<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Sales Intelligence Blog &#187; sales enablement</title>
	<atom:link href="http://blog.salesquest.com/tag/sales-enablement/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://blog.salesquest.com</link>
	<description>The SalesQuest blog contains articles related to sales intelligence, sales strategies, technology sales leads and sales enablement tools.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:25:33 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Mid-Market Manager Sales Intelligence App Available in CRUSH Pro Platform</title>
		<link>http://blog.salesquest.com/2012/01/03/mid-market-manager/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.salesquest.com/2012/01/03/mid-market-manager/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:43:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Trisha</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Crush Pro Platform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing and Sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Enablement Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high-tech sales and marketing reps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mid-market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales enablement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales opportunities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales triggers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.salesquest.com/?p=818</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Our new Mid-Market Manager  (M3) app enables inside sales reps to sell more effectively with accurate contact info and actionable sales trigger events. Marketing reps can build more effective campaigns &#38; programs with targeted messaging which will ultimately drive more sales leads and new streams of revenue. M3 users can search 2.5 Million sales trigger [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: left; margin-right: 20px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.salesquest.com%2F2012%2F01%2F03%2Fmid-market-manager%2F" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http_3A_2F_2Fblog.salesquest.com_2F2012_2F01_2F03_2Fmid-market-manager_2F&amp;referer=');"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif&amp;source=salesquest&amp;style=normal&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p>Our new <a title="Mid-Market Manager" href="http://www.salesquest.com/mid-market-manager" target="_blank" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/mid-market-manager?referer=');">Mid-Market Manager  (M3)</a> app enables inside sales reps to <strong>sell more effectively</strong> with <strong>accurate contact info</strong> and actionable <strong>sales trigger events</strong>. Marketing reps can build more effective campaigns &amp; programs with targeted messaging which will ultimately drive more sales leads and new streams of revenue.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.salesquest.com/mid-market-manager" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/mid-market-manager?referer=');"><img class="alignleft" style="border-image: initial; border-width: 2px; border-color: black; border-style: solid; margin: 5px;" title="Mid-Market Manager" src="http://www.salesquest.com/docs/M3 Screen shot.png" alt="Mid-Market Manager" width="400" height="200" /></a>M3 users can search <strong>2.5 Million sales trigger events</strong> and more than <strong>600,000 contacts</strong> aggregated from over 2,000 data sources to quickly build targeted marketing campaigns and sales prospecting lists.  Search results can be narrowed down in the Mid-Market Manager (M3) app from 8,700 companies, 76 industries, one of the 50 United States, more than 30 sales triggers, 600,000+ contacts and date range going back 24 months. The mid-market companies are based in the US and Canada and have revenues greater than $500 Million in revenue.</p>
<p>We are excited to launch a solution to sales and marketing reps that are selling into the mid-market. We’ve also made it easy for them to save sales trigger event and contact searches for easy retrieval and the ability to export information into spreadsheets for data manipulation and CRM integration.</p>
<p>Since the launch of our CRUSH Pro Platform in early 2011, we’re continuing to add to our sales enablement tools and respond to our customers’ needs. <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a title="Mid-Market Manager" href="http://www.salesquest.com/mid-market-manager" target="_blank" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/mid-market-manager?referer=');">Click here</a></span></strong> to learn more and view a short demo on our new <a title="Mid-Market Manager" href="http://www.salesquest.com/mid-market-manager" target="_blank" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/mid-market-manager?referer=');">Mid-Market Manager (M3)</a> application.</p>
<p>Trish Ellis<br />
SalesQuest<br />
Marketing Manager<br />
trisha.ellis@salesquest.com</p>
<p>&copy;2012 <a href="http://blog.salesquest.com">Sales Intelligence Blog</a>. All Rights Reserved.</p>.<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.salesquest.com%2F2012%2F01%2F03%2Fmid-market-manager%2F&amp;title=Mid-Market%20Manager%20Sales%20Intelligence%20App%20Available%20in%20CRUSH%20Pro%20Platform" id="wpa2a_2" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.addtoany.com/share_save_url=http_3A_2F_2Fblog.salesquest.com_2F2012_2F01_2F03_2Fmid-market-manager_2F_amp_title=Mid-Market_20Manager_20Sales_20Intelligence_20App_20Available_20in_20CRUSH_20Pro_20Platform?referer=');"><img src="http://blog.salesquest.com/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_171_16.png" width="171" height="16" alt="Share"/></a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.salesquest.com/2012/01/03/mid-market-manager/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Sales Tool: Keeping Organized with Fortune 1000 Org Charts</title>
