• Qualify on the First Call
• Establish Expectations
• Understand Multiple Viewpoints
• Make Information Sharing Easy
• Have Empathy, Be Patient

Read More →

Generally speaking, when the ticket price of a product/service in a B2B transaction is low, it shouldn’t take too many calls or meetings to land a sale.

Read More →

Once you’ve had a conversation with a sales lead, every salesperson wants a smooth journey to a conversion. Unfortunately, objections often slow the process down, or can derail it completely.

Read More →

With everything everyone has been through, since March 2020, it’s understandable if your sales teams skills aren’t as sharp as they once were. Sales training can help refresh skills, while supporting these new ways of working.

Read More →

Have you had success at events, conferences and expos in the past?

Read More →

Some of the best sales agents, whether inbound or outbound, are a bit selfish and focused on one thing: Hitting targets and making money. That really isn’t it a bad thing, you want them hungry to hit those goals. But at the same time, some of them are equally capable of helping everyone else on the team, and this means they could make brilliant sales managers.

Read More →

Gartner is predicting that 80% of sales will happen in digital channels by 2025. Covid-19 has forced a sudden shift on changes that were already happening, with B2B buyers and sellers increasingly reliant on digital channels before March 2020.

Read More →

Rule number one: customers are always right. If they’re not, rule number one applies.

Read More →

Persistent salespeople keep going and get results. 80% of deals take five or more calls, emails, messages, video calls and instant demos to close, whereas 44% of salespeople give up after the first attempted follow-up call.

Read More →

Während sich 2019 dem Ende zuneigt und 2020 immer näher rückt, ist es für Vertriebsleiter ganz natürlich, über die Fortschritte in diesem Jahr nachzudenken und sich Gedanken darüber zu machen, wie man die Ziele für das nächste Jahr erreichen kann. Denn denken Sie daran: Sie sind nur so gut wie Ihr letztes Quartal.

Read More →

Tone of Voice: What is it, why does it matter?

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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

Read More →

In 2021, sales managers and business owners are facing new challenges when connecting with leads and closing deals. Now that most teams are working remotely and sales conversations with prospects have moved to video calling platforms, it’s easy to feel discouraged and overwhelmed.

Read More →

In sales, mirroring and psychology is a way of engaging prospects on a deeper level. Also known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), it’s a series of techniques, words and phrases used to encourage prospects to take positive actions.

Read More →

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. And that means putting in the work in the beginning in order to reap the benefits later.

Read More →

I’m sure you’ll agree that the customer is a key determinant to the success of any business.

Read More →

How prepared are you for every sales call?

Read More →

Remember life before the pandemic. You could wander into shops, casually, and browse products. It didn’t matter if you weren’t shopping for anything in particular.

Read More →

“Always Be Closing” is a phrase Alec Baldwin’s character, Blake, a salesperson uses in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. Typical of the money hungry early 1990s, the salespeople are told they need to close every deal relentlessly, convincing clients using intimidation, arm twisting and lying.

Read More →

Sales during this ongoing pandemic has changed. How we sell is different than the approaches many sales teams took before it started, back in March 2020.

Read More →

In the fourth part of this series, we look at what to do after sending a sales proposal: how you overcome objections, sell more strategically, and crucially, follow-up to get the results you want.

Read More →

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

Read More →

In the second part of this series, we look at the key to solution selling: assessing what prospects need. Active listening is essential to this, as is asking the right questions.

Read More →

Solution selling is an approach that’s been working for salespeople since the 1980s. It’s not revolutionary, unless you look at how you currently sell and realise you need to make improvements to get better results.

Read More →

Now is a good time to start considering whether you need new tech tools for next year. Are you already using a CRM? If not, is this something you’d benefit from?

Read More →

Before this pandemic, inbound sales teams almost always worked in the office.

