According to the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), American companies spend about $20 billion a year on sales training. If I dust off my pocket calculator, that means that $15 billion a year is wasted on sales training. That’s brutal. It’s not sales training that’s the problem because training is one of the most important things you can do for your sales team. Often sales training fails because it is a one-time event with very little commitment and follow-up. Sales training works when it is implemented after a strategy is set and sales executives are bought off and committed. Then consistent coaching follows the training strategy and you win.
McKinsey: 75% of sales training programs fail to contribute to the success of the business.from @daviddistef13 #s20c
— Matt Heinz (@HeinzMarketing) April 10, 2013
The numbers keep pouring in: Companies need a consistent commitment to social to succeed in today’s world. I am fond of brands that engage with me socially and will think of them first when it comes time to buy. I guess I am in the majority.
87% indicated positive social engagement creates purchase intent #report goo.gl/l98sY via @justinflitter
— Mark Schaefer (@markwschaefer) April 11, 2013
The tweet below is good news. Marketing and sales have changed and new skills are needed for both to compete in today’s environment. Revenue chain leaders are rapidly transforming their organizations to support technology and new processes. For example, in marketing, CMOs are hiring growth hackers, Chief Marketing Technologists, and marketing operations leaders and avoiding blue pens.
66% of CMO’s say they need to change the mix of skills in the #marketing function via @meganluebers @ibm #DemandCon
— Carlos Hidalgo (@cahidalgo) April 16, 2013
Hubspot has this fun social campaign which I will call the “Said no one ever” campaign. I love funny and this tweet is funny as are some of their others. As for banners, I am very excited about the retargeting movement. Unlike most I don’t view retargeting as clicks, I view it as branding. When I get retargeted, I remember the brand. I still don’t click…but I remember. HOWEVER, in Hubspot’s defense, I still have never said: “Cool! A banner ad!”
“Cool! A banner ad!” – Said no one ever.
— HubSpot (@HubSpot) April 13, 2013
Oh and by the way, please join me as I host a summit on demand generation – fun, surprises, and ROI. See you there.