Sales Prospecting Perspectives

We are no longer “tipping off” 2012 and have approached the end of the first quarter which means the first milestone for many sales executives is only a couple shots away. Most businesses are wrapping up their first quarter and scrambling to hit ambitious revenue goals to start the year strong. It’s March Madness! I speak with a handful of senior Marketing/Sales execs every day and the biggest reason they aren’t hitting revenue goals is because they aren’t equipping their players to be all stars. Your best players need assists to win the game. Below are 3 questions to ask yourself to make sure you are setting your players up for a strong season:

Cold calling can be hard enough, never mind cold calling into sales prospects who are professionals in the very process you are trying to engage them in.  As in any other role, sales professionals have business challenges just like any IT, finance, marketing, or HR exec.  One can argue that a sales professional has even more pressure to fix business challenges at all costs, as their job rests on hitting ambitious revenue goals for the company.  I have made cold calls into marketing, IT, education, engineers, finance, even scientists.  I cannot deny that sales folks can be challenging, but if you do it right, you will have highly rewarding conversations. 

I am the first to dodge an unknown number on my cell or abruptly end a call with someone I feel is, “just another person trying to sell me something.” During my conversations with sales and marketing professionals, it is unfortunate that many still don’t understand the difference between telemarketing and teleprospecting. Telemarketing naturally has a stigma, because one generally thinks of the person who calls during dinnertime with your family. It is typically a very scripted one sided pitch. Any questions a telemarketer has are typically in the form of a “read down the list” survey. Teleprospecting is a completely different animal conducted by business savvy, typically well paid inside sales reps. A teleprospector is good at working around an account to find key decision makers and having value forward conversations.  Teleprospecting is typically used for solutions with larger deal sizes and longer sales cycles as this method is ideal for focusing on the value of the opportunity as opposed to the volume of leads. Volume telemarketing is a better option for more transactional sales or a B2C sale. 

With every New Year there are new obstacles, new lessons, and new solutions.   It’s the time when we reflect back on the previous year and think about our successes and of course, short comings.  If I were to attempt to discuss all areas I would like to personally improve, it would probably take more space than this blog would allow.  So today I wanted to discuss a bothersome professional obstacle that I would like to hold myself accountable to improving in 2012.  After doing some research and talking with some colleagues, It is apparent that I am not alone with this challenge, so I think it is worthy of a discussion.

The lights are up, shoppers are out, and vacation time with friends and family is right around the corner.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  Well, maybe not for teleprospectors.  Their months are shortened, goals are high, and the “out of office” email replies are in abundant.  On top of that, getting people committed to a phone conversation can be a battle as many of their prospects are saying “follow up with me in the new year.”  Here are 3 ways on how to make it worth your prospect’s time to talk to you now. 

If you are glancing at this post and have a sales call on the immediate horizon, I encourage you to read on. While this is advice that may seem simple, it has been some of the best advice I have received yet. Participating in a conversation with someone can seem pretty mundane. As a teleprospector, it can be so easy to forget the basic rules of communication. There is a motive involved, a series of answers to uncover, the right education involved, and steps to take your prospect through. A simple conversation can become complicated fast!

One of the hardest transitions to make in a sales career is gaining the confidence to talk to your prospects on a peer to peer level.  Confidence goes a long a way in a sales career; second to work ethic, it is what keeps a salesman/woman sane, well fed, and happy.  I had a recent business conversation with one of my prospects who was absolutely raving about the idea of a career in sales.  He was baffled as to why anyone who wants to make money would actually want to do anything else.  This prospect proceeded to ask me very direct questions that gave him a more personal feel for what I was trying to sell him; such as how I ended up where I am in my career, where I am going, and even how I am paid!  To my surprise, I answered him. 

One of the primary goals of any sales team is to find all potential buyers in their target market(s).  There are 2 key areas to look at to ensure your company is finding these buyers before your competitors are getting to them:

If you are considering bringing on a new inside rep to find new business opportunities, there are a couple important steps to consider.  Without even touching on the HR components (not my area of expertise), there needs to be a significant amount of time and resources dedicated to the following areas:

One of our sales reps said to me the other day, “I can’t believe it, we just closed a deal at ‘XYZ company’! I have had an overdue task with ‘John Smith’ buried with my other tasks that I just gave up on.  My BDR found the new person responsible for this, grabbed their attention, and now they are a client.”