Read More →

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

Read More →

When it comes to capturing warm inbound sales leads these days, you are facing challenging circumstances. Everyone is. Marketers are all in the same boat. You are fighting hard to get the attention of your target audience against the distracting effect of the rest of the Internet, and dozens of competitors.

Read More →

What a year 2020 has been!

Read More →

Let’s cut to the chase.

Read More →

2020 has been a horrendous year, in many ways. A global pandemic has swept the world, causing death, disruption and major economic upset.

Read More →

With the impact of Covid-19 around the world, businesses everywhere have been forced to adapt quickly. This virus is far too deadly to go about ‘business as usual.’ Instead, the ‘new normal’ we are all living and working in has forced companies to ensure staff are working from home (WFH).

Read More →

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

Read More →

We are in a global pandemic, all in this together, living and working in a ‘new normal.’ How do you make plans for the year ahead under these circumstances?

Read More →

In the UK, in response to surging Coronavirus numbers, the government has implemented a second national lockdown, alongside other European countries struggling with the deadly pandemic.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

Sales enablement material has never been more important.

Read More →

Sales conversations are rarely over in one call.

Read More →

Does Covid-19 mean the end of the office as we know it?

Read More →

As 2020 rolls into the final quarter, sales teams and leaders are looking forward to the new year. Some of the many challenges companies are faced with are closing as many deals as possible and getting revenue in a healthy position for 2021.

Read More →

Could anyone have imagined 2020 would be so affected by something the majority of us hadn’t heard of at the end of last year?

Read More →

With the last quarter of 2020 fast approaching, a new year is on the horizon.

Read More →

Sales conversion rates are crucial right now. Sales teams need to hit targets and close as many deals as possible.

Read More →

Conversion rates have never been more important.

Read More →

Sales integrity is an undervalued but ultimately essential skill. Buyers need to trust salespeople. Especially now. When everyone is scrambling to hit targets, buyers could be inclined to be more wary and cautious.

Read More →

Have you ever pitched at a prospect who didn’t buy? Of course you have. Every salesperson has done pitches, calls and proposals that fall flat. It isn’t fun.

Read More →

Life and business doesn’t always go to plan. Both throw curve balls at most people on a regular basis. Now we are all living and attempting to work through one of the most disruptive events in recent history, certainly in living memory. Nothing could have prepared the world for Coronavirus (Covid-19), a devastating and deadly global pandemic.

Read More →

Research shows that the top 10% of customers spend 3x more per order than the regular customer base, and the top 1% spend 5x more per order. However, in my experience, most SaaS businesses still focus on acquiring as many new customers as possible.

Read More →

LinkedIn now has over 700 million users worldwide. This Microsoft-owned social platform is without a doubt the most effective way for sales teams to connect with buyers and new customers.

Read More →

Sales during times of uncertainty are completely different than under normal economic conditions.

Read More →

One of the challenges sales leaders are struggling with is too much data. Before CRMs and other apps and software, sales was about personal relationships. All of that data was in people’s heads, on bits of paper, and sometimes emails.

Read More →

Being a sales rep, whether you are doing outbound or inbound sales, has never been more challenging. Whatever the economy and some sectors were doing before Covid-19, this has made the operating environment more difficult.

Read More →

Around the world, many countries are still in some form of lockdown. Coronavirus (Covid-19) has changed the world, and the sales landscape with it.

Read More →

In sales, especially for field sales teams, face-to-face meetings are crucial for establishing and maintaining strong client relationships.

Read More →

Now may be a good time for you to double down on outbound sales and email messages. Aim to win as many new prospects into the pipeline as possible. Achieving this means writing and sending emails and messages that get opened.

Read More →

Presentations, also known as sales or pitch decks, are a key part of product demos. You need to wow customers and sales prospects. Especially now. For the foreseeable future, sales meetings/demos are staying virtual, which makes the visual more important than ever.

Read More →

Are you looking to choose a set of communication tools for your office?

