Sales Prospecting Perspectives

What does it mean to be a manager, director, SVP, VP, President, COO, CFO, or CEO, outside of the responsibilities listed in the job description?  It means upholding duties, meeting goals, and contributing to the company.  Sometimes, executives seem to forget the last portion: "contribute to the company."  Many people automatically think, “Well, I'm doing a great job fulfilling my duties, so of course I'm contributing to the company.” But that's not always the case.

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Matt Heinz, President of Heinz Marketing.

We’re such an impatient lot.  The more we can measure, the more (irrationally) we expect what we're measuring to work immediately. 

This applies to many facets of life these days, but particularly for B2B sales and marketing professionals.

Despite a clearer understanding of the buyer’s journey and timeline, we still expect our leads to convert immediately.  We expect new/cold lists to generate results right away.  We expect social selling to drive warm pipeline quickly (apparently just because it’s social).

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a post from Taylor Lacey, a Business Development Representative at AG Salesworks.

What do you picture when you hear the word "nurture?"

Many people may think of a plant "nurtured" to full health. In inside sales, potential customers can also be nurtured. If they aren't a good fit now, does that mean they will always be unqualified for your product or service? Or can they slowly become a lead by means of a strong lead nurturing campaign? 

We’ve all seen the contact who doesn’t quite fit the qualifying criteria and is automatically added to the nurture bucket. These are three important tips to remember when nurturing prospects.

With inside sales training tactics advancing every day, it’s important for managers to stay up to date on the latest training news. However, instead of only focusing on how to train their reps, managers should also focus on how to train themselves to equip reps with the best tools and strategies they need to get the job done.

And the people who can help the most with that task may be closer than you think. 

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a post from Mike Lipka, an Inside Sales Representative at AG Salesworks.

What could Michelangelo’s sculpting techniques teach you about reaching quota? The answer may surprise you.

Michelango’s mastery of sculpture was without rival, and his philosophy on his craft was equally brilliant. Believing that the figure he was sculpting lay “trapped” inside the block of quarried stone, Michelangelo slowly carved until a perfectly refined image began to reveal itself.

Last week, I had the chance to help train a fresh new crop of recruits for a long-time client of ours. After 12 years of trying to figure this teleprospecting thing out, I'd say we're completely sold on how we do things internally around here. The interesting part for me is seeing how others not immersed in the AG Salesworks culture react to our process and mindset. Fortunately, most of the post-training feedback was in line with what we wanted to hear. The long and the short of it was that we helped provide a framework on how to best attack all warm and cold opportunities. Sometimes, all inside sales need is a place to start. 

With the release of AG Salesworks’ new guide The Inside Sales Manager’s Guide to Sales Team Training featuring Josiane Feigon of TeleSmart, AG has learned that training is not just about the event. It’s a process that has to be perfected during, before, and after that event. The following is a redactment from our new guide. For more advice, please download The Inside Sales Manager’s Guide to Sales Team Training.

Sales training never ends: the initial training week is just the beginning. The most effective B2B sales firms are 22% more likely (more than one in five) than all other sales firms to reinforce training at least once each quarter, according to Aberdeen Group. Companies that carry out post-training reinforcement see 20% more salespeople achieve sales quotas.

AG Salesworks is pleased to bring you a guest post from Jeff Shore, an in-demand sales expert, author, speaker and executive coach. 

“Most people do no listen with the intent to understand, they listen with the intent to reply.”

~Stephen R. Covey

Perhaps when you were a child, someone in your life tried to emphasize the importance of listening by reminding you that we each have two ears and one mouth. According to the well-known saying, we have two ears and one mouth in order that we might listen twice as much as we speak. There’s a lot of truth to that idea, and never more so than when a buyer raises objections during the sales process.

As an inside sales rep, your call plans most likely include effective email prospecting strategies. You’re giving out your email to everyone you talk to in case they want to contact you later. You’re sending reports to your superiors and asking for advice from your managers, all within your inbox. You’re inundated daily by messages from clients, prospects, marketing, and more. It’s no surprise that email takes up 28% of the average workers’ time, according to McKinsey & Company. To put things into perspective, that’s one-fourth of your day spent in your inbox.

Today, we will be hosting our third #ProspectingChat on AG Saleswork's Twitter account. Time has flown by, and we are excited to continue offering insights and learning from other #ProspectingChat participants. Here are some details about today's Twitter Chat: