Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Let’s get excited. Why is hitting sales goals important now and in the future?

• You can make the most amount of money possible at this time.

• You set yourself up for future career success by building a strong resume with which to sell yourself.

• Hitting your goal increases motivation for future successes.

I'll preface this blog by letting you know that I'm not an avid runner. I've never run a marathon in my life, but I can say that I understand the saying, “It’s a marathon; not a sprint.” I’ve used this tidbit of advice on many occasions: big dinners, binging on TV shows, days spent shopping, etc. Now I can add teleprospecting to the list of things this saying has shown me to be true. 

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a post from Joshua Zielinski, a Business Development Representative at AG Salesworks. This is his blogging debut. 

Sometimes in sales things have to get a little awkward to produce a mutually beneficial relationship with a prospect.

This idea is counterintuitive to most sales teachings because usually the goal is to make prospects comfortable enough to listen to your presentation or consultative dialogue, and then to make a “yes” decision if they realize it will benefit them. However, in some circumstances, prospects need to come out of their comfort zone to dive deep into their problem or need.

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!

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a post from Tiffany Fenore, a Business Development Representative at AG Salesworks. This is her blogging debut. 

There is more to being a great inside sales rep than just passing leads. In my experience, I have found that one of the most important aspects of my job is having a strong relationship with my clients. The success of each campaign hinges on our ability to effectively manage our client relationships, and in order to do so a inside sales rep needs to demonstrate three key attributes: Confidence, Communication, and Expertise.

A company with a reputation for dependability, consistency and quality services or products will win consumers' business. Your company and the people within it should be seen as the leading experts in your industry, whether that be sales, marketing or, in AG Salesworks case, both. The faces of your company (for example, co-founders Pete Gracey or Paul Alves for AG), need to become thought leaders, challenging the status quo and writing books. However, claiming to be a thought leader doesn't make you one; others need to recognize you as the leading guru in your industry. Becoming a thought leader is harder than you think.  

Last week our company took part in a great consultative inside sales training. I love these trainings because although some of the topics may seem obvious at first, we sometimes tend to put these fundamental topics on the back burner at work because other priorities end up taking up our time instead. The training from last week really helped to reinforce the topic of Knowing your Competition. Seems simple, right? It may seem straightforward, but ask yourself these questions. When was the last time you sat down and really thought about who your competition is? Do you ever think about competition in a different light other than during the actual sell? This training really emphasized the idea of not only knowing your competition when bringing on new customers, but more importantly, really being aware of your competition when it comes to retaining your existing customers. 

From a marketing and a sales point of view, this week has been extremely busy. The chatter around the office has expounded as more and more people are returning from vacation. Marketing is gearing into the fall months as well, as we just released an eBook we've been working on all summer. Team leaders are working one-on-one with sales reps, and new employees are coming in every week, eager to get their hands dirty in sales. For the first week of September, we're doing great, and it can only go up from here.

Ask not what you can do for your company. Ask what your company can do for you.

In the past few years, discussions of company culture have multiplied across start-ups in Silicon Valley, trusted businesses in Boston, and several other areas around the world. Some people think company culture can be confused with perks in the office, creating confusion and toxicity in the workplace. Some people think cultures can’t be created, that they’re a product of how leaders inspire their customers and employees. Still others argue that company culture affects traditional business metrics positively, resulting in revenue growth, employment growth, net income growth, etc.

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Christine Rochelle, Integrated Marketing Manager at lotus823.

Each and every work week at lotus823 is kicked off by a roundtable staff meeting and of course plenty of Diet Coke to go around.

Once our co-founder David Hernandez is able to bring the buzz of the room down, he walks us through each of our current business development opportunities for the agency.

Instead of jumping to discussing brand strategy or services, David always gears the conversation into a discussion about our personal relationship with the potential client contacts and what they would like to accomplish for their team and for the brand.