Read More →

Since the turn of the new Millennium, the world has already weathered and come out of the other side of several economic storms. In 2001, it was the end of the dot com bubble and start of one recession, following 9/11.

Read More →

Coronavirus: How long will it last, and will we ever get back to face-to-face sales meetings? Questions that for sales leaders, and sales teams, are unavoidable at present.

Read More →

No one imagined the world would be struck with a pandemic in 2020. Coronavirus (Covid-19) has, without a doubt, changed the world as we know it. It’s tragic, devastating and scary. We may never go back to ‘normal’, and for now a new normal is asserting itself.

Read More →

No one expected Coronavirus (Covid-19) to hit the world in 2020. It’s devastating, tragic for those affected, and we aren’t out of the other side yet. Economically, it’s a global disaster, pushing the world into a recession. Some regions and countries are going to be worse off than others.

Read More →

On busy days, when an outbound sales team is making calls and sending emails and messages, booking demos and meetings, and closing deals, there is a buzz of energy in the room.

Read More →

Before Coronavirus swept through the world, remote work was a growing trend. In the tech and startup world, thousands of companies were operating with completely remote teams, or part of the team was remote some of the time.

Read More →

In today’s digital era, it has never been more relevant to consider hosting a virtual conference. There are a number of ways you can create value for your users. One common way is through events – like conferences, meetups, or user-groups – where customers, clients, industry leaders, and other experts have the opportunity to exchange experiences and knowledge.

Read More →

Outbound sales teams: What is one of your biggest pain points, once you’ve got leads in the pipeline? Are your leads hard-to-reach, so it needs to be easy for them to consider a solution and say yes? Does it take more than one call to qualify a lead, and then close a deal? Do sales leads drop out of the pipeline?

Read More →

Customer service calls aren’t always easy. In some cases, a call can be substituted for a self-serve experience. Customers are adept at finding out what they need online, or through logging into online accounts (e.g. FAQs, AI-powered bots, videos and other solutions companies roll-out solve a lot of problems) where answers to questions can be found.

Read More →

Working from home is one of the most effective ways to combat the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). At present, global confirmed cases are over 340,000 with 14,600 deaths, according to the WHO. Almost every country and territory has been impacted in some way.

Read More →

Worldwide, as of 22 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) is reporting over 290,000 cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19), with nearly 13,000 deaths across 187 countries and territories.

Read More →

Sales are either transactional and relationship-based. In most cases, when sales are transactional they are relatively low-budget, a prospect can make a decision quickly, and price plays an important factor.

Read More →

A lot of folks these days are transitioning from field sales to inside sales. We put together this webinar series to help give you the tools and training that you’ll need.

Read More →

COVID-19, also known as Coronavirus is spreading fast. We have to acknowledge that this is a scary and rapid developing situation, with scientists around the world working on vaccines and ways of reducing the spread of the disease. One of the most sensible precautions people can take is to self-isolate and practice social distancing.

Read More →

In light of COVID-19, we want you to know that you can rest assured that CrankWheel as a company is in excellent shape. We will continue to operate, and improve our product and service, throughout the crisis.

Read More →

Coronavirus is spreading rapidly through the world. As of 16 March 2020, there are over 164,000 confirmed cases, with many more suspected, likely, or undiagnosed, and 6,500 deaths.

Read More →

Pipeline management is a serious challenge for every sales leader. Anyone who leads a sales team grapples with the same problem. Forecasting is not easy. It’s not an exact science.

Read More →

Sales are never straightforward. Sales managers and teams across a wide range of sectors and verticals are all doing the same thing, but often in very different ways. In some sectors, sales are quick and transactional. Price playing a big factor. Often, this is when suppliers are selling products and services in a B2B setting that are quickly consumed or used in some way, such as supplies into the construction trade, for example.

Read More →

In the world of sales, there are easy and hard-to-reach prospects. One isn’t better than the other. Having to work to reach a prospect doesn’t make them any less valuable or viable than one that can be contacted across a dozen channels.

