Gong Labs Blog - Generate More Revenue with Better Sales Conversations

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Sales Enablement, Sales Management

How To Get Started With Sales Coaching In 5 Actionable Steps

By Chris Orlob, May 24, 2017

When sales managers come to the realization they need to take coaching seriously by instituting systematic coaching programs, they have taken a huge step in becoming true professional sales leaders. But knowing where to start (and how to do) sales coaching can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t already have the “muscle memory” of implementing […]

Selling Skills

Focus the Sales Conversation On Them, Or Keep Your Mouth Shut

By Nancy Bleeke, May 22, 2017

Productive sales conversations are the most important asset any sales rep owns. Person-to-person sales conversations have not been replaced by software, technology, or “scripts.” They are more important than ever. Why? The volumes of information and choices for buying products and services has complicated buyer’s decision making. These buyers need professional sales pros who engage […]

Sales Enablement, Sales Management

6 Sales Coaching Programs That Cure “Random Acts of Coaching”

By Chris Orlob, May 18, 2017

When your sales coaching activities are done in a random, ad-hoc fashion, moving the needle become stubbornly difficult. I call this “Random Acts of Coaching” (RAoC). The idea is to turn your sales coaching efforts into a steady, systematic, programmatic set of activities. When this is done, win rates trend upward. While this article won’t […]

Gong Labs

New Data Shows How Likely You Are to Win Competitive Deals

By Chris Orlob, May 17, 2017

In the Gong Research Labs series, we publish data from analyzing sales calls with natural language processing and AI. Subscribe here for new data every week. . . . A VP of Sales recently told me he has automatic alerts set up each time his competition is mentioned on a sales call. He then went on to […]

Sales Management

3 Superpowers AI Gives Sales Leaders

By Rachel Serpa, May 16, 2017

Artificial Intelligence (AI), or the ability of computers to analyze information, accomplish tasks and make decisions like a person would, is changing our world. Take, for example, the phenomena of self-driving cars. Google’s self-driving prototypes have long been seen parading the streets of Silicon Valley, and if Elon Musk has his way, your Tesla will […]

Sales Management

Random Acts of Coaching (RAoC)

By Chris Orlob, May 10, 2017

Focusing on the middle of the pack is where sales coaching has its impact. Unless it’s done randomly. Star account executives will exceed their quota pretty much no matter what you do as a sales manager. And the awful account executives will eventually find a new career. It’s the middle ground, the “good but not […]

Gong Labs

30 or 60 min? New Data Shows How Long Your First Sales Call Should Be

By Chris Orlob,

In the Gong Research Labs series, we publish data from analyzing sales calls with natural language processing and AI. Subscribe here for new data every week. . . . A couple months ago I asked a question on LinkedIn that stirred a debate… Should account executives combine discovery calls and demos in the same call, or separate […]

Sales Leaders: b2b sales conversion rates

Sales Management

Demo-to-Close Conversion Rates: How Sales Leaders Can Move the Needle

By Chris Orlob, May 7, 2017

For Sales Leaders, Increasing your B2B sales team’s conversion rates on opportunities is a tricky task, but can be broken down logically. Any set of activities that has an output can be viewed as if it were a manufacturing process. We start with inputs. Those inputs go into a “black box” where they interact with […]

Selling Skills

Have Better Sales Conversations with Preparation, Purpose, Focus, and Disciplined Execution

By Mike Kunkle,

If you’ve ever read a transcript of an average conversation, you know that it’s often a jumble of words that bounces all over the place. I wish I could say that this is different for sales conversations, but very often, it’s not. Those who excel in leading effective sales conversations are those who approach the […]

Gong Labs

Filler Words In Sales – New Data Shows Their Impact On Sales Outcomes

By Chris Orlob, May 3, 2017

In the Gong Research Labs series, we publish data from analyzing sales calls with natural language processing and AI. Subscribe here for new data every week. . . . Research has shown that overusing “filler words” creates a slightly negative perception of the speaker. But do filler words actually have a meaningful impact on sales outcomes? As […]

Selling Skills

How Sales Is Like Curing an Addiction

By Scott Leese,

Do you know what the first step of curing an addiction is? Getting that person to admit they have a problem. How do you convince a prospect that your product is the best product to solve their very important problem? You guessed it. Getting them to admit they have a problem. It’s a rare situation […]

Gong Labs

The Worst Time to Schedule Your Sales Calls, According to New Data

By Chris Orlob, May 1, 2017

In the Gong Research Labs series, we publish data from analyzing sales calls with natural language processing and AI. Subscribe here for new data every week. . . . It was Monday, May 6, 2013. My first day as a sales rep at insidesales.com. I sat spellbound in an onboarding class watching the company’s founder – Ken […]

Sales Enablement, Sales Management

5 Reasons Call Recordings Beat Call Shadowing for Sales Coaching

By Chris Orlob, April 26, 2017

“What do you coach? You coach the gap. Build a bridge that takes your people from where they are today to where they want or need to be.” – Keith Rosen I love that quote. It brings a clear analogy to something that’s often vague: sales coaching. Almost every sales leader out there will […]

Selling Skills

How to Open Every Sales Call In a Way That Engages the Brain

By Mark Kosoglow, April 23, 2017

The human brain has 6 major regions. Out of the six, the cerebellum, also known as the lizard brain, is the smallest yet most powerful. Its goal is to help the rest of the brain (and your body) survive the situations you encounter throughout your day. The brain is the first processor of an experience, […]