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Here's the easiest and best way to share your screen via WhatsApp. Read this short walkthrough and get started.

Learn everything you need to know to sell solar panels from home; how to find the right suppliers, build a strong brand and reach potential customers through online marketing and networking.

All sales need leads. But, delivering and managing them effectively can be a difficult challenge to take on. Check out the top 9 health and life insurance lead vendors worth considering.

Client engagement is the heartbeat of every successful digital agency. Without it, even the most brilliant campaigns, well-designed websites, and innovative marketing strategies can fall flat. As more agencies work remotely or serve clients worldwide, the challenge grows as you try to explain complex strategies, campaigns, or designs through virtual tools. Miscommunication can often lead to confusion, reduced client satisfaction, and missed opportunities for loyalty. 

Your client’s health needs are as individual as they are. The many health plans, varied features, and wide range of costs can easily throw clients into analysis paralysis, making it difficult for them to choose the best plan. When you can tailor clients’ health plans according to their wants, needs, and expectations, you’ll have a customer for life.

Finance advisor is no longer a main-street business. Virtual financial consultations enable advisors to connect with clients from anywhere in the world. Yet, this shift comes with its own challenges—building trust, explaining complex financial products, and maintaining compliance, all while engaging your clients. 

If you ever lost a deal because the buyer just “wasn’t convinced,” the problem might not be your product; it’s how you’re selling it.

When selling health insurance to small business owners, salespeople must be aware of small business owners’ top concerns. A recent opinion poll conducted by the Small Business Majority shows that the high cost of health coverage is a top concern for small business owners. 

Contrary to auto insurance selling techniques of the past, today’s agents must spend more time in their offices and less time visiting clients in the field. Auto insurance prospects increasingly demand a digital experience when gathering quotes and requesting customer services. They also expect a personalized experience customized to their needs.

Customer behavior, such as emotions, social influences, and personal preferences, influence whether consumers are willing to pull out their wallets. This type of behavior is called behavioral economics. Understanding this concept can lead you to improve your sales outcomes. 

People often use the term open enrollment as a catch-all phrase that bears the exact definition in all applications, yet its true meaning lies in its application. Depending on the context, open enrollment may refer to Medicare, Medicare Advantage, or health insurance plans. While insurance agents and brokers understand this distinction, clients may not.

Client-centric selling is a sales approach that focuses heavily on understanding the client’s needs and addressing them rather than the traditional approach of pushing for sales quotas.

Discover 8 actionable screen-sharing strategies to improve virtual product demonstrations, drive engagement, and boost sales conversions.

As artificial intelligence (AI) in business has been increasingly implemented, it has enabled insurance underwriting processes to be more accurate, efficient, and personalized. AI is particularly important in the insurance industry because it’s an industry that relies heavily on large amounts of actuarial data. Collecting large datasets manually is inherently painstaking and time-consuming. 

Learn how screen sharing fosters trust in remote sales through transparency, personalization, and real-time solutions. Try CrankWheel for free!

History tells us the insurance market fluctuates between hard and soft market cycles, yet that alone may not reflect insurance sales trends.  Reliable data can help explain insurance sales trends and predict with reasonable accuracy what may happen in the future. How does it work? Data informs insurance sales agents and brokers by analyzing historical data, recognizing patterns, and highlighting potential sales opportunities. 

The solar industry is on a notable upward trajectory, with more home and business owners realizing the benefits of transitioning to renewable energy. However, selling solar solutions often comes with a host of challenges. With multiple touch points, technical details to explain, and stakeholders to align, the sales cycle can be long and incredibly complex. 

Healthcare regulations are necessary to protect patient rights and ensure patient safety. Regulations are also crucial for preventing fraud, protecting patient data, and setting high ethical standards for healthcare providers.

Simplify the mortgage process with instant screen sharing. Explore 8 ways it enhances communication, client satisfaction, and operational efficiency.

With the short OEP window and thousands of agents vying for the same business, open enrollment is a hectic and stressful time for brokers and agents. 

These insights are drawn from over 6,500 consultations, making them absolute best practices in our industry. By implementing these strategies, we’ve significantly increased our number of reviews.

For enrollees, health insurance has never been more complicated or expensive. The numerous changes in health insurance over the last decade or so have prompted people to learn more about how health insurance works.

Discover 8 screen sharing tips to help pest control sales teams close more deals virtually. Learn how to maximize screen sharing tools for faster sales and better customer engagement.

The internet has made it easier to find customers and close sales, yet it has also driven competition to new heights. Considering that, the internet also enables you to leverage social proof to prove your credibility and expertise.

Discover how screen sharing can improve customer support efficiency by reducing miscommunication, speeding up issue resolution, and enhancing customer satisfaction.

With these easy steps, you and your client can fill in and e-sign an SOA form. You both receive a copy of the signed form by email and CrankWheel keeps the audit data from the e-signature for 10 years.

When you’ve put many hours of time into nurturing prospects, you don’t want to lose them in the home stretch. This is why improving your closing sales is such a critical skill to refine. Consider every life insurance sale closing a crowning moment of the time and effort you’ve dedicated to the prospect before you. To help you improve your life insurance closing skills, we’re covering why you should work on your technique and giving you 7 tips for closing life insurance sales. 

In this guide, we will break down the top industry practices that can transform your sales pipeline with the help of remote sales strategies. Reading through, you will have a toolkit of practical tactics that can enhance your sales efficiency and drive tangible results.

The rules for OEP marketing are very strict, which may cause you to think you need to scale back your marketing efforts during this period. Yet, there are ways to create brand awareness while still playing within the rules.  The right social media tactics will allow you to get new clients and serve your existing clientele during OEP and all year long. 

The open enrollment period (OEP) is a critical time for health insurance agents and brokers to connect with consumers and help them make informed choices about their health coverage for the upcoming year. The best sales outreach plan before and during OEP will help you generate interest and drive sales early. 

The short window for the OEP should motivate you to conduct as many virtual consultations as possible in the preceding months.  Virtual consultations save many hours of travel time, enabling you to squeeze more appointments into your schedule. More appointments lead to greater sales. 

87% of successful companies prefer to focus on value-based selling to make sure they understand and address their customer's needs. In this article, we'll focus on the primary concept of value selling and how it can drive better results (sales growth) for your business. We’ll explore practical strategies, best practices, and examples to show how to implement value-based selling and how brands do it right.

Lead generation for Medicare Supplement sales is the art of attracting total strangers to your brand and converting them into customers. The challenge lies in finding people who are enrolled in Original Medicare and are in the market for a Medicare supplement (also known as Medigap). 

Psychology is the science behind what we think and how we behave. By understanding more about consumer behavior and what motivates someone to make a purchase, you can better prepare for a successful life insurance appointment. 

Struggling to meet sales targets? Losing deals to competitors?  Sales enablement is your secret weapon to equip your sales team to close more deals and scale your revenue. With the market set to hit $3 billion by 2026, businesses are clearly reaping the benefits. But what exactly is sales enablement, and how can it transform sales performance?

The summer and early fall months go quickly, and you won’t want the ACA open enrollment period (OEP) to creep up on you, leaving you ill-prepared for a successful ACA selling season.  You need to prepare early to hit the ground running in November (or whenever your state begins open enrollment) for a successful ACA open enrollment season.

The challenge in selling final expense insurance is to get prospects to start thinking about their own mortality. Storytelling is the best way to draw them in and educate them about the role of final expense insurance in protecting their families. 

Ask any salesperson how they feel about the next Medicare Advantage sales meeting; they’re bound to say it’s akin to watching paint dry. Sales meetings aren’t likely to be productive with that kind of mentality going into the meeting.

Transparency and knowledge are necessary elements of life insurance sales, but they’re not enough to help you connect with your prospects humanly. The power of empathy can materially change that. 

Customer referrals are a powerful way to generate sales leads. Business owners, outbound and inbound sales executives, and account managers are all perfectly placed to ask happy clients for referrals. 

The best-case scenario is to get in front of your clients so they can see that you are genuinely interested in helping them protect their loved ones with a life insurance policy. Without a doubt, Facebook ads can help you get to that juncture. 

Sales are often a long and winding road, even when you are dealing with inbound leads. Even potential customers who came to you, rather than you reaching out to them, aren't always ready to go-ahead straight away. 

Cold emails are always going to be integral to the sales process. How else can companies initiate conversations with potential clients? 

After lead generation, lead qualification is your next step to organize and prioritize your prospects. Learn how to conduct this process in this post.

What are our customers’ biggest challenges, and how do we solve them?  Businesses working with other small and medium businesses (B2B) are focused on solving problems. Identifying them, then presenting the right solutions at the right time, and for the right price, is the role of sales and marketing teams. 

Typically, something triggers someone to start thinking about planning for their final arrangements – someone special to them dies or gets seriously injured; they become ill; or their estate planner tells them it’s time. 

Boost remote sales success with our 10+ essential training strategies! Enhance your team's skills & performance from anywhere.

Tekpon has announced CrankWheel as a top pick for Team Collaboration Software.

A blend of old-world sales techniques and new-age tools and strategies informs the best practices for life insurance marketing today.

Are you an amazing, high-performance, salesperson? Most likely you are not. Or you are not willing to admit it.

The key to a great career in sales is having a good product to sell, which is why selling Medicare Advantage is so lucrative. Over 30 million people enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans in 2023 and the numbers of enrollees have been climbing. 

Clarity and trust are the most important factors in Medicare sales when communicating with clients. With CrankWheel, agents can help clients complete enrollment forms quickly and provide expert support throughout. Its compatibility across devices means anyone can use it without technical issues. By simplifying the process, CrankWheel helps agents focus on what they do best, leading to better results and happier clients.

It's easy to lose track of how we're spending our most valuable resource: time. In remote sales, where priorities and markets change quickly, understanding how to manage time is very important. Remote sales teams are spread across various time zones and handle many tasks. They face dual challenges: meeting ambitious sales goals and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Medicare Advantage plans are inherently complicated. For that reason, insurance agents provide a valuable service to their customers. When it comes to taking care of their health, customers are happy to have a seasoned expert on their side. 

Sales are and always will be a numbers game. A professional and business function that operates in a world of numbers, metrics, data and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Do you have trouble convincing your prospects to buy insurance? It’s not uncommon. Many people see insurance as an unnecessary expense or hassle they don't want to deal with.

Discover four proven ways to accelerate sales with lead generation in 2024.

Learn the secrets of persuasive sales pitches with 8 simple techniques for effective communication and successful deal closing.

Learn more about building trust in sales so you can generate and convert more leads. Explore the trust factors and interpret them into sales techniques.

Jotting down your sales goals can help you improve your sales. You have a solid list of what you want to achieve, which can motivate you to take bolder steps to escalate your abilities.

CrankWheel’s co-founder, Gilsi Sigvaldason, sat down with Michael Bernzweig in the Software Oasis podcast. Gilsi shared how the idea of CrankWheel came about and how salespeople have found use for instant screen sharing across verticals. 

The trends in Video Conferencing to look out for

Explore the latest and most effective lead-generation marketing trends businesses should adopt in 2024.

Learn some of the most actionable ways to leverage analytics to improve your sales strategies.

Tired of losing out on a deal because the client didn't find the link to the e-signature in the inbox? Instead of the traditional e-signature solutions that require your clients to navigate to an email inbox and following a link, integrating e-signatures into screen sharing sessions can make the sales process more efficient, engaging, and user-friendly, potentially leading to higher satisfaction and conversion rates.

Screen sharing has become an essential tool for businesses to communicate effectively with their customers. Follow these guidelines to ensure that your screen sharing experience is productive and professional.

The best organic lead generation strategies for health insurance agents, including the four Ls of lead generation.

Sales skills need constant work. Here are 5 ways you can get ready for 2024

Upskilling your sales agents will transform the team into a highly effective unit that closes deals. These seven tips cover everything you need to know.

Constructive resilience in the face of constant rejection is essential for sales success. Let’s look further at the psychology behind the stigma of rejection, strategies for developing resilience, and real-world examples of turning rejection into growth.

With these easy steps, your clients can give consent, review their information and attest to the information being correct, and you can capture the process electronically.

Why are we still sticking with sales techniques that aren't working anymore?

Here's the easiest way of having your clients fill out the ACA Marketplace consent forms as well as giving attestation for the information they provided.

Equip yourself with the fundamentals of marketing and some ideas for creative marketing campaigns to effectively promote your solar business.

What is a deminar? And how can deminars give sales teams a competitive edge? Learn how to create effective deminars.

It’s vital for digital agencies to be aware of trends that will impact the market in the near future. Learn how digital agencies can improve their performance in 2024 along with what specific tools they can use to improve their own business in addition to their clients’ businesses.

In this article, you will learn to manage your time effectively without any distractions and procrastination.

Learn how to sell final expense insurance & increase sales with our comprehensive insurance market guide. Discover tips to sell final expense life insurance.

Ready to dominate the world of remote sales? Empower yourself with our expert insights on virtual interactions. From building trust to closing deals, we'll show you how to thrive in the digital age.

Converting life insurance leads into clients efficiently is more than a revenue-generating activity. It's an art that enhances client relations, fosters business growth and builds brand reputation.

The landscape of selling home services has undergone a significant transformation. Door-to-door sales is no longer the primary method. In its place, digital strategies and -platforms have emerged, reshaping how service providers connect with potential clients.

Networking is essential not only for entrepreneurs. Sales professionals should also build connections with others. What’s more, they should “strategically network” to ensure every click leads to conversion, and relationships pave the way to collaborations.

Secure ACA OEP enrollments quickly and reliably by implementing these effective strategies.

Everyone these days is on social media and everyone wants to sell - but what about personal branding? Standing out from the competition cleverly and cost-effectively takes time, and a cross-platform social media strategy will help you to supercharge this effort for maximum reward much faster. Read on to find out more.

