I’m sure you are all familiar with Salesforce. If you are not, reps using this tool have this great homepage everyday that has all the tasks for the day pulled up. After completing them, you can go ahead and create a new task for the following days. This is a refreshing way for inside sales reps to keep their day organized. That being said, with the number of outbound activity and quality conversations we have, it is important for our BDRs to further organize their day and keep it as efficient as possible.
When setting up a new task that will appear on your homepage, we have found that there are 3 important labels to help streamline your teleprospecting campaign. It is important to label the prospect status, next task, and time zone. Meaning, before opening a new task you should be able to identify it with these labels. The prospect status will identify the urgency of the task and help the rep to prioritize. A prospect can still be in prospect (P), contact identified (CI), or even interested (I) mode. The next task will prepare you for your next activity with the prospect and this might be a voicemail 2 (VM 2) or no contact (NC). Labeling the time zone (ET, CT, MT PT) will help to map your day out and will ensure you won’t waste unnecessary time opening west coast contacts at 9:30am in Boston!
Labeling tasks also helps from a management perspective. I would much prefer to have “contact identified” on my home page rather than a majority of tasks still in “prospecting” mode. By glancing at your homepage, it is easy to identify if more work needs to be done to uncover the best person to speak with in your rep’s accounts. The same holds true for labeling the next task. If I see a magnitude of tasks in voicemail 4, 5, or 6 it is clear that there needs to be attention focused around the messaging for that particular campaign. If majority of prospects are not responding at the beginning of the call plan, some additional work around scripting and emailing is most likely necessary.
This is just a small sample of how we help keep our days organized and efficient with such high outbound activity. Do you have any ways to keep your day busy days more structured?
If we all enjoyed the same things, there would not be much variety in the World. There would not be a strong need for Marketing, and one simple message would be able to reach everyone the same way. But that is not the case – thankfully, otherwise life would be pretty boring. Granted, we all strive for the same end result, but the means to getting there is always different for everyone. This same concept most certainly applies for the different roles within an organization. The communal goal within an organization is to make more money, and reach new revenue goals year after year. It’s not a simple task, and it takes the synchronization of different components to get there – marketing targets the right audience, IT increases the productivity of the staff, sales has the right messaging, and the CEO ensures the unity of the machine. With this thought in mind, you need to be aware and acknowledge that some divisions within an organization may have little concern over what another department is doing; they have their own problems and tasks to deal with. That being said, it is important as a business development representative, to ensure that the time and effort that you are investing to penetrate a company is not being deleted or thrown in the junk mail folder due to lack of relevancy.
When targeting an individual within a company, leaving voicemails and sending emails, make sure that your bullet points highlight the capabilities that are relevant to the needs of your audience. A Director of IT will have less interest in your SEO capabilities than your ability to integrate with their current investments. The VP of Sales is not going to see the value of your solution if you are highlighting your ability to be deployed within 3 months rather than your ability to increase conversion rates.
When targeting IT, focus on functionality, integration or productivity. IT folks don’t want to keep changing the solutions that they have purchased, that makes them look bad. So try to speak about how you can provide “additional value”. CEOs are often interested in everything working together and the departments having what they need to succeed. The detailed functionality of the solution is not as important as the message of increased productivity and cohesiveness between all departments.
We all play the sales game, and we all acknowledge that a lot of the success comes from reaching out to as many people as possible. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by sending a generic email with no relevance to the role of your prospect. Taking the time to customize your messaging to the specific needs of that department demonstrates the research done on your part and your sincere interest in making their job easier.
I’m sure it’s happened to everyone at some point in time. It can be easy to think that if you don’t acknowledge a problem, it doesn’t actually exist. I have done it many times on many occasions. For example, I get into my car and the flashing service engine light comes on. I think, well my car is driving fine so there is no problem here. One week later my car doesn’t start when I am already running late to a meeting – now it’s an even bigger problem. Or that time I went on a ski trip even though I had a sore throat and came back with a 102 fever for quarter end – not smart. These are all “red flags.” While not setting an appointment for my car or going on that ski trip may have had its short term benefits, the later consequences overshadowed these benefits.
