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Jim Berryhill, DecisionLink Chairman of the Board & Co-Founder, is on a mission to transform customer value into a strategic asset. Doing business today is more complicated than ever. The days of closing a deal with a phone call or a handshake are long gone—and things are certainly not going to get any simpler from here on out. A whole range of factors, including the increase in digitization, globalization and ubiquitous use of technology, is only serving to heighten market competition—not to mention complexity. In the current business landscape, sales teams are under huge pressure to make their interactions with prospects and customers more meaningful, impactful and effective. In today’s always-on world, technology plays a vital role. Automating tasks and collecting valuable data across your entire sales cycle is no longer simply nice to have: It’s now a must. But many organizations that have already invested in sales technology are not seeing their desired returns. That’...

Don is the award-winning business coach and CEO of Accountability Now, now helping clients increase revenue on average 35% in 90 days. Having a high-performing sales team is one of the most important first steps for startups and other businesses. Countless companies struggle to get this right. Ryan Smith, the founder of Qualtrics, mentioned the importance of getting the hiring and right team in place when trying to scale. This is especially true in sales. After working with sales teams in nine different countries, 23 different industries and over 10,000 phone calls, I’ve devised this list of the top eight must-haves for your sales team. Trust me. These apply whether you are in-home services, SaaS sales, business service sales, insurance or even a coach or consultant yourself. 1. You must have a script. Selling success requires emotion. Your team will not sell well unless the unit can generate consistent emotion from prospects. How do you create constant emotion? Simple: Use...

The retail sector is one of the most diverse industries in the U.S., encompassing everything from agriculture to automobiles to fashion accessories. Some retail sub-sectors, such as high-end clothing and personal-care retailers, can have famously high gross profit margins, but net margins for the industry tend to be low compared to other sectors.  This is especially true for web-only retailers, which often see low net margins. For example, Amazon (AMZN) had a net margin of less than 2% for several years prior to 2018, but today commands a market capitalization of $1.7 trillion and a net margin of around 7%. But what really is a good profit margin for retailers? Below covers the points to take into consideration when valuing a company's margins. Key Takeaways + Retailers tend to have profit margins that are lower than in other sectors.  + Grocery and food retailers generally have the lowest profit margins, while building supply retailers have the best margins....