How can you improve client communication during open enrollment? Read our comprehensive guide to learn more.

In an ever-increasingly technologized world, artificial intelligence is already in use in several ways. And whether you like it or not, A.I. will be a part of everyday life, sooner or later. Business will be revolutionized (this is already taking place as we speak) and it’s time for us to prepare.

What is a personal brand? How can it help you and your business thrive? And, how do you successfully cultivate and nurture one? Read on to learn more.

In this guide, we'll look into how you can successfully navigate selling health insurance remotely, with a prime focus on acquiring necessary licensing, effective lead generation strategies, and leveraging technology for an efficient workspace setup.

Are you ready to transform into a question-answering superhero? Are you willing to swap those hesitations with a shining armor of knowledge and confidence? If you answer yes, buckle up because we're about to take off!

A good sales email can be your ticket to effective sales automation, no matter the size and scope of your sales framework. Considering that 80% of all customers prefer that sales reps contact them via email, you should definitely upgrade how you craft sales emails.

Salespeople can use AI to help them understand their target audience, refine key sales messages, generate content, and create scripts. Leveraging AI technology like ChatGPT empowers sales professionals to work smarter, not harder, and build lasting relationships with customers in an ever-changing digital landscape.

Screen sharing is a powerful collaborative tool that can increase productivity, creativity, and employee retention.

We've all heard of 'features' and we've all heard of 'benefits', but what about 'feature-benefits'? In our latest guide, we highlight exactly how you can supercharge your sales process through this method of highlighting unique advantages of your product or service as well as the tangible benefits it can have for your customers. Read on to learn more.

Unlock seamless cross-device collaboration with our step-by-step guide on how to screen share from your Mac to any device. Enhance your digital communication, whether for work, learning, or connecting with loved ones.

Discover 10 ways new insurance agents can generate leads and grow their business.

What exactly is ChatGPT and how can it help? Below, we’ll look at how ChatGPT can support lead generation, the importance of measuring the impact of ChatGPT-generated content, and more. 

Local SEO is making sure the local insurance prospects find you. Let's face it; they are the most likely to become lifelong fans – or clients! Nobody wants to buy their insurance online as they cannot grab a website by the jaw.

Learn how you can record your screen sharing. You can both do it with or without viewers connected to the screen share.

Release the power of demand generation and lead generation to take your online marketing to the next level. Learn the differences and how both can effectively work together.

This article will explore the significance of adopting a proactive approach when assisting clients with the 2023 Open Enrollment period. We will explore key strategies and actionable steps that health insurance agents can employ to prepare their clients effectively. 

If you're set on painting the town green, we've got the tools to help you shine. Here are 11 tips to make your solar lead generation sizzle and help you in selling solar.

To ensure a smooth and successful OEP, you will need a well-organized approach. This guide will help you understand the key activities you should undertake during different phases of the OEP, from early preparations to the activities during OEP and post-enrollment follow-ups. As a health insurance agent, your role becomes more crucial during this time.

We've all heard the term 'they were too salesy' in the past, whether it's the sleazy car salesman or the telemarketer bothering you in the day. However it's more common in day-to-day than you might think, and our guide will help you fight against these problems from arising in sales cycle.

There is no single blueprint for success when it comes to company strategies. However, there are a few key things that many of the most successful businesses have in common.

Sales prospecting differs depending on the industry, the customer, the requirements, and the sales cycle and often mistakes are the common pitfall to a lowered conversion rate. Our latest guide covers the 19 main mistakes to avoid when prospecting to help you deliver more success for your business.

Insurance brokers can find plans that are both affordable and comprehensive by getting to know their client's specific requirements and situations.

Learn how SEO can enhance your online visibility and attract more leads.

Digital marketing was a craze in its early years. And it has remained popular to date because of its benefits to businesses in various industries. Digital marketing has numerous advantages. It has made it easier for big and small enterprises to thrive and expand.

We all know how important it is to nurture sales leads ongoing with remote contact, but often we forget the importance of the key ingredient of trust. Our latest guide provides clear tips for enhancing your sales success with remote prospects by building and sustaining trust.

By the end of this article, you'll have a clear understanding of how virtual meetings are shaping the future of work, and how you can leverage these technologies to enhance your own meetings.

If you’re ready to start making selling a breeze rather than a burden, read on for our top advice about how to ace every single part of your initial introduction.

Learn how to to think outside the box and level up your sales game.

The best tips on turning your email signature into a lead generator.

Do you want to be the very best solar sales consultant? Of course you do. This blog will provide you with 5 tips to transform you from sales zero to hero.

Learn more about the roles of FCRA attorneys and see how they ensure compliance to screen sharing for customer service.

Videos are a perfect way to catch people’s attention and increase sales. Follow these video prospecting tips to generate more leads and increase revenue.

Learn how to generate solar leads on Facebook! Create customer personas, compelling ads & high-converting landing pages.

With so many things to consider, like developing relationships, understanding products and services, and building customer credibility, it’s hard to know where to start!

As a solar professional selling solar from home you know that building a successful sales pipeline requires a combination of marketing, sales, and customer service skills.

We’ve created a list of the best SaaS sales tools to help you narrow down your options.

Marketing usually focuses on luring in the fish for sales to then get their teeth into it, but getting the edge in pipeline management and customer conversion requires a different skill set.

You can take the pain of prospecting away with the right foundation. Make your prospecting seem automatic by following this simple framework.

This is the best way to export your Figma prototype to video or convert it to a GIF.

How can you scale and make sure that your solar business becomes a leader in the industry? We shall be talking about it in this article.

Selling Medicare is a great way to earn recurring commissions in insurance. Get the best tips for selling Medicare Advantage from home, using your phone.

Top 15 sales prospecting tips to help you gain valuable insights into how to identify prospects, build relationships with them, reach out effectively, and close deals successfully.

By becoming an expert on your product, positioning your business, identifying your customers, and solving their unique problems, you are well on the way to becoming a solar success story.

Get a clear understanding of both B2B sales vs. B2C sales, what defines them, what they have in common and what sets them apart from each other.

Starting a solar business at home may sound daunting for you. But save your worries! We’ve compiled the way to run the business from home or over the phone.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past couple of months, you've probably heard some reference to Chat GPT. The next Google? The fastest information-gathering resource? In this article, we explore the distinct benefits it holds for sales staff and the future potential that will help transform our way of work for the better.

If you are considering generating solar leads using social media, you have made a great choice. These 9 proven strategies will help generate more leads and boost your sales.

Various things can impact the success of an insurance sales phone call. The most crucial part is the closing, which is the moment when you find out if their hard work will pay off.

How to write content for insurance companies and we will dwell in more detail on the use of these types of texts for insurance sites.

For many of us virtual meetings have changed the game when it comes to selling. It's made us rethink the model for successful conversions in the modern world. Check out our guide on the top do's and don'ts for virtual meetings in 2023.

