Share what you know with millions of people

Focus is the best place to turn what you know into remarkable content

×

Ryan Alex

Follow Following Unfollow

Sales, Active Network

206 points

Passionate about B2B Sales and Sales Management

Successful, driven, and consistently exceeds goals! My experience and education uniquely set me a part:

* 9 years years experience in software and interactive media sales
* 9 years of exceeding quota with a consultative ...

Passionate about B2B Sales and Sales Management

Successful, driven, and consistently exceeds goals! My experience and education uniquely set me a part:

* 9 years years experience in software and interactive media sales
* 9 years of exceeding quota with a consultative approach
* Proven track record and will provide references from all past managers
* MBA from Pepperdine University
* Driven, resourceful, disciplined, and analytical
* Successfully Managed/led diverse groups within and outside the US

» read more » read less

WEB: Company Website

March 15, 2011

Ryan Alex answered this question

What are your most unique prospecting methods?

Listening in on social media:
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2010/02/how-to-listen-within-social-media/
Using Google Similar:
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2010/09/how-to-find-your-best-prospects/
Google Advanced Search and Associations
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2011/01/top-tips-for-sales-prospecting/
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2011/01/top-tips-for-sales-prospecting/

Feb. 24, 2011

Ryan Alex and 2 other people answered this question

What do you consider to be best practices for prospecting?

Listen within Social Media
Monitor key words
Locate industry specific web sites
Find Associations or conferences for companies to target
Use tools like:
LinkedIn
Jigsaw
Twitter
Manta
Google
Top tips for Sales Prospecting
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2011/01/top-tips-for-sales-prospecting/
Find More Prospects
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2010/11/find-more-prospects/
How to Find your Best Prospects
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2010/09/how-to-find-your-best-prospects/ more

Feb. 16, 2011

Ryan Alex and 6 other people answered this question

What are the fundamentals required to be a top sales professional and why?

There actually has been a lot of research on qualities of successful sales people. The most successful share these qualities:
-Empathy
-Not affected by failure
-Driven
Below is a link to an ebook that has more details about the profile of successful sales people:
http://www.ryanwalex.com/resources/sales_ebooks/
Keep in mind this was take ... more

Sales Leadership

Sales Management

Feb. 14, 2011

Ryan Alex recommends this answer by Ben Kepes

Cell Phone Decision

I'm with Chris here - I live in Google apps and so the Android (in my case a Nexus One) is perfect. For Google apps users, the iPhone integrations are a little too flaky (IMHO) more

Information Technology

Feb. 10, 2011

Ryan Alex and 7 other people answered this question

Should Sales People Be Required To Blog?

Sales people should learn to listen within social media. By doing so they are likely to find leads.
Below is a link to get you started on how to do this.
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2010/02/how-to-listen-within-social-media/ more

Feb. 3, 2011

Ryan Alex and 7 other people answered this question

Is sales art, science or a hybrid of both; if so, which is necessary and which is optional or...?

Both.
It does not matter how good of a sales person you are if do not reach enough prospects you will not make enough sales.
It does not matter how many calls you make if your are incapable of leading a prospect to a decision.
In my experience ... more

Feb. 1, 2011

Ryan Alex and 6 other people answered this question

How do you think Inside Sales can benefit from social media?

Social Media is really useful in sales for prospecting. Starting out the focus should be on listening and finding prospects.
Here are some suggestions:
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2010/02/how-to-listen-within-social-media/
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2010/09/how-to-find-your-best-prospects/ more

Jan. 31, 2011

Ryan Alex and 1 other person answered this question

What are the top 5 value propositions for establishing strategic partnerships?

Understand what you can offer. However, the top 5 value propositions should always change based on the customer.
Remember it is about them not you and your company. more

Jan. 28, 2011

Ryan Alex and 2 other people answered this question

How important is character to sales? What traits are consistently displayed by winning sales reps?

Harvard Business Review did a study on this as well as others.
I aggregated a lot of the research into an eBook: The profile of a Sales Professional.
You can get it on the link below:
http://www.ryanwalex.com/sales/ more

Sales Management

Jan. 27, 2011

Ryan Alex and 2 other people answered this question

How long should an interview process be for inside salespeople having 1-5 years of sales experience?

A good hiring process is not so much about length as it is making sure there is a good match. A successful person can fail in company cultures that do not mesh with their personality.
A good process is:
-Phone Interview
-One on One Interview
-Have the person ... more

Hiring Best Practices

Jan. 27, 2011

Ryan Alex recommends this answer by Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Which method do you find more effective cold calling or email marketing?

The answer is it all depends upon the following:
1. Have you done your market research?
2. Have you constructed an ideal customer profile?
3. Does your marketing message adhere to the AIDA model?
4. What is the emotional marketing value of your message?
5. Are either actions in alignment ... more

Jan. 27, 2011

Ryan Alex and 2 other people answered this question

Sales Recruiting: What's the best way to test a sales candidate's writing skills?

I would think in the process they are writing a cover letter and resume. Review that on how they sell themselves. If you need more ask them to write you something. more

Human Resources

Jan. 27, 2011

Ryan Alex and 15 other people answered this question

Sales training "worst practices": What are some of the biggest mistakes made in sales training?

Most sales training fails in application. They also fail to seek measurable results.
Below is a link to an article I also posted recently on it.
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2011/01/the-big-problem-with-sales-training/
Ryan Alex more

Sales Management

Worst Practices

Jan. 18, 2011

Ryan Alex and 9 other people answered this question

Can anyone recommend a good CRM other than Sales force for someone working from a home office?

