Sales Prospecting Perspectives Weekly Recap - Week of April 18th
Happy Earth Day Everyone!
Welcome to another Weekly Recap. I hope you all had a great week, and those of you from the Bay State got to enjoy Marathon Monday! We had another busy week this week with blogs, but as always I'd like to highlight one that I found to mirror how we feel here at AG. Sales Trends: Is the Cold Call Dead? by Mansfield Sales Partners put together a great blog on a topic that we've discussed here as well. With the booming of social media, a lot of folks think Cold Calling is something of the past. Where social media certainly does have its benefits in prospecting these days...there is nothing more effective then picking up the phone and finding out the information directly.
Monday April 18th
How Soon Is Too Soon To Ask Your Sales Prospect About Their Budget? - Laney Pilpel put together another great blog discussing how to overcome this question that often times can be a touchy subject.
"Some feel that asking about budget during an initial cold call is too soon. I do believe this is true in some cases – like for companies that are just looking to get in front of potential prospects even if they don’t have an active project in place for example. By asking budget questions early on though, you can determine whether or not the prospect is truly interested in purchasing or if they are simply open to hearing a sales pitch if a project were to come up down the road."
Tuesday April 19th
Sales Leads Take More Than ONE Call To Land On Forecast - In Part 1 of his two part blog, Craig talks about the importance of alignment with Sales and Marketing but for Sales Reps to know that even though the call is scheduled, it may take a couple tries to actually connect with the potential customer.
"Your inside rep may have set a scheduled call for them to connect, but there is a possibility that something could have come up that took priority. Just because the qualified opp wasn’t sitting there anxiously awaiting your call, doesn’t mean they should be qualified out. (IT TAKES WORK SON!!) Don’t assume that they aren’t interested because they didn’t pick up the phone the first time around. If the inside sales rep shared the same mind set, then you wouldn’t have any leads to work on…let alone any actionable opportunities to transition to forecast."
Wednesday April 20th
How Are You Providing Value To Your Inside Sales Team? - Jill discusses here some great ways to stay on track and ensure that your inside sales teams are running as efficiently as possible.
"Sometimes in our business, it’s difficult to stick to a daily agenda or plan. Sales Management has its ups and downs. Accounts that are flourishing and accounts that need special attention. Depending upon the nature of the beast, it is important to keep some structure to your day..."
Thursday April 21st
Cold Calling Is Liek Chess: Think Strategically! - We had a new guest blogger this week! Mr. Abe Richardson chimed in with his thoughts on how you need to remain on your toes and take cold calling like a game of chess. You have to anticipate your opponents next move!
"It is very easy to get discouraged by a prospect, especially if they are rude or even hostile. Sometimes, these conversations can be recovered through clever word usage. So instead of giving up and retreating, try something new."
Well I hope you enjoyed the blogs this week! We'd love to hear your feedback, so please be sure to tell us your thoughts and any insight you may have on these topics. Have a great weekend! See you next week!