Energy Sales/Business Development
The need for good sales people to find and retain new clients is growing. The growth in renewable companies is increasing the number of competitors in each segment of the downstream energy business. So the training and development of the sales function must ramp up as well. These are some of the topics worth considering.
The Newletter number refers to our LinkedIn newsletter on Sales/Marketing topics.
Tracking and Analyzing Sales Performance
If you’re a sales representative and clued-in, you reviewed the new quota system at the beginning of the year and have been using it to maximize your income or happiness.
If you’re a sales manager, you’ve been tracking sales performance and individual contributions from your team.
I don’t know what CRM( Customer Relationship Management System) your firm uses but it’s wise to know how to extract value from it to:
• Establish a common understanding of sales facts;
• Allow everyone to drill down to determine cause and effect;
• Adjust expectations for revenue in the future.
Here is a survey of some of the PERFORMANCE items that firms track in their CRM or if not in a CRM in a spreadsheet. It’s not complete since it’s a vast subject. But it’s worth reviewing what others are doing.
Click on this link to download the pdf:
A CRM, or Customer Relationship Management system, is a tool that helps businesses manage and improve their interactions with current and potential customers.
Think of it as a digital command center for your sales, marketing, and customer service teams.
At its core, a CRM does three big things:
1. Centralizes customer data – Every email, call, purchase, and support ticket is stored in one place.
2. Streamlines communication – It helps teams follow up with leads, nurture relationships, and never miss a beat.
3. Boosts productivity and insights – With automation and analytics, it helps you work smarter, not harder.
Whether you're a solo entrepreneur or a global enterprise, a CRM helps you build stronger relationships, close more deals, and keep customers happy throughout their journey.
Here’s a list of the popular ones for firms that sell both online and through reps.
Click on this link to download the pdf:
General Comments
Choosing the type of sales training is an individualized thing, depending on how well-developed a sales organization is and how much sales training is in the background of individuals and sales managers.
I was a sales rep, a regional sales manager and a VP of sales and marketing before I entered recruiting. That was in two industries: software and financial data.
Looking back over the organizations I was part of, I would now choose different programs for each of them. Each sales organization was in a different stage of development. The age and experience of the sales people was different from firm to firm.
As a rookie sales person, I even took the XEROX sales training course, the granddaddy of most of the modern courses today. It was very beneficial since it got me out of my techie mode and helped me focus on client needs.
I do like the sales training that reminds you of where you are in the sales cycle. If you can recognize that and use that to talk to your sales manager or peers about problems or solutions—it really can help. But that is your choice.
You can download a list of these at the bottom of this introduction.
If you have suggestions about other sales training courses, would love to hear about them plus your comments:
crbamford@rockwoodenergysearch.com
What Are Channel Partnerships in Energy Software?
A channel partnership is when a third party—such as a consultant, VAR (value-added reseller), or integrator—sells or implements your software on your behalf. In energy, this often means:
• Energy consultants bundling your platform with advisory services.
• Hardware vendors embedding your analytics into their devices.
• System integrators deploying your software as part of digital transformation projects.
For the full article, please download the pdf.
The Science/Art of Marketing: Big Change in the Last 25 years
As practitioners know, Marketing has changed dramatically since 2000. Many of the newer tools can be applied to B2B marketing. Here’s a survey of some of those changes and links to further reading.
Digital Transformation
• From print to pixels: Traditional channels like TV, radio, and print gave way to digital platforms — websites, email, social media, and search engines.
• Rise of social media: Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok turned marketing into a two-way conversation, empowering creators and consumers alike.
• Search engine marketing (SEM) and SEO became keys to visibility and lead generation.
For the full article, please download the pdf.
Books about Selling
There are a number of sales books defined as “Classics” by various commentators.
Depending upon your level of sales experience and state of mind, you should review and read the ones that are most relevant to your present circumnstances.
You can purchase these books from Amazon in printed or digital form and even read several at the same time.
The grandaddy books:
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The original playbook for relationship-driven selling and influence.
• The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy
Focuses on mindset, motivation, and closing techniques that scale.
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
Introduces six principles of persuasion—essential for any outreach strategy.
After the Grandaddy books, There’s a wide range of subjects.
Here's current list. Please download.
The Quiet Revolution in Demand Response and DERMS
In the past five years, the technology associated with managing remote generation and storage has dramatically improved.
Now, the Independent System Operators (ISO’s) can dispatch generation more easily and quickly. Moreover, the firms in the Demand Response Business can as well.
DERMS(Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems) are getting more robust daily.
The electric utilities know this and are using these systems to maintain system reliability amid increasingly volatile demand.
The icing on the cake is the general increase in power prices, driven in large part by datacenter growth. Those higher prices pay for further software and hardware development.
The associated jobs are growing too, particularly sales and marketing jobs.
If you’re already in the sector, congratulations. But you need to keep up with the competing firms.
If you’re not current on all this, take a look and see what might appeal to you.
DOWNLOAD the full report
AI in Account Based Marketing
The Artificial Intelligence buzz is so great that it’s hard to know where to start.
In my case, and that of many of my contacts, it’s how AI might support Account-Based-Marketing(ABM).
That’s a process that places the sales rep in the center of the action. Also focussed on making large sales on a longer sales cycle, say 6 to 18 months.
It treats individual accounts as “markets of one.” Instead of casting a wide net to attract leads, ABM focuses on a curated list of high-value companies that are most likely to convert and deliver long-term value.
It’s a collaborative strategy between marketing and sales, ensuring both teams align on goals, messaging, and outreach tactics.
Because I was a senior sales manager for years before getting into recruiting, I am convinced that good sales people are innately conservative about adopting new ideas (like artificial intelligence) and using them in the pursuit of major accounts.
This sentiment is echoed by Frank Cespesdes, a Harvard Business School professor, consultant and author of a great book on sale management: Sales Management That Works (How to sell in a world that never stops changing).
See the full writeup by clicking on the following:
