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. 

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a post from Patrice Morrison, a Business Development Representative at AG Salesworks. 

I’ve seen inside sales described using many analogies. But my favorite analogy by far is the comparison to the popular series, The Hunger Games. These books and movies focus on a woman who has to fight to the death in order to survive The Hunger Games, a twisted competition in which children ages 12 - 18 are forced to particpate, created by central officials to deter rebellion. Now you may be thinking: “How in the world could you see any similarities between the sales world and the dystopian world described by Suzanne Collins?” Even though they’re not shooting bows and arrows at jabberjays like Katniss Everdeen, inside sales reps actually share many qualities with Hunger Games tributes. Here are four:

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. 

At the beginning of the year I set a goal to improve communication across the entire company, from the way we communicate to our customers to the way we communicate among the management team, the way management communicates with team members, and how team members communicate with each other.  We invested in formal training, and had a summer outing with an Olympics theme which turned out to be an excellent team building opportunity. 

The additional emphasis on communication has had a positive impact on performance as well as morale.  Great ideas have been shared and implemented, team members have expressed interest in various areas, and as a result have had the opportunity to do more and in some cases get promoted.  When others see the positive impact they tend to become more engaged, which further improves the effectiveness of the team.

I had the opportunity last week to participate in a webinar AG hosted with Hootsuite and Salesloft about setting up an effective work process. The recording can be downloaded here. We covered the secrets to sales prospecting success, how social selling can enhance the sales process and what tools should be used to support your prospecting efforts. My portion of the presentation had more to do with setting up an effective inside sales team, but I did field some interesting questions at the end of the webinar. 

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! 

I have been meeting with my team recently to better understand what they like, don’t like, what they would like to see more of, less of, why they joined the AG team, why they stay, and whatever else I might learn that can help improve the AG employment experience. Each and every person I have met with told me they were attracted to AG for a number of reasons, but the most important one was our training. They wanted to be at a company where they could learn. We are very proud of our internal training program and continue to invest and improve it. The conversations I am having validate that we are on the right track.

I’ll admit it. I think I have been avoiding the usage of collaboration tools for a number of years now. No matter how hard my boss has pushed it, I just couldn’t get myself to fully adopt the tools he was presenting. I would test it out for a few weeks and then would stop because I wasn’t recognizing the true value.  You may have been in the same boat as me. I just kept using the excuse, “I have my email to manage that.” After recently realizing that comments like this make me feel old and stuck in my ways, I started giving it more thought, and decided to jump on the bandwagon to give it a shot.

And when I did, something great happened.

As a Business Development Representative for tech companies, I understand that organizations can be hesitant to implement new technologies.  I have heard many different reasons as to why companies don’t want to change what they are already using or put new software or systems into place: the cost is too high, it doesn’t fit their needs, or it just isn’t a priority at the time.  One reason I often hear is that the company won’t be able to persuade their employees to start using the new technology.

This week was a busy one at AG Salesworks. During the first half of the week, our inside sales reps were passing leads like crazy. Their leads were so hot that a small electrical fire started in the office on Tuesday! No worries, though; we’re all safe, and there was just a bit of smoke in AG Central. After that, there was more excitement: The Summer AG Olympics. I’m happy to announce that Team USA won! Find pictures and more about this event on our Facebook.