Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest blog from Gareth Goh, Content Marketing Manager at InsightSquared.
If you have a team of outbound prospecting reps, spare a minute to give them some love, attention and empathy. After all, they have perhaps the toughest job in your organization: making cold calls to hit aggressive dial targets day after day can be a grueling experience that weighs on even the most motivated and productive prospecting reps.
At the same time, both you and them know how important their role to the organization is. Without them, your sales pipeline - and subsequently, your bookings results - would be substantially smaller. What can you, as their manager, do to ease the painful monotony of their day-to-day job responsibilities?
Provide them with the structure they need to really do their jobs well.
Fighting the temptation of “more!”
Sales managers typically have one way of managing outbound prospecting reps - demand more! “We need MORE leads!” “You guys have to make MORE dials!” When faced with this type of “more” pressure, reps will adopt a mentality of boiling the ocean, as they pursue more leads by any means necessary. However, when reps have a strong and varied structure to their day, they can fight the temptation of “more.”
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Structure breaks down the day into specific and palatable chunks, with a goal that is unique to each of these time periods.
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Reps who fall behind early in the day won’t feel the pressure to make more dials at the end of the day in an effort to make up the gulf on their daily activity goals. The worst thing your reps can do is make calls just for the sake of making calls to hit a quota.
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Structure helps your reps avoid going on “autopilot,” where they just make calls without actual prospecting or planning.
Not sure how to provide your reps with that structure? Here is a sample day-in-the-life of one of the outbound prospecting reps at InsightSquared.
A typical prospecting day:
8:00 a.m. - If you fail to plan (your day), you plan to fail (your day). You want to get in the right frame of mind for the whole day, instead of just dialing immediately upon your arrival to the office. Ask yourself, “Who am I calling today?” and then set up your lists appropriately.
8:30 a.m. - Time for that first prolonged call blast of the day. Here’s where planning comes into effect. Who’s most likely to be at their desk right now? Prospects on the East Coast and in Europe will be, so start with those numbers first. Now’s also a good time to set small, reachable goals. Need to hit 100 dials in a day? Shoot for 30 now.
10:00 a.m. - Call blasts should be followed by breaks, so your reps can stay refreshed with a clear mind. Going for a walk to get some coffee or taking a break to play a game of ping pong with a fellow prospecting rep is a good way to get the blood flowing after sitting down for so long.
10:30 a.m. - Time for another call blast. You should be in a pretty good groove now, so make sure this is your biggest and most productive call blast period of the day. You can also hit a variety of different time zones across the United States, so plan your prospect list accordingly. Forty dials is a solid target to aim for here.
12:30 p.m. - Time to refuel with some lunch. Don’t eat at your desk, though; it’s important to physically unplug and think about something else other than prospecting.
1:00 p.m. - After lunch is one of the worst times for a call blast - you’re in a food coma, and the people you’re calling might be in one too. You can do other productive activities here... such as prospecting! After lunch is a perfect time to do some lead generation and start backfilling your lists for the rest of the day or week. You could also build out an organization chart (allowing you to reach more decision-makers on each account that you call) or research new prospecting email templates to experiment with.
There are plenty of productive prospecting activities to do, so much so that your reps should not be in the mindset of strictly making calls. Getting out of that mindset will help them plan their days better and be more productive overall.
3:00 p.m. - It’s been a productive day, so allow yourself another break. Get a snack to make sure you’re properly fueled to finish the day strong.
3:15 p.m. - Time to finish out the day and hit those goals! You’ve done 70 calls today, which means you have 30 more to do. Target those West Coast prospects, as well as those Australians just waking up on the other side of the world.
Don’t just stop at 30 though. If you’re ahead of the pace and there’s still time at the end of the day, shoot for 110 or 115 dials. These extra efforts will not go unnoticed.
Adding structure to your outbound prospecting reps’ days will see them be more refreshed, more motivated, more focused and ultimately, more productive. You should also give them the autonomy to structure their day in a way that works best for them. Offer plenty of flexibility to schedule in sales coaching exercises or to shadow senior reps - there is always room for improvement.
A more structured schedule for your prospecting reps will result in a more robust sales pipeline. Implement that structure and you will see immediate dividends.
Gareth Goh is the Content Marketing Manager at InsightSquared, writing about sales analytics and Salesforce best practices on their blog. He is a two-time graduate from Boston University, with a strong background in journalism and digital marketing. Gareth is an avid sports fan, especially in basketball, soccer and the NFL (Go Patriots!), and enjoys playing board games and poker. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