This Blog gives you all the information you need to start using PPC marketing for your insurance agency.

Most solar sales agents understand the importance of lead generation but they don't know how to do it or what specific best practices are.

Boost conversions and build your brand with these 10 virtual selling tips.

NEM 3.0 is the end of solar sales in California as we know it today. But it is not The End of solar sales. It simply means you will need a different approach to new customers.

There are several marketing strategies that financial advisors can use to increase the traffic to their website. But where do you start? And what will work best for you and your business?

The insurance industry is notorious for its competitive nature and cut-throat environment. To survive in insurance, agents must go above and beyond to win clients and keep them happy.

Selling to Small business owners often comes with a unique set of challenges. Selling SaaS to SMBs can be a daunting task, but with the right approach, it can be a highly profitable venture.

It’s great to establish a good relationship with a lead but the real moment of truth is when they agree to sign up for or purchase a product or service, but what is the best way to get to that final point of the sale?

Insurance is a highly competitive industry and agents need to find ways to stand out from the crowd. Marketing can help them do this by creating brand awareness and generating leads.

Are you an insurance agent looking to start or improve your Instagram marketing game? Get equipped with every detail you need to get started with Instagram marketing in your industry.

Many experts agree that the best way to convert leads is to focus on customer engagement, but what exactly is it? How do you enhance it? Are there any tips and tricks to make sure you’re getting the most out of it? We’ve got you covered with this complete guide to how to create the perfect sales engagement strategy.

To be successful, insurance agents need to understand how to use Facebook’s features to their advantage. They also need to know how to create content that is interesting and engaging.

Explore how using video in real estate marketing benefits both the industry and your real estate business.

A guide to SEO basics for new solar companies - improve your search engine ranking through on and off-page SEO, content marketing, key word research

Why should you use videos in sales emails? Read on to find out more.

Facebook stories are a feature that allows users to share photos, videos, and animations, and they're designed to disappear after 24 hours. Users can view Facebook stories by clicking on the profile image or at the top of their news feed, whether on PC or mobile.

Lead generation is one of the most important activities for marketing teams and it has become more difficult as ad costs increase across platforms. Many companies pay agencies thousands of dollars per month for lead-generation services.

You can grant control to the viewer in a screen sharing session. Our users do this to allow their clients to sign securely into application forms or to sign the applications electronically.

We've all heard of remote selling. But what about virtual selling? Discover how new technologies and techniques are giving virtual sellers the real edge in today's market.

Check out our top 7 tips on how to sell Medicare supplements over the phone. Learn everything you need to know to take your sales to the next level today!

Here's the easiest and best way to share your screen via WhatsApp. Read this short walkthrough and get started.

Top software solution recommendations to help transform the operations, customer management, selling, marketing, and many more aspects of your agency today.

It's easy to share your screen to a Tesla without needing to install anything in the car. The viewer can even take control of the screen-sharing session.

You have to tell prospects that solar power is a highly useful and cost-effective form of energy. There’s a lot to cover: technical specifications, regulations and a complex energy market.

In insurance sales, you need to have a system in place to generate leads and then convert them into customers. We'll show you how to collect, convert and retain insurance leads.

All sales need leads. But, delivering and managing them effectively can be a difficult challenge to take on. Check out the top 9 health and life insurance lead vendors worth considering.

By sending solar content through email, businesses can tap into a growing market of environmentally conscious consumers.

Gaining referrals in telesales can be a thankless task. Our top tips provide shortcuts for building referrals quicker, faster, and more effectively.

Sales agents don't send booklets or throw flyers anymore. They are ineffective! Here are proven marketing strategies for solar sales.

BANT is a robust sales framework that has been used for decades. Here’s how you can apply it to your cold calls.

Medicare does have gaps in coverage, and that is where selling medicare supplement plans comes in. With these techniques, your sales of Medicaid supplement plans will exponentially increase.

How to avoid these 5 virtual selling challenges

Learn how to market to this valuable demographic with our tips. Whether you’re looking to sell a product or service, read on for helpful advice.

To introduce these new features and how they can make your sales efforts more effective, CrankWheel is hosting a webinar at 15:00 on the 8th of September.

The needs and demands of the modern customer are changing and it’s important that businesses to widen their sales funnel and increase conversion rates

The Recorder allows users to record their screen and/or the webcam of their computers. The Projector gives users the possibility to share videos during a screen share. The Share tool allows sharing videos as links and embedded in emails.

Insurance agents should leverage their personal profiles on Social Media to connect with and convert prospects to customers.

10 suggestions for incorporating gamification into your marketing strategy

Wondering how you can start a business from home, make great money, and help the planet at the same time? Then selling solar online is for you!

A guide on how and why brands should be implementing emotional selling as a part of their sales marketing strategy.

The 12 insurance marketing ideas you can use to grow your insurance business. They will save you time and money as you build your insurance business.

Those who manage to have success within the insurance sales industry have usually honed some very specific but essential skills. So what does it take to be a great insurance agent?

Learn how to generate leads from social media and get expert tips on how to make the most of your social media marketing strategy.

Learn everything you need to know to sell solar panels from home; how to find the right suppliers, build a strong brand and reach potential customers through online marketing and networking.

It’s true that cold calling is a tried and tested technique, but what if there was another more effective way? That’s where warm calling comes in…

Instead of investing a considerable amount of time posting content online and not getting any leads, you could take the matter into your own hands and pitch directly to your dream clients.

Pull in the highest-value, sales-qualified leads, at the most useful points in the sales cycle

Remote sales teams are always looking for an edge to close more prospects and increase conversion rates. Even with the best technology, there are still common challenges that come with sales, one of them being closing prospects over the phone.

A small budget doesn’t mean you can’t get your leads and turn them into customers. With the right strategy in place, you can have a fair share of insurance clients.

Selling insurance is not an easy job. It can be exhausting to keep prospects engaged over the phone.

Gone are the days when marketers crammed spammy sales messages into their content mix as they fought to get into their customer's bank accounts.

Let's cover the 7 best sales automation strategies that you can start using today to propel your sales team to the next level.

For you to have a more effective cold calling routine and make your life more organized, we reached out to sales experts for the essential tools you need for tele sales success

This is why salespeople should consider taking an assertive approach. Assertiveness does more than impress customers. It helps engage them and builds profitable relationships

Video has experienced a surge in popularity across multimedia platforms. It’s now the most popular form of online content. Here's how you can leverage it for prospecting.

There's no getting around it – making cold calls can be a daunting task. But if you use the right opening lines, you'll have a better chance of succeeding.

Sales promotion ideas that sell your services

It can be tough to cold call someone. You're putting yourself out there, and you don't know how the other person will react. One of the biggest fears people have when cold calling is that they'll say something that will alienate their prospects.

If your company experiences a data breach or comes under cyber attack, ignorance is futile. Understand how vulnerable you are to cyber threats to take the right course of action. Here are the top 5 cyber security risks every digital marketer should beware of in 2023.