The same holds true for a teleprospecting campaign. To ensure the success of a project, everyone has an important job to do. Communication can be so important to get this job done. If you are picking up on one of these “red flags,” it is important to address this immediately.
Here are a few important things that should not be ignored:
List Status:
It is crucial that an inside sales rep communicates their list status. It can take quite some time to pull new data and lists. Waiting until a list is finished can slow down activity and be detrimental to a project. That being said, it is also important to address the quality of the list before it becomes a problem. The worst thing an inside sales rep can do is blame low performance on list quality when this could have been addressed much sooner in the game.
Low response rate:
Avoid spinning your wheels with emails and voicemails that don’t work. If you are getting to the end of your call plan too often with no response, make sure to revamp your emails and voicemails. Don’t wait for your performance to suffer before strategizing on new messaging that will make you more successful. Pete Gracey had some great tips in his recent post 2 Rules to Email By for Successful Sales Prospecting.
Qualified out prospects:
If the majority of your conversations are turning out to be qualified out, communicate this with your sales team. Strategize on better verticals, organization sizes, or geographic regions to call into.
These are all examples of road blocks that may seem minimal or inevitable at the time. However, to deliver the highest form of success it is crucial to never wait until these “red flags” affect your performance. Stay ahead of the game and your competition by proactively ensuring your project is in the best position to succeed.
On a recent client phone call, one of our clients asked, “How do you actually get responses from these people?” There are many ways to accomplish this – some companies believe making 200 dials a day until someone picks up is effective, while others target a third of that number and use different methods to catch their attention. I’m sure both ways are effective, but at AG, we prefer the latter and have found it to be the most effective method based on our experience cold calling.
So what can you do to gain better results from your outbound activities to get responses from your prospects? We are constantly testing new methods to increase the amount of conversations our inside sales reps have, as more conversations = more opportunities converted. Reaching the prospect takes some leg work and below I have shared a few of our favorite tips and tricks on how to do it!
Leave a voicemail. How many times do you get up from your desk per day for a meeting, lunch, coffee, and so on? We believe that when we call our prospects, they aren’t purposely ignoring our call but maybe they are away from their desk. For this reason, we find voicemails to be extremely effective. If you are no contacting, they will never know you are calling, and you might miss the opportunity if they do in fact have an active initiative.
Talk to as many people as you can. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t call someone in Marketing if I needed to talk to someone about IT security. At the same time, you need to make the most out of every dial and talk to as many people as possible. 0# is a great trick to use for this – sometimes the most effective conversations are with assistants who can point you in the right direction of who to speak with. Also, if you only have one contact at a company, use 0# to find more and also call into the operator to get directed to the appropriate department. Use contact databases to find more contacts, and don’t forget to utilize your own CRM. If you aren’t contacting more than one person at an organization, you definitely aren’t making any progress especially if you aren’t leaving voicemails.
Make the most out of your emails. Email templates are great – just make sure to tailor them to who ever you are sending them to. Spend a lot of time tweaking your emails and email subject lines to find out which ones are most effective for you. Send them shortly after you leave your voicemails otherwise the prospect is sure to forget who you are and won’t make the connection if you don’t. It is no joke that we often receive emails such as this “I am not interested because I don’t have budget right now, but for what it’s worth, your email was great and I am going to have my team adopt a similar one.” Even though we didn’t get a person that was interested, we now have ammo for when we want to reach them live closer to the calendar year when they do have budget again.
There are many other ways to get a response from your prospects - What have you found is the most effective way for your inside sales team to accomplish this?
With a 12% connect rate, a typical inside rep’s job consists of 88% “non-live” communication. That being said, it is very exciting to get your identified contact live on the phone. This moment can be so overly anticipated, that it is easy to get caught up and forget to ask that one last very important bit of information. The goal is always to qualify an account, extract pains, and create interest. Your objective is always to get to the end result, which is to qualify in or out. Just because someone expresses no immediate pain or interest, your job is not done. To make the most of every conversation you need to understand why there is no immediate need. Thus it is important to have the appropriate follow up questions ready for the various reasons that could be presented:
- They do not qualify (qualify out) - why is their environment not conducive to your product/service?
