEO @ Forecastio | Hit your sales targets with AI-driven insights
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Setting reasonable sales quotas is crucial for the success of any company. No one wants to set their teams up for failure from the beginning. The question arises: what's the purpose of setting quotas that most of your sales reps can't hit?I find it perplexing when companies claim to have an average quota attainment of around 50%. To me, it signals one of the following issues:1️⃣ Quotas were set incorrectly.2️⃣ Sales reps aren't performing well.3️⃣ Leads are inadequate.As companies embark on planning for the next year, one of the critical aspects is establishing sales goals. It's important to note that sales planning and sales forecasting are distinct. Sales planning involves setting goals and understanding the necessary steps for achievement, while sales forecasting predicts outcomes based on the current pipeline, historical data, and the latest trends. Sales quotas are an integral part of sales planning.To set sales quotas correctly, various factors must be considered. 📢 Examining historical data is essential:▪ What was the average quota attainment of your best sales reps?▪ How many leads did they secure monthly to meet quotas?▪ What did those leads look like?▪ Where did those leads come from?▪ How many opportunities could one sales rep effectively manage?▪ How much time does a new sales rep need to become fully productive (ramp-up)?📢 Future projections involve considering:▪ How many leads a sales rep will need to hit quota based on average deal size and sales cycle length.▪ Will marketing and/or sales development commit to that quantity of leads?▪ Can you secure a certain quality of leads that helped your best reps hit quotas in the previous year?▪ Do you have an efficient sales enablement strategy to help new hires learn quickly?▪ Is the market's volume sufficient to generate the desired revenue, or do you need to explore new territories?As you can see, there are numerous questions that demand answers. This is part of comprehensive sales planning, and quota setting is integral to this process. A simplified capacity planning won't suffice if quotas are not well justified. Relying on the last year's average quota and applying it universally doesn't work. Setting sales goals requires a detailed understanding of the entire path and every detail of how those goals can be achieved.#b2bsales #salesplanning #salesforecasting #revenueoperations
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Dan Nelson
Sales & Marketing Strategist | Talent Acquisition Specialist | Empowering Revenue Growth | Connecting Technology Companies with Top Sales Leaders and Marketing Professionals |
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𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗚𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙎𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙥 𝙎𝙤 𝙁𝙖𝙨𝙩 We all know the game. It’s all about growing revenue. Your sales leaders are charged with hiring new sales reps but they soon find out that there is a shortage of really good sales talent out there – the struggle is real. And when you do find the “right” sales professional, everyone breathes a sigh of relief and waits for the sales to start rolling in. If that doesn’t happen quickly, the blame is all too often placed on the sales rep for not performing. But who really is to blame? Maybe it’s you, the sales leader! The formula is simple, right: hire great sales reps, get them hitting quota as soon as possible and the revenue will start increasing in both the short and long term. An added benefit is that the good ones will stick around for a long time, thus reducing future hiring costs and eliminating the inevitable loss of productivity during ramp up times. Speaking of ramp-up time, the Bridge Group found that the time to full productivity for a new Account Exec is five months and add to that the length of your sales cycle. For nearly one in five companies, hiring a new salesperson in January of 2024 may not be paying off full benefits until at least Q4 of 2024. There are ways of shortening the ramp-up time through a combination of best practices such as hiring sales reps with experience selling in your industry, investing in new hire training and coaching and giving new reps access to technologies such as playbooks, price-quote systems and SFA software. But it is still going to take time to get them selling as effectively as your most experienced salespeople. Another huge challenge that sales leaders face is the impact of sales force turnover. The combination of voluntary and involuntary sales rep turnover according to HubSpot reached 35% in 2021 - 2022. Turnover impacts the entire organization. From a sales manager’s perspective, sales turnover represents loss revenue potential. With quotas increasing every year, high turnover and long ramp-up time will make it difficult for the sales manager to make plan. Besides, recruiting and hiring become a huge distraction for the sales manager, taking away valuable time from his team in coaching and closing strategic deals. From a customer perspective, sales turnover can give the appearance of a revolving door at your company. So what can you do to minimize sales turnover? First, hire the right people. Second: Never hire alone. Smart hiring is a team effort. Third: Once you settle on a candidate, set expectations at the get go. Fourth: Align your onboarding, mentoring and coaching processes to develop the candidate from “Newbie” to “Seasoned” to “Best-in-Class”.
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Curolux
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#sales have been tough for a while, and things are still looking rough. Check out the latest sales statistics and see what it means for selling in 2024: https://lnkd.in/ewhMYuMG"Across the board, the sales reps with closing responsibility have seen a dramatic decrease in their ability to attain the quota’s assigned to them. In every case, that number is less than 50%. That typically means, only about 40% of your outbound sales reps will be bringing in the revenue that has been assigned to them. Now, every sales team has at least one over performing rep but will them beating quotareally be enough to offset the others?What’s more interesting is the appointment setters appear to be hitting their quota at a higher rate, but the sales engineers - the ones giving demos - are seeing a decline in their quota attainment. All in all this likely means more appointments are set, more demos are being given, and yet fewer reps are closing enough of those deals to attain the quota. So what are some possibilities as to why?"