		<link>http://blog.salesquest.com/2011/02/18/org-charts/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.salesquest.com/2011/02/18/org-charts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:13:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Trisha</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Org Charts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Enablement Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Process]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fortune 1000]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales enablement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[salesquest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[selling]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.salesquest.com/?p=493</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is vital for sales and marketing reps to quickly and efficiently connect with their top prospects and beat their competition to the sales opportunities. Building org charts can be very time consuming, especially for the Fortune 1000 companies due to their size. But once it’s completed, it’s truly worth it to understand the organizational [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: left; margin-right: 20px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.salesquest.com%2F2011%2F02%2F18%2Forg-charts%2F" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http_3A_2F_2Fblog.salesquest.com_2F2011_2F02_2F18_2Forg-charts_2F&amp;referer=');"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif&amp;source=salesquest&amp;style=normal&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p>It is vital for sales and marketing reps to quickly and efficiently connect with their top prospects and beat their competition to the sales opportunities. Building <a href="http://www.salesquest.com/org-charts/" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/org-charts/?referer=');">org charts</a> can be very time consuming, especially for the Fortune 1000 companies due to their size. But once it’s completed, it’s truly worth it to understand the organizational structure of your prospective company. The ability to navigate the chain of command and understand who are the influencers, champions, and true decision makers is critical to an efficient sales process.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.salesquest.com/org-charts/" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/org-charts/?referer=');">Org charts</a> are great sales tools to help stay organized. Some of the benefits include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Finding decision makers faster</li>
<li>Understanding your target prospect’s management structure</li>
<li>Knowing your gate keepers, influencers and champions</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.salesquest.com/docs/Starbucks-org-chart.png/" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/docs/Starbucks-org-chart.png/?referer=');"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-468" title="Org Charts" src="http://www.salesquest.com/docs/Starbucks-org-chart.png" alt="Org Charts" width="250" height=225" /></a><br />
Buying access to Fortune 1000 <a href="http://www.salesquest.com/org-charts/" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/org-charts/?referer=');">org charts</a> will cut months out of your sales process and can possibly make or break your sales career. We publish <a href="http://www.salesquest.com/services/CRUSH-reports/" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/services/CRUSH-reports/?referer=');">CRUSH Reports</a> that contain multiple <a href="http://www.salesquest.com/org-charts/" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/org-charts/?referer=');">org charts</a> for each and every company. There are at least two org charts in every CRUSH Report to help fully understand the alignment of both the CEO’s organizational diagram and also the CIO’s organizational mapping. For the larger Fortune 1000 companies we also provide org charts on a division and subsidiary level.</p>
<p>Gain trusted advisor status by accessing CRUSH Report org charts and navigate the decision chain like an insider. Demonstrate to your prospect that you’ve done your homework, you’re organized and motivated.</p>
<p>Benefits from buying Fortune 1000 <a href="http://www.salesquest.com/org-charts/" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/org-charts/?referer=');">org charts</a> for sales and marketing reps include:</p>
<p>1) Eliminate costly research time</p>
<p>2) Discover sales opportunities before your competition</p>
<p>For a sample org chart go to: <a href="http://www.salesquest.com/org-charts/" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/org-charts/?referer=');">http://www.salesquest.com/org-charts/</a>. If you would like to see an entire CRUSH Report including the org chart, please go to: <a href="http://www.salesquest.com/demo" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.salesquest.com/demo?referer=');">http://www.salesquest.com/demo</a>.</p>
<p>Trisha Ellis<br />
SalesQuest<br />
Email: trisha.ellis @ SalesQuest dot com<br />
978.749.9999 ext. 105</p>
<p>&copy;2012 <a href="http://blog.salesquest.com">Sales Intelligence Blog</a>. All Rights Reserved.</p>.<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.salesquest.com%2F2011%2F02%2F18%2Forg-charts%2F&amp;title=Sales%20Tool%3A%20Keeping%20Organized%20with%20Fortune%201000%20Org%20Charts" id="wpa2a_4" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.addtoany.com/share_save_url=http_3A_2F_2Fblog.salesquest.com_2F2011_2F02_2F18_2Forg-charts_2F_amp_title=Sales_20Tool_3A_20Keeping_20Organized_20with_20Fortune_201000_20Org_20Charts?referer=');"><img src="http://blog.salesquest.com/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_171_16.png" width="171" height="16" alt="Share"/></a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.salesquest.com/2011/02/18/org-charts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>EMC’s CEO &amp; CFO on Where CIO’s Will Be Spending Their IT Budgets</title>
