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The Professional Society for Sales & Marketing Training is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating business results for our members and their companies by improving sales performance. Our longstanding vision is to continue our leadership role as the leading resource and authority for the sales and marketing training industries.
SMT welcomes aticles, idea mints, and book reviews to be submitted for future newsletters.
Please e-mail Becky Stewart-Gross if you are interested in submitting material to be considered for the newsletter.
Click here for article specifications.
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2004 SMT Conference
What the Sales Leader is Keeping From the CEO
by Dirk Beveridge, President, Beveridge Consulting Group
There are some things the leaders of the sales team do not want the CEO to know. The first "hidden" issue suggests that if your sales team is selling in the same way they did just 24 months ago, your company is in major trouble. The second hidden issue - research demonstrates that over ninety percent of all sales organizations are selling in the same way they did 36 months ago. That's trouble! But, it can and should be a major opportunity for your sales organization.
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Thinking Straight About Training... and Training Evaluation
by Robert O. Brinkerhoff, Ed.D. and Glenn Jackson
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 Rob Brinkerhoff | Sometimes training works very well to help achieve business results, and sometimes (unfortunately many times) it does not. The difference is most often not in the training program itself - is in how the company manages its training programs and processes.
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Letting Salespeople Set the Price
by Rick Wills, Manager, Education & Development, GROWMARK, Inc.
Most managers will tell you that letting salespeople set price is much like having the fox guard the chicken house. What you end up with is chaos, which is why few companies consider getting their salespeople involved in the pricing loop.
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Making Change Happen: Know, Believe, and Do
by Barbara Yoli, Principal, Change Results Consulting
Are you moving your sales force from product selling to solution selling? Are you trying to increase customer face-time by driving consumption of more e-Learning? Are you gearing up to combat a significant competitive threat? Have you recently re-organized the sales force around distinct customer or product segments? Are you worried that your sales teams’ skills are becoming increasingly obsolete in a changing marketplace? In the past few years, almost every major sales organization has attempted to change how its sales force sells and approaches the market. The challenge is: How can the sales training organization help support and drive sustainable organization change?
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IMPACT Without Authority
Leveraging Internal Resources to Achieve Greater Success
by Jane Helsing, VP – Strategic Accounts, Personnel Decisions International
The ability to influence others is increasingly crucial – and difficult – in today’s matrixed corporations. This article discusses its importance and provides some ideas to becoming more skilled in this area.
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Customer Satisfaction No Longer Enough To Assure Loyalty
by Susan Onaitis, President, Global Learning Link
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 Terry Vavra | “Consistently delivering experiences that delight a customer creates loyal behavior that cannot be achieved through mere (customer) satisfaction alone,” according to Terry Vavra, author of “The Customer Delight Principle: Exceeding Customers’ Expectations for Bottom-Line Success” and keynote speaker at the upcoming SMT Annual meeting in Boca Raton, FL. Delighting customers, on the other hand, is a strong predictor of their behavior and those behaviors translate into repeat business and higher spending.
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The Business of Improv
by Renie McClay, SMT President
If you have seen an improv group perform, you likely have seen great comedy, had some laughs and experienced an enjoyable evening. So, what does improv have to do with training?
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Effective Corporate Universities
by Natalie Caldwell, Regional Training Manager, Centennial Wireless
As the economy improves, organizations throughout the business community are once again concerned with attracting and retaining the right people for the right jobs. The reasoning behind this renewed sense of urgency is that if an organization hires the right person for the right job, then the individual is likely to perform well. Because the individual performs well, he/she is likely to stay, which translates into a tenured and knowledgeable staff for the organization. Retention of these top performers is instrumental to the success of any business initiative.
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2005 SMT Sales & Marketing Training Survey to Close Soon. Last Chance to Complete Survey and Receive Complimentary Report Detailing Results. Click here to take survey.
Deadline Extended to Submit Nomination for Best Sales Trainer Award
Questioning That Works Isabel L. Kersen, Ph.D. The Power Edge
A Structured Approach to Brainstorming Steve Bistritz Learning Solutions International
Metaphorically Selling Author: Anne Miller Book Review by Susan Onaitis
2005 Training for the Sales & Marketing Trainer Workshop May 3 - 5, 2005 DePaul University O'Hare Campus Rosemont, Illinois
2005 SMT Annual Conference
November 14 - 16, 2005 Amelia Island Plantation Amelia Island, Florida
Click Here to Join the SMT Family
SMT Welcomes Our New Members
Piece of Pie Strategic Coaching
ProActive Training and Consulting
Softmed Systems, Inc.
"Being a member of SMT provides me with an invaluable network of sales and marketing training professionals that have an incredible amount of experience and knowledge to share... I rely on this prestigious group to support me in dealing with business challenges unique to our profession... SMT members are my peers, my mentors, my friends... SMT is the only professional organization I belong to..."
Mary Elliott Bassett, Worldwide Director, Sales and Customer Training, Entertainment Imaging, Eastman Kodak Company
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