Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Nothing can kill an inside sales opportunity quite like time. Even the most enthusiastic customers and prospects can turn away from a deal if something else catches their eye. The longer a deal sits and does not move through the pipeline, the more apt a prospect will be to lose interest. Below are a few ways to ensure that you’re not losing opportunities due to bad timing or poor follow up.

Father’s Day is coming up this Sunday, June 15th. If you haven’t already planned something for your father or bought a card yet, the stores are still open. My dad and I haven’t always seen eye to eye on everything, especially during the dreaded angst-filled teenage years. But he managed to put a roof over my head, food on the table and helped support me to get a degree.

Let’s face it: Not every cold call campaign is created equal. Data integrity and relevance vary with each purchased list, and these new lists are far from free. In a sales world that’s becoming more social, it’s more important to target and personalize your messages to prospects, setting yourself apart from the rest and refusing to provide "another sales pitch." Below are 4 ways to quickly find and engage more relevant contacts, building a warmer pipeline for prospecting. 

There’s an old adage in sales about sales encounters. It goes something like this:  

You should always go into a sales situation prepared for a no but hoping for a yes.

It’s important to remember that each new opportunity you come across will have its own unique challenges and advantages. Though it’s hard to stay optimistic when objections crop up, bringing baggage from one sales call to another will not help you close. The longer you work with a product or solution, the the more confident you feel in your abilities to sell it, and the more assumptions you may make in regards to the outcome of each business engagement.

It’s the middle of the shortest month of the year, and between calls I hear the familiar orchestra of different off-putting sounds from other cubes: wheezing, coughing, sniffling, sneezing, and zombie-like groans of inside sales reps plagued with cold and flu symptoms.

This blog post is part three of a series of video blogs about the impact of technology on sales. See part one here and part two here. 

A few weeks ago I was putting together an email campaign to send out as a follow up to my client’s sales initiative, but I was having some difficulty setting up an integration tool on my computer. However, I knew that a sales rep on my client’s team was fairly tech savvy and had done some troubleshooting before, so I reached out to him asking for help. As I sat on the web conference using a program I had downloaded for free, I wasn’t dazed in the least when my colleague took control of my screen and walked me through each step. Within 5 minutes he had shown me how to set up everything perfectly!

After our conversation, I realized how much  of the technology we were using I had taken for granted. Not only was I about to greatly improve the amount of activity I could produce within a day, but I was working with a colleague who was half way across the country as if he were sitting next to me in my cube. That got me wondering: What other changes in technology have had the biggest impact on how we communicate and operate in sales? I’ve interviewed a few of our sales veterans to see what changes in sales technology they feel have made the biggest impact within the past decade.

This blog post is part two of a series of video blogs about the impact of technology on sales. See part one here. 

A few weeks ago I was putting together an email campaign to send out as a follow up to my client’s sales initiative, but I was having some difficulty setting up an integration tool on my computer. However, I knew that a sales rep on my client’s team was fairly tech savvy and had done some troubleshooting before, so I reached out to him asking for help. As I sat on the web conference using a program I had downloaded for free, I wasn’t dazed in the least when my colleague took control of my screen and walked me through each step. Within 5 minutes he had shown me how to set up everything perfectly!

After our conversation, I realized how much  of the technology we were using I had taken for granted. Not only was I about to greatly improve the amount of activity I could produce within a day, but I was working with a colleague who was half way across the country as if he were sitting next to me in my cube. That got me wondering: What other changes in technology have had the biggest impact on how we communicate and operate in sales? I’ve interviewed a few of our sales veterans to see what changes in sales technology they feel have made the biggest impact within the past decade.

A few weeks ago I was putting together an email campaign to send out as a follow up to my client’s sales initiative, but I was having some difficulty setting up an integration tool on my computer. However, I knew that a sales rep on my client’s team was fairly tech savvy and had done some troubleshooting before, so I reached out to him asking for help. As I sat on the web conference using a program I had downloaded for free, I wasn’t dazed in the least when my colleague took control of my screen and walked me through each step. Within 5 minutes he had shown me how to set up everything perfectly!

Client retention is critical to a business's success. Over the years, I have had a long, profitable relationship with several clients. It’s important for inside sales reps to not only believe in what they’re doing for themselves and for their company, but for their client’s best interest as well. Having a customer-oriented approach builds longer term relationships. But what does customer-oriented mean? How do you develop and maintain that relationship between clients? Below are a few tips I have found successful while engaging with clients: 

Several months ago, while shopping at my favorite clothing store, a sales associate approached me asking if she could help me find anything. She eagerly greeted me by the door, as it was slow and I was only one of two customers at the time.  Normally I would probably pass up the help and say I was just browsing, which is usually the case when I go there. I like to look around and see what’s new, what’s on sale.  However, that day I had gone in there with a purpose; I was looking for a particular pair of jeans that I was unable to find online.