Read More →

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

Read More →

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

Read More →

How do you reach sales leads who aren’t online? How do you contact those hard-to-reach customers? Depending on your sector, products or services, this could be a challenge your sales team is struggling with every day.

Read More →

Every sales manager wants a team of high achievers. Salespeople who pick up the phone, send emails and messages, attend meetings, and consistently close deals and bring in new business. Persistence, enthusiasm, and energy are crucial traits all successful salespeople share.

Read More →

Sales people have always had an uneasy relationship with scripts. Many think they’re not going to sound genuine and convincing. And to an extent, they’re right to worry about that.

Read More →

Outbound and inbound sales play separate roles in a business. Inbound is closer to account management, except these are new leads who’ve found you and want to know more.

Read More →

In many companies, there is a policy “the customer is always right.” “Rule 1: The customer is always right. Rule 2: If the customer is ever wrong, re-read Rule 1”. – Stew Leonard

Read More →

With 2020 upon us, now is the time when many sales leaders start planning for the year ahead. It’s also the time of year when those who’ve struggled will jump ship, so either you are scrambling to find someone new, or have a search already under way.

Read More →

Confidence sells, as it improves the trust factor between a buyer and seller. As a salesperson doing an online demo, confidence gives you a sense of authority, knowledge and understanding. It tells the prospect that they’re talking to someone who can help them solve the problem they have.

Read More →

Sales enablement should make it easier for salespeople to generate leads and close deals. Get sales enablement right, and your team should have less to worry about and can spend more time doing what they’re good at.

Read More →

Sales skills need constant work. With a new year of prospecting, of winning and closing coming up, with new targets, salespeople need to think about where they can improve and how to get ready for the new year.

Read More →

Following up sales emails or calls with another email is something everyone in sales does, almost without fail, every week. It’s rarely a fun task, and often follow-ups are frustrating.

Read More →

LinkedIn, with over 660 million users worldwide, is without a doubt the most effective platform for sales professionals to connect with prospects.

Read More →

Salespeople are no longer the masters of product knowledge. Buyers now seek to know as much about a potential solution to a problem they’re having as a salesperson trying to sell them it.

Read More →

As 2019 draws to a close and 2020 fast approaches, now is the time when many sales leaders are thinking about the performance of the team and how to do better next year.

Read More →

On LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional social platform, with over 660 million users, there is a vast opportunity of sales leads.

Read More →

As 2019 races to a close, and 2020 moves ever closer, it’s natural for sales leaders to reflect on this year’s progress and think about how to achieve next year’s goals. Remember, you are only as good as your previous quarter.

Read More →

Time is the enemy of every salesperson. When time is on your side, when you’ve got more prospects than you can manage and loads of time until the end of the month or quarter, it can feel pretty awesome to be in sales.

Read More →

Some sales tactics need to be left behind. With 2020 fast approaching, the last year in the second decade of the twenty first century, we have put together a few that are worth forgetting about.

Read More →

Sales in person has numerous advantages to sales over the phone, or across a screen. In person, sales people have the advantage of reading body language, listening and observing the many visuals cues we give when speaking to others.

Read More →

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. From the number of steps that you include to the time durations between the various sales contacts that form part of your sales approach (everything from emailing to calling to chatting on LinkedIn or other social media platforms, for example), these are all important cadence considerations.

Read More →

ChromeOS and the use of Chromebooks or Android-based devices can be ideal for sales teams that need a low cost tech solution. Easy-to-use and cost effective is what ChromeOS promises, and we know from experience that it delivers.

Read More →

Salespeople are only successful when they have conversations with prospects. Every conversation serves as an opportunity to engage. A conversation is a chance to define needs, understand pain points, and come up with solutions. But you need to kick off a conversation for this to happen.

Read More →

“Are you ready to go ahead?” Whatever way you bring a successful sales negotiation to a close, one of the most frustrating things a prospect can say is, “Yes, but . . .” and then they ask for a discount.

