Lessons Learned in B2B Sales

As the Vice President of Business Development for an early-stage Startup I am constantly looking for tools that can save me time.  As Carpathia Marketing's first employee, I have to keep a lot of balls in the air. Below are the top 3 technology tools that I cannot live without.  Crowdfire  http://crowdfire.com   I understand the importance of having a presence on social media but I simply do not have the time to dedicate more than a few hours a week to managing these accounts. Crowdfire to the rescue. At Carpathia, we focus our social channels on Twitter and LinkedIn and we've been using Crowdfire for over a year. Now that we’ve customized our Crowdfire by adding keywords, similar accounts and preferences, we can easily post compelling content across both platforms.  Crowdfire allows us to easily find news articles, other user's posts, and great images to share with our network. Additionally, Crowdfire suggests new people for our accounts to engage with

Improve Your Next Sales Presentation in Three Easy Steps Be Interactive.  While it’s important to be in control of the room during a sales presentation, make sure that you are speaking with your prospects – not at them. Use your sales presentation to ask questions and gather feedback. This style of dynamic presentation ensures that you won’t miss important buying signals. HubSpot suggests you ditch the memorization when it comes to delivering a great sales presentation.  “Of course, you’ll want to be familiar with your presentation before you deliver it, but memorizing it word-for-word can add extra stress on you, potentially taking away from the value of your presentation.” According to Inc.com,  “Some people wrongly believe that sales presentations should be like keynote speeches--entertaining but without much meat. Other people believe that sales presentations should be like lectures--informative and instructive. Both groups are wrong. The purpose of a sales presentation is t

Before you go to your next conference, tradeshow or other business development event make sure you can answer these 7 essential questions for guaranteed success: 1.      Do you have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish? Are you debuting a new product? Are you recruiting new customers? Whatever your goal, make sure you have it clearly defined before attending the event. Better yet, have it clearly defined before you sign up and commit to attending! 2.               What metrics will you use, post-event, to determine success? Now really dissect those metrics so that you know exactly what they measure. Is your metric for success based on the number of business cards you collect? Why? How many business cards need to be collected for the event to be considered a success? Why? You get the picture - dig a bit deeper. Stop paying to attend events because it’s what you’ve always done. Instead, find events that will allow you to walk away with genuine connections

Please take a moment to check out the article that Voyage Chicago just released. It takes a look at Carpathia Summits, why I joined this firm, and what the journey has been like the past 9 months! http://voyagechicago.com/interview/meet-leslie-venetz-carpathia-marketing-river-north/

As a Hiring Manager with a decade + experience, I know that it is difficult to find talented employes. I know that it is even more difficult to onboard and retain them. Of course, the financial aspect is important, especially for a sales professional like myself, but money is not an end all be all. In reflecting on what makes me feel most satisfied in my job and most loyal to my employer, I came up with 3 things that I am grateful for today....and no, I am not working from the beach, but I am working in a truly spectacular city - #Chicago 1. Having an employer who trusts me. Yesterday I negotiated terms with a prospect (now client) that were a "break-even" for the company, but I believe that this person & company will make for a fantastic long-term partnership that will ultimately be financially beneficial. Without blinking an eye, my President gave me the go ahead to sign the deal.  2. Having the flexibility to set my own (reasonable) hours and to not feel guilt

What Getting Married Taught me About Event Planning. Find me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/leslievenetz If you know me, you know that event planning…well planning in general is in my DNA. I started orchestrating events when I was a kid. I still remember the first significant event I pioneered & planned; a 3-generation dance at my high school. It was a pretty good gig for me. My grandpa was my date and other generation – the parents - were responsible for preparing & serving the dinner! My experience with events has grown significantly since that first dance. Over the past 20 years, I’ve led or been on the planning committee for everything from corporate events, to non-profit fundraisers, to social programs. Each event I’ve been a part of hosting is unique in both its intent & outcome. Nothing prepared me for planning my own wedding. Now if you are one of the lucky few who decided to hire a professional event planner, I can only imagine how nice that must have be