Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Ah yes, it’s that time of year again. Lines at the mall are out the door, parking lots are jammed, and calories don’t matter (right?). With the holiday season comes the end of the fiscal year for the majority of companies. And for inside sales reps here at AG, it can be a stressful time, as they try to pass qualified leads while prospects are taking vacation time to spend with their family. We can use this time to plan for the New Year while also nurturing accounts and catching prospects live. Last week, Craig gave some tips from a director’s point of view, and this week I’m giving some tips from a sales rep standpoint.

Let’s face it: As of today, we have four "real" business days left in quarter. Sure, if you happen to be in the office next week, you may be lucky enough to get your target prospect on the phone since they may have only a few meetings going on during the holiday week. Problem is, most of us I assume want to be with our families, and there is a good chance your prospect wants that as well. Since we all have aggressive goals, I think we all need to get in the mindset that next week doesn't exist and the month/quarter end is Friday. 

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.

Happy Friday Sales Prospecting Perspectives readers! It’s been a busy week on the blog: we’ve been guest posting at several other blogs and a few of our BDRs have expressed interest in blogging for us. We’ve also started our social media team, here, allowing several BDRs the flexibility to expand their contribution to the team beyond their job description. Follow us on Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, StumbleUpon and Youtube. You’ll be seeing a variety of updates about sales prospecting, our company culture, and more!

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?