Read More →

LinkedIn is an invaluable tool for outbound sales prospecting. We have published articles previously about how to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to shorten the sales cycle. Sales Navigator is designed with people in business development (and recruitment) roles in mind. Prices start at $64.99 per month (billed annually), or $134.99 per license when buying on behalf of a team (billed monthly).

Read More →

In most B2B sales environments, summer is a quiet season. Decision makers are on holiday. Or even if they’re in the office, there are enough people on vacation that purchasing decisions are often delayed. Summer slowdown can be frustrating, especially if sales teams are behind on targets.

Read More →

Sales is technology and data-driven. In many ways, sales hasn’t changed in decades: It’s still all about people. Making connections and building relationships, and solving problems.

Read More →

Accounts where there are multiple decision makers can be difficult to manage. You might have one decision maker, even a budget holder, who wants to go ahead; while at the same time, others are blocking the decision.

Read More →

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. Then, you either add or subtract the apples and see how many apples there are going to be in the end. Sales has a similar equation.

Read More →

Your messaging - also known as a value proposition - is a key part of the sales process. A strong, clear message is how potential clients understand what you offer and how it benefits them.

Read More →

Following up is rarely a fun activity. Compared to sales calls, demos, and meetings, following-up with prospects and accounts is something that everyone in sales does, but few enjoy. It’s a necessity and one of the few tasks in sales that often needs repeating.

Read More →

Pitches can make or break whether useful sales conversations happen. Your communication channel matters, of course. Whether you’ve gone to a networking event, picked up the phone, sent an email or LinkedIn message: Your channel is going to have an impact on the response rate. So will a whole load of other factors, some of which you can’t control.

Read More →

Assuming your current sales team is doing well, the next smart move is to scale the team. More skilled sales people should, in theory, close more deals and increase revenue, right?

Read More →

Sales happen where customers are and customer conversations moving to apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger more often. Apps that aren’t easily integrated with CRMs. This article will help you stay organized and harness the power of messaging apps for sales.

Read More →

Sales is problem solving. For sales teams in a B2B environment, sales isn’t about pitching. Sales people who pick up the phone, get through to a decision maker, and pitch, or who turn up to a meeting and fire off a pitch, don’t do well.

Read More →

As Summer approaches, for sales leaders and managers this can be a time to recharge, re-think and re-tool knowledge and strategies for the rest of the year to come. If you are taking a holiday, or this is traditionally going to be a quieter time of year for your business, in the weeks and months ahead, now is the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in useful new knowledge, new ideas and new approaches.

Read More →

Being in sales is all about knowing how to advertise your products or services in the best light possible in order to make a successful sale. That requires developing a marketing strategy that can maximize your potential of sales. However, sales is all about generating more revenue relative to your expenditures, thus resulting in more profits.

Read More →

Do you want to close more deals, faster? Do you want to get more qualified leads into the sales pipeline, and qualify them sooner? Assuming the answer to those questions is yes, this article is worth reading.

Read More →

You probably see it on social media every day; “It’s 2019, why are we still doing [insert something that really shouldn’t be happening anymore]!?”. So when it comes to sales, there are some tried-and-tested methods that are always going to work. Not everything needs to change with the latest Instagram filter.

Read More →

Generating leads is job one. Qualifying them is job two. Unless you know a lead is a potential client, you could spend weeks or months pursuing what looks like an opportunity, only for it to fall apart. Save yourself time and stress early on, with an efficient qualification process.

Read More →

Closing is the final, crucial stage of every deal. At some point in every conversation, you need to ask the potential client for an answer. Often, in relationship-driven consultative sales negotiations, days, weeks or months of work have gone into this moment.

Read More →

Hitting growth targets requires a consistency and predictability that most sales teams fail to manage. In the top 22 percent of companies, business development managers are consistent and predictable when it comes to hitting target.

