Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Over the past year, social selling has become one of the hottest topics. When combined with outbound prospecting, social selling can be a powerful selling method.  However, don't be fooled by the phrase "social selling." It is not a vehicle to get your sales pitch out into the world; that would completely shut you down.  It's a method of selling through listening and thought leadership.  We are in an era where prospects choose most of their buying path, as they have so much information (on products and services) readily available to them without having to consult sales professionals.  Understand that social networks are not to be used as sales megaphones, but rather a means of listening and offering consultative advice to help others. Here are a few pointers when it comes to social selling.

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from David Hazeltine, Director, Campaign Strategy at Fiserv.

Sales and Marketing integration. It’s such a nice theory, but yet in so many companies, the Sales team isn’t happy with the amount or quality of leads being generated by Marketing. Marketing is frustrated that salespeople won’t give them the time of day, never mind appreciate that Marketing exists for one reason: to support Sales. If sales are down, fingers point to Marketing for not providing enough leads. If there are no marketing campaigns in the works, fingers point to Sales for not clearly stating what they need.

On New Year’s Eve, I posted a blog on the 7 Things I Want My Inside Sales Team To Know for 2014. Now that we're already days in to the last week of February (bring on spring please!), I want to double check that list to ensure I was actually following through on the characteristics I felt separated good managers from not-so-good ones. Of course it's a continual work in progress, but I feel like I've mostly stuck to the expectations I've set for myself. 

Hello AG blog readers...I'm back!  I saw many changes in 2013, one of which was my transition to Manager of Client Operations here at AG.  Because I have been able to get my feet wet in this new role for the last few months, I thought I would take this opportunity to rejoin the AG blogging community and share the insights I have gained thus far.

In sales, it is crucial to not only sell but to leave a good first impression, sale or no sale. I've had interactions with sales professionals ranging from ignoring their insistent calls when I've already told them I'm not interested, to becoming best friends with someone who prospected me over six years ago.  For many people, their first interaction with your company may very well be with a sales member, and as the saying goes, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression."

This blog post is part three of a series of video blogs about the impact of technology on sales. See part one here and part two here. 

A few weeks ago I was putting together an email campaign to send out as a follow up to my client’s sales initiative, but I was having some difficulty setting up an integration tool on my computer. However, I knew that a sales rep on my client’s team was fairly tech savvy and had done some troubleshooting before, so I reached out to him asking for help. As I sat on the web conference using a program I had downloaded for free, I wasn’t dazed in the least when my colleague took control of my screen and walked me through each step. Within 5 minutes he had shown me how to set up everything perfectly!

After our conversation, I realized how much  of the technology we were using I had taken for granted. Not only was I about to greatly improve the amount of activity I could produce within a day, but I was working with a colleague who was half way across the country as if he were sitting next to me in my cube. That got me wondering: What other changes in technology have had the biggest impact on how we communicate and operate in sales? I’ve interviewed a few of our sales veterans to see what changes in sales technology they feel have made the biggest impact within the past decade.

This blog post is part two of a series of video blogs about the impact of technology on sales. See part one here. 

A few weeks ago I was putting together an email campaign to send out as a follow up to my client’s sales initiative, but I was having some difficulty setting up an integration tool on my computer. However, I knew that a sales rep on my client’s team was fairly tech savvy and had done some troubleshooting before, so I reached out to him asking for help. As I sat on the web conference using a program I had downloaded for free, I wasn’t dazed in the least when my colleague took control of my screen and walked me through each step. Within 5 minutes he had shown me how to set up everything perfectly!

After our conversation, I realized how much  of the technology we were using I had taken for granted. Not only was I about to greatly improve the amount of activity I could produce within a day, but I was working with a colleague who was half way across the country as if he were sitting next to me in my cube. That got me wondering: What other changes in technology have had the biggest impact on how we communicate and operate in sales? I’ve interviewed a few of our sales veterans to see what changes in sales technology they feel have made the biggest impact within the past decade.

A few weeks ago I was putting together an email campaign to send out as a follow up to my client’s sales initiative, but I was having some difficulty setting up an integration tool on my computer. However, I knew that a sales rep on my client’s team was fairly tech savvy and had done some troubleshooting before, so I reached out to him asking for help. As I sat on the web conference using a program I had downloaded for free, I wasn’t dazed in the least when my colleague took control of my screen and walked me through each step. Within 5 minutes he had shown me how to set up everything perfectly!

So many sites and thought leaders are speaking abound inbound sales and marketing tactics and the importance of social media. It's been proven that the methodology works and increases your company's bottom line value. Yay, we can all go home now... Just kidding! Inbound methodology works, but let's face it - at some point you need to pick up the phone and have a quality conversation regarding a prospect's challenges and how your solution can help. Everyone talks about inbound sales and marketing and social selling, but please tell me how you can close sales and increase revenue by doing just inbound without effectively communicating on the phone?

Good afternoon Sales Prospecting Perspectives Readers! We hope you had a great Friday. With the holidays just around the corner, sales reps are calling prospects left and right hoping to reserve a place in their prospect's 2014 budget. We’re excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas, as evident by this Instagram picture. Starbucks holidays cups are here! It’s been a festive few days in the office, and we even celebrated the Red Sox win, a little late, with some cupcakes via Liberty Mutual Insurance. Today we’re rearing for another successful call day!