Relationship selling is all about empowering sellers to drive customer engagement. In the digital age, engagement isn’t just about in-person interactions. It’s about delivering the type of touch a buyer expects, at the time it is expected in the buying process, in the context of what the buyer needs with a measurable impact (conversion, trust, Read more

David Held
Senior Product Marketing Manager with Microsoft
Posts
Adapting to the ever-evolving behaviors of modern-day B2B buyers is impacting sales teams within B2B companies. It’s also impacting marketing teams that are aligning their sales and marketing strategies are setting themselves up for success. The basis of relationship sales is engaging the right type of touchpoint the buyer expects, at the time it is Read more
When B2B organizations originally implemented a CRM, sales management focused on sales productivity—visibility into forecast, pipeline and activity tracking. This ended up driving a sales management agenda that manages our sellers versus empowering them to deliver value to buyers. From our buyer’s perspective, the focus on productivity and lack of understanding of their journey magnifies Read more


It’s well known that B2B buyers have access to information at their fingertips, and even prefer not to engage with sellers at the beginning of their buying journey. Unfortunately, if you are practicing conventional sales tactics and not engaging with your buyers you might be approaching your buyers the wrong way or with the wrong Read more


Microsoft positioned to lead in AI-led customer engagement according to Forbes.com
2 min read
David HeldCRM, for many organizations, has long been about a focus on sales management and less on seller empowerment. And this article reinforces the need to evolve from the linear processes of today. Read more


The tough stats around personal engagement in sales For three days, 1,400 B2B sales and marketing leaders descended upon Las Vegas to learn, share and experience how we can improve our marketing efficiencies and sales processes, and deliver value in an increasing customer-driven environment. Regardless of your perspective at the beginning of the week, The Read more


Sales alignment is the first step in your journey to introduce a new sales model, one that is a hybrid model combining the best of the digital journey of your buyer combined with the expertise and knowledge that a personal interaction with your sales team is able to provide. Read more


A new hybrid sales model—Empowering sellers to drive customer engagement at scale
6 min read
David HeldAs sales leaders, we have a strategy problem. We have spent years focused on sales productivity–visibility into forecast, pipeline, and activity tracking–to drive an agenda for sales management. Read more


As we head into the new fiscal year at Microsoft, we continue to see the transformation of the buyer-seller dynamics. Buyers unequivocally have higher expectations and more influence. At the same time… Read more