		<link>http://blog.salesquest.com/2010/03/17/emc%e2%80%99s-ceo-cfo-on-where-cio%e2%80%99s-will-be-spending-their-it-budgets/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.salesquest.com/2010/03/17/emc%e2%80%99s-ceo-cfo-on-where-cio%e2%80%99s-will-be-spending-their-it-budgets/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:05:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ryan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Enterprise Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2010 tech spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cio budgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cloud computing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EMC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[enterprise IT software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[it spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales enablement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tech spending]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.salesquest.com/?p=271</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last year was a very turbulent year for IT spending. Most companies were trying to reduce their costs and weren’t spending cash on their IT infrastructure until the dust settled from the great recession of 2009.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: left; margin-right: 20px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.salesquest.com%2F2010%2F03%2F17%2Femc%25e2%2580%2599s-ceo-cfo-on-where-cio%25e2%2580%2599s-will-be-spending-their-it-budgets%2F" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http_3A_2F_2Fblog.salesquest.com_2F2010_2F03_2F17_2Femc_25e2_2580_2599s-ceo-cfo-on-where-cio_25e2_2580_2599s-will-be-spending-their-it-budgets_2F&amp;referer=');"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif&amp;source=salesquest&amp;style=normal&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p>Last year was a very turbulent year for IT spending. Most companies were trying to reduce their costs and weren’t spending cash on their IT infrastructure until the dust settled from the great recession of 2009. Luckily, the tech industry tends to rebound fairly quickly from recessions because it plays such a critical role in the business functions of Fortune 1000 companies. Without maintaining and innovating their IT infrastructure, companies are at a competitive disadvantage, and it can start to affect their revenues and customer satisfaction.</p>
<p>EMC is one of the largest sellers of enterprise IT software and hardware and they have been an industry leader in developing innovate technology for decades and have weathered many recessions. In January 2010 they released their quarter four earnings report and their CEO, Joe Tucci, had a lot of commentary on where he thinks companies will start to spend their <a title="2010 IT Budgets" href="http://blog.salesquest.com/2010/03/08/cio-budgets-and-capital-spending-will-increase-in-2010/">2010 IT budgets</a>.</p>
<p>He stated the number one priority for CIOs in 2010 is storage. CIOs will use a significant portion of their budgets to optimize their storage systems and methods including back-up disks with data de-duplication, storage consolidation, unified storage, tiering of storage, and business continuity. Companies’ data requirements are increasing every second and their valuable data needs to backed up and secure. Data storage initiatives will accelerate throughout the next decade, and cloud computing will be a major player in the data storage industry.</p>
<p>Virtualization is another area that Tucci identifies as somewhere that CIOs will be spending their budgets. Virtualization decreases the amount of physical hardware and redistributes how networks and computers are allocated across the infrastructure. It reduces company costs and increases the efficiency of their IT systems. Along the same lines as virtualization, he sees security and governance, risk, and compliance spending accelerating in 2010. EMC is increasing their development of private clouds and are working with Fortune 1000 companies to redistribute their data centers using virtualization. All of this is great news for IT sellers trying to penetrate Fortune 1000 companies this year.</p>
<p>EMC’s CFO Daivd Goulden also commented on how spending started to increase in Q4 of 2009, “I think we also saw even maybe a little extra in some of that spending the customers didn’t do in Q1 and Q2 as companies got more confident in their next year 2010 business plans, they were doing a little bit of catch-up because I think they really starved their infrastructures in Q1 and Q2,” he said.</p>
<p>Now is the time to identify your prospects using <a title="Sales Intelligence Resources" href="http://blog.salesquest.com/2010/02/15/the-free-sales-tool-you-never-knew-about-earnings-call-transcripts/">sales intelligence resources</a> and start forecasting your sales pipeline for 2010. Sales reps can’t rest on the laurels of 2009; they must identify current company problems and opportunities and then communicate how their solutions can help them leave the low points of 2009 behind.</p>
<p>- Mark Kilens<br />
mark . kilens@salesquest.com<br />
978.749.9999 ext. 118</p>
<p>&copy;2012 <a href="http://blog.salesquest.com">Sales Intelligence Blog</a>. All Rights Reserved.</p>.]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.salesquest.com/2010/03/17/emc%e2%80%99s-ceo-cfo-on-where-cio%e2%80%99s-will-be-spending-their-it-budgets/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>CIO Budgets and Capital Spending Will Increase in 2010</title>