Read More →

Sales professionals expect to be paid well. Salaries for experienced salespeople are often larger than other career paths with the same number of years experience.

Read More →

What do you want your sales team doing every day? Selling! Closing deals! Hitting targets. Sales teams that aren’t closing, aren’t talking to prospects (calls, meetings, demos), aren’t bringing more prospects into the pipeline aren’t doing enough to hit targets.

Read More →

Time and pressure. Sales teams never seem to have enough time, putting them under pressure to hit targets and keep driving growth forward. Any advantage you can gain, to shorten your sales cycle, is worth pursuing.

Read More →

In Europe, the UK and even parts of Asia - including China - economists are predicting that growth is going to slow down. Not a recession, but GDP isn’t going to increase at the same rate as previous years.

Read More →

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?

Read More →

“How is your sales pipeline looking?” This question, or some variant on that theme, is something that most sales managers ask their sales team at least once a week. Sales managers need to know that a sales team is making every effort to keep the pipeline flowing with new deals.

Read More →

Sales is, without a doubt, the key driving force behind the growth of every company. Growth is not rocket science. Sales teams do not need complex algorithms and AI-powered computers to drive forward growth.

Read More →

Screen sharing is a big part of the modern sales process. Inside sales teams are increasingly using screen sharing as an invaluable sales tool. Compared to in-person presentations, screen sharing needs a different approach and set of skills to engage your audience.

Read More →

Account management and strategic account management is one of the most effective ways to increase revenue from clients. It is always going to be easier increasing budgets from those you are already working with than completely new customers.

Read More →

In every business, there are going to be times when some customers aren’t happy with the service. No matter how hard your team work to deliver great service, there will be times when they fail to meet expectations.

Read More →

Sales outputs are closely aligned with activity. Hitting your targets is a lot harder when you aren’t taking enough calls and having enough meetings with accounts and potential clients.

Read More →

Cold calling isn’t an easy game. It takes patience and persistence. Whether you are doing inside or field sales, your job is to make calls and hope a few of them result in meetings, demos or pitches.

Read More →

In January 2019, we were delighted to announce the launch of CrankWheel Remote Control. Now an integral part of every CrankWheel plan, including our free-for-life plan, anyone can give their viewer control over anything from a browser tab to the full screen.

Read More →

Unlike field sales agents, inside sales teams are in the office churning through calls, emails and social media outreach techniques to convert prospects into clients.

Read More →

Hitting target, or quota, is at the forefront of everyone’s mind in sales. You are only as good as your previous quarter, and in high-growth environments, you need to keep hitting target to stay on the team.

Read More →

Sales always feels like a race. Or climbing a hill. Now that last year is over, you’ve got a new hill to climb, a new race to run. With a new year started, you need to turn future potential into reality.

Read More →

Have you ever wished that during a screen share, you could let your viewer take over control of the web page or presentation you are showing them, and all without a download? We’re happy to announce that now you can, thanks to the launch of CrankWheel Remote Control, which is included as part of all CrankWheel plans including our free-for-life plan.

Read More →

At the start of a new year, sales people are either exhausted from closing the previous year, celebratory or looking for a new role. In sales, when someone fails to hit target, there is rarely enough time for a post-game analysis.

Read More →

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?

Read More →

On the receiving end of a sales call it can be annoying. An unexpected interruption. Someone trying to sell you something you aren’t ready to buy, maybe haven’t even heard about, and that you don’t want. What are the chances they’re going to convert you into a customer? You try and get out of the call any way you can, or just hang up.

Read More →

Sales is a race against time. A race to hit a target.

Read More →

Everyone in sales is pushing themselves forward to hit target before the end of the year. Wherever your company is in the financial year, the end of one year and start of a new one crosses an important psychological barrier. Hitting target gives sales professionals a valuable confidence boost.

Read More →

Do you know your 2019 number yet? Can you guess? For many sales managers, new targets for the year ahead are often larger than the previous year.

