Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Happy Friday, Sales Prospecting Perspectives subscribers! We hope you had a terrific Thanksgiving, feasting with family and giving thanks. Today is Black Friday, but in between your online shopping for deals, you might want to check out some of our favorite sales and marketing articles this week!

Good morning, Sales Prospecting Perspectives readers! We hope everyone had a fantastic week, especially those who were at Dreamforce, networking and learning more than ever about sales and technology. This week's weekly recap has a bonus at the end, so keep reading! For now, here are some of our favorite articles this week:

I’ve been in sales a long time.  More years than I care to count.  It’s been eleven years since my business partner and I founded AG Salesworks with the goal of helping sales and marketing teams succeed through identifying and delivering their ‘ideal’ prospect.  

I'll admit it: I never liked role plays. I wouldn't say that I'm necessarily in the minority here. Remembering back to my first few sales jobs, role plays were inevitably part of the training and were what I always dreaded the most. Don't get me wrong: I saw the value in going through the exercise, but I never felt that I put my best foot forward. How can you when you haven't fully absorbed the service/technology you were tasked with calling on?

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Chris Croner, Principal at Sales Drive, LLC.

One of the most frustrating experiences for sales managers is hiring “hunter” salespeople who produce lackluster results in spite of their stellar interview performance.  Unfortunately, this phenomenon occurs all too frequently and results from insufficient scrutiny of candidates in the recruiting process.  One of the most common mistakes companies make in this area is failing to screen candidates effectively before moving them into the interview phase.

I often wish I can go back to those specific points in my career to let myself know that everything’s to be alright. You know those moments where you feel like the sky is falling and nothing is panning out they way you hoped it would?  At the time, these thoughts consume you, but a month later, you've all but forgotten it. 

Be honest: How much emotional energy did you dedicate to one lousy moment? Was it worth it in retrospect? 

Ever have a poor customer experience at Starbucks? I haven’t. I am always extremely satisfied when I leave there. From the moment you walk in, every employee smiles from ear to ear, they have a ton of energy, and if they mess up your order or take longer than expected, they give you a free drink, no questions asked. The key is this: they make it about you, the customer, from the second you enter their front door. Every employee seems to possess a positive attitude at all times. They truly make me believe that they love going to work and that satisfying their customers is their top priority.

It’s finally August, the Sunday of summer. The scorching heat brings with it a bittersweet reminder that summer won’t last forever, and that fall is just around the corner. At AG, we’re celebrating the beginning of a new month with a company cruise in the Boston Harbor. We’re ready for a beautiful day on the water, filled with games, dancing and fun. I hope you’re embracing this month as well!  

Happy Friday! At AG, it’s been a busy week, as everyone returned from vacation to a full inbox and several tasks to complete. In order to bring up morale around the office, we’re holding a contest that partners up inside sales reps, adding their QC numbers and lead percentages. It’s called a Tag Team Tournament, and it’s gotten everyone excited and supportive of each other’s success. The ties will be broken by a “mystery physical challenge,” which sounds both daunting and exciting. Consider pairing together your inside sales reps to harmonize your team.

...And How to Spot Them Before They Burn Up Your Time And Money

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Chris Croner, Principal at Sales Drive, LLC.

Have you ever felt burned by a sales candidate who looked great in the interview but failed to meet your expectations?  This is one of the most heartbreaking and frustrating experiences for sales managers and business owners... And, unfortunately, it is also one of the most common.  Many candidates come with seemingly ideal experience and potential, and yet the best sale we get out of that candidate is their interview performance.  Although these situations can be very discouraging, we can avoid them by looking beyond the candidate’s demeanor, experience level, and even track record, and instead into the most important non-teachable predictor of success: the candidate’s innate level of what psychologists call Drive, a critical personality trait and key aptitude that research shows must be in place to succeed in “hunter” type sales positions.