		<link>http://blog.salesquest.com/2010/03/08/cio-budgets-and-capital-spending-will-increase-in-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.salesquest.com/2010/03/08/cio-budgets-and-capital-spending-will-increase-in-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:31:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>SalesQuest Blogger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Enterprise Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CIO budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IT budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[it spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales enablement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology budget increase]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology sales leads]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.salesquest.com/?p=257</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[According to the December 2009 CIO Economic Impact Survey, CIO budgets and capital spending are both increasing from the previous years levels. When asked the same question in May 2009 only 14% of respondents said their budgets would be increasing compared to 40% in December 2009.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: left; margin-right: 20px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.salesquest.com%2F2010%2F03%2F08%2Fcio-budgets-and-capital-spending-will-increase-in-2010%2F" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http_3A_2F_2Fblog.salesquest.com_2F2010_2F03_2F08_2Fcio-budgets-and-capital-spending-will-increase-in-2010_2F&amp;referer=');"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif&amp;source=salesquest&amp;style=normal&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p>Over the past decade, companies have spent millions of dollars updating their technology systems and infrastructure in order to stay competitive and maximize their profitability. However, over the last two years, spending fell off dramatically as most businesses were looking to cut costs rather than invest money in their IT systems. Cost cutting isn’t over, but companies are starting to increase their technology spending in 2010. According to the <a href="http://www.cio.com/article/515563/CIO_s_December_2009_Economic_Impact_Survey_Results" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.cio.com/article/515563/CIO_s_December_2009_Economic_Impact_Survey_Results?referer=');">December 2009 CIO Economic Impact Survey</a>, CIO budgets and capital spending are both increasing from<img class="alignright" title="Increasing IT Budgets" src="http://www.salesquest.com/docs/money monopoly.jpg" alt="" width="283" height="210" /> the previous years levels. When asked the same question in May 2009 only 14% of respondents said their budgets would be increasing compared to 40% in December 2009.</p>
<p>This is terrific news for companies trying to penetrate new accounts, up-sell current accounts or secure renewals. With that said, the competition going after these newly increased budgets will be extremely competitive. Reps will now need sales enablement resources to help them be the first to the deal and capture the attention and interest of their audience. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to stay on top of prospects and accounts, and using account plans and sales intelligence tools are a great supplement. Decreasing the time spent researching and qualifying prospects, and using that time to begin the relationship building process, can give you a head start on your competition.</p>
<p>Applications, hardware, and mobile/web were the top three areas that CIOs are going to be spending more of their budgets in 2010. New project spending is also predicted to go up, which will contribute to the company’s top line revenue. Most companies indicate they will be spending more of their budgets on their infrastructure and not increasing their employee count or spending budget on consultants. These areas, coupled with the <a href="../2010/02/08/top-10-enterprise-technology-buying-trends-2010/">top ten emerging technology trends</a>, are shaping the next decade of IT strategies around cost cutting and greening IT, but productivity and improving the company’s bottom-line are important drivers for those strategies.</p>
<p>- Mark Kilens<br />
mark . kilens@salesquest.com<br />
978-749-9999 ext. 118</p>
<p>&copy;2012 <a href="http://blog.salesquest.com">Sales Intelligence Blog</a>. All Rights Reserved.</p>.]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.salesquest.com/2010/03/08/cio-budgets-and-capital-spending-will-increase-in-2010/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>LinkedIn and Sales Intelligence: Two Great Sales Enablement Resources That Can’t Be Overlooked</title>
		<link>http://blog.salesquest.com/2010/03/01/linkedin-and-sales-intelligence-two-great-sales-enablement-resources-that-can%e2%80%99t-be-overlooked/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.salesquest.com/2010/03/01/linkedin-and-sales-intelligence-two-great-sales-enablement-resources-that-can%e2%80%99t-be-overlooked/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:51:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>SalesQuest Blogger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Sales Enablement Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales enablement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales intelligence tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales prospecting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shortening sales cycles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategic account planning]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.salesquest.com/?p=224</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the most important sales enablement tools is sales intelligence; you must have accurate and up-to-date sales intelligence on your prospects. Sales intelligence tools will help you answer the who, what, where, why, and when questions in your planning process. If you have that information at your disposal, all you need to do is figure out the “how.” The “how” should be focused on relationship building. Using your sales enablement and sales intelligence tools you can start developing relationships with the key stake holders and decision-makers at the accounts you’re going after.