I just wrapped up my first fall Sunday Funday. We watched the Pats, had some friends over, cooked some fall-inspired food, and may have had one or two pumpkin beers. This is my absolute favorite time of year. It's a fresh new start as we close out the summer and get ready to start the last quarter of the year. An influx of new customers goes hand in hand with that, and it’s always exciting to kick off new client engagements.
As we launched one program in particular last week, my client asked my all-time favorite question: "What makes for the best programs when it comes to inside sales engagements?" The below are crucial elements of a successful inside sales or lead generation effort from my perspective:
Training. With the proper training timeline in place, there is little chance for failure. Make sure you craft a realistic training timeframe for learning to take place and document it for future reference. Put it on a shared platform like Google Drive or Dropbox. Lastly, record the trainings so you and your team can return to specific sessions as questions and objections arise along the way.
Enthusiastic sales reps. Without outside sales reps on board with the engagement, you will fail. Make sure your inside sales reps are properly aligned with your outside sales reps and that you have a seamless hand-off process in place. If your sales reps aren’t excited to receive qualified leads with appointments, you won’t see optimal results.
Excited Executives. Without proper buy-in from the top, sales prospecting engagement has little chance of survival. The key here is excited executives. From what I have seen, there is a difference between excited, supportive executives and the kind that expect to see results in the first day of calling efforts and give up on the effort too fast. Patience is key.
Collaboration. Talking every other day throughout the ramping up process and throughout the first two weeks of calling is a must. Everyone stays on task this way, and nothing gets put on the back burner. Stick to action items and execute accordingly. Collaborate after the ramp-up period once a week and review reporting.
Just as fall is my favorite season, launching new inside sales engagements is my favorite part of my job. The most successful ones always include proper training, enthusiastic sales reps, excited executives and collaboration. Are you launching new programs during this fall season? If so, how will you ensure your efforts will be fruitful?
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