Sales Prospecting Perspectives

I like to think that I have a few key tools in my prospecting toolbox. The most important one could very well be our CRM, which at AG is Salesforce.com. It allows those of us with slight OCD to breathe easier, since we can plan days and weeks of tasks and reports ahead of time while being able to sift through old campaigns and review information with a few simple clicks. I don’t know how sales firms could operate without an automated CRM. It allows prospecting to go smoothly and it allows inside sales reps to hit the phones and make touches on many companies and prospects every day.

Happy New Year, Sales Prospecting Perspectives readers! We hope you celebrated the start of 2014 - and the start of sales quarter one - on Wednesday just like we did at AG Salesworks. While we're recovering from snowstorm Hercules in the Northeast, we're wishing you all a happy 2014 and sharing some articles we loved that helped ring in the New Year. 

One of the first things we train new hires on is how to navigate a list in Salesforce. The reasoning behind doing this in the beginning of training is because Salesforce is something inside sales reps use every day. Knowing how to work a list will help you pass qualified leads easier than calling straight down a list of hundreds of names.

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!

When you come into work on a Monday morning after a fun and relaxing weekend, planning for your week is probably the last thing on your mind. But Mondays are the most important day of the week because you can plan what you are going to accomplish each day. Staying focused is a heavily discussed topic online and in the office. There are hundreds of things you can try, and everyone has their own ways to keep themselves motivated throughout the day, but I believe everyone can benefit from the following tips:

Halloween! Thanksgiving! Christmas and Hanukkah! All of these events are great in Q4… but in sales and teleprospecting, it seems like Q4 is everyone’s least favorite time of year. Everyone is focused on closing business rather than building new business. But once the holidays are over and it’s back to work in 2014… Uh oh! Where’s the pipeline?

There is an overwhelming amount of new marketing content online every day, whether it be delivered on a blog, social media, an infographic, in a newsletter, etc.  As a marketer today, you need to stay on top of the new trends and findings, and be in the know about new marketing tactics and softwares, and figure out how best to digest and deliver new content. Maybe you're also responsible for creating new content for your company, implementing new marketing strategies, monitoring 10 social feeds or more, replying to, commenting on and pushing out new updates, and then remembering to follow up on all of your efforts. Hey, what about that participant list from the last webinar? Clearly, marketers have many responsibilities and they are usually going 100 different directions at once.  I haven’t scientifically tested this but, I hypothesize that their heads would spin if they did not organize their efforts, and I know it's always easier said than done.  

There is more to teleprospecting and B2B cold calling than a lot of people might think. There is a method to the madness; you don’t just sit down at a desk one day, pick up a phone, and make some dials. There are multiple campaigns to work on simultaneously, and in order to stay organized, we have to use lead statuses.

I can't believe it's finally the end of August. Fall is creeping upon us, employees are returning from vacation, and students are returning to school. We've published a few fall-based articles this week, and we're excited to hear what you think about them, and how helpful they've been to you! 

It’s nearing the end of summer. Sales reps might think that making cold calls to prospects will now be easier, but lately, it's becoming harder and harder every day. Why, you may ask? For the same reason leads were down in the middle of summer: Vacations.  Not only do individuals inside sales representatives call go on vacation, sending us automatic out-of-office email replies or recording voicemails that state "I will be out of the office until...", but us cold callers luckily get some time off as well.  The problem is that, as prospects are finally returning from vacation, they're pushing sales reps away. I have called many a person in the last few months who has said to me, "I just got back from vacation and I have a backlog of emails and voicemails to get through.  Can you call back in two days?"