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Marc Fuentes
Marc Fuentes is an Influencer
V-Shaped GTM Leader/Operator | Growth & Team Centric | Help SaaS Founders get to $5M in ARR | Commercialization Juggernaut | Brand Storyteller | Customer Lifecycle GTM Lead | Sales Enabler | Product & Business Connector
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Have We Over-Indexed On The Sales Stack To The Detriment of Sales Enablement?Top Challenges During Video Calls With Potential Clients -Salesroom - State of B2B Sales Performance✅ 69% of sales pros cite objection handling as their top challenge in sales calls.✅ 48% of sales pros also cite a lack of real-time insights during the sales call.What are some of the types of objections sales deals with: 1️⃣ Price objections: Concerns about a product or service's affordability or perceived value [I don't have a budget].2️⃣ Competitor objections: When prospects express interest in a competitor's offering, [ I need to think about it].3️⃣ Product/service suitability objections: Questions about how well the product or service meets the prospect's needs [I've already tried that, and it didn't work].4️⃣ Timing objections: Objections regarding the timing of the purchase decision [I need to think about it].5️⃣ Authority objections: Challenges related to decision-making authority or involvement of other stakeholders [I am not the decision-maker].Objections Provide the Element to Connect DeeperWhile objections are not welcome in most cases, I will highlight one area where they offer gold. When customers share their objections, it's the best way to understand your customers' needs better. It's an opportunity to show that you're listening to them and considering their concerns.When you handle objections respectfully and non-defensively, it shows them that you care about their feedback, and it also helps them feel like they can trust you as a company.Some Ways to Handle Objections:1️⃣ Acknowledge the Objection2️⃣ Listen Carefully and Paraphrase What You Hear3️⃣ Ask Open-ended Questions4️⃣ Validate the Objection5️⃣ Reframe the Objection6️⃣ Don't Take Any Comments Personally7️⃣ Avoid Arguments8️⃣ Be Friendly9️⃣ Use Social Proof🔟 Incentivize Your ProspectAccording to@salesroom, thereseems to bea disparity in training and confidence between managers and sales reps, where sales reps are not being given what they need to be successful. Over the last five years or more, we have under-invested in sales enablement and effectiveness programs, and the impact is spelled out in this recent report. There is a crucial need for better alignment across GTM teams. Sales Enablement must return to being the central nervous system for sales organizations with theright talent, training,processes and technology investment. What are your thoughts?
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Brandon Fluharty 🐝
Brandon Fluharty 🐝 is an Influencer
I help strategic SaaS sellers become millionaires using design & systems thinking (w/o sacrificing their well-being). Get started w/ the links in my featured section
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Sales leaders need to put an end to this MADNESS. Here's a strategic seller who was put on a PIP after hitting 166% of his $1.2M quota because he didn't hit the required "activity metrics.” There’s a better way to lead:It's simple...Stop treating knowledge professionals like factory workers.Specialized knowledge, building networks, and embracing tech innovation are more important growth levers than measuring activity inputs.This is especially true for strategic sellers.If you're leading sellers who have to engage with multiple executives at large companies and you're scrutinizing their "activity metrics,” I suggest you do an audit of your management style.Here are 3 great places to start:1. WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?The average tenure of a VP of Sales is 17 months (down from 26 mos in 2010, per Gong).You’re in a high-pressure position, so it’s a good time to think about who you *truly* work for if this trend has any chance to reverse.Instead of thinking of your board and C-Suite as your bosses, what if you flipped the model on its head?This is known as Inversion Thinking.Instead of: “What do I need to show people at the top to keep my job?”Ask: “What can I do to help the people below me reach their full potential?”2. WHAT IS THE MEASURE OF SUCCESS?Is the team you lead given a revenue quota or something else?Businesses need revenue to survive and grow…Not more meetings on the calendar.So why over-index on activity inputs if the important outcomes are being surpassed?This is known as Linearity Bias, the assumption that a change in one quantity produces a proportional change in another.More calls, emails, and meetings ≠ more revenue.Instead of chastising reps who are over quota but under activity, try deconstructing their unique approach and giving them a platform to share it with the rest of the team.Viewing sellers like this as “lucky” will limit your growth and tenure.3. HOW MUCH TRUST DO YOU HAVE?“We had 2 reps put in their notice this week, and I know 2 more who are about to resign.”This was verbatim from a Strategic Account AE I spoke with last week at a Series D startup.Why? Because their senior sales team must participate in 2 cold call blitzes each week in addition to 80 outbound outreaches.“We feel like glorified SDRs. 1,000 calls have produced 10 meetings, a 1% return.”They’re fed up and burned out…so they’re leaving.If a tenured seller leaves tomorrow, what’s the cost of finding, vetting, onboarding, and training a new seller? What's the cost of lost momentum with existing pipeline?If you’re leading with activity and not strategy, I guarantee you don’t have trust in your sales team.As we enter 2024, I encourage you to think differently.The era of 17 months tenure, <40% quota attainment, and 63% of sellers experiencing burnout doesn’t have to continue.You can be the change.🐝 P.S.Strategic sellers seeking a better way, subscribe: https://buff.ly/3noPjbn
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Robert Gimbel
Go-To-Market Advisor | B2B SaaS from 5M to 100M in ARR | exCRO & Head of Product of Camunda | Operator & Structure Builder
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Great leadership advice from Brandon Fluharty 🐝Quote:Instead of: “What do I need to show people at the top to keep my job?”Ask: “What can I do to help the people below me reach their full potential?”I'd add:In a healthy culture, that is exactly what the 'people at the top' would want you to do the most.
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Paul Hicks
Helping Sales & Service Teams think differently, so they can act differently
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This infuriates me too Brandon Fluharty 🐝. Just another example of how leaders are losing touch in remote and hybrid work environments. When leaders lack intimacy with their team and the work they do, they revert back to reactively managing by spreadsheets/reports/KPIs.The universal infatuation with AI, Automation and "Activity, activity, activity!!!" (akin to the SNL "I need more cowbell" skit) is a big part of this.There is a new leadership playbook required for remote/hybrid work teams.Organizations that develop these NEW leadership skills are winning the talent battle. The good news is the rep who was at 61% of quota and 329% of their activity target just got promoted to Sales Director.✌️
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