Elizabeth Harris

Recent Posts by Elizabeth Harris:

The best sales interview questions, a few tips from HubSpot and a sales lesson from Mark Cuban

Profits increase when you have engaged, passionate people on your team. Having the wrong people in those seats can be a barrier to growing sales and increasing the overall profit of your organization.

With the level of the talent available today in the marketplace, you can always replace someone if you don’t find the right fit the first time. After a quick hire, a simple plan of “wait and see for 90 days” seems logical with so many available. If the new person on the team does not perform in the first 90 days, terminate and hire the next. However, it's much better if you hire the right candidate from the start.

Much of the conversation focuses on how people can find a job.  “How to get hired” is a question answered again and again. Employers still need to do their part, to hire the right people.  Hiring doesn't have to be gamble. The right recruiting and selection process is one of the most important strategic plans your company needs to improve revenue and profits results exponentially.

Les McKeown, President and CEO, Predictable Success puts the responsibility of success on the employer in this Inc. Magazine article:

Topics: Revenue Growth Profitability Leadership

The Long View - Amazon’s bookstores and rocket ships

Two pre-eminent Pacific Northwest companies occasionally share pieces of their long view public. Both Amazon and Filson are achieving their goals and securing their futures by purchasing real estate. Recent news about Amazon included plans to open hundreds of bookstores.

Watch the short video that talks about the very first bookstore and a little speculation as to why and questions about Amazon's long term plans:

Topics: Revenue Growth Strategy

4 Amazingly Simple Steps to Improve Lead Conversion and Increase Sales

Managing leads to convert them into more sales requires good timing and persistence. This infographic presents four best practices to follow to close more sales.

Topics: Revenue Growth Strategy B2B

How to Improve B2B Sales Closing Rates in the Next 30 Days

A Sales Qualification Matrix can make B2B sales “easy”.  Many have said “without the Sales Qualification Matrix, business to business sales was twice as hard”.

Topics: Revenue Growth B2B

Essentials to Sustainable Revenue Growth

One of my favorite indicators of business success is:  Growing Sustainable Revenue.  The sustainable growth rate in a business is the maximum growth rate a business can achieve without having to increase its financial leverage or debt financing. Stated another way, it is the maximum growth rate that can be achieved given the company's profitabilityasset utilizationdividend payout, and debt ratios.

Here are three keys to sustainable revenue growth:

Connect with your prospects & clients

Understand what they want to achieve

Deliver to beyond their expectations

While it sounds simple, a commitment of time and effort is required.  Often there is resistance to changing the mindset, as a team develops new habits.  As an executive improves skills to manage change, it is much more difficult with four generations now in the workplace. There is no "one size fits all" solution. 

Topics: Revenue Growth

What is a Chief Revenue Officer - Job Description and Responsibilities

The chief revenue officer is a pivotal role directly influencing the future of a company, and covers new business sales, installed client base sales, marketing, and partner strategy. Adding a new CRO to an organization sends the message: “our company wants a growth hacker” with a passion for growing business.

As a company evolves, it may become apparent that a chief revenue officer is needed, and that person will lead the charge as they take on the responsibility for all aspects of driving revenue to the company. As with most CXO positions, each company will require a CRO to play different roles. There is no “one-size fits all” job description.

Topics: Revenue Growth Leadership Chief Revenue Officer

How to Get More Clients Back

Too much time, energy and money is spent searching for potential clients. In the new world of media, getting found via search engines or social media has become an additional expense.  Wooing and winning new clients is more difficult as they have information and resources available with a click on their mobile device and set up systems to guard from pesky sales people.

Topics: Revenue Growth Customer Relationship Management

4 Steps to include in a Successful Leadership Action Plan

A leadership action plan does not need to be complex.  Great leaders inspire action without pages of rules. Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership — starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers ..

Watch Simon Sinek in this TEDTalk video share his insights about great leaders:

Topics: Leadership Strategy Action Plan