It's Sales March Madness: Is Your Inside Sales Team Geared-Up?
We are no longer “tipping off” 2012 and have approached the end of the first quarter which means the first milestone for many sales executives is only a couple shots away. Most businesses are wrapping up their first quarter and scrambling to hit ambitious revenue goals to start the year strong. It’s March Madness! I speak with a handful of senior Marketing/Sales execs every day and the biggest reason they aren’t hitting revenue goals is because they aren’t equipping their players to be all stars. Your best players need assists to win the game. Below are 3 questions to ask yourself to make sure you are setting your players up for a strong season:
Are your sales reps REALLY cold calling?
Many marketing/sales executives often feel that their target audience is being effectively contacted by their sales reps because “cold calling is their job.” I believe the best sales reps should always cold call, but if you are relying solely on your reps that are closing deals to cold call, chances are that job is not getting done as effectively as you may think. Too much of their day is spent with potential clients to focus on effective cold call plans.
Are you complimenting marketing campaigns with a calling component?
Email blasts, tradeshows, and marketing automation tactics are important to the sales funnel, but they are by no means “lay ups” for your sales reps. Many sales reps are equipped with marketing generated “leads.” The problem with this is there is no call campaign to qualify these leads for them and in most cases, these leads are viewed similar to cold calls by your sales reps. They just aren’t qualified and frankly unexciting to your sales reps. These leads may get be lost in the shuffle unless there is a calling component to further qualify and identify potential opportunities.
Are you reaching your ENTIRE universe?
There is plenty of talk about the sales funnel. You can have the best marketing tools and sales reps in place, but if your net isn’t cast wide enough (while remaining targeted), results at the end of the funnel will be slim. Logically, the more people you reach out to, the more response you will receive. You can’t only rely on prospects coming to your website to download material or respond to your marketing campaigns. A strong targeted teleprospecting program will reach your audience fast and translate marketing leads to active forecast in the shortest period of time.
As we approach the end of the first quarter, do you think your sales team has enough support to win the game for you this year?