Believe it or not, communities can be found in the marketing industry. That means that there are many communities that are all about improving search engine optimization (SEO) and branding.

We reached out to over 30 sales experts for advice on their top tips and techniques for cold calling. Read on to learn about the pre-call process, how to get over the anxiety and how to close the sale and follow up.

Every business that aspires to success shares one clear goal - to make sales. Methods for achieving this might differ from business to business.

Cold calling software is one of the highest ROI tools for modern sales teams. Sales teams today often rely on a lot of disjointed tools and processes to reach the right leads and sell them products and services.

The five best ways of generating inbound leads through Linkedin.

5 simple ways you can start to build your brand identity and connect on a deeper level with subscribers.

Sales Promotion: What is Sales Promotion and how to use it?

How can you build connections and get insurance clients if you don't meet them face-to-face? It's conceivable, which is excellent news! But you have to learn what to do and what not to do.

Outbound lead generation is necessary to generate new customers.

Top 10 books on sales and marketing you need to read

The sounds in our personal and professional spaces not only affect productivity but can also have a huge impact on our health and wellbeing

Five powerful ways you can get creative in using testimonials and reviews in your email marketing content.

Understanding what makes your prospect tick on a human level is the key to understanding their pain points. That is where Behavioural Science can help you.

Compared to other verticals, the solar sales cycle takes longer. Even compared to Enterprise-level software sales, solar panels usually take more time before a customer goes ahead.

How to get meetings booked? Here are 5 outstanding sales outreach tips.

The five best ways of generating inbound leads through LinkedIn.

This post describes the unique characteristics of B2B eCommerce and some common misconceptions that can confuse and drive B2B companies off track in their digital transformation strategies.

Look no further for the best sales-focused podcasts.

Videos are worth 1.000x times more words

Unfortunately, and in pretty much the same way, potential customers or clients can also ghost you in business. Multiple clients can just disappear abruptly without any kind of explanation.

Learn how you can ensure that your team hits targets consistently.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are getting used for all sorts of purposes in business today. As a business, there’s a lot that you can leverage from the power of AI and ML.

Marketing agencies: Do you invest in your own inbound marketing campaigns? CrankWheel explains why you need this, sooner rather than later.

Customer expectations have changed. Here are 10 tips on how to adapt your customer services.

Struggling to keep your sales team motivated: Top 8 ways to motivate a sales team

Learn the nine most effective methods for getting more clients and the best thing is that you don’t have to work super hard to achieve this goal.

Sales presentations can have a big impact on conversion rates: Here are 5 leading solutions for increasing conversion rates.

What if you could get in front of more potential clients than ever before? It would likely mean a much greater chance for success, especially when it comes to premium renewals.

Just like any other business, the main concern of your digital agency is to make a profit. But in a competitive market such as digital marketing, you’ll need to have the right prices to attract customers.

Here are 10 steps on how many use cloud calling to guarantee a successful campaign

Virtual sales calls should make the same impact as phone calls and in-person meetings and ultimately, produce better outcomes, such as higher conversion rates.

Follow this guide to discover - and avoid - nine virtual selling blunders that make customers think twice.

With the rise of new sales and marketing strategies, enterprises of all sizes are losing focus on testing different methods to increase their sales.

Want to understand brand equity, and how your company can create and benefit from this? Read and save this CrankWheel article today

CrankWheel has been recognized as a Top Performer by SourceForge, the world’s largest software reviews and comparison website.

Email marketing is one of the most profitable and easy to start forms of marketing.

The Icelandic bootstrapped startup CrankWheel has acquired all assets of the Danish startup Accordium. The acquisition (price undisclosed), includes technical infrastructure and intellectual property as well as the Accordium brand and customer base.

Are you a sales engineer? Here are 5 skills you need to work on to close more deals.

What is a hybrid sales strategy and how to implement it into your sales team?

Getting customers to contact you on their own is every entrepreneur’s dream, but it doesn’t just happen overnight. There are certain steps you need to take to fine-tune your inbound sales process for success.

CrankWheel was ranked among top solutions to help businesses manage large or small call centers

The Ultimate Guide to Telesales gives you all the know-how you need to convert more leads over the phone

Digital agency founder: Are you struggling to achieve growth? Try seven tactics, as outlined in this CrankWheel article.

For ages, businesses have been running their marketing and sales teams as independent silos. Marketing teams have their own methods to generate leads for the sales team, while the sales teams follow their process to recognize qualified leads for conversion.

So many sales conversations are happening over virtual sales platforms right now. CrankWheel is one of those solutions that experienced a surge in use in 2020.

Before you get into the actual business, what is the first step? Lead generation. No matter what, but a large part of the organizational success depends on quality leads. But, the question for many is, ‘How can I generate sales leads?’

High-performing salespeople are worth their weight in gold. They can make a huge difference to a company. Other less successful salespeople will have a negative effect on a team.

Today, every campaign must compete and deliver across multiple channels - your customers don’t live in a single app or network, and neither can you.

Do you have a sales process? If not; take a look why this is mission-critical for sales teams that want to succeed

Are you generating enough sales leads with your outbound sales calls? Take a look at this article for how to make them more impactful.

Does it get annoying when Zoom doesn’t work? Here’s ways to fix it, and a Zoom alternative

CloudTelecom provides a voice service called Mobabiji which enables users to make and receive company calls on their smartphones wherever they are in Japan. With the outbreak of Covid 19 and the following increase in remote work, Mobabiji customers were requesting a service that would support remote work even further.

SaaS is a booming sector: Do you know how to make a new career for yourself in SaaS sales?

For any business, processes are important. They set the tone for how a business is conducted, how efficient they are, and how well they reach consumers.

Screen sharing has enabled users to become more successful by complementing their phone calls with visual elements. See case studies from users in insurance, mortgage advisors, tax consultants, digital marketing, SEO services, onboarding, customer success and business directories. CrankWheel has enabled telesales teams to become more effective, customer service representatives to become more successful, field sales teams to be more efficient and helped sales teams to move to a hybrid sales model.

Do you fully understand buyer intent, and how to make the most of that throughout the sales funnel?

Sales Managers: Do you know how to make the most of performance reviews?

How do you identify your niche market? Here are 5 killer ideas.

Top 10 apps every salesperson needs to know about and use

LinkedIn Sales Insights: What is it, and would your sales team benefit from it?

Need a way to increase conversion rates? Take prospects on a journey through 3 layers of sales questions

Do you want sales to work smarter? This article looks at seven good reasons why you should automate more of the sales process

Is your company customer-centric? Winning and retaining customers means putting them first, and in this article we look at how you can become more customer-centric.

A 5-step process for salespeople selling to multiple decision makers and budget holders

Taking too long to get deals through the sales cycle? Take a look how companies use CrankWheel to convert more leads faster.

How do you overcome objections in sales? We look at the most common objections, and how to overcome them.

