Are You Calling A List Or Finding Opportunities?
A targeted list is a great starting point - I can’t emphasize starting point enough. Talented reps with the right prospecting skills will slam dunk a successful campaign. While it’s easy to pass along marketing generated leads to inside reps and put a script in front of them , this is not the best use of your time or theirs. In order to uncover as much forecast as possible in a short period of time, it is crucial to apply the following to your inside team:
Start your reps with targeted COMPANIES:
It is far more important for our engagements to start with targeted companies as opposed to targeted contacts. While, in a perfect world both are ideal, your rep will find more success much sooner by starting with the right companies. The majority of quality conversations should never be qualifying companies out that are not a fit for your solution. They should be conversations with the right prospect in the right organization or conversations being pointed in the direction of the right prospect. When you are building and scrubbing your lists, pay more attention to cleaning out companies that aren’t a fit instead of focusing on the right titles. When you have the right companies in front of skilled reps, they should have more impact uncovering the decision maker as soon as possible.
Do not rely on a list to produce results:
Your skilled inside sales team should be there to make sure that you are always finding the right person(s) to speak with in each and every account on your list. The best reps will find opportunities with contacts that weren’t on any marketing or targeted list in the first place. If you are really prospecting an organization to find an opportunity, you can’t expect results by calling down a list.Every time you call into a new account, the goal should always be to find a conversation with someone, anyone. The best opportunities are usually never self identified on any marketing list. There is prospecting work to be done and skilled reps will find the right contact with the opportunity for your solution.
Use the right resources:
How blessed are us inside reps today to be armed with competing database contact generating firms and social networking sites?! With all of these informative pathways to find decision makers at our fingertips, make sure your reps are subscribed to the most effective resources. Do your homework and know which resources have the best quality data with the highest accuracy percentage.
In short, marketing generated leads with questionable data that has not been properly nurtured and un-resourceful reps calling down a list will not put you in the best spot to ensure success. It’s important that you have a team equipped with the right accounts, skilled at prospecting into companies, and the right resources at their fingertips to be in the best position to find qualified prospects. It is also important that reps are ALWAYS trying to get directed to the right person by picking up the phone, calling in, and starting a conversation.