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Rene Zamora

Rene is the President of Sales Manager Now, a company that provides fractional sales management services to small and family-run businesses. He has twenty-seven years of experience in sales leadership, coaching, and consulting. He is also the author of the Part-Time Sales Management handbook and is based in Auburn, California.

Fractional Sales Leadership

Is Fractional Sales Leadership Right for Your Business?

Exploring Fractional Sales Leadership If your business has made it past the ten-year mark, it wouldn’t be uncommon for you to feel the strain of inconsistent sales and a hardworking…

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Fractional Sales Management

What is Fractional Sales Management?

Our firm began practicing fractional sales management in early 2006, and nearly twenty years later, in 2024, we have continued without much modification to its origins. We didn't create the…

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Sales Manager Responsibilities

Eleven Winning Sales Manager Responsibilities in Small Business

This article is designed to provide small business owners with eleven sales manager responsibilities that will support the manager in managing effectively and efficiently. Efficiency is essential since it's the…

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Outsourced Sales Management

What Is Outsourced Sales Management?

Traditional Outsourced Sales Management is most often delivered in one of two models, a complete department model or management only. In the complete department model, the outsourced sales management company…

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Fractional Sales Leader - Sales Manager Now

Consider a Fractional Sales Leader When Running on EOS®

In 2019, I was introduced to EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, while working as a Fractional Sales Leader with a client. My client company considered implementing the EOS process with a…

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6 Reasons Accountability is Missing in a Sales Team

6 Reasons Accountability is Missing in a Sales Team

If accountability is missing with your sales team, it's important to understand that most salespeople are fine with being accountable. However, a sales manager might see it differently, and tend…

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sales accountability

Accountable Sales Environments Require Clear Expectations

When accountability is lacking in a sales team, many leaders will resort to micromanagement and mistrust. However, this is the opposite of what's needed to develop an accountable sales environment…

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sales initiative

Sales Initiative Implementation Traps

I want to discuss two sales initiative implementation traps you can get into when you're implementing a new sales initiative. Maybe you're implementing our Part-time Sales Management system, or maybe…

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Use Sales-Team Guidelines to Reduce Conflict & Uncertainty

Let's talk about creating sales-team guidelines so that you can reduce uncertainty, frustration and sales-team conflict. When rules have been agreed on and documented , you will reduce sales-team conflict…

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The Part-Time Sales Management Assessment

The Part-Time Sales Management Assessment is designed for those who carry many responsibilities including your sales management role. It's the perfect compliment for those implementing the Part-Time Sales Management (PTSM)…

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Sales Meetings - featured image

Sales Meetings Can Rock With The Right Rhythm Video

Sales Meetings can rock with the right rhythm and when you know the beat, melody, and lyrics to a song, it's fun and enjoyable to participate and sing along. The…

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Improve Your Listening Skills - featured image

7 Tips to Improve Your Listening Skills Video

If we want to help and support our sales teams to be more accountable and self manage we need to up our coaching game. We don't need to improve our…

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The Eternal Motivator Video

Motivating others comes easy for some and can be more challenging for others. But there are moments we can provide an Eternal Motivator, but only if we act on......watch the…

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sales manager dashboard

Use a Sales Dashboard to Track Sales Activity Video

In today's Sales Leadership Quick Tip video, we're going to be talking about sales dashboards. A sales dashboard is a mirror that you can put in front of your sales…

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The Power in Asking One More Question Video

As leaders, it's easy to share advice, solve problems or give directions. But if you want to spend less time fixing and more time watching your people become independent, find…

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effective sales activity tips

4 Tips for Effective Sales Activity Video

Working hard is a good thing..IF..it's combined with working smart. You can help your sales team get the most out of their sales activity by implementing the following four tips…

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The Most Important Elements to Improve Sales Forecasting

We all want to increase sales. The benefit of sales forecasting is that it helps management determine and make new decisions based on the forecast that the sales team is…

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sales manager role

Define the Role for the Right Fit Video

Hiring salespeople that are a good fit for your company's role will free you up from having to constantly motivate them.  I had an owner of a company ask me, “How…

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No More Guessing

No More Guessing

Guessing about others' attitudes, motivations, or mindset is a waste of time. Listen how to remove guessing, false confidence, or doubts about your sales team. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xPdN7IWLrc It's the same thing…

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Orientation Plan Steps

7 Steps for Creating an Orientation Plan Video

Onboarding Success Part 2 of 2 What should you include in your Sales Onboarding Orientation plan to get off to a fast start? There is a group of people at your…

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onboarding process for a new salesperson

6 Keys to Onboarding Success, Part 1 Video

When you hire a new salesperson you only have one chance to get off to a fast start. Give it your best shot with a complete Onboarding/Orientation Plan. https://youtu.be/X8nB__8iYcg 1…

