As we discussed earlier this month, digital transformation is opening the door for increased transparency and improved collaboration. As businesses rethink their approach to organization and communication, it is essential for salespeople to adopt a strategy of lifelong learning.

As a kid your biggest goal was probably something along the lines of riding your bike without training wheels. In high school, maybe you were focused on making the varsity basketball team as a freshman. During your college years perhaps your greatest ambition was to land a prized internship or graduate Summa Cum Laude. Different goals capture our attention at different stages of our lives. Now, your goals are likely more career oriented. This means you must learn how to become your own career coach. If you know what your number one desired career outcome is, all you need to do is commit and then get started! ....Easier said than done. Once you've committed to becoming your own career coach, the very next thing to think about is identifying your priorities and uncovering your next steps. So, what can you do to start being your own coach?

Over the last decade, technological advances have accelerated Digital Transformation in the business world. According to one digital expert, “a decade ago companies were mainly focused on data mining, search technology, and virtual collaboration. Today, executives are directing their energy toward artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things.” Businesses are on the path to digital transformation but have a ways to go. 63% of businesses plan to improve the ‘online customer experience’ this year, but only 26% of organizations are ‘completely ready’ to execute digital strategies. (Accenture Digital) So, what does digital transformation mean for sales? Two key benefits of digital transformation for salespeople are (1) a new level of transparency and (2) easier collaboration. Let’s take a look at how sales managers, salespeople and clients can leverage these benefits.

You know what the biggest problem is for businesses that have siloed sales and marketing departments? Besides the obvious, they often feel like they’re experiencing success. Because their company has always operated with distinct sales and marketing teams, they’ve always measured success based on their past data. But their benchmarks don’t consider the kind of success businesses can have when their sales and marketing teams are perfectly aligned.

To put it simply - your success or failure is determined by your ability to coach yourself well. As your own sales coach, the first challenge that you need to grapple with is deciding on your number one desired outcome. This is important because everything you do should bring you closer and closer to that outcome. After you’ve figured out what outcome you’re working towards, it’s time to take these four things into consideration:

If you’re part of a sales organization, then you’ve probably either asked or answered: “Why did we lose the deal?”