Sales Prospecting Perspectives

One of the KPIs I look at when analyzing inside sales effectiveness is the percentage of leads that don’t show up for the initial sales call. Common theory places the blame on the inside rep for not doing their job properly and, while I have written blogs about how inside reps can negatively effect your no show rate, I feel that the inside reps sometimes take too much of the heat.  In fact, I would argue that a good amount of the time the sales rep is just as much to blame for no shows. Here are 3 things sales reps do that lead to a good prospect blowing off the discovery call.

I’ve been involved in sales since I first started canvassing door to door for a home improvement company when I was in high school.  At times, the things I have heard colleagues say make me wonder why they are involved with sales.

I am a certified, professional SHOPAHOLIC and my time is coming soon enough, as the malls in our area prepare for their Memorial Day Sales.  For most, this can be a bit overwhelming, as you determine which sales fit your needs and priorities first.  With the right amount of prep and planning, I am able to tackle the stores without breaking a sweat.

I decided to write this week’s blog about organizations that are looking to build inside sales teams. Building a team can’t be done overnight. You need to take a lot into consideration; the type of people you are looking to hire, how you will align your sales territories, the training needed for best practice messaging, and the CRM system your team will be leveraging – and that’s just to name a few.

When I walk into an interview, a lot of things are running through my head.  I’m thinking about how the candidate presented on paper and now in person, wondering what their level of interest is for the position, and whether or not they have done their homework on our company.

It’s about that time again. Trees and flowers are in bloom, the temperature is reaching the mid 70s, and I’ve officially introduced open-toed shoes back into my wardrobe rotation. Summer is just around the corner, and you know what that means – it’s time to start gearing up for your sales company’s summer outing event! Company outings are a great way for your company as a whole to relax and unwind a bit. It’s a great time of the year to thank everyone for all of their hard work and to increase employee morale (especially when the event takes place on a work day).

One of my areas of responsibility is revenue growth and while this is not new to me as I have been in sales my entire career, striving for double digit growth quarter over quarter in a services business can be a pretty tall order.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not whining.  We have done quite well and have emerged from the 2009 downturn with double digit growth in 2010 and 2011.  But what fun would it be just to sit back and accept fast growth when it could be super fast growth?  The major challenge, as I see it, is that when you turn up the expectations, the many variables involved tend to be magnified.  

One of our company mantras is that, if done correctly, calling campaigns are a great way to bring in predictable amounts of forecast quarter after quarter. Unfortunately, a lot of teams out there just haven’t mastered the whole “done correctly” part. We try to be delicate when asked to critique our client’s internal efforts. “Well, telling the prospect to buy from you or else they’re stupid may work, but maybe you could try (this) instead”.  Since you don’t sign a check to me, I will come right out and give you some of the more common mistakes I see (no sugar coating).

This past weekend I completed my first ever Tough Mudder event, “Probably the Toughest Event on the Planet.” It is described as a 10-12 mile mud run straight up the face of Mount Snow in Vermont, complete with 26 obstacles designed by British Special Forces, and meant to test each Mudder on strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. For me, it was more like 10 miles of vertical Hell flavored with 26 twisted obstacles, each meant to test my preparation (or lack thereof), tact, and ever-pressing urge to push my limits.