Sales Prospecting Perspectives

I'm a big teamwork guy. I like when everyone can share credit.

That may seem like an overly obvious statement for most of you out there, but if you asked yourself if you're a team player, what would your answer be? Deep down, do you prefer to collaborate with others or tackle things independently? I don't think there's really a right or wrong answer, but at some point, inevitably, you're most likely going to need to collaborate with a colleague or boss on a portion of your work in order to take it to the next level. 

As I've discovered over the years, the more responsibility I take on, the more I realize that working independently isn't really an option for me. As much as I would like to have direct control over my world, I realize that there are far too many moving parts for me to not have to rely on others for their input and insight. I'm perfectly fine with that, and I came to terms with that reality long ago. Most of us will have to if we have any intention of working in a management capacity or in inside sales. 

(And Call Volume is Not One of Them)

I recently wrote in my blog post 5 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Outsourcing Inside Sales that gone are the days of closely tracking the number of activities when managing your inside sales team. While I still think measuring activities is important to a degree, I don’t think it should hold as much weight as it does for many inside sales teams out there.

The problem with placing such a large emphasis on the number of activities is that doing so confuses the purpose of teleprospecting. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. With this metric as a forefront in Inside sales reps’ minds, they tend to get caught up in making a high number of dials instead of focusing on making smart dials. Smart dials lead to quality conversations which in turn result in qualified opportunities for themselves or for the outside sales team to follow up on.

About a month ago, I talked about the challenges I've faced when managing conflict and I offered a couple of ways to address these obstacles that I’ve learned over the years. Since then, I've really made a point to consider alternatives to proactively manage conflict.

However, maybe “conflict” doesn’t have to be such a dirty word. It’s all in the tone with which we choose to approach a potentially contentious situation.  Being assertive doesn't have to be ugly if we come at it from the right angle.

The hardest transition I've found when moving into a manager role is the change in relationship between you and former colleagues that you've once worked with. This changeover generally tends to be the biggest challenge for most new inside sales managers, whether they're responsible for training the inside sales team or for managing the managers.

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.

Working in a sales-oriented job, inside sales reps have numerous goals to hit on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. But there are other goals to set besides the money-based ones. What personal goals can you set as an inside sales rep? One of the many things I love about AG is that we have various people with whom to discuss how to improve our prospecting skills in order to achieve our targets.

I would like to think of myself as approachable both as an employee and as a manager. Every boss would like to think they demonstrate that trait, but from what I've seen, that may not always be the case. Unfortunately, many managers want to believe they're approachable, but their outward demeanor shows something else. These are generally the bosses who never seem to have their finger on the pulse of their people. As a result when something unexpected happens, they're shocked. Because they feel out of touch, they lash out rather than getting to the core of the issue. 

As an inside sales manager, I try to use my few minutes of downtime to read articles related to my field.  When I open the “news” section of my LinkedIn, almost all of the recommended articles revolve around professional women.  My news feed is flooded with articles about Sheryl Sandbergs Lean In, work life balance, women who don't want to work for female managers, women who do want to work for female managers, areas where women outperform men,  women being urged to “sit at the table." The list goes on and on. 

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Chris Croner, Principal at Sales Drive, LLC.

One of the most frustrating experiences for sales managers is hiring “hunter” salespeople who produce lackluster results in spite of their stellar interview performance.  Unfortunately, this phenomenon occurs all too frequently and results from insufficient scrutiny of candidates in the recruiting process.  One of the most common mistakes companies make in this area is failing to screen candidates effectively before moving them into the interview phase.

Some people don’t always like the idea of summer ending and fall kicking in, but it is honestly my favorite time of year. Not only is fall a time for beautiful weather, apple picking, and pumpkin lattes, but it’s my favorite time when it comes to sales. With the summer months behind us, we are now well into the new season, everyone’s back and ready to close out the year strong. Directors and VPs are either looking to spend their remaining budgets for the year, or they are planning ahead for 2014. As a result, they are all willing and open to talking when they receive cold calls.