Sales Prospecting Perspectives

If it weren’t for our partnerships with B2B data providers, I would be lost. They make my days easier in so many ways. Whether a rep needs a fresh new list to help them meet quota or a client needs a list with five pieces of criteria that are nearly impossible to find, our data providers get it done.

Like anything you outsource in business, you want to give up the details to the experts so they can find and create the quality you’re looking for. After working with many providers over the years, I have come up with a list of things to look for when evaluating data providers. Here is what I find to be most crucial:

Maintaining accurate CRM data is a challenge for nearly all of the organizations we've partnered with over the years. We all want to believe that the data we collect from tradeshows, list vendors, webinars, and website visitors are all certified gold, but that isn't always the case. Inevitably there is a percentage of data that is not worth calling at all. From fake contact information to "consultants" looking for jobs or the guy that dropped his card in the fishbowl to win the free iPad, the average CRM is cluttered with this crap.

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Michael Powers, Events/Buzz Coordinator for NetProspex.

What good is data if you can’t properly use it?

You work hard to collect your marketing data. But sometimes, you collect so much data that it’s hard to make sense of all of it. In these instances, there’s a lot going on in your database, and it’s up to you to get a handle on it to ensure a good return on investment on all of that data.

You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows…
Well, You Might in Marketing and Sales
 

One of the famous Bob Dylan lyrics from "Subterranean Homesick Blues" implies that we should be reliant on our instincts, that we are capable of knowing which way the wind is blowing.  In theory, we are capable of determining which way the wind blows, but can we know when it’s going to rain, and furthermore be prepared for when it does?  Let’s not write off the weatherman just yet.

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Kevin Stemple, Database Manager at AG Salesworks. 

Securing clean and accurate contacts is a battlefield; there are data mines everywhere, ready to cause mass destruction to your day and CRM system. One must tread carefully, or risk near certain doom in the form of financial loss, duplications or wasted time.

As with any growing organization, we often debate different ideas that will allow us to scale. A big challenge is attempting to maintain a consistent lead volume from each new inside sales rep as we add to the team. The common solution I've seen with most organizations I've worked with in the past was to add managers to the team in order to solve the lead volume problems that arise as you scale. Generally, this tended to be the wrong way to go, especially if you were hoping in any way to see better margins (and a bigger bonus check).