Are you looking for training for your sales team? Here are some options you need to know about

Were expos and trade shows a crucial part of your sales funnel? Here are ways to make up for missed opportunities online.

Here are six signals that a salesperson has what it takes to make the leap to the sales leader level.

Even before Covid, buyers were becoming increasingly reliant on digital channels. We look at what this means for sales teams in the years ahead.

Rule number one: customers are always right. If they’re not, rule number one applies. This isn't an understatement. In fact, when you run a business, you'd do many things to delight your customers.

When it comes to winning clients, it can take time. Salespeople who persist are much more likely to convert prospects, with 80% of leads converting after 5 or more touch points.

Sind Sie bereit? Hier sind die 7 wichtigsten Ziele für Vertriebsleiter im Jahr 2020!

Are you happy with the messaging and content of every sales email, presentation, and everything else your sales team sends out? If not, then you need to read this article.

Whether you are an insurance advisor, a doctor, an accountant, a hairdresser, a real estate agent, an engineer, a marketer, or in any other line of work, we have a hot tip for you. If you do not already have your own personal online presence, your career would greatly benefit from one.

Lead generation is the process of creating and distributing resources that will attract your ideal customers to your website.

The best tools to help you keep full control of sales pipelines and improve lead turnaround rates by huge numbers. In this post, we will review ten top tools that streamline the activities and improve the productivity of sales teams.

Want to know how to use mirroring and psychology in sales? Take a look at this article

One of the key factors, when it comes to converting a lead is taking a custom approach. Tailoring demos and pitches to what a potential customer actually needs.

Do you go the extra mile to delight your customers? Does your product or service meet your customers’ needs?

How prepared are you for every sales call? Let’s look at the most effective way to do prospect research

Soft sell or hard sell: Which approach do you think is most effective?

Always be closing is outdated: Here’s a better way to sell to prospects

Has the pandemic changed sales? Yes, and here's how to get tactical and strategic when selling

Here is the fourth article in our four-part CrankWheel training series: Solution Selling: Overcome objections, sell strategically and follow-up effectively

In this third part of our series, we look at sales presentations and the role they plan in solution selling.

Taking this approach means putting yourself in the mindset of your customers. Getting to know what they need, including specific and broader pain points within their business, is crucial.

Welcome to our four-part training series: Solution Selling: What is it, and when should you use it?

Do you already use a CRM? If not, here are 10 of the best to take a look at for small and medium business

Inbound Sales have changed. But sales haven’t changed, as such. However, the ways in which inbound teams operate have changed, which means sales leaders sticking to the following playbook

LinkedIn has revolutionized the way businesses connect with each other. Make the most out of this platform by using its Sales Navigator tool.

When it comes to capturing warm inbound sales leads these days, you are facing challenging circumstances. Everyone is.

Need an extra Christmas gift idea? 10 sales books well worth reading, as recommended by CrankWheel

Today is all about curating personalized emails and sending them to a segregated and pre-defined list of recipients, the age of targeted email is upon us, and we bet it works!

There is always hope. Even though 2020 has been a horrible year and the pandemic is not going away anytime soon, we need to prepare for next year. What can you expect, and how can you prepare?

With the impact of Covid-19 around the world, businesses everywhere have been forced to adapt quickly.

Every year, we have a custom designed CrankWheel t-shirt made for the holidays. This year, we think we have a great one.

Planning for 2021: How to thrive during this ‘new normal’?

Has Lockdown 2 started in your country? Here’s what sales teams can do differently, to make it easier

We reached a pretty big milestone for CrankWheel on November 7th, when we released a public-facing update of our software for the 100th time. Internally, we number our releases as M1, M2, and so forth, where M stands for milestone. This one was M100.

Material designed to support sales conversations is crucial. You need every advantage to support sales conversation. Here's everything you need to have in place.

Why you should always book future meetings on a call, not after

Long-term sales playbook for working from home: Field Sales

Tired of hearing, “Now isn't the best time?” Here are 15 of the most common ways to overcome that objection.

Are you used to this new normal: How to set and hit sales targets?

It looks like working from home is going to be the norm for some time. Here are 7 ways to succeed in remote sales.

Working from home: Are you looking for ways to make your remote sales skills stronger?

Conversion rates have never been more important. We look at how to increase them, with instant online demos and active listening.

Sales integrity: Why it’s essential, and how you get it

Without pain, there isn't a need, and when buyers don’t need anything, there isn’t the chance of a sale. Here are ways to identify pain points and present the most effective solutions for prospects.

Not every deal goes to plan, and in many cases, compromise is necessary to salvage them. We look at how you do that, without losing too much margin.

Upselling current customers is more profitable than acquiring new ones. Here are 10 ways you can increase customer lifetime value.

LinkedIn now has over 700 million users worldwide. In this article, we look at the right ways to use LinkedIn and Instant Online Demos to generate sales leads.

Sales during times of uncertainty are completely different than under normal economic conditions. We look at how companies need to adapt.

Data getting you down? Try and simpler, more time-effective approach to sales KPI management

Want to provide an awesome B2B sales experience? Click to find out more.

Have you considered these 5 ways to use instant online demos? Click to find out more

Want to build and maintain strong virtual sales relationships? Read this article to find out more

10 ways you can improve outbound emails

Design presentations that wow sales prospects in virtual demos. Here is what you should include.

Are you looking to choose a set of communication tools for your office? Check this guest post from Brosix for help!

Worried about the future? 5 ways to stay steady and keep growing.

Selling successfully means getting as good at virtual sales as we were in person. This does mean taking new approaches.

Is your customer service team working from home for the foreseeable future? Here is how to keep everyone motivated and looking after customers well

2020 sales targets: are you still working on old assumptions? Here is how to consider resting these goals

Is your outbound sales team working from home? Here is how they stay productive

How do you effectively handle inbound leads while working from home?

In today’s digital era, it has never been more relevant to consider hosting a virtual conference.

Tired of chasing hard-to-reach prospects? Read how companies are dramatically reducing the sales cycle.

Want a better solution for customer service calls when your agents need to screen-share?

Does your customer service team need to work from home: How to adjust?

Sales team working remotely: How can companies adapt? Four ways sales teams can quickly adapt to remote working.

A better way to shorten the sales cycle for hard-to-reach prospects

We put together this webinar series to help train you on the tools and techniques you might need in addition to your already great telephone skills.

Practical steps you need to think about when going remote

Here are the steps CrankWheel has taken to ensure its business continuity through the crisis

Worried about the impact of Coronavirus? Here is some practical advice on remote working

Sales managers: are you tired of having forecasting problems?

Want to cut your sales cycle in half? Here is how to use online screen sharing to do so

Five ways to get through to hard-to-reach prospects and increase dealflow into the pipeline

It’s hard to grow when you’re small. Without a marketing budget you can’t attract new customers. Right?

If you want to know more about how CrankWheel got started, this interview just published on StarterStory is a good, long read.

Go from two or more calls to one, to get the deals your sales team needs to win.

