Weekly Recap of Sales Prospecting Perspectives
Great blogs this week from Chris Lang, Craig Ferrara, Pete Gracey and Ilona Jazdowska! They discussed several interesting topics: Have you tried utilizing Social Media to help boost your Sales pipeline? Do you find that your top performers are leaving? How and when are you utilizing the "Call Blitz" method? And last (but not least...) how is the communication between your inside and outside sales teams?
Before we do a quick recap we want to highlight a great article we found this week from Howard Sewell, President, Spear Marketing Group where he discusses the importance and value of an inside sales team, and the questions you should ask yourself before launching a lead nurturing program. 5 Questions To Ask Before You Launch A Lead Nurturing Program.
Tuesday June 15th
Sales Success and Social Media - AG's Chris Lang as always gives his witty take on the importance of social media and how it has helped him in his sales pipeline.
"...when my Marketing VP approached me and asked me to write a blog once a week, I sarcastically told him I would try to squeeze it in after my samurai practice but before my mime lessons. He then told me that in addition to a blog he wanted me to follow AG's foray into social media and establish a presence on LinkedIn, start Tweeting, and use Facebook for work (rather my usual purpose of using it to see people I graduated with and determine who has aged better)."
Tuesday June 15th
Keys to Retaining Your Top Inside Sales Reps - AG's Director of Client of Operations Craig Ferrara shares his insight on how we've been able retain a lot of our top performers.
"While I didn't have the opportunity to do an exit interview with each and every person that left the organization, the general consensus from my colleagues was there was not enough focus on the culture and making the reps feel as if their opinion mattered.
We've been pretty fortunate that AG has seen a much higher retention rate than my previous employers. While I have my own thoughts as to why we've managed to retain our people I was curious to get my teams thoughts as well. I asked a couple of tenured top producers on my team this question..."
Tuesday June 16th
End of Q2..Time to Utter the Words Inside Sales Dread! CALL BLITZ - AG's Peter Gracey discusses the benefits of the dreaded "Call Blitz" -particularly for this time of the year:
"The best time to run blitzes is the last two weeks of June. You are nearing the halfway point of your calendar year as well as entering what we have found to be the slowest two weeks of the year (July 1st - July 15th). Running one or several call blitzes during the last half of June accomplishes some very strategic objectives for your organization."
Thursday June 17th
Tips for Inside Sales Success: Closing the Loop with Quality Feedback - AG's Quality Assurance Manager - Ilona Jazdowska explains not only is it important to close the gap between Marketing and Sales (Sales Prospecting and Closing the Loop) but it's just as important to close that gap between your inside and outside sales teams.
"It is equally critical to close the loop between your inside and outside teams! There can often be a disconnect between an inside sales team and the field reps. Once the lead has been passed over there is no further communication between the two parties as to how the call went. The value of having a feedback process in place is that you can make sure everyone is on the same page and that the inside sales team is aware of what makes for a good opportunity."