Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Even though February is technically the shortest month of the year, this year it feels like the longest.

With snowstorms Juno and Pandora having just passed, mountains of ice piling up in our parking lot, and temperatures at a record low, February has quickly become the Debbie Downer of the 12 months.

And even though you may keep your offices heated at a level that stimulates sales productivity, the constant snowfall and bitingly cold temperatures outside can affect your sales development team’s productivity if you're not keeping a close eye on your team. Especially when the storms make it so everyone has to work from home.

It's that time again - time for this month's #ProspectingChat! Over at AG Saleswork's Twitter account, we'll be discussing how to align sales and content marketing, with strategies for encouraging your reps to share content and strategies for creating content that will actually further the sale. We're excited to announce that this month's guest is Brian Hansford, who will share a lot of wisdom on this topic as the Director of Client Services and Marketing Automation Practice Leader at HeinzMarketing. Here are some details about today's Twitter Chat:

Sales Context is an important part of any conversation, as it directly correlates to the potential of a sale. With 54% of sales reps not making quota this year according to SiriusDecisions, it’s imperative that you teach your team to make the most of Sales Context, the information that can influence a sale. My job as an SDR is to extract these essential pieces of Sales Context for my clients while also nurturing a relationship with my prospects so they feel comfortable discussing their current environment and any pains they may be experiencing.

Here are 5 prospecting strategies that I employ to obtain Sales Context during every conversation I have.

Any sales professional, whether you’re a top 20% rep or managing a group with a lot of potential, knows the either detrimental or exceptional effects your B2B sales team’s culture can have on your business’s bottom-line. In a study of 64 organizations, it was found that those with highly engaged employees received double the annual net income compared to their competitors, who lacked any form of engagement.

Your change towards a better sales team culture and more engaged employees doesn’t have to take place all at once. In fact, the best way to improve your team’s culture is by making a whole bunch of little changes that overall invoke big change in the long run.

If you’re experiencing high turnover rates, tense rivalries between reps, or bad attitudes in the office, these are warning signs that it’s time for a change.  Here is a list of the most impactful ways to achieve a better culture within your sales team and soak up all the positive benefits that culture brings.

I was having an interesting discussion with my Director of Marketing the other day about her perspective on hard vs. soft sales skills. From what she has seen working with experienced sales guys and gals over the years is that they rely far too much on their hard skills to get them by. They’ll consistently depend on their hard skills because it has worked for them in the past rather than truly engaging with their prospect audience. Talking about the sporting event from the previous weekend is a great way to apply your soft selling skills, but it generally tends to be the only one that old school sales folks pull out of their hat.

Soft skill selling has become ever more important, especially now that the millennial audience is carrying more influence and decision-making power... And they definitely like to be heard. 

By now, if you have read a few of my blogs, you are well aware of my opinions on winter in New England…In short, I hate it. 

In Boston, February is jokingly referred to as the “longest short month of the year” due to what feels like near constant snowfall and nights and weekends spent hibernating to avoid the bitter cold temperatures. 

February is also a time when we need to keep our sales development reps extra motivated whether working from the office or at home during inclement weather. 

I tried to think of what motivated me when I was an SDR, and decided to source some help from our awesome sales development managers.  These four guys spend their days making sure our SDRs are performing at 100% every day.  I thought they could provide some great perspectives on what they do to keep their reps motivated and what they like most about sales development management, training and mentoring.  In part one of this blog post, we'll hear from Greg and Jimmy.

Talking About My Generation And Yours

One of the most common ways we tend to define generational gaps today is by the way we think about B2B technology and how we let it influence our lives and our work. 

I can say that with some authority. Even though we here at Engage are advanced technology users in our daily work, at times I still find it a little mystifying how younger generations are using technology. (Can someone please explain to me the legitimate appeal of Snapchat?)

It’s okay to say no to chasing every trend that pops up in the digital zeitgeist, but you owe it to yourself and to the organization you lead to keep an open mind about how new technologies can help you improve your work as a B2B sales leader.

This past weekend, a certain sports team challenged me to be optimistic.

You guessed it: The Patriots.

While I’m not a fervent football fan by any means, I grew up in the New England area and have an avid sports fanatic of a father. After many years questioning what this or that meant, I’ve finally reached a point where I not only understand the rules of the game (well, most of them), but where I also can get worked up and over-excited by certain plays.

You know the plays I’m talking about. This Superbowl, there were plenty: interceptions on both teams, crazy catches that seem more luck than skill, and insane rushes that are simply unbelievable. This year, I wasn’t scrolling through my iPhone throughout the game (I wasn’t even tweeting), I was paying attention. And that cost me some energy.

As sales development reps, our time is precious.  It is essential that we manage our time in the most productive and efficient way possible in order to hit our goals, stay organized, and keep our clients happy.

The following are some tips I‘ve found make my day run smoother and allow me to make the most out of every day in the office. 

1. Lay out your day; have a plan.

Planning out your day as a sales development representative is a must, especially if you are working on multiple projects. I like to start off the day after my morning meeting by checking my inbox for each project and responding to any emails that I received after hours the day before. Responding first thing in the morning also gives prospects the whole day to get back to you. Creating a morning routine like this one is a great way to be productive while your cup of coffee wakes you up!

AG Salesworks is pleased to bring you a guest post from Emma Snider, staff writer for the HubSpot Sales Blog. 

Twitter is all about clarity and brevity. Want to express a thought that’s longer than 140 characters? Tough luck. The platform forces users to trim messages down to what’s absolutely essential.

You have a bit more real estate to work with for your bio, but not much. 160 characters is all the social network affords users for their profile descriptions.

For sales development reps seeking to dive into social selling, this is both a blessing and a curse. As opposed to a LinkedIn profile, a Twitter bio offers much less real estate. So while salespeople can spend hours or days trying to craft the perfect LinkedIn page, writing a Twitter profile is not nearly as time-consuming.