Services News

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Closing the Deal: Why it's so hard to discuss money
Winning Inc.'s Mike Myers: When working with clients, one of the biggest challenges is to get salespeople to effectively discuss money with prospects early in the sales process. Here are five strategies that can make you more effective when you talk about money.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Closing the Deal: Self assessment for driving revenue growth
CustomerCentric's Jim Naro: I often get called into an organization when revenue growth stalls. I start at a high level to discover where there are missing links and broken pieces within the sales organization. I've outlined a starting point for assessing your own organization.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Closing the Deal: Going for the quick "No"
Winfree Business Growth Advisors' Ken Cheo: All of our clients list time management as one of the areas they would like some help...but many salespeople have a hard time with hearing "no" so they permit the prospect to drag them down this pathway of hope and despair only to eventually give up or get a "no."

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Closing the Deal: Use your 2012 kick-off sales theme year-round
Knowledgence Associates' Lisa Dennis: Whether your company is large or small, the impact of the Sales Team Annual Kick-off meeting is extremely important. It's the time to layout the strategy for moving forward for the year.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Blog: Mass Innovation Nights goes for themes
Mass Innovation Nights co-founder Bobbie Carlton: We frequently get asked about theme nights at Mass Innovation Nights, but we try to avoid them. But sometimes themes, subthemes, groupings or pairings present themselves.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Closing the Deal: How much risk is in your forecast?
CustomerCentric Systems' Jim Naro: It's the job of sales management to access the risks and discern the degree of risk before they create their own forecast. Here are some clues to help determine sales forecast risk.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Closing the Deal: The mental game of sales
Winning Inc. VP Mike Myers: If a salesperson doesn't believe a technique will work, in many cases they won't even try it – even if other sales people in their organization use it with good results. So how can you avoid this trap? Tap into five critical selling beliefs that drive success.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Staples Foundation awards $2.5M to nonprofits
Massachusetts STEM education nonprofit organizations were among the 112 recipients of $2.5 million in grants awarded by Framingham-based Staples Foundation.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Mercury Computer paying $70M for KOR Electronics
Mercury Computer Systems Inc. has bookended 2011 with acquisitions, today announcing it is acquiring California defense and intelligence company KOR Electronics Inc. for $70 million in cash.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Closing the Deal: What most sales managers miss when hiring sales talent
Winfree Business Growth Advisors' Ken Cheo: If you look at any sales force, you’d find that they typically break down this way: 10 percent produce substantially more than all of the rest, 10 percent are producing very little, and the rest are average. Why does everyone accept this as reality?

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Blog: STEM needs to branch out
MHT News Editor Rodney Brown: Show a kid that math, technology and engineering have value, even if they want to be an architect, an environmental designer or a sneaker maker and you will get someone that takes a step onto a path that could lead them to a STEM degree.
Google to give $6M in STEM grants to Boston groups
Google Inc. has pledged to donate $6 million to three Boston-area organizations: Citizen Schools, the Concord Consortium and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

BiddingForGood brings in $2.2M in new fundraise
New federal documents show that charity auction software company BiddingForGood Inc. has raised $2.2 million in a new fundraise from a syndicate of 15 investors. According to the company’s CEO, that will go toward a new mobile version of its software.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Closing the Deal: What sales really needs from marketing
Knowledgence Associates' Lisa Dennis: The reality is that marketing's job is to provide targeted leads – but it is sales' job to fully qualify them. But if we go a bit deeper, there are things that sales could really use from marketing that will make the qualification process more effective.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

GlassHouse to withdraw planned $75M IPO
GlassHouse Technologies Inc. has, for a second time, announced plans to withdraw its initial public offering. Similar to its 2009 IPO withdrawal, the Framingham data center infrastructure consulting firm cited market conditions as the reason.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Closing the Deal: Sales intelligence: The GPS of prospecting
CustomerCentric's Jim Naro: There seems to be only a handful of companies willing to invest in sales data aggregation tools and services, but it's a wise decision because they can easily provide a company with a competitive advantage.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Closing the Deal: Less product information is more
Winning Inc. VP Mike Myers: While it is important to share information with a sales prospect, when and how you share that information will ultimately determine the sale.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Top 10 tips for successful business networking
Winfree Business Growth Advisors' Ken Cheo: If your referral sources are not getting you all the business you can handle, perhaps you should consider how you are networking. Here are some tips to make your networking successful.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Closing the Deal: Getting and using meaningful customer references
Knowledgence Associates' Lisa Dennis: Everyone knows that getting a testimonial or a reference from a customer is an important marketing and sales asset. Yet, often there are disconnects that prevent companies from pursuing testimonials from every customer interaction. Why is that?

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Top-line growth in the bottom half of the year
Human Resource Solutions' Roberta Matuson: As year-end approaches, many business owners and their people slow down dramatically as they crawl across the finish line. However, the year is not over. Here are some ideas for boosting your top-line this year.