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Commission Percentage

Risk Reward Principle For Designing a Sales Compensation Plan Video

Should I pay salary or commission? I have that questions asked of me often. It will take a little bit of homework for me to answer it for you, but…

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5 Qualities I Look for When Hiring A Sales Person Video

There are 5 qualities I look for when hiring a sales person. Do you have a list of qualities you look for when you enter an interview? If not, it’s…

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7 Keys to Leading a High Performing Sales Team Video

7 Keys to Leading a High Performing Sales Team

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The Benefits of Team Goals and Bonuses Video

In this Sales Leadership Quick Tip video, I want to share the benefits of team goals and bonuses and why they will work for your sales team. In search of…

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Book Study With Sales Team

How to Do a Book Study With Your Sales Team Video

When you do a book study with your sales team you get a low cost, high return way to bring education and training to your team. Let me share some…

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building your sales culture

Building Your Sales Culture Video

Most employees place personal value on the culture of their work environment and so building your sales culture can really pay off. There were times in my career that I…

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How to Facilitate Learning in Sales Meetings Video

In this Sales Leadership Quick Tip Video I share a personal experience where I learned that pushing content material and over prepping for sales meetings is not always the best…

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sales responsibilities article

Stay In Your Lane With These THREE Sales Leader’s Responsibilities

When a sales team is failing or results are inconsistent it’s easy for a sales leader’s responsibilities to be neglected and for the leader to fall into a trap of becoming responsible for the sales…

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Develop a Sales Team

Develop A Sales Team with Three Questions

Holding a weekly sales meeting to develop a sales team is very important but keeping that meeting engaging and effective can become challenging over time. The meetings can become repetitive…

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Engage Your Sales Team

Engage Your Sales Team By Upping Your Facilitation Game

The weekly sales meeting is the hub of the Part-Time Sales Management System. Most salespeople love to talk, so when you engage your sales team by facilitating a discussion among…

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Changing Disliked Sales Behaviors

Changing Disliked Sales Behaviors

Increasing sales is what most of our clients want when they call us, but what goes unsaid is they hope we can change disliked sales behaviors that are difficult to…

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building sales teams

Building a Loyal Sales Team

  A loyal sales team is required if you want to realize sustained success with the least amount of effort. To build a loyal sales team you might need to…

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Pull Off a Sales Boost

How to Pull Off a Sales Boost

Every now and then a boost in sales is called for. At times, you’re “feeling it”, and setting a new personal record might be up for grabs. Maybe you’re behind…

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Selling Stregnths

Selling Strengths Can Work Against You

While recently leading a webinar I mentioned how creativity, which I consider one of many selling strengths, can work against me. Being creative helps me solve client problems and present ideas…

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Is Your Sales Compensation Plan Working For You or Against You?

Remember when your parents would say, “You’ll understand the value of this when you grow up?” They were trying to convince us to do what they were saying in hopes…

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Sales Expectations

Sales Expectations: What Do You Expect of Your Sales Team?

How is your sales team doing at meeting your sales expectations? Are they hitting their goals, following the sales process, completing their admin tasks and meeting your activity expectations? …..Sorry,…

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Sales Team Meetings

Sales Team Meetings That Work

Sales team meetings can be dynamic, productive, engaging, and fun if you organize and lead them to this end. More often than not, they aren't. A good indicator is what…

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attractive company culture for top sales people

Is Your Company Culture Attractive to Top Sales People?

Are you ready for sales growth through top performing sales talent? If so, it’s a good idea to examine your company culture. If you’re looking for someone who will take…

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High Return – Low Cost Sales Training

When I’m making a purchase I want the most out of the money I spend. Sometimes I’ll buy the most expensive choice and other times the least. But in either…

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Buying Team Roles

Who’s A Better Salesperson, You or Your Prospect?

Just for fun, imagine one of your prospects from a recent selling opportunity who has no sales experience is asked to join your sales team and sell in your place…

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Meaningful Selling Conversations

Meaningful Selling Conversations Don’t Happen by Accident

Do potential client/customers trust you? Of course they do, right? How do you really know? Most of us base this answer on a gut feeling more than on factual information…

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sales team communication tools

Retrofit Your Sales Communication Tools

We sell in a time that has an abundance of sales communication tools at are our disposal. The more tech forward tools include email, smartphones, text, and social media for…

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Make The Value Connection

The value that matters most in a sales conversation is the one the customer can connect with. Are your prospective customers making a value connection with your offering, or is…

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desirable sales traits

Desirable Sales Traits

It’s easy for me to write about sales people because I’m one myself. Being a salesperson provides me an insider’s perspective on who we are and what makes us tick…

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Increasing Sales Tips

Increasing Sales Can Begin With a Yellow Sticky

I remember when Angie joined our team. She was just out of college and eager to do her job well. It was her first sales job and she plunged right…

