Growing a digital agency is tough.

Most agency founders launched them out of necessity, having skills that could be turned into a career, or relevant marketing experience. Most agency founders aren’t natural business owners. Whereas, knowing how to grow a digital agency requires business and sales skills that not every founder has naturally.

Agency founders are often creative professionals, in some way. Creative skills are either self-taught or increasingly learned in the traditional sense, through education than practical experience. Whether those skills are design or copy-based. SEO or video. Social media or web design and development.

Digital agencies are often…

So many sales conversations are happening over virtual sales platforms right now. CrankWheel is one of those solutions that experienced a surge in use in 2020.

We expect that trend to continue. Despite more sales teams getting back to the office in some countries, calls with screen sharing are one of the most effective ways to engage with sales leads and close deals.

Inbound and outbound teams have adapted screen sharing to give them a more engaging way to speak with sales leads. …

Not every company has a sales process. Even those turning over millions, with teams of outbound and inbound sales agents, could be operating in the same way as a startup. No process, no structure.

• Sales without a process and structure isn’t repeatable and scalable.
• How do you onboard and teach new salespeople how things are done?
• How do you get the same results from across the whole team?
• How do you accelerate growth unless you know what works and what doesn’t?

Those are a few of the advantages a sales process provides a sales team, and therefore the whole company…

In outbound sales, the objective is to get a meeting with a potential sales lead. As far as you’re concerned, these are viable potential clients.

Not all of them are going to want what you are selling, but you’ve got to pick up the phone and pitch. Outbound tactics usually also involve social selling, emails, direct messages and InMail messages on LinkedIn.

Outbound sales can be a nerve-wracking job. Everyone has targets to hit. And every call that receives a rejection, or is blocked by a gatekeeper, or goes to voicemail is another unsuccessful hit.

For decades now, cold calling…

Have you heard of the term “Zoom fatigue”? It’s a pandemic-era phrase, alongside words like furlough and lockdown. One of the many things society has got used to since March 2020.

It turns out even Eric Yuan, CEO of the popular video-conference tool, Zoom, can get “Zoom fatigue”.

Going from one meeting to another, whether using Zoom or another solution, isn’t good for our mental health and productivity. One of the best ways to avoid this is not to schedule them back-to-back. …

Getting into the software sector is a smart move, and potentially very lucrative for salespeople. Software as a Service (SaaS) is booming, and as a sector it continues to grow, with global revenues already over $105 billion, according to Gartner.

In 2020, SaaS increased in overall revenue even more than many expected. A sudden essential switch to remote working meant many companies needed a whole load more SaaS solutions to keep operating. And this trend is expected to continue for many years to come, with projections for SaaS revenue in the $300 billion range in 2026.

As a salesperson, if…

Over the last few decades, buyer behaviours have changed. Buyers — potential clients or customers — are more clued up now than ever. At one point, sellers had all of the information, and it was the role of salespeople to educate buyers, thereby encouraging them to go ahead with a purchase.

Now buyers know nearly as much as salespeople about the product or services they are interested in. Potential customers often research what they’re wanting to buy. Whether that’s a new car, computer, or consultancy and marketing services.

Whatever your customers or potential customers are interested in, there’s loads of…

Performance reviews are an integral part of the work every manager does. Whether annually, or usually quarterly, it’s a great way for a manager to review everyone’s work and identify areas for improvement.

Of course, on a daily and weekly basis, managers can see who’s performing and who isn’t. One of the best indicators is how many deals are being won, and who’s winning them.

But sales performance isn’t purely about the win rate. Performance comes down to who’s being active, and more importantly, proactive in bringing new clients in.

Sales activity is a crucial indicator of who should be…