Sales Prospecting Perspectives

The age-old question that every sales manager asks themselves is, “How can I better motivate my reps?” We often talk about rewarding our reps with things like money, extra PTO, company outings, and culture to keep them engaged. The reality is that while all those incentives are necessary, we sometimes forget about the intangible ways we can motivate and keep reps interested. In a meeting with my boss yesterday, he reminded us of something that is right at our fingertips that we sometimes forget about: Empowerment. It plays a very large role when it comes to motivating sales reps and it’s a great way to better your team as a whole.

Sales enablement is a hot topic for sales and marketing agencies in 2014. DemandMetric and SAVO Group recently hosted sales enablement summits. Sirius Decisions produced a sales enablement framework and model. HubSpot is hiring “Sales Enablement Stars.”

Alongside these companies, AG Salesworks is encouraging sales and marketing agencies to seriously consider their sales enablement process. Before now, sales and marketing may have had different understandings of the elusive term “sales enablement.” Our newest guide, “Sales Enablement Explained,” includes worksheets, tips, and advice for organizations to agree on what a successful sales enablement plan means to them, including its definition, role, and effectiveness.  

Happy Friday, Sales Prospecting Perspectives readers! It's the first week of March, which means readers are anxiously awaiting spring weather. The past few days have been bright, so they may start getting warmer soon! This week was a good one for those in the office, as a few inside sales reps passed leads that translated into large transactions. To get your sales team prospecting effectively and your marketing team supporting sales effectively, here are some of our favorite sales and marketing articles from this week: 

I’m going to say a word. And immediately you are going to form an assumption, positive or negative, about this word. You can’t help it, because that’s how we react as humans.

The word is: Millennial.

Over the years I’ve seen some common themes from my most successful mentors. Every day, they realized they had to check their ego at the door. We’re in this together and getting things done is NOT a one-man job. It’s a collective effort each and every day.

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!

Weather forecasters have been describing the last few days as fall-like, and I love it! It’s been beautiful out, and while I’m sad to see the summer days fading away, I am excited for cooler, fall days ahead. The summer has been filled with beach days, summer vacations, warm weather, and unfortunately, some slower times in the sales world. We’ve seen a slight decrease in the amount of leads we're getting from clients for follow-ups, and out-of-office replies are flooding inside sales reps' inboxes, making it a bit more challenging to get prospects live on the phone.

Happy Friday, readers. At AG, we kickstarted this week with sales training for our inside sales reps at the Four Points Sheraton. Our reps spent four hours in the trenches with a professional sales trainer, practicing brain exercises, focusing on teambuilding, giving each other advice, sharing ideas and role playing specific sales scenarios. They came back to the office refreshed with information and ready to conquer more leads!

By the end of the decade, millennials will encompass 50% of the workforce. Not only will they be employees, they will also be customers. They’re changing the workplace with adaptive views on feedback, mentoring programs and socialization. They’re vocal about their beliefs and ideas, and are confident that their input matters. The millennial generation is changing the way all employees, Baby Boomers and Gen X alike, work in the new millennium.