- They have a competitor in place (satisfied) – What competitor?
- No funding in the immediate future – When do they anticipate the ability to evaluate in the future?
- Project not a priority in the immediate future – When will this be more of a priority?
This information is very important to capture for many reasons. If there is no immediate need/interest, make sure that you know when to reach out in the future. Things change, just because there is no opportunity now, doesn’t mean that this will be true in 3 months. Don’t settle for, “I have no interest.” This phrase can be a very popular email response. I always make sure that our BDRs are sending follow-up emails asking how they are solving the problem today and when to reach out in the future. This information can also be very useful to our clients to help bridge the gap between marketing and sales by helping marketing to segment their audience and sales understand their competitive landscape. Of course we always ask for inside referrals. Depending on the conversation, you can even try asking for a referral to an outside colleague/friend at another organization that may benefit.
How do you help your inside sales reps make the most of every conversation?
Sales Prospecting Perspectives is very pleased to bring you a post from Laney Pilpel, Manager, Client Operations. Laney is an AG veteran, who recently returned to AG after a 10 month hiatus, we are extremely lucky to have her back, and we are happy to have the opportunity to share this entry from her with our readers. Thanks Laney!
Two new additions to the AG teleprospecting team completed their first day of work recently. Before leaving on their first day, me and two of my colleagues sat down with them to ask how their day went. When asked "How do you feel about your first day here?" their enthusiastic expressions immediately told us how they were feeling. One of them exclaimed, "I feel really excited to be working here!" This recent hire was not sucking up to us, nor was she being sarcastic - she was being sincere. Everyone knows that cold calling is not always the most glamorous job, so what is it that we do that makes the business development representative role enticing right from the start?
There are many factors leading up to the happiness and success of our business development representatives from the get-go, and here are 5 reasons why this is the case:
- We stay organized. It's important to present new hires with a schedule on their first day that will last throughout the entirety of their training so they know what to expect from you, and what will be expected of them. We like to include their schedule in a new hire binder which includes all training materials, along with local restaurant menus to make them feel welcome in the area and add a personal touch.
- We keep it interesting. There is nothing worse than a drawn out training process that bores a new hire. Keep the training to one week if possible and within that week, develop a schedule that will make them excited to get to work everyday. Listening in on calls with fellow BDRs is a necessity during the training period, and it's a good idea to keep these sessions to one hour each. I have found that most new hires start to demonstrate with their body language that they are bored at this point, so send them on to be introduced to the next BDR and let them learn about someone else's style.
- We communicate. Every company has processes that they have developed that makes their reps succeed. It is important to stick to these processes, but it crucial that new hires know they can feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. One of our new hires told me today that she was used to being scared of sharing ideas with her manager in a previous position, and that she did not feel that way here at all. I have felt that way in the past and it makes it difficult to enjoy your job everyday. New hires value communication-let them know the importance of their opinion from the start.
- We introduce our technology. You spend thousands on CRM every year - make sure to allow for adequate time to train on how to use it correctly! Test your new hire's ability by having them drive your CRM system while your reps are making dials. Also introduce other technologies (like outside databases that you use to access contact information, lists,etc.) that you spend your sales and marketing dollars on, otherwise I can guarantee they won't utilize them. We like to spend an entire workshop on "Resourcefulness" to get new hires feeling comfortable with these tools.
- We give homework! Remember in school when you hated studying for tests, but you knew you wouldn't learn the material any other way? That's exactly why we give homework. Everyday, you should make your new hire accountable for the information that they took in the day before. How do we make this enticing? We make it fun. If you spend hours teaching someone how to close for an appointment, have them call you the next morning on your direct line for a role play. It works!
Making a positive first impression on a new hire is crucial, otherwise they will quickly lose interest in the role and your company. How do you entice your new employees?
At AG, we feel like our corporate culture is something that sets us apart; it attracts the employees we want and keeps them here long term. We feel like that benefits our clients because they're getting seasoned teleprospectors calling on their behalf. Today, Steve Giordano, one of our teleprospectors, blogs about the differences he noticed when coming on board.