Read More →

Selling to small and medium businesses (SMBs) is about proving that your solution will solve a challenge they are having. Providing you’re talking to a company with a challenge you can solve, they need this solution and have a budget, then you are talking to a potential client.

Read More →

Qualification is one of the most important part of the sales process. Sales professionals who fail to qualify a lead can spend weeks or months chasing something that isn’t going to happen.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

“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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

Generating sales leads from cold calls isn’t easy. And in many ways, inside sales is getting tougher.

Read More →

Drumming up new business isn’t an easy task.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

This brief guide shows how to integrate events from Instant Demos into Google Analytics. A similar approach can be used for other analytics systems.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

If you’re a small business trying to make a name for yourself online, inbound marketing is seen as the go-to tactic.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

Most side projects and companies start with a couple of 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?

Read More →

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?

Read More →

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.

Read More →

When Amazon launched in 1995, it flipped the B2C market on its head. Consumers had a new way to shop, and other companies were forced to react. Over two decades on, many brick-and-mortar stores that failed to adapt to digital technologies are no longer around, while others struggle to compete.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

Watch a recording of our webinar to get an inside look at our deep integration with Talkdesk.

Read More →

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 gen methods like newsletters, PPC advertising, or webinars. That said, you shouldn’t be limited to these tactics.

Read More →

When Google unveiled its Chromebook in 2011, it was met with skepticism. Would an operating system that is primarily web-based be any good? Relying on internet access to run the majority of applications hardly seemed practical, especially when dependable WiFi was hard to find.

Read More →

A long time ago in a land far away, 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 (aka managed services) for a flat monthly fee.

Read More →

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?

Read More →

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.

Read More →

We partnered with Talkdesk, a leading intelligent contact center cloud platform, to become a featured screen sharing solution in their AppConnect marketplace. From now on you can use both apps together as one seamless sales platform that offers telephony and screen sharing with integrated lead capture.

Read 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.

Read More →

Sales training is built on a billable hour business model. The sector alone, composed of freelance consultants and multinational firms, is a multi-billion dollar industry.

Read More →

I saw this on LinkedIn the other day. Is it relevant for sales professionals in startups?

Read More →

Facebook launches screen sharing, slowly but surely becoming a business platform

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

Sales teams need to keep pipelines busy and active. A quiet pipeline, one without enough prospects, or enough likely prospects, should be seen as a red flag to managers and co-founders. Boards and investors often need to be kept informed about the state of the pipeline.

Read More →

Scaling means committing to growth. Growing means staffing up in sales and marketing departments. You do need a sales team. The clock has started ticking. From the moment investor funds hit your account, you are in a race against time.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

For a long time there’s been an intense debate between onsite and online sales presentations. Is it better for your team to be in the field, meeting customers face-to-face? Or putting them on the phones, calling and presenting demos online?

Read More →

No, not the type you’re thinking of! We were hosting UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School students for International MBA Consultancy Week (from the 5th to 8th of June).

Read More →

Digital marketing, thankfully, is playing a role in ensuring you can reach a much wider audience of potential buyers. Websites and digital sales funnels make it easier to reach a wider group of buyers. With social media, content, email marketing, landing pages, and digital advertising, your product can reach hundreds or thousands of potential buyers every day. Reaching them is only the first step.

Read More →

David Skok, a serial entrepreneur turned VC, with Matrix Partners, coined the phrase, “touchless conversion sales model” around seven years ago, with an article that neatly summed up the low-touch sales model. Something software founders and entrepreneurs should aim towards, since the lower their customer acquisition costs, the more they will make over the lifetime of each customer.

Read More →

Software companies don’t always adopt the same pricing models, even when they are selling a similar service to competitors in the same market or sector. There is a psychology behind why different pricing models are adopted, which is what we will explore in this article.