Want your team to close more deals in 2023? Here are 10 exercises for improving sales performance

Do you use sales scripts? Here is a guide to making them useful

Do your inbound and outbound teams follow a process? You need one!

In many companies, there is a policy "the customer is always right".

Is your sales plan ready for 2020? Here are the essentials you need to include

Want to be more confident when doing online demos? Have a read of this

Sales Enablement: How sales teams benefit from having an enablement function providing content, information and the right tech tools.

Following-up successfully is a difficult game. Here are 7 emails you need to use every week to keep prospects engaged

LinkedIn has over 660 million on the platform: Do you want to engage potential leads more effectively?

Too many salespeople are passive listeners. Are you?

How to use performance reviews in sales more effectively

Want to generate more leads on LinkedIn? Follow our 6-step guide

Are you ready? Here are the Top 7 goals for sales leaders

Tired of hearing, “Now isn’t a good time?” Here are 15 ways to overcome this particular objection

With 2020 fast approaching, there are some sales tactics that need to be dropped. Are you still using any of these 5?

How to increase a telesales team’s effectiveness? 5 tools and practices.

The most effective sales teams use sophisticated sales cadences which are built on real data insights. The steps that you include and the timing of those activities are vital components of a winning cadence.

Need a cost effective tech stack for a sales team? Read our ChromeOS sales guide

10 open-ended questions to start a sales conversation

How to respond when a prospect asks for a discount?

If you or your boss isn’t ready to allocate budget to this yet, remember you can get around the limit by searching for people’s names or through the connections you already have.

Do your sales slow down in summer? How to get over the slump and avoid one next year.

Sales is technology and data-driven: What is in your tech stack?

Navigating multiple decisions makers? Here is the four step process you need

Remember those really simple math problems from elementary (or primary) school? You know the ones. Where there is a picture with like, a certain number of apples in one pile and some more in another.

Need to generate more qualified leads? Here is the why, what, how and who of messaging: Simplify and amplify

How to follow up effectively? Here are 7 approaches without saying sorry.

If your message isn’t on target, then chances are that the target audience isn't going to be receptive to what you are pitching. As they say, you only have one chance to make a good sales pitch.

Looking to scale your sales team? It’s always worth conducting an audit first

Learn how to sell over messaging apps like WhatsApp and FB

Want more successful sales consultations? Here are 5 steps to take.

Here are 9 books we recommend for sales leaders

Learn 4 great tactics to reach your prospects through mobile marketing.

How you can close more deals, faster, and get more qualified leads into the pipeline?

Generating leads is job one. Qualifying them is job two. Here are 17 qualifying questions to get the ball rolling.

Want to get better at closing? 5 techniques that will help you get a deal over the finish line.

Worried about hitting your number this year? Use emerging best practices and the right strategy to make revenue more consistent and repeatable and hit your target this year.

Recruiting top sales talent is not easy. Here are 5 tips for sourcing and selecting the team you need.

How can you support your sales team with sales enablement materials and processes?

Want to shorten your sales cycle and hit targets? Combine LinkedIn Sales Navigator with instant online demos.

In several regions across the world, economic growth is slowing. Look for ways to maintain fast growth, even when GDP is reducing.

Reviews and referrals are powerful drivers of new leads and sales. So why do so many salespeople forget to make them part of the process? Here are 3 ways to make this automatic.

Cold calls are an essential part of the sales process. Four steps for getting over phone phobia and making productive and proactive sales calls.

Need an effective proven way to hit target this year? Allocate resources and sales team time using the purchase segmentation model.

Does your sales team do a lot of screen sharing calls? Need them to convert more of these? Here are our three top tips to succeed.

Need to increase revenue this quarter? Have you looked at your key accounts? Here are 6 ways to increase revenue from account management.

An unhappy customer is always an opportunity. Act quickly, make sure they're heard and use this as a learning experience: 5 ways to turn a complaint into a brand advocate.

Sales is as much about numbers as relationships. If you aren’t booking in enough meetings, you won’t have a chance to build the relationships you need to make your number.

Building trust takes work. After you’ve talked with a potential client, here are four ways to take trust to a new level.

Remote Control, a new feature from CrankWheel for inside sales and customer success teams. Instead of trying to talk a customer or sales lead through a product or service, you can show them.

For an inside sales team, f you want to hit target, a proactive approach is the only way forward. One way to increase conversions as an inside sales agent is using screen sharing.

One of the most effective ways to hit target is to identify and act on sales opportunities quickly. Spotting and acting on opportunities are two different parts of the process; the role of a skilled sales agent is to connect the two, quickly.

Tired of a slow first quarter and a panicked rush at the end of the year? Find a way to secure revenue and hit target earlier in the year.

Ever wished to let your viewer remote control your screen? With CrankWheel, you can now, all without a download or any preparation.

One of the reasons teams and individual salespeople don't close enough deals is a poor qualification process. Follow these four steps to a successful sales qualification.

When it comes to developing new product features and services, who should have the power? Should your sales leads and pipeline get a vote or should companies stick to product roadmaps?

Need to make a positive impression when you get through to a decision maker? Have a reason for calling, start positive, frame the conversation, know how to qualify the call and be prepared to take the next steps.

Sales is a race against time. But how do you keep prospects engaged who aren't ready to buy yet? How much time do you invest in this activity? Here are 3 easy ways to stay on their radar.

Don’t be afraid of the phone. Now is the time to start making outbound sales calls if you want to hit your year-end target.

Take action - follow these four simple steps - to improve the state of your 2019 sales pipeline. Reduce the stress of whether you will make your new 2019 target.

Don’t assume in an SMB that achieving buy-in is easy when you are only dealing with a few people. Internal politics, budgets and other factors can make this more challenging. In this article, we explore how you get buy-in when talking to a small team of stakeholders.

Does your company sell services to small businesses? Do you know how to qualify these leads? Follow these five easy steps

Show don't tell is a powerful option to have when talking to sales prospect. Sure, you can tell them all about your product, its wonderful features and benefits: or you can show them.

Selling a complex product can make it a challenge for a sales team to hit targets. Top line numbers can stretch into the distance and sales cycles can get longer as salespeople struggle to sell the value of the product to potential clients.

“Referral leads convert 30% better than leads generated from other marketing channels”, with B2B referrals closing at rates above 70%, according to the latest research.

Entering a new market can be a longer and more challenging journey than many founders imagine. In our always-on, hyper-connected world, we imagine that engaging with people in other countries gives us an insight into new markets.

Keeping sales prospects engaged is not easy. Cold calling is increasingly inefficient and ineffective. It can take as many as 18 calls to get a potential buyer on the phone.

As soon as a startup closes a funding round the clock starts ticking. As a founding team, you have targets to hit. It is almost impossible to do that without dedicated full-time salespeople.

Cold calling is not an easy game. Getting who you want on the phone is a time-consuming task. Despite increasing reluctance and a mistaken belief that “cold calling is dead”, speaking to a potential sales lead is still more effective than sending an email or making contact using social media.

