Sales Prospecting Perspectives

It's time for another #ProspectingChat over at AG Saleswork's Twitter account. As well as sharing many insights from sales and marketing thought leaders throughout the day, we will also be hosting a Twitter chat at 1:30 PM EST / 10:30 AM PST.

The decision to outsource part of your sales team - whether you're revamping an insourced team or whether you don't have on insourced team - can be a very tough one to make. What are the most crucial factors to look for in an outsourced teleprospecting team? Most people's answer would be: cost. While cost of service is a very important factor when considering an inside sales teleprospecting partner, there are numerous other questions to ask to determine whether the company you're researching is well-run, successful, and most important, trustworthy. In a discovery call about that company, ask these 4 questions to get a real feel for the way they conduct their business. These questions and more are featured in our new guide, "Your Lead Generation Home Away From Home: How Outsourcing Teleprospecting and Inside Sales Functions Can Augment Your Tech Company's Revenue."

Father’s Day is coming up this Sunday, June 15th. If you haven’t already planned something for your father or bought a card yet, the stores are still open. My dad and I haven’t always seen eye to eye on everything, especially during the dreaded angst-filled teenage years. But he managed to put a roof over my head, food on the table and helped support me to get a degree.

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from John Jantsch, a marketing consultant, speaker, and the acclaimed author of several bestselling books. This post is an excerpt of his most recent book, Duct Tape Selling: Think Like A Marketer. 

... The following questions are useful to have ready in every sales situation. The right question, posed at the right time, can demonstrate you truly understand the challenge, get a sales presentation back on track or simply allow you to check in on how a prospect is feeling.

The role of an inside sales rep at AG Salesworks is a unique experience. During my time at AG, I have had the pleasure of working for four separate clients. I’ve transitioned from balancing two half-time projects to working for just one client full time. Each of my clients differed vastly from the other, which made the transition from client to client very tedious. I had to endure an extensive amount of training in order to fully understand my new project. And at AG, our inside sales reps are expected to ramp up on a new project in a week’s time! Ramp ups may be overwhelming and stressful for inside sales reps, so here are 4 steps to help make your ramp-up week a smooth transition!

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

Learning to dance the East Coast Swing has long been on my bucket list. Because life is short and I’m not getting any younger, I’ve started chipping away at this goal. “Chipping away” is not the most elegant description, I realize, but given my diagnosable rhythmic impairment, it is accurate. Let’s just say that this is how I imagine I look when dancing:

The day in the life of an inside sales rep is very active. It’s understandable that a representative would be put under a lot of stress. There is a lot of pressure to hit your monthly goals, stay on top of tasks and activity, update reports, and follow up with lead appointments. If you don’t stay organized, it's easy to fall behind and lose momentum. Here are a few tips to help you stay on task and manage your stress.

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Jonathan Catley, Online Sales & Marketing Manager at MD Connect.

Peter Drucker, business genius, once said, “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” That concept essentially defines marketing as early stage selling, but since Drucker’s time, many companies have divided marketing and selling into separate disciplines, rather than realizing that they are essentially just different points on the continuum of bringing the customer to the business.

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Howard Brown, Founder and CEO of RingDNA.

There was a time not so long ago when your average B2B salesperson spent more time on the road than a major league baseball team. But now, more and more companies are hiring remote reps, also known as inside sales. These reps possess many of the same sales skills as field sales reps. They close high-ticket deals and build long-lasting customer relationships, all while racking up far fewer frequent-flyer miles. They also typically carry increasingly large quotas. According to the Bridge Group, the average inside sales rep’s quota in 2013 was $985,000.

Happy Friday, Sales Prospecting Perspectives readers! This week was a busy one for us. As it was the last week of February, our inside sales reps strived to meet their month's goals while continuously increasing their pipelines. In the marketing world, we worked hard to produce a new eBook. Social Selling: How to Use Social Media for B2B Sales is available now for free. Social selling can complement your pre-existing sales efforts and result in more contacts, leads, and even closed sales. Let us know what you think!