Sales Prospecting Perspectives

I've always prided myself on creating the best culture I possibly can for my inside sales team. The last thing I want is for people to trudge into the office on Monday morning with a look of dread in their eyes, feeling like they have a full week of misery ahead of them. Keeping a good company culture is also partially selfish for me, because I don't want to spend 40 hours a week with miserable people who drain the life out of me. 

Last week, I had the chance to help train a fresh new crop of recruits for a long-time client of ours. After 12 years of trying to figure this teleprospecting thing out, I'd say we're completely sold on how we do things internally around here. The interesting part for me is seeing how others not immersed in the AG Salesworks culture react to our process and mindset. Fortunately, most of the post-training feedback was in line with what we wanted to hear. The long and the short of it was that we helped provide a framework on how to best attack all warm and cold opportunities. Sometimes, all inside sales need is a place to start. 

Last week was my 10-year anniversary at AG. At times, 10 years seems like eons ago, but honestly most of the time it truly feels as if time has flown by. During this period, I bought a condo, got married, had a child (who is now 7), sold a condo, and bought a house... all while watching AG grow from an 8-person shop to the 60 folks we are today. 

Back in the mid ‘90s, I was fresh out of college and managing a hotel front desk, with aspirations to one day become the General Manager. I quickly became accustomed to long hours and cranky business travelers, which most of us know can be challenging to say the least. At the time, a large percentage of my friends were living the high life at multiple tech company and making obscene amounts of money relative to their experience, as they were recent college graduates as well.

I'm a big teamwork guy. I like when everyone can share credit.

That may seem like an overly obvious statement for most of you out there, but if you asked yourself if you're a team player, what would your answer be? Deep down, do you prefer to collaborate with others or tackle things independently? I don't think there's really a right or wrong answer, but at some point, inevitably, you're most likely going to need to collaborate with a colleague or boss on a portion of your work in order to take it to the next level. 

As I've discovered over the years, the more responsibility I take on, the more I realize that working independently isn't really an option for me. As much as I would like to have direct control over my world, I realize that there are far too many moving parts for me to not have to rely on others for their input and insight. I'm perfectly fine with that, and I came to terms with that reality long ago. Most of us will have to if we have any intention of working in a management capacity or in inside sales. 

About a month ago, I talked about the challenges I've faced when managing conflict and I offered a couple of ways to address these obstacles that I’ve learned over the years. Since then, I've really made a point to consider alternatives to proactively manage conflict.

However, maybe “conflict” doesn’t have to be such a dirty word. It’s all in the tone with which we choose to approach a potentially contentious situation.  Being assertive doesn't have to be ugly if we come at it from the right angle.

This coming August, I will have been part of the AG Salesworks team for 10 years. It has been far and away the most time I've spent with any company in my career and also has been far and away the most challenging and enjoyable. 

I've always responded best to people who lead by example in the workplace. I find it harder to relate to individuals who are always willing to offer advice on strategies (often unsolicited) when it seems that they rarely, if ever, follow their own words.  

I often think back to my experiences back in my high school days playing sports. The coaches that took the approach of yelling and kicking objects over to get a point across never made an impact on me. When the crap hit the fan, I found that those coaching personalities rarely knew what to do to solve the problem… other than yelling more. I always felt that I was demonstrating the desire and motivation to be part of the team by showing up and doing the best I could. I didn’t need someone yelling in my ear to get me motivated; instead I needed guidance to hone my skills and make me understand what needs to improve.

There is nothing better than a sales manager who can speak from real experience when providing advice. It can be very difficult to relate to a boss who seems like they need to refer to a sales instruction manual.  It was always encouraging to know that my boss, at one point, had walked in my shoes and understood how to do the job. 

Over the years, I found that I innately gravitate towards the part of my job I enjoy doing the most. I think we're all guilty of that at times. In fact, I would argue that most of us gravitate away from cold calling.  In my experience it has been rare to see someone swan dive into cold dials every day. Generally, I had a pre-calling ritual before I got going, but there were still days when it seemed as if it took me an entire morning to get warmed up.