Sales Prospecting Perspectives

In the world of teleprospecting, many thought leaders are debating the efficacy of new and old techniques. With more and more sales leaders implementing new strategies, it's important for inside sales rep to keep up with the trends. However, don't feel you have to choose one technique and stick to it. Instead, learn to balance your techniques and manage your lists. Social selling is time-consuming, and it cuts out the ability to speak to prospects for a lengthy amount of time about their pains and needs, but it could lead to stronger opportunities. You may find that your team has more activity from the smile and dial method, but without some social intelligence behind these calls, those leads could be dead ends. Below are three things to consider when using commonly used prospecting techniques to find the balance that works right for you.

As an inside sales rep, your call plans most likely include effective email prospecting strategies. You’re giving out your email to everyone you talk to in case they want to contact you later. You’re sending reports to your superiors and asking for advice from your managers, all within your inbox. You’re inundated daily by messages from clients, prospects, marketing, and more. It’s no surprise that email takes up 28% of the average workers’ time, according to McKinsey & Company. To put things into perspective, that’s one-fourth of your day spent in your inbox.

AG Salesworks is pleased to bring you a guest post from Janelle Johnson, Director of Demand Generation at Act-On Software. 

In B2B marketing, sales and marketing emails play different but equally important roles in a successful communication strategy. Marketing emails lure the leads, and sales reels them in. But if nobody ever opens your messages, they won’t do your organization much good. Getting a prospect to open an email can be extremely challenging in today’s crowded marketplace. Many of us get hundreds of emails every day. Which ones make you click? Which ones make you hit delete?

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. 

With a family background in sales, it’s no wonder I love competition, organization, and numbers. I like that every month your slate is wiped clean and you have another 30 days to crush your numbers. But not only is sales a month-to-month game; it's also quarterly and yearly. The cycle in which we work in inside sales is organized and allows you to plan your time accordingly.

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a post from Patrice Morrison, a Business Development Representative at AG Salesworks. 

As an inside sales rep, the majority of my prospecting has been encompassed around cold calling. But as of recently, my client has been having my team follow up with warm, inbound leads. My role is to connect with recent trade show attendees, webinar attendees, prospects that have responded to email promotions, or downloaded whitepapers from my client’s website. Many of the "prospects" I communicate with are already my client’s customers. My goal is to follow up with them and find out what their current IT initiatives are and if they are evaluating my client’s additional solutions. When prospecting warm leads, the strategy and process is much different from the typical cold calling campaign. Therefore, here are few tips for prospecting inbound leads.

Happy Friday, Sales Prospecting Perspectives readers! We've had a busy week, with clients arriving and inside sales reps ramping up for a successful Q1. Without further ado, here are our favorite articles from the sales and marketing world this week! 

You wake up in the morning and check your email on your phone, tablet, or laptop. You get to work and you check your work email. You delete some emails, save some for reading later, and reply to others right away. But what makes you stop and read some emails versus saving them and forgetting to come back to them until a week later? There are a few things you can do to help your emails get noticed by prospects.

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Amanda Maksymiw, Content Marketing Manager at Lattice Engines. 

With a handful of days left to impact sales goals, it’s no wonder that some sales professionals are feeling the heat and starting to sweat. According to a 2013 study from CSO Insights, two-thirds of companies are struggling with lead generation.  More than 65 percent of companies surveyed are looking to improve new customer acquisition as a key driver for the year. And sadly, less than two-thirds are making quota. Sales professionals admittedly are raising their hands, asking for help with prioritizing and researching new accounts.