Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Back in 1995, I got to know a Professor of Anthropology from Rhode Island College.  Richard was a great guy. He always had a smile on his face, and he seemed like a very happy person.  

As I got to know him better, I learned that he was in fact a very happy person.  His happiness came from several areas in his life. He had a wonderful family with whom he was able to spend lots of time, he was healthy, and one last thing: He loved his job.  He told me that he thought he was getting away with something each day as he woke up, got dressed and went off to work.  The fact that he was being paid to do something he loved so much was something he was very grateful for.  

From a marketing and a sales point of view, this week has been extremely busy. The chatter around the office has expounded as more and more people are returning from vacation. Marketing is gearing into the fall months as well, as we just released an eBook we've been working on all summer. Team leaders are working one-on-one with sales reps, and new employees are coming in every week, eager to get their hands dirty in sales. For the first week of September, we're doing great, and it can only go up from here.

Ask not what you can do for your company. Ask what your company can do for you.

In the past few years, discussions of company culture have multiplied across start-ups in Silicon Valley, trusted businesses in Boston, and several other areas around the world. Some people think company culture can be confused with perks in the office, creating confusion and toxicity in the workplace. Some people think cultures can’t be created, that they’re a product of how leaders inspire their customers and employees. Still others argue that company culture affects traditional business metrics positively, resulting in revenue growth, employment growth, net income growth, etc.

It’s nearing the end of summer. Sales reps might think that making cold calls to prospects will now be easier, but lately, it's becoming harder and harder every day. Why, you may ask? For the same reason leads were down in the middle of summer: Vacations.  Not only do individuals inside sales representatives call go on vacation, sending us automatic out-of-office email replies or recording voicemails that state "I will be out of the office until...", but us cold callers luckily get some time off as well.  The problem is that, as prospects are finally returning from vacation, they're pushing sales reps away. I have called many a person in the last few months who has said to me, "I just got back from vacation and I have a backlog of emails and voicemails to get through.  Can you call back in two days?"

I have long believed that one of the most important cornerstones to a great corporate culture is learning and growth.  An important part of my job is to create such an environment, and work to ensure that each and every team member understands they have the flexibility to expand their contribution beyond their job description.  When this happens, everyone wins.  The team member has the opportunity to learn, improve and expand his or her skill set.  The customer benefits from a happier, more skilled team member, and the company benefits from increased productivity, customer loyalty and ultimately, profitability.  

I’ll admit it. I think I have been avoiding the usage of collaboration tools for a number of years now. No matter how hard my boss has pushed it, I just couldn’t get myself to fully adopt the tools he was presenting. I would test it out for a few weeks and then would stop because I wasn’t recognizing the true value.  You may have been in the same boat as me. I just kept using the excuse, “I have my email to manage that.” After recently realizing that comments like this make me feel old and stuck in my ways, I started giving it more thought, and decided to jump on the bandwagon to give it a shot.

And when I did, something great happened.