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Kevin Temple

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Founder, Managing Member, The Enterprise Selling Group

135 points

Kevin delivers measurable impact to sales organizations by implementing a solid sales methodology with a succinct leadership implementation strategy. Prior to his career in sales effectiveness, Kevin led and transformed a large sales organization, producing tremendous improvements in deal size, breadth of products sold, and margin among other metrics.

WEB: Sales Optimization

Oct. 27, 2011

Kevin Temple and 3 other people answered this question at this roundtable

FSI Sales Office Hours: Understanding How Your Customers Make Decisions [10/20 @ 1 pm]

What is the proper process for gaining agreement on moving forward in a sales cycle?

Jeffrey, you may have mixed up your solution selling terms... in the Solution Selling book, Bosworth introduces a "control letter" and a "proposed sequence of events" (I call this the "mutual action plan" MAP). The control letter recaps what has been identified as the business ... more

Decision Influencers

Decision Makers

Oct. 27, 2011

Kevin Temple and 1 other person answered this question

Can anyone recommend a good sales proposal management system?

Hello Hesha
I have recommended Sant Software (now owned by Kadient)for automating and managing the proposal development process for my sales methodology customers. You can build radio button type selection fields to populate the proposal, manage graphics from a repository, and more. This all populates a ... more

Sales Automation

Sales Management

Sales Operations

Oct. 26, 2011

Kevin Temple and 22 other people answered this question

How can you train sales reps to have better conversations with prospects vs just pitching?

We're almost to the reason. No matter how well you train sales people, a majority will revert to basic pitching behavior if the ecosystem has not changed. This means that their manager has to exhibit the desired behavior, the marketing messages have to align with ... more

General Management

Oct. 17, 2011

Kevin Temple and 12 other people answered this question at this roundtable

Sales Training Doesn't Work - Unless You do THIS [10/14 @ 11 am]

What do you do if your top producer refuses sales training?

I ran into this problem repeatedly when I was contracted to introduce a consultative selling framework to Cisco. Many of their people were making their quota by standing next to the fax machine, so they couldn't understand why they should spend time in a workshop. ... more

General Management

Human Resources

Aug. 30, 2011

Kevin Temple and 4 other people answered this question

What are some non-selling skills that sales reps need to master?

Good suggestions above… I’ll add Collaboration, Patience and Resiliency.
The wide variety of potential contributors required to help a customer make a difference require some well developed collaboration skills. It’s not uncommon for a seller of a complex solution to have to incorporate professional services, marketing, ... more

Business Acumen

Sales Management

April 1, 2011

Kevin Temple and 3 other people answered this question

Can the average Marketing dept. and Sales dept. align without outside (3rd party) consultation?

Interesting question. Almost every customer I've engaged in a sales effectiveness project required a sales and marketing alignment. Or should I say realignment. In most cases it was not a difficult task, leaving me to wonder why they didn't achieve the alignment without my help.
I ... more

Sales & Marketing Alignment

March 22, 2011

Kevin Temple and 5 other people answered this question

In b2b marketing and sales, what are some examples of trigger events and why are they important?

I'll add to Michael's list. There are other tactical triggering events that may be specific to your solution. For instance, if you sell virtualization software, and your prospect is up against a large database license renewal with a company such as Oracle, you have a ... more

March 1, 2011

John Bozarjian selected a best answer for

When buying leads is it really about the quality?

In my experience when working with companies to put together lead generation campaigns it is has been about the CPL at the end of the day. Yes, many people tell me it is about the quality at first but when it is time to dot ... more

March 1, 2011

Kevin Temple and 5 other people answered this question

What are your tips for Buyer Persona development?

We use a problem expert approach to developing buying persona profiles. We start by identifying what aspects of the solution are attractive to this type of buyer. While a user is going to focus on ease of use and certain functionality, an infrastructure person is ... more

Buyer Persona Development

Content Marketing

Sales Enablement

Feb. 23, 2011

Kevin Temple answered this question

What additional security measures do you take for your Apple products?

Good Technology provides a comprehensive suite of security for the iPhone and the iPad, especially from an enterprise perspective. If you lose the phone you can remote wipe it, they provide the highest level of encryption, etc... And they can enable an enterprise to contain ... more

Information Technology

Dec. 1, 2010

Kevin Temple and 16 other people answered this question

Sales Enablement: What are the top sales enablement trends to watch in 2011?

One of the biggest returns in Sales Enablement is proving to be a shift from a focus on the sales methodology to the sales leadership framework supporting a sales transformation. Behavior change doesn't come from a sales training event, it comes from a systematic leadership ... more

Sales Enablement

Oct. 15, 2010

Kevin Temple and 8 other people answered this question

What's the biggest change in sales over the last 10 years?

I agree with the 2.0 issue. The web provides the customer with unprecedented access to information about our solutions, and access to references via social networking before they ever talk to a rep. This means the prospect is much further down the buying cycle than ... more

Sales Management

Sales Operations

May 13, 2010

Kevin Temple and 3 other people answered this question

Focus Research Insight: 45% of buyers say they're unable to differentiate vendors: why?

Hi Jessica
Let's say a vendor has many differentiators. A prospect won't remember any of them unless they are directly connected to a problem the prospect has and feels is an important problem to solve. The best way to get a differentiator to stick in ... more

Information Technology

Focus Research Insight

May 12, 2010

Kevin Temple and 4 other people answered this question

Inbound Marketing Programs: We do a lot, now have too many leads, any tips?

I'd second Jeff's answer, lead scoring is important. (His paper is great!) After that, I'd suggest a (Dis)Qualification process.
One of my current customer's had the same problem you identified. We designed a (dis)qualification process that started with three questions:
1. What business reasons brought ... more

May 12, 2010

Kevin Temple and 2 other people answered this question

How are you managing and sharing sales knowledge and best practice

Graham:
I suggest you take a look at SAVO Technology. They have been selected by several of my sales effectiveness clients. I can't speak for the tool itself, but the raves it's getting from my clients about sharing information is impressive.
In leiu of a ... more

Sales Management

May 12, 2010

Kevin Temple and 3 other people answered this question

Who should be involved in the selection process for Marketing Automation?

Hi Sarah:
The selection team should include representation by marketing, sales, sales ops, IT and Estaff. When I say sales, I mean at least an actual sales person. Marketing automation provides a significant opportunity to bring marketing and sales together on a subject that has ... more

Information Technology

Marketing Automation

May 12, 2010

Kevin Temple answered this question

What KPIs do you use to evaluate business performance?

Hi Dan:
I mainly focus on sales effectiveness, so my input will be slanted that direction. However, the concept can be applied across the board.
I start with an assessment of the opportunities in progress, identify the process being used to engage new business opportunities, ... more

Business Performance Management

Financial Services

Dec. 10, 2009

Kevin Temple and 1 other person answered this question

How do You Handle Incoming Telemarketing Calls?

Hi Tom:
You could do all of them the biggest favor by leading with, "My most pressing business issue is , and I'll give you thirty seconds to tell me how you've address this issue for another company." If they can't answer, you gave them ... more

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