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sales competencies

The Selling Skills Blueprint To Strengthen Your Sales Team

If you're a salesperson, you’re usually measured on sales revenue or account additions. When you're ahead of the game it comes with a pat on the back and maybe a…

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Market Niche

A Narrow Market Niche Can Lead to Preferred Sales and Profit

Most people will support the notion of having a narrow market niche as long as there is enough lead flow. Which sales person wouldn’t want to solely work with their…

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Defining Clear Sales Process

Defining a Clear and Useful Sales Process

This article is an excerpt from our book, Part-Time Sales Management, For Small Business Sales Teams. Defining your sales process is one of four elements we suggest establishing to communicate…

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Sales People Pay Plan Title Image

You’re Paying Your Sales People HOW MUCH?

The HOW MUCH in this blog title could be describing overpayment or underpayment of your sales team. Where does your pay plan fall? Are you paying your sales people too…

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sales approach

Purpose and Profit: A Balanced Sales Approach

Have you ever heard the phrase, “he has dollar signs in his eyes”? It means the buyer perceives the salesperson’s more interested in their commission to be won or lost…

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sales closing techniques

Quit Using Closing Techniques

My wife Carolyn, and I were discussing the topic of closing a sale. I said to her, “A salesperson doesn’t have to close sales”, and she quickly replied, “Sometimes I…

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Whose Responsible for Sales Motivation?

I received a question on motivation today. "What’s the best way to motivate a sales team without high pressure?" Before going into the details and do’s and don’ts take a…

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Successful Sales Ingredients

How Do You Change Sales Underachievement to Overachievement?

Revenue’s down, sales goals aren’t being met, it's classic sales underachievement and there’s one group to blame, right? Or is there? Sales people obviously need to carry the ultimate responsibility…

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One Page Sales Proposal

One Page Sales Proposal

I'd like to introduce you to an alternative approach to presenting and reviewing proposals with your prospective buyers. Picture the key elements of your proposal laid out on one page,…

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Sales Planning - Work Smart

Sales Plan – Work Smarter Not Just Harder

To plan or not to plan? Time to answer that question again. As the New Year approaches Sales Manager Now has been working on client sales and business plans for…

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commitment to sales goal

How Committed Are You to Your Sales Goal?

When unforeseen obstacles and challenges present themselves during a year, the commitment you have to your sales goal will be tested. Here's a story of a team that passed the…

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Are You Being Referred to Decision Makers?

How successful are you at having your contacts make effective introductions to the right decision makers (being referred)? If you're not having as much success as you'd like, you're not…

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Increasing Sales

Does Referral Selling Work?

On LinkedIn, a business owner asked, “Is business growth through referrals possible?” He further explained, “In B2B, is it possible to actively, and positively encourage client referrals?” He continued, “I’m…

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Increasing B2B Sales Does Not Happen by Accident

Most of us have heard the definition of Insanity, “Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.” In most sales departments as well as in the company…

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Five Keys To Improve Your Sales Closing Ratio

To improve your sales closing ratio you need to focus on working smarter and harder. Once you have proven to yourself you can produce consistently at an acceptable level most…

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Sales Manager Evaluation

I have received a number of searches seeking sales manager evaluation criteria. Here is a list to consider in your hiring and evaluation process. In addition we have a Sales…

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Modern B2B Sales and Dangerous Leadership Gaps

Someone on Linkedin asked the question, "What is missing in the sales profession today?". The fact is I don't see much of a difference in today's B2B sales people as…

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Reduce Your Selling Cycle and Maintain Sales Motivation

We are selling in a different time (2009). The economy is lagging or flat out bad in some industries. In general I have heard these trends. Decisions are being delayed,…

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Simple Sales Process : “Making it Look Easy”

Developing Sales Professionals (SP) is what I love to do. Watching a seasoned professional in action is very exciting to me. Last week I had the privilege of doing just…

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Sales Manager Now - Quick tip videos

Sales Process Management : Rigidity vs Flexibility

To achieve peak performance with your sales team you need to be consistent with team systems and processes and unique regarding individual relationships. All sales people are not the same but most…

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Sales Tip: Use Analogies to Make Your Point

A simple and powerful tool to help prospects understand your message is an analogy. Yesterday a client sales rep was in a competitive situation, searching for a new way to…

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18 Sales Tips To Schedule More Meetings and Win More Business

To win more business, you need more opportunities, and if you decide to take control of that, you need to improve your ability to secure more selling meetings with qualified…

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Predictive Tools for Hiring Sales People

Good people that can sell make great salespeople. Good people that can’t sell don’t. It’s easy to be swayed by someone's charisma or charm. Just because you like them and…

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Hiring for Team Qualities Improves Everyone

We just hired a new sales rep at one of our client businesses. We took our time and and followed our hiring process to find the best qualified person that was a…

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