You could look into Sugar CRM. However, Salesforce.com is likely going to be the most cost effective solution for a one person shop.
The other thing to consider is you want the CRM to be a web application. That will simplify getting it set up ... more

Dec. 23, 2010

Ryan Alex and 5 other people answered this question

COLD CALL: How do you address someone that tells you: "Our internal IT team takes care of that"?

I would dig deeper and ask more questions. Sincerely ask questions like:
-Out of curiosity, what do they do to take care of that?
-Would they and yourself be interested how XYZ (insert competitor) takes care of that?
-Many of the clients I have spoken with have found ... more

IT and Web Applications Services

Dec. 21, 2010

Ryan Alex and 1 other person answered this question

In general, where do you get some of your best deals from?

I think if you rely on marketing alone you will not be successful.
Four sources I use:
-Marketing Leads
-Social Media (see: http://www.ryanwalex.com/2010/02/how-to-listen-within-social-media/)
-Self Generated leads (see: http://www.ryanwalex.com/2010/09/how-to-find-your-best-prospects/)
-Lists
Ryan Alex
B2B Sales and Sales Management
http://www.ryanwalex.com/ more

Inside Sales Resources

Inside Sales Tactics

Dec. 21, 2010

Ryan Alex and 6 other people answered this question

How do you train your sales reps to "tune in" to the buyer?

1. Practice Listening and repeating what the person says in your own words
2. Learn how to ask good questions
Ryan Alex
B2B Sales and Sales Management
http://www.ryanwalex.com/ more

Sales Training Techniques

Dec. 21, 2010

Ryan Alex and 3 other people answered this question

What's the ideal background and attributes for the perfect inside sales rep?

There have been studies on the profile of a successful sales person, check out this link:
http://ryanwalex.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Sales-Profile.pdf
A lot of it comes down to they are empathetic, high need for achievement, and willing to fail.
Ryan Alex
B2B Sales and Sales Management
http://www.ryanwalex.com/ more

Dec. 21, 2010

Ryan Alex and 2 other people answered this question

Do you encourage inside sales reps to use social media? If so, which tools and why?

Yes! At the very least it is a great prospecting tool.
They can use social media to find people and track keywords to find new prospects.
Below is a link to a few of the examples I have done in the past:
http://www.ryanwalex.com/2010/02/how-to-listen-within-social-media/
Ryan Alex
B2B Sales and ... more

Dec. 16, 2010

Ryan Alex answered this question

Are your sales people preoccupied with your success? How did they get that way?

Yes. If you are preoccupied with their success.
Build trust
Understand what their goals are
Recognize their accomplishments always
Find what areas they can develop their mastery
Do not micro-manage your top performers
Be flexible with your top performers and let them develop their own autonomy
Ryan Alex
B2B Sales and Sales ... more

Dec. 15, 2010

Ryan Alex answered this question

What resources do you suggest to a start-up on designing their sales metrics?

What do you want to measure? Understand this. This is really about understanding your sales process. Then you will want to set up your CRM for this.
The other aspect is to make sure that sales will actually log all of the details in your ... more

Analytics Program

Dec. 15, 2010

Ryan Alex and 5 other people answered this question

What are some tips for improving the level of sales training and coaching for your team?

3 Things to Discover:
-Make sure the training is practical.
-Ask how in the past they have measured an increase in performance? If they are not measuring an increase in performance then there likely isn't one. This will also help in determining ROI.
-Find out how in their ... more

Coaching & Training

Dec. 15, 2010

Ryan Alex and 2 other people answered this question

What's an example of some of the best sales training that you have experienced?

3 Things to Discover:
-Make sure the training is practical.
-Ask how in the past they have measured an increase in performance? If they are not measuring an increase in performance then there likely isn't one. This will also help in determining ROI.
-Find out how in their ... more

Dec. 15, 2010

Ryan Alex and 2 other people answered this question

How do I reduce a high churn rate?

3 big motivations for employees are:
-recognition
-autonomy
-mastery
How are you helping your employees achieve these?
The other aspect I would review is your hiring process. Make sure you are delivering realistic expectations. You might try:
-Letting your interviewees meet with some of your employees without management there. They will ... more

Employee Retention

Sales Operations

Dec. 15, 2010

Ryan Alex and 3 other people answered this question

How beneficial is it to outsource lead generation?

Be careful. There are a lot of bad lead generation companies out there.
There are also a lot of difficulties.
Do you pay for bad leads?
What qualifies as a bad lead?
Are they using incentive marketing?
Are they using your form or theirs?
Will they produce ... more

Lead Development

Lead Generation

Outsourcing Sales

Dec. 15, 2010

Ryan Alex and 3 other people answered this question

Sales Team pay structure: Do they need commission?

I think it is in your best interest to pay commission. What do I mean?
You want to pay the industry standard for a sales professional, whatever that might be. You get what you pay for. If you pay less, you will get less. Do you ... more

Employee Payroll

Following 0 Topics

Following 0 People

Followed by 3 People

Knowledgeable in 29 Topics

#84 of 2156

#24 of 99

#45 of 217

Sales Training/development

#8 of 30

#63 of 220

#92 of 290

#19 of 91

Sales Management

#143 of 522

Sales Training Techniques

#21 of 41

Sales Development

#10 of 45

#13 of 37

Sales Operations

#35 of 71

#1419 of 2984

#55 of 141

Training and Development

#19 of 24

#11 of 24

Telemarketing Reps

#26 of 34

#28 of 47

#50 of 84

#61 of 100

Focus Interactive Summit

#66 of 113

#328 of 519

#667 of 822

Lead Development

#19 of 22

#13 of 25

#37 of 40

#43 of 47

Lead Generation

#195 of 250

#1210 of 1429