The team at VA Partners is continually striving to become a great resource for our clients, startups and other growing organizations. As we develop and learn about new best practices, trends and tools in the sales and marketing world, we’ve accumulated some valuable knowledge. We are happy to share our experiences in our blog posts.

Here are our knock-out B2B sales blogs of 2015:

1. Communications Plan Key Successful B2B Sales Leadership

   Working with a sales person is different than almost any other team member at growing organizations. For a sales person there are 4 types of communications that should be used as part of the management process.

2. Comparing HubSpot and Salesforce, Which is the Right CRM for You?

   There is no excuse for a B2B sales company of more than one person not to have a CRM. We typically have recommended Salesforce.com for our clients in the past, but the new option for HubSpot is intriguing. Thoughts on comparing HubSpot and Salesforce’s benefits and intricacies.

3. Shortening the B2B Sales Cycle

   One question I invariably get almost anytime I speak is on the topic of shortening the sales cycle. Shortening the sales cycle is top of mind for many entrepreneurs. Here are some tips that could help shorten, but also understand the sales cycle:

4. B2B Sales Recap from MaRS Presentation

   It was VA Partners’ co-owner Mark Elliott’s third go at presenting B2B Sales for Startups at MaRSDD. Here’s a round-up of additional items that found their way into the presentation.

5. Sales – Inbound or Outbound Sales, That is the Question

   Wondering if you should be leveraging inbound or outbound sales? In reality you should be utilizing both to generate leads. Today, outbound efforts are still a valuable component of the mix, but one also has to look heavily at content marketing efforts to drive inbound sales.

6. Are B2B Sales People Obsolete?

   Yes, sales is changing as buyers have more power to research problems and solutions, before engaging a sales person. Businesses should embrace new sales and marketing tactics and solutions like social media, content marketing, and marketing automation.

7. Tips on Training Your New B2B Sales Person

   One of the keys is to have a great on-boarding plan, coupled with a well thought-out training strategy. Most small startup teams don’t have dedicated training teams, or even full time HR. Don’t worry, there a lot of ways to help train your new b2b sales person.

8. Creating a Sales Plan for the New Year

   In the months preceding the new fiscal year is a prime time to start sales planning for the New Year. I think to be a successful business you need to collect data and make small modifications to your sales effort through-out the year, but I still think there is value to take a time for a big planning session.

9. Stop Using Excel to Manage Your B2B Customer Data

   One of the biggest recommendations I make to B2B startups is to start using a customer relationship management (CRM) tool. Organizations invariably start with Excel as their repository for customer information. There are many benefits for using a CRM versus excel to manage your customers. There should be no reason not to use a CRM

10. Finding the Right Junior B2B Sales Reps

    Hiring these early sales people can be challenging. There are many strategies and tactics that can be used to help find the right person for you company. There are many startups that have had great success hiring junior sales people.

If you’re looking for more helpful reads this holiday season, be sure to check out some of our free downloadable white papers!