I've worked in a fair amount of jobs in my life. This isn't to say that I'm flakey, but I just don't believe in staying at a job that doesn't give me as much as I give it. No growth to me means no future, and I move on. I believe that's the focus for most career oriented people in our field. Some of these people may proceed in different ways. In the various jobs I've had, I've worked with several fine people. More often than not, however I've worked with people who were more concerned with their own careers than the betterment of the whole. It was this that drove me out of my former job and towards my current career at AG Salesworks. It's unfortunate, as well as enlightening, to have to work at a job that you dread going into.
My best example of this comes from my previous job working for a well known financial institution. When I first started, I was teller in a bank branch. My initial management team was very encouraging. But as I grew into a sales role, I came under a new regime which didn't seem very concerned with anything other than themselves. Now, this isn't a gripe piece or me voicing out against "the man." I know the difference between a hard boss and a brute. This woman was the latter. That being said, I understand that bosses need to sometimes feel that they need to keep a separation between themselves and the people that work for them. I fully respect that. But there are ways to go about it, and in this job she made it very clear on several occasions that she was virtually unapproachable. More than that, however, I feel that she and the people who were my superiors (and that worked directly under her) were not on my side. The benefit of this was that it drove me to want to seek out other positions within the bank, and expand my horizons and try to see what else I was capable of. The drawback to this, however, was that if I wanted to switch to these positions I would need the approval of my superiors who were not very interested in the betterment of my own career.
It's my opinion that in a sales environment, for someone to do the best they can they need the best people around them in order to reach their potential. Previously, I didn't have this luxury. Presently, I consider myself spoiled. When I first came on to work for AG Salesworks, I was greeted by our training team so warmly that the best way to explain it would be is to say that it was like meeting a significant others family for the first time. Everyone was welcoming, accepting, and attentive. When I have an issue with an account I'm working on, they're always readily available to help me out and help me figure out what I can do better to succeed.
My managers are also always willing to assist me as needed. They've also been very helpful with taking me through what I would need to do if I wanted to grow into the next role of my career here. In short, they've pretty much the antithesis of what I've come from and have made myself used to.
A good team isn't difficult to assemble. You just need to know people's strengths, their weaknesses and how to work with them, and to encourage them likewise. I'm fortunate to work with the people who I know I can trust and rely on. It's also a comfort to know that I don't need to worry about a co-worker trying to do me in for their own gain. It's cheesy to say, but I really work with a great group of people. And right now, I'm waking up each day looking forward to going there. Pretty cool, huh?
Often we assume that our training team has all the answers. Being a trainer myself, there are days I think (or hope) I have all the answers. Although there is a lot that every trainer brings to the team, sometimes we get the best feedback from fellow reps who are in the day to day trenches. This week, our team did peer to peer "cross training." During cross training week, the training department designates each BDR to partner up with a fellow BDR and listen to an hour of each other's calls. Their call to action is a recap of three "learning points" from their peers approach and messaging.
Here is why this approach to training adds value:
With peer to peer training, you can essentially "kill two birds with one stone." As a trainer, I want to spend individual time with all of my reps. Some weeks permit time for this and some weeks it is virtually impossible without cloning myself. It is a good idea to use the knowledge of fellow BDRs and engage them in the process. There is a whole team of individual skill sets that are important to share with the whole company.
Pairing peers up randomly (or thoughtfully) can have a very positive impact on the team. This helps to build team camaraderie and make the day that much more exciting for your reps. While it is always exciting to hear your reps exchange new ideas and tips, it is exciting fun for them to be a trainer for the day. It can be a real confidence booster for your reps to know how much you value their hard work and skill set. I encourage you to try this with your team and let me know how it goes.
How do you utilize peer training?
In college, I took a series of leadership classes. The focus of the series was about how to be a leader, how to manage yourself, and the people around you. I remember how much the professors stressed that how you can not take back a first impression. Of course, this was my last semester, so the professors were preparing their students to spread our wings and enter the real world's trials and tribulations -the interview process.
