Sales is an exciting yet challenging profession. Every now and then we all need a little inspiration, so that’s why we’ve compiled 11 of our favorite quotes to help get you motivated and moving to make that next sale. Looking for even more motivation to help you close your next deal? Our top sales tips will help you succeed.

Cold calling has a bad reputation for a reason. Aside from the fact that usually almost no one picks up the phone, the process typically doesn't come easy to the seller and, even worse, the experience can be completely unbearable for the buyer.

There are many managers out there, but how many of them could actually be classified as great? The job is more than just directing and overseeing. Some managers can become too involved and end up micromanaging their staff, while others become detached and seemingly indifferent to whatever’s going on. So what’s the right balance that makes a truly exceptional manager?

It’s amazing that despite how many CRMs exist, we still don’t really take full advantage of them. Some of us don’t use them at all, or simply pile in “data” after the fact. Some of us use them what seems like constantly, but it all simply turns into a big black hole of a database that no one’s really looking at or analyzing properly. As a sales manager, conducting a sales meeting with your sellers should be about the actual numbers. The bottom line is something you’re probably intensely aware of, but what else should you be keeping track of?

As a marketer, you’re constantly being bombarded by everything you should be doing and keeping up with to be successful. “It’s all about content! It’s all about mobile! It’s all about video! No! It’s about social media!”

In Understanding Social Media Marketing and Advertising: Part 1 we outlined the basics of what brands, marketers, and advertising sellers need to know about why social media can help make their jobs easier. Now we’ll focus on how to effectively utilize social media to further achieve your goals as a marketer and how to better understand those goals as a seller. As a marketer, how should I use social media to my brand’s advantage? Using content and the power of social media to spread your brand’s message is one of the most cost effective and perhaps most rewarding ways of marketing. Social media can work organically to enhance your marketing efforts, however, it requires true dedication and patience. By starting to create quality content that provides some educational or entertainment value for your audience, you’ll naturally encourage users to share and engage with it on social media. Creating a content strategy that lays out an organizational calendar to ensure deadlines are met and a certain flow is achieved, is the next step of attack. By ensuring you are not wasting your time or efforts by producing disjointed content, you’ll stay focused and present a cohesive front to your audience. Efficiently repurposing content in various formats will help you extend its reach and save you time by allowing your creative juices to stay functioning on all cylinders. Achieving consistency in the items you create will make sure it establishes a harmonious brand image that supports your business. Making sure the content is easy to share and has a clear CTA (call to action) if appropriate will help make your marketing on social media much more effective. You can also use these seven tips to improve your brand’s posts on social media.There is a wide variety of content your brand could leverage to rev up their content marketing. It could come in the form of blog posts, infographics, videos, ebooks, podcasts, images, etc. Assessing which types of content your audience would be most interested in and which you would be capable of producing in a consistent fashion while not sacrificing quality can get you started. If your audience consists of mostly teen males, videos and interactive games may work best. However, if you’re marketing towards an older business professional, perhaps ebooks or podcasts would be more appropriate. Generating content specifically for your brand’s target market is crucial to achieving success and maintaining credibility. Using content you’ve created to help fuel your brand’s social media efforts helps you keep up on the networks your brand has determined are most beneficial. These four ways to grow your business with social media should also help give you some ideas as to how you should be using your presence productively. Constantly tweaking and analyzing new approaches on your social media channels will help refine your brand’s strategy and get to a point where things fall into place a bit more organically. Also, if you’ve already been working on your content marketing and social media strategy for some time, you should use these tips on how to strengthen your social media marketing endeavors even further. As a marketer, staying on top of the newest trends and adapting them to your brand will guarantee you pave the way to fruitful and rewarding action.