Tough times and the front of the funnel.

I had the opportunity to interview Jill Konrath last week for an ESR podcast. (Here is ESR's list of podcasts.)

Most of the top tier sales training companies have little to say about how to fill the pipeline. They typically focus on sales opportunity and account management. If a company's marketing department isn't doing its job, salesreps are left to fend for themselves.

Jill has a real understanding of what it takes to gain access to decision makers. Her approach isn't anything new, although she does present it in a unique way.

One of Jill's main points was that the new generation of sales enablement tools can help salespeople achieve the relevance and immediacy required to capture the attention of a busy corporate executive.

There are a number of interesting perspectives found on the TAS Group's Sales 2.0 Blog.