While the classes were relevant when I was job searching, I have been fortunate enough to bring what I learned to my teleprospecting profession. I believe this to be the foundation to a successful conversation.
When I think of the interview process, it reminds me of the teleprospecting process and the steps it takes to successfully qualify an opportunity. We have seconds to make a first impression, so you are automatically put into a position of judgment before the prospect hangs up the phone - "judge or be judged!"
Remember to control this conversation by using what prospects do not know about what we can do to help. As it is important to be brief, set the expectation that you are not taking up their time, as you see yourself as a valued partner to develop their process. This can be conveyed over the phone by the way you present yourself. Our job is to manage the conversation by asking the correct questions to lead the prospect in the right direction, while managing the conversation to the defined objective. Remember to keep this clear and concise!
You only have a couple seconds to guide the conversation- don't lose out on your first impression!
A well trained teleprospector is the corner-stone of an efficient sales operation. Though they may not be closing business, they do play an integral role in your forecast and pipeline development. What we recognize at AG is that cold calling is not necessarily for everyone. When a new hire walks in the door with big aspirations to get into sales, what they have to realize, like any other job, is that they need to pay their dues cold calling and teleprospecting before they hop right into closing business. That all being said, we firmly believe that the first 90 days on the job let's us know one way or the other if a candidate is cut out to make teleprospecting calls.
Our corporate culture is very important to us here at AG. It is obvious to us that burn-out can have a big effect on our team's motivation to bang away on the phones each day. As a result, we try to cultivate the kind of setting that echoes the mantra of our co-owners: "play hard, work harder". A problem we occasionally encounter is a teleprospector may have difficulty understanding when to draw that line between work and play, and that is why it is important for us during training (and over the first few weeks on the phone) to set the appropriate tone with our new hires. It is absolutely not our intention to micromanage each person that walks in to our door , but after the first 90 days there are typically some common themes that arise that would indicate to us whether or not someone can handle the grind that can be teleprospecting. It would be easy for us to take the whole "sink or swim" approach, but that has never made any sense to me. You've taken the time to bring a candidate through an extensive interview process, run them through a thorough training...and then what? "Here are the yellow pages. Make it happen!" Guess what? Inevitably they are going to fail. We've found that you need to be there for them over their first 3 months as a continual support system and at the same time you need to pay special attention to potential warning signs.
Here an example of an outline that we've compiled to evaluate a new hire during their first 30 days on the job to help us better identify those signs:
1) Set first check-in meeting one week after going live on the phone.
2) Review daily activity numbers - such as conversation totals, leads passed, and feedback on leads passed
3) Assess new employee's team interactions:
a) Are they actively involved in team trainings?
b) Are they actively seeking help?
c) Are they responsive to constructive criticism?
d) Do they detract from the culture?
4) Reset activity expectations when needed and outline proper consequences . When activity levels are struggling, expectations will be reset
5) Schedule next weekly check- in meeting
This process will repeat itself each week during the employee's first 30 days on the phone. If the performance and effort does not meet our expectations, then we will go through the same process for the following 30 days. Once we hit the 60 day mark and we set some very specific goals around performance, and will again sit with them on a weekly basis. If they cannot hit the goals we've set by the 90 day mark generally we come to a mutual understanding that this job probably not a fit.
Now, we realize that there are other factors that can play a role in a new hire's poor performance, for example they could be calling into a tough vertical, or a bad list with inaccurate contact info. The most important thing we pay attention to in those cases is how they react to those roadblocks. As I mentioned in the outline, if they are proactively seeking out ways to improve output while adding positively to the culture, this will certainly be taken into consideration as we go through this 90 evaluation.
Every organization I've worked for has evaluated their employees differently, and maybe our approach at AG would not necessarily work for you or your organization. The key and is to pay attention to the warning signs that every new hire exhibits and determine your own process to quickly identify it, and then come up with an outline of how best to manage to it. In case you missed it, you can learn more by watching the webcast Perspectives on Teleprospecting: Best Practices for Hiring Teleprospectors.
How do you go about managing your new hire evaluation process?