🎉 Celebrating 10 Years of Excellence in Leadership and Community 🎉

In today's Sales Pulse, gain insight into how:

• Smarter cross-sell strategies can reduce customer fatigue and boost conversions by delivering offers that align perfectly with the customer journey.

• In-person retail immersion helps brands identify overlooked opportunities, build stronger relationships, and drive real growth by simply showing up.

• Well-structured Customer Advisory Boards foster trust, gather actionable feedback, and scale effectively to become powerful growth drivers.

For the uninitiated: Sales Pulse is a free, biweekly newsletter designed for the innovative sales leaders of today and tomorrow. Each article featured below is penned by a member of Forbes Business Development Council, a community of successful sales executives shaping the future of business.

Let’s dive in!

Rethinking Cross-Sell Offers: From Fatigue to Function

Cross-sell fatigue is real. Customers are tired of intrusive, ill-timed offers that disrupt their experience. However, this doesn’t mean cross-selling is dead—it means it’s time to do better. By embedding offers into the natural flow of the customer journey, businesses can turn "no thanks" into "yes, please."

Here’s how to make cross-sells work smarter, not harder:

🌟 Relevance Is Everything: Stop pushing generic, poorly timed offers. Focus on embedding offers that naturally fit into key customer moments.

✈️ Leverage Contextual Opportunities: Smart offers—like travel insurance at checkout or financing during a home improvement estimate—feel intuitive and drive higher conversion.

🤝 Partner With Purpose: Strategic partnerships that prioritize customer needs over volume create trust and drive better results.

📅 Timing Is Key: It’s not just about where the offer appears; when and how it’s presented matters just as much.

Read The Full Article >

The Best Retail Strategy? Show Up

Building a winning retail strategy isn’t all data and decks; it’s about stepping into the store, walking the aisles, and experiencing your product in the real world. Many brands miss this crucial step, but those who show up, literally, gain insights no spreadsheet can deliver.

Here’s why being present matters:

👁️ First-Hand Observations: Watch how customers interact with your product: where they pause, what they skip, and how it’s perceived on the shelf.

🔧 Adjustments Drive Results: A personal care brand tripled sales by tweaking packaging, creating training materials, and improving shelf presence—all based on in-store visits.

🛠️ Fix Problems in Real Time: Store visits help you identify and solve issues, from bad shelving placement to unclear messaging.

🤝 Build Relationships, Build Trust: Independent stores reward brands that care—strong relationships with retailers can lead to advocacy and better sales.

Read The Full Article >

6 Lessons for Building a More Valuable Customer Advisory Board

A Customer Advisory Board (CAB) is more than a feedback loop; done right, it’s a driver of goodwill, trust, and growth. The real challenge? Sustaining a CAB that delivers value to both your organization and its members.

Here’s a glimpse into the six lessons that will help you maximize your CAB’s impact:

🎯 Define Your Purpose First: Why are you creating a CAB? Be clear whether the goal is to validate strategy, capture customer insights, or anticipate future trends. Clarity sets expectations and results.

💡 Prioritize Attendee Value: Make it worth their time. Help attendees amplify their voice, increase influence, and achieve personal success. Their wins drive deeper engagement.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Choose the Right Members: Skip titles. Recruit individuals who are active users of your product, deeply knowledgeable, and invested in its success.

🗣️ Embrace Uncomfortable Feedback: CABs thrive on honesty. Welcome diverse opinions and act on them—the hard truths foster trust and progress.

⚙️ Shift from Push to Pull: When CAB members host or champion meetings without prompting, you’ve created a pull dynamic where they see real value. Keep engagement strong between meetings with meaningful content and connections.

Read The Full Article >

Wrapping Up

If these articles sparked your interest, we have a network that you will love: Forbes Business Development Council.

This exclusive, vetted community brings together seasoned sales and business development leaders.

Put yourself at the forefront of innovation with access to publishing opportunities on Forbes.com, a personalized, SEO-friendly Executive Profile, and the chance to network with other respected leaders in the field.

Join Forbes Business Development Council today, and become part of a group driving meaningful innovation in business.