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: left; margin-right: 20px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.salesquest.com%2F2010%2F03%2F01%2Flinkedin-and-sales-intelligence-two-great-sales-enablement-resources-that-can%25e2%2580%2599t-be-overlooked%2F" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http_3A_2F_2Fblog.salesquest.com_2F2010_2F03_2F01_2Flinkedin-and-sales-intelligence-two-great-sales-enablement-resources-that-can_25e2_2580_2599t-be-overlooked_2F&amp;referer=');"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif&amp;source=salesquest&amp;style=normal&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p>Sales enablement tools are your greatest assets when trying to accelerate your sales cycles and target your strategic accounts. Their purpose is to maximize a sales organization’s potential in order to better communicate value and differentiate their services in a clear and consistent manner. Sales enablement includes resource planning, training, sales force automation, lead generation and planning. Great sales enablement tools help you gain insight into which accounts you should target, their problems and initiatives, and what people you should connect with to start building relationships.</p>
<p>One of the most important sales enablement tools is sales intelligence; you must have accurate and up-to-date sales intelligence on your prospects. Sales intelligence tools will help you answer the who, what, where, why, and when questions in your planning process. If you have that information at your disposal, all you need to do is figure out the “how.” The “how” should be focused on relationship building. Using your sales enablement and sales intelligence tools you can start developing relationships with the key stake holders and decision-makers at the accounts you’re going after.</p>
<p>Relationship building is essential to earning trust and credibility with your prospects in order to convert them to customers. According to Lee Levitt’s <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lml999/idc-sales-enablement-jan-2009-presentation" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.slideshare.net/lml999/idc-sales-enablement-jan-2009-presentation?referer=');">IDC Sales Enablement presentation</a>, only 16% of vendors do a good job with “solution selling.” Close to 60% of buyers stated that the vendor needs to better understand their needs and objectives to improve the value of the relationship with the potential vendor. One terrific tool that enables you to start the relationship building process, coupled with sales intelligence resources, is LinkedIn.</p>
<p>LinkedIn will help you determine what your customers are currently working on, what their interests are, group memberships, previous employers, education, their blog or web site, books they’re reading, and more. All the information can be leveraged to help you start the conversation and position yourself as being in tune to their needs. This will not only help you build the relationship better and faster, it will increase your productivity. Being prepared when you start the conversation will help you sell more effectively and will help instill trust and credibility in the buyer. They’ll value your knowledge of their company and them personally, and be more willing to provide you with answers to your questions. Treat the buyer the way you would want to be treated. Don’t hard sell or pretend to know what you’re talking about. <a href="../2010/02/24/what-drives-it-spending-for-cios-on-a-budget/">Ask intelligent, informed questions</a> that will keep the buyer engaged and wanting to know more.</p>
<p>- Mark Kilens<br />
mark . kilens@salesquest.com<br />
978-749-9999 ext. 118</p>
<div id="__ss_958938" style="width: 425px;"><strong><a title="IDC Sales Enablement Jan 2009" href="http://www.slideshare.net/lml999/idc-sales-enablement-jan-2009-presentation" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.slideshare.net/lml999/idc-sales-enablement-jan-2009-presentation?referer=');">IDC Sales Enablement Jan 2009</a></strong><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="355" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=idc-sales-enablement-jan-2009-1233092175549133-2&amp;stripped_title=idc-sales-enablement-jan-2009-presentation" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="355" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=idc-sales-enablement-jan-2009-1233092175549133-2&amp;stripped_title=idc-sales-enablement-jan-2009-presentation" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<div style="padding: 5px 0 12px;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.slideshare.net/?referer=');">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lml999" onclick="urchinTracker('/outgoing/www.slideshare.net/lml999?referer=');">Lee Levitt</a>.</div>
</div>
<p>&copy;2012 <a href="http://blog.salesquest.com">Sales Intelligence Blog</a>. All Rights Reserved.</p>.]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.salesquest.com/2010/03/01/linkedin-and-sales-intelligence-two-great-sales-enablement-resources-that-can%e2%80%99t-be-overlooked/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

