Sales Prospecting Perspective Weekly Recap - Week of September 10, 2023
The Fall weather has arrived here in New England, the leaves are starting to change and you can smell the Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin Spice coffee at every stop light. It's the time of year when inside sales teams must focus on the tasks at hand, because the holidays will be here before you can blink. School is in session, decision makers are back at work and the amount of "out of office" replies should be dwindling down. It is imperative for inside managers to get with their team and express the importance of September and October when it comes to developing pipeline for the holiday months of November and December. Many in the industry will talk about the difficulty of finding qualified leads during these months, but with the right approach and preparation now, these two months can be just as bountiful as any other.
Before I recap this weeks blog posts, I wanted to share a great post I came across this week from Jim Keenan, Senior Partner at A Sales Guy Consulting. In his post What’s in Your Head When You Call a Prospect or Customer?, Jim shares his thoughts on what your inside sales team should be focused on when making those cold calls. Should they be worried about their daily call number? Or maybe your reps are focused on their goals and the amount of commission their due next month. The point of the post, which I think happens way to often with inside reps, is that they shouldn't be focused on themselves at all: they need to be focused on their prospect. Reps should try and put themselves in the place of the prospect and focus on the concerns, pains, and needs of the prospect. Focusing on the features of your product, the best way to express your products benefits and trying to sell your prospect is a bad approach to qualifying and will only get you more no's then yes'. It is a quick read for those who have a minute and brings to light some valuable insights that all inside sales managers and reps should remember when it's time to pick up the phone.
Now on to our weekly recap:
Tuesday, September 11, 2023
Recently we have heard some similar stories coming from our clients and Laney was able to put together a great blog post on the benefits of partnering with an outside teleprospecting firm to combat high inside sales turnover. In her post Are You Equipped To Handle Inside Sales Turnover? Laney discusses the three most common benefits we have heard from clients when it comes to dealing with staff attrition. The first benefit dealt with not rushing through the hiring process just because your organization needs someone in a seat. Having an outside team in places to continue building pipeline for your outside sales team allows organizations the ability to take their time in the hiring process and make sure they are putting the right person with the right attributes in place. The second most common benefit to having an outside team in place was the amount of territory coverage you will be able to sustain. Instead of pulling an existing rep to cover your lost rep's territory, you can provide coverage with your outside team and not effect your existing coverage. The final benefit talks about the loss of pipeline due to not having the same bandwith and coverage. With an outside partner in place, you have the flexiblitiy of adding additional resources as needed without the concern of a long, drawn out ramp up process.
Wednesday, September 12, 2023
Our second post this week was a first for one of our newest members of the AG family, Maegan Kopka, Director of Business Development and Strategic Alliances. She broke in to the blogosphere with a great post discussing the always existent disconnect between Sales and Marketing in her post Marketing vs. Sales: It’s A Matter Of Trust. Maegan discusses some of her past experiences with marketing teams and the problems that exist in an organization when, for appearance of alignment, the two departments only meet because it is expected. It is very important for the two teams to develop a level of trust with one another and work with one another in support of the same common goal: help your organization grow. It is possible for the two teams to co-exist in this manner, but it all begins with being able to trust one another. It's a great post and worth your time reading, and make sure to throw a comment in there congratulating Maegan and welcoming her to the world of blogging.
Thursday, September 13, 2023
Our final post this week came from one of our Senior Business Development Representatives, Andrea Baranowski, and discusses the value of setting goals and objectives for yourself so you don't fall behind has we head into the final quarter of the year. In her post In Sales, September Is Not The Time To Fall Behind, Andrea provides four goals that she set for herself to accomplish this month to ensure she will be on track to finish the year strong. Her first goal required her to "hit the ground running" as September typically starts with a short week from the Labor Day holiday and days will catch up with you before you know it. Start strong so that you aren't the rep still sitting at zero opportunities half way through the month. Her second goal is to reach out to all the decision makers that were on vacation in August. Many people try to squeeze in those last chances to be with family before school, sports, and regular life begins in September. Stress to your reps that September is the time to get those decision makers who have been "out of office" and discover who has some active opportunities and who you need to speak with next year. The third goal of Andrea's is to close out the quarter strong. July and August are usually more difficult months to teleprospect, so September is your chance to make up any ground you lost in the previous months. Finally, her fourth goal for this month is to build a quality pipeline for Q4. As I mentioned before, November and December can be difficult months if you don't start preparing and building pipeline now.
Some great posts this week and I hope you enjoyed reading my recaps. We will have some more great posts for you next week in which we discuss some great topics; including Email Subject lines, discovering where your product fits in the marketplace and much more.
Enjoy your weekend of Football, Soccer, Apple picking and don't forget to start looking for your pumpkins now!