One day, a businessman stopped by a local store but noticed there was a sign that read “Sorry We’re Closed”
A few days later, while passing by, he noticed that they were now open so he made a note to self to stop by later.
When he returned, there was a sign that read “Sorry We’re Closed”
For […]

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Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

One question I get asked all the time by clients is “How can I make my blog as effective as possible?” The answer lies in Google Analytics. As you may know, Google Analytics tracks a wealth of knowledge that can be used to create a variety of customized reports revealing a lot of interesting and valuable information about a website or blog through how it’s used.

Creating a custom report using any of the dimensions available through Google Analytics can quickly provide a picture of traffic flow. Take Day of the Week Name and Hours, for example. Utilizing these as the Dimensions, you are able to see what days as well as hours of that day are the busiest for your website.

Blog posts, of course, are a great way to create and add new, searchable content that can attract attention – and traffic – to your business or organization. By analyzing the data in the custom report we just created, we can see, say, that your website is busiest on Fridays at 3pm. Why then would you want to post your new content at 2am on Sunday? Why not utilize the information you gather to maximize content timeliness and value for your readers?

The most active days for one of my clients are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, ranging from 10am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm. So by posting their blog articles around 10am or 2-2:30pm he’s able to maximize the number of readers he can reach with his blog postings and increase their time on his site with fresh content that keeps them engaged.

By not posting your content when it has the greatest chance of being seen and read, you risk it getting lost in a slew of other fresh posts from other people.

I see it (and experience it) time and time again.
A sales rep calls a prospect, they don’t answer so they either leave a message or they simply call back.
Some will immediately email after they left a voice mail (which I think is dickish but to each their own) and the cycle repeats itself over and […]

Go to Sales Playbook
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

inConcert Web Solutions will be closed Monday, September 1st. Our office will reopen on Tuesday, September 2nd. All website maintenance requests and website changes that are requested within this time period will be completed upon our reopening in the order that they were received.

Have a fun, safe holiday weekend!

Kind of a weird topic to be tackling when it’s August, huh?
The funny thing about time is that it’s one relentless S.O.B.. I mean you blinked and you went from New Year’s Eve to Labor Day and you will blink again and 2015 will be introducing itself to you!
Now you could embrace a Scarlett O’ […]

Go to Sales Playbook
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll say it again . . .
If I put up a post about cold calling or hunting for new accounts or closing, you guys jump on it like it’s going out of style.
Put something up about how you can learn and everyone hightails it for the door.
On one hand. I […]

Go to Sales Playbook
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

In this week’s episode of The Sales Playbook Podcast,  we continue with our 3 part series on Getting Back To School With Your Selling Skills.
With the average person consuming 34 gigabytes of information each day it can become easy to focus on the the wrong things from a personal development perspective!
That’s why I have several […]

Go to Sales Playbook
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

So did you hear the one about . . .
Those who can, do;
Those who can’t teach?
It’s a shame because in some cases it’s spot on, but in many cases it’s simply a safe way of avoiding that scary thing many of us call “learning”!
Makes you kind of want to rewrite that adage to read . […]

Go to Sales Playbook
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

Seems like it was just yesterday that we began 2014!
For many, there was this optimism, new goals, perhaps a dream or two and then you blink and . . .
Suddenly it’s the end of August and the next thing you know, the cycle repeats itself come New Year’s Eve!
If someone were to play a bad […]

Go to Sales Playbook
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

Here are a few of the things you may have missed this week in our Sales Playbook communities.
On Facebook
What topics would you like to see addressed in the Sales Playbook communities?
What’s one of more areas that you’d like to improve upon when it comes to sales?
Do you reward yourself for new accounts, exceeding quota, a […]

Go to Sales Playbook
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

When a potential client tells you they don’t have the time to meet with you, do you believe them?
Or how about when a potential client tells you they don’t have it in the budget?
It’s not that they’re liars, its just that (in some cases) it’s a convenient excuse!
Guess What?
Now that I’ve gotten your attention, I […]

Go to Sales Playbook
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

Sometimes things get weird with clients and prospects.
Not because we made it weird but because they asked something that made it so.
It could be anything from “How much commission will you make on this?” to personal questions about your faith, marital status or even just a stupid question that has us asking ourselves “Where the […]

Go to Sales Playbook
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

Beach balls are a great choice for anyone who wants to put their logo on something fun but not too bulky. 10” Vinyl Inflatable Beach Toy in 6 Assorted Panel Colors. Measurement is 1/2 the circumference when item is inflated.

10″ Multi-Colored Beach Ball

NOTE: Prices are subject to change.

Years ago,I heard something that I’ve never forgotten!
It was a study that found that the average person pretty much stops learning by the time they finish their formal education!
Because I’m an ass, and love to dramatize a point, I can’t help but think . . .
If people are living longer and with the cost of […]

Go to Sales Playbook
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).

I’m going to win the brevity award for this one and I suspect that most people will dismiss this simply because of its simplicity.
That’s actually a good thing if you do . . .
Because there will be more business for the rest of us 
Painfully obvious “I know that” moment coming at cha in 3,2,1 . […]

Go to Sales Playbook
Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics where he oversees the training and development of 700 sales Jedis.

Over the last 27 years, Paul has trained and mentored over 3,000 sales professionals, written sales training content for several Fortune 500 companies and is the author of Castain’s Sales Playbook (which just won a Sales Pop award for best sales website).