Read More →

Software is big business. Gartner estimates that IT spending will exceed $3.5 trillion in 2017, with $357 billion of that spent on software services, a 7.2% increase in 2016 global software revenues, which were around $333 billion.

Read More →

Calling a potential lead within 5 minutes of an inquiry (or them handing over an email or phone number through a landing page) increases the chance of successful contact 100 times. This lead is 22 times more likely to enter the sales pipeline, according to the Lead Response Management Study.

Read More →

CrankWheel just surpassed 10.000 weekly installed users on the Chrome Web Store, and with great scale comes great responsibility. The last few weeks were a lesson in humility in regards to customer success management at scale.

Read More →

Responding to a customer request within 1 minute increases conversion effectiveness 22x. It’s so intuitive yet at the same time we, the software industry, make customers jump through hoops to get our attention. Here’s one way to make that problem go away.

Read More →

Come and witness live how fresh and exciting sales can get when you put your heart into developing innovation that works every time!

Read More →

You all know that at CrankWheel, we are absolutely insane when it comes to collecting sales data and sharing the our experience.

Read More →

CrankWheel is growing based on user feedback. We seize every opportunity to talk with our buyers. We meet them everywhere! From attendees of events like Slush to other participants of startup competitions like Vodafone Stökkpallur, Deloitte Fast Rising 50 (both of which we won, by the way!). We talk in order to do proper research about screen sharing usability.

Read More →

In every sales follow-up call hides the dreaded „how does it work?” question. How does one cope in these „I want it now!” times?

Read More →

Hey there! We are CrankWheel, an international startup from Iceland. We are going to Slush 2016 and we want to meet you there!

Read More →

This interview was originally published in Icelandic at Vodafone.is under the name “CrankWheel - From Google and a Sales Career to an International Startup in Iceland”.

Read More →

Deloitte’s jury has finished debating and announced, among others, that CrankWheel was chosen to present on the Fast 50 - Rising Star event on 16th November, on the 20th floor of the Deloitte Tower in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Read More →

A picture is worth a thousand words. A thousand words when spoken at an average speed require 7 minutes and 42 seconds. You can save your customers that much time by simply adding screen sharing to your telesales campaigns!

Read More →

Surely your company has great sales professionals with all of the tools it needs to get people interested in the product itself. After all, sales professionals have a wide variety of tools, but according to a recent study (and just plain intuition!) delivering sales presentations is the primary deal closer for most.

Read More →

It is our great pleasure to announce today the launch of an innovative project one of our customers started several months ago, where CrankWheel plays a key role.

Read More →

If you’ve ever been involved in sales, you’re sure to have noticed one thing that is critical: sharing. Whether you’re the buyer or the seller, sharing forms the bedrock of your conversation. Prospects share their business challenges and their ideas of how they want to address those challenges. They share how they create value for their customers and how they’re constantly seeking to improve. Flip it around, and the sales team shares their value proposition, and they share proof of how their solution can help solve the prospect’s challenges.

Read More →

One of Google’s early mottos, part of their “10 things” mantra, was that “It’s best to do one thing really, really well.” Our founder drank a lot of Kool-Aid in his ten years at Google, plus it’s just one of the most sensible mantras we’ve heard. That’s why we designed CrankWheel to be a simple tool that does one thing really, really well, namely screen sharing.

Read More →

Imagine this phone call between Bob, a very well off older gentleman, and Maude, a salesperson at a high-end travel agency:

Read More →

The last few weeks have been quite hectic here at CrankWheel HQ. Two things kept us busy: Making our product generally available on our website on Friday, November 6th, and preparing for the Slush conference in Helsinki, which happened last week, November 11th and 12th. Our plan was to launch just before Slush, and then publicize our launch at the conference, as well as meet with prospective customers in Finland during our trip.

Read More →

Read More →

You may have read about CrankWheel before, on our founder’s blog or the Startup Iceland blog. Today, CrankWheel is coming further out of hiding, launching a new website and this new blog.

Read More →