Customers love getting something for free. Since the early days of software startups, SaaS companies in particular encourage new clients to sign-up with Freemium pricing models.

Generating sales leads from cold calls isn’t easy. And in many ways, inside sales is getting tougher. Fewer people, especially younger executives and buyers are willing to take cold calls. Gatekeepers are just as watchful as ever. Hustling, hard work and persistence is the name of the game when it comes to inside sales. Many inside sales executives need to use a mix of phone calls, emails and social media interactions to get a decision maker on the phone.

Drumming up new business isn’t an easy task. Even if you’ve got a strong brand reputation and customers in the sector you’re focusing on, it takes time and effort. Multiple calls and emails to get through to a decision maker or internal influencer.

Sending a text. It’s quick, convenient and unobtrusive. You don't need to worry about interrupting someone's work or meeting when you send a text. In sales, sending a text has become increasingly normal.

Summer, especially during August when buyers and decision makers go on holiday can be a slow month for sales teams. Decisions get delayed. Momentum is lost. Deals can even evaporate in the heat.

Customers are constantly on the hunt for bargains. Whether it’s scouring the web for coupon codes or cashing in on last minute deals to save some money, retail shoppers love to save.

Using the CrankWheel JavaScript API to integrate with Google Analytics.

For sales leaders, there is nothing worse than knowing your team is off-target. In high-growth companies, failing to hit a monthly or quarterly goal can have a huge impact. You could even risk missing an annual target that could make the difference between breaking even or going under.

Sales is evolving. Not only are we operating in a low-growth economy in most developed regions of the world, but how buyers behave is changing. Sales managers and account managers need to evolve and adapt to survive and thrive.

Sales is a numbers game, as any seasoned professional knows. Hitting your number, and making sure your team hits target, is the name of the game. In software companies, maintaining that consistent growth momentum is an even bigger challenge.

Several years ago then I worked as a Sales Manager at Omada I learned the value of using online meetings to qualify my opportunities and I experienced how it helped me to increase my sales productivity with 5x.

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the words “business networking”? If it’s of awkward small talk, nervous laughter and sweaty palms then you’re certainly not alone. Networking isn’t high on the agenda for many people, but if it came down to it what would you rather do: go out and meet potential new customers/clients or watch your sales pipeline dry up?

If you’re a small business trying to make a name for yourself online, inbound marketing is seen as the go-to tactic. Inbound marketing involves creating a bunch of marketing materials — blog posts, videos, social media posts, ebooks, etc. — and putting them out there to draw buyers in. Everyone recommends inbound marketing and there are thousands of agencies dedicated to providing content creation as a service. We highly recommend it too. But it’s not the only approach to take.

We recently hosted a well-received webinar covering lessons we've learned from using product demos in our own sales pipeline, as well as lessons learned from seeing how CrankWheel customers use Instant Demos in different sales models. View a replay of the webinar here!

When it comes to B2B sales, everything is focused on the ideal customer. Company ethos, mission statements, marketing campaigns and sales materials are all crafted to appeal to the target audience. And rightly so.

Most side projects and companies start with 2 or 3 founders: hard working, committed, believing in a grand vision… Then comes the time to hire your first employees, which can be a daunting process. Who should you hire first? When is the right time? How exactly can you convince great people to join a company they’ve never heard of?

GDPR. Four letters that have struck fear into marketing teams across Europe. What’s been an elephant in the room for so long finally comes into force on May 25, 2018. But what exactly is the General Data Protection Regulation and how is it going to affect you?

79 percent of all marketing leads never convert into sales. For all of the good work marketing does in producing content and engaging website and social visitors, only 21 percent of leads are any good.

Many Brick-and-mortar stores that failed to adapt to digital technologies are no longer around, while others struggle to compete.

According to Transparency Market Research (TMP), the SaaS market will reach $164.29 billion by 2022. The IDC says that SaaS delivery is growing five times faster than the traditional software market, with cloud software accounting for $1 of every $4.59 spent on software.

Watch our webinar that gives an inside look at our deep integration with Talkdesk.

Customers don’t appear out of thin air. In fact, the process of turning a stranger into your customer includes a great number of actions, where lead generation is a core element. There are some proven lead generation methods like newsletters, PPC advertising, or webinars. That said, you shouldn’t be limited to these tactics.

3 Chromebook tools for collaboration, screen sharing and sales meetings: Google Hangouts, Appear.in and CrankWheel.

A long time ago, I was a Sales Rep for a company that was transitioning from offering traditional break/fix computer services to offering 24×7 monitoring and support for a flat monthly fee.

How well do you know your customer? Well enough to know what they’re willing to spend money on, what they like and dislike about your products?

In the early stages of growth, pricing is one of the defining features of any software startup. Going to market with a product that isn’t priced to offer value is a fast track to failure.

CrankWheel just got supercharged by partnering with Talkdesk to become a featured screen sharing solution in their AppConnect marketplace.

Sales training is built on a billable hour business model and the sector, from freelance consultants up to multinational firms, is a multi-billion dollar industry.

Time in startups is a fast-moving concept. In sales, for a recently funded startup (A or B round), 9 to 18 months may seem like all the time in the world; but, for founders, it really isn’t. A runway is only useful if you take off (achieve profitability, start self-funding) or extend it, which is far from guaranteed as the investment climate cools down. Generating a profit has never been more important, which means every demo counts.

First Facebook quietly added workplace chat apps and screen sharing. Now they’re adding a screen share feature to the streaming platform Facebook Live.

Sales professionals in any sector don't have it easy. But when you’re up against established legacy competitors or trying to gain traction in a new market or vertical, you’ve usually got a tough journey ahead.

Sales managers in software startups face multiple challenges every day. Maintain growth. Hit target. Manage people. Source leads. Close deals. Look after key accounts and partners. It never ends.

Sales teams need to keep pipelines busy and active. A quiet pipeline, without enough prospects or enough likely prospects, should be seen as a red flag to managers and co-founders.

As soon as an early-stage founder secures Venture-backing, the angle of the hill you are running up gets steeper. Now you need to scale.

Software is created to solve problems. Salespeople work to make sure that as many potential clients see how your software solves their problem. Saves time. Saves money. Makes a process more efficient.

When it comes to scaling a Venture-backed startup, figuring out staffing numbers isn’t an exact science. Founders are keen to increase marketing and sales team numbers since these directly contribute to revenue. Or at least, that is the idea.

Potential clients want to see how your software can do what you claim. Demos are an effective and popular way to give prospects a tour, wherever they are in the world.

When you work with and around enough software startups, you often hear similar phrases, from staff and founders confident that a free trial is a final stage in the sales funnel.

For a long time there’s been an intense debate between onsite and online sales presentations.

We were hosting UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School students for International MBA Consultancy Week (from the 5th to 8th of June).

Selling software should, intuitively, be as easy as the software we are selling is to use. Technology is constantly evolving, but the sales process remains largely unchanged.