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The 4th Year of Ambition Blog is in the books. Our Top 10 list returns for a year-end retrospective.
Our annual 'Best Of' is back with our top 10 articles from 2017.
Not because our content sucked in 2016 - mind you (it ruled). But because we were writing the 2017 B2B Trends and Tech Guide - a perfect segue into this year's list.
The Mission Statement of Ambition
The goal of Ambition is to operate as FitBit for sales organizations, in two ways.
- As an Organization: Measuring the health of your business operations, strategy, and revenue.
- As Individuals: By empowering the emotional and mental health of each member of your sales force.
The latter mission is the one we're most passionate about - and the one Ambition is most uniquely equipped to solve for.
The above image shows Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - a defining touchstone in modern organizational psychology. Its layers denote the feelings and sensibilities most essential to personal and professional well-being, no matter one's seniority or circumstances.
Sales is unique among all professions, when it comes to Maslow's Pyramid. It is exceedingly difficult (if not impossible) to maintain consistent year-to-year job security and fulfillment.
The goal of Ambition is to equip sales leaders with a sales performance management platform that brings genuine humanity, empathy, and compassion to drive success across all levels of their sales organization - no matter one's abilities, seniority, or experience.
The following 10 publications were the best we published in service of that mission during 2017. We look forward to bringing you much more in 2018 and beyond.
The Best Ambition Content from 2017
#1. The 2017 Salesforce KPI Report
The Salesforce KPI Report profiles the top sales metrics 101 Ambition clients track at each stage of the sales funnel.
Download the eBook on the Ambition Academy and use in tandem with our next piece.
#2. 12 Sales KPIs that Made Max Altschuler a Better Sales Manager
The year's best guest article on the Ambition Blog comes courtesy of Sales Hacker CEO Max Altschuler, who lists and defines the top 12 sales KPIs that made him a more effective manager.
A great reference point with deep dives into each KPI. Also - be sure to check out our Aligned 2017 Course on Sales Hacker University.
#3. 100 Sales Coaches You Should Know (A to Z)
The title undersells it - there are over 110 elite sales coaches on this list. They run the gamut from legendary consultants to frontline VPs, managers, and ops leaders at Fortune 100s and high-growth startups.
Peruse the list and follow the best-and-brightest sales coaches on the planet today.
#4. The Beginner's Guide to Agile Sales Management
The best introduction to our major eBook: The Ultimate Guide to Agile Sales Management.
Read Ambition CSO Jared Houghton's guest post over on Sales Hacker to discover the new framework for managing your sales organization in 2018.
#5. Building Your 2018 Sales Management Strategy
Our Town Hall webinar with Trish Bertuzzi, Lauren Bailey, Steve Richard, and Jared Houghton covered the biggest topics for sales leaders formulating their 2018 go-to-market strategy.
Watch the full replay plus highlights here on the Ambition Blog.
#6. How Wayfair Doubled Sales Team Efficiency in 1 Year
Last October, we partnered with the story of how Wayfair mass-accelerated revenue growth in their B2B sales team.
See how Wayfair used Salesforce, Tenfold, and Ambition to double revenue-per-rep over a 12 month span.
#7. How West Made TVs the Hub of Call Center Activity
In this client-sourced eBook, West Business Analyst Sanjiv Sharma tells how he used Office TVs to strategically increase metric visibility, sales floor energy, and sales rep ownership over goals.
See more great examples of effective TV leaderboards in this complementary blog post.
#8. Most SDRs Fail or Burn Out - Here's How to Fix That
Ambition COO Brian Trautschold used LinkedIn as the muse to write this massive editorial for HubSpot.
Read Brian's writeup to discover the go-to tactics used by sales managers to prevent SDR burnout.
#9. The Top 10 Sales Enablement Trends for 2018
Our most thoroughly researched (and lived-in) article of 2017 was this deep plunge into the state of sales force enablement.
Come for the Buzzfeed title. Stay for the fuselade of expert citations and technology options.
#10. The Winner's Guide to Sales Coaching
We pulled together the best sales coaching content produced by 6 cherished industry experts in this 5 chapter eBook.
Because there's so much more to sales coaching than scheduling 1:1s and sitting in on the occasional call. Give this eBook a read.
The Ambition Blog's Mission Statement: Background
As told by our celebrated guest blog correspondent, the Apex Predator.
Three years ago, Ambition's marketing leader called with a quick question.
"I'm writing a year-end 'Best of the Ambition Blog' wrap-up. Would you be down to contribute something to it?"
My immediate reactions:
I searched my brain for the most ridiculous idea possible.
"The Ambition Blog needs a mission statement." I said firmly. I had pulled up Google search results for "blog mission statement" mid-sentence. "The Content Marketing Institute recommends it."
Ten seconds later, I had my marching orders. Smiling smugly to myself, I hung up the phone and went to close my browser.
A twinge of curiousity stopped me. The Content Marketing Institute article I had cited was called, "Why You Need a Content Marketing Mission Statement."
Paragraph one:
In the dining room of our house, there is a mission statement on the wall. I refer to it often. So do my two boys, now ages nine and 11.
Every 5th word triggered a visceral response from by brain.
I have zero recollection of the 2nd paragraph - was most likely too stunned for anything to register. Then, the 3rd paragraph.
According to Wikipedia, a mission statement is a company’s reason for existence. It’s why the organization does what it does. Southwest Airlines’ mission statement has always been to democratize the travel experience. The mission statement for CVS is to be the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use.
Snapped out of my semi-stupor - I slammed my laptop. Went home. Poured myself a drink. Texted the Ambition guys the link.
"Can't help re: the mission statement. Create your own. Do the opposite of everything this a**hole said."
The Mission Statement of the Ambition Blog
"Give the people what they want."
Established in December 2014. Stolen from Grantland-era Jalen Rose.
Ambition: The Agile Sales Management Platform
Harvard Business Review and AA-ISP (the Global Inside Sales Organization). Fortune 1000 sales organizations like UPS, Aerotek and Wayfair use Ambition to enhance sales KPI clarity and drive their teams using real-time scorecards, dashboards, alerts, contests, and TV leaderboards.
Contact us to schedule a demo of Ambition for your sales force today.
