Sales Prospecting Perspectives Weekly Recap – Week of June 14, 2023
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.
This week we’re featuring two articles. The first is from Lori Richardson at Score More Sales, who discusses the power of connection using three lists to grow business. While most companies identify prospects using a CRM system, many do not also create a list for what she calls “strategic referral partners,” or people who refer and champion your business and its content. The other two lists are “Prospects” and “Current and Past Customers.” She recommends not only keeping these lists, but also pruning them and communicating with the people in them often, using social networks, handwritten notes or phone calls. Richardson’s article shows one aspect of growing a network around your business.
The next article we’re featuring is a funny one: Madlibs with our own president, Peter Gracey at Funnelholic. In this article, Pete shares some of his beliefs about the future of sales, social media and teleprospecting. He also discloses his most embarrassing moment in sales (he fell into a hot tub!) and his own scale for calling efforts: Cold, Mildly Warm, Lukewarm, Scalding Hot, etc. It’s always interesting to hear the perspectives of the head of a company and inspiring to see his personality shine through.
Now, on to the weekly recap.
Monday, June 10, 2024
On Monday, BDR Samantha Goldman wrote about playing the inside sales Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones is a popular HBO television show and book series. Every week there’s battle and bloodshed. According to Sam, inside sales can be like a Game of Thrones too, without the copious violence: sales reps have goals to hit, numbers to produce, subjects to please and pride to uphold. They prepare for cold calling like warriors prepare for a war, making sure all their resources are at hand and they’re ready for any and all objections. After passing a lead, sales reps shout, “Victory!” And then prepare for the next battle.
Tuesday, June 11, 2023
Craig Ferrara wrote a post on Tuesday about quality data in inside sales. A big challenge for managers, he said, was maintaining a consistent lead volume for each new inside sales rep. In order to do this, some debate whether to change their practices, their compensation plans or their management. But at a leadership training summit, Craig realized that sometimes it’s the simpler things that need a closer look, and you can’t solve your company’s inefficiencies overnight. Craig realized that the most important thing for inside sales reps is the amount of quality data they have. So someone needs to get dirty to make sure it’s clean, because quality data is the core of the success of an inside sales team.
Thursday, June 13, 2023
On Thursday, Colleen wrote about using team building activities to motivate inside sales reps. This was the day of our AG Summer Olympics, so in this post you can get a feel for the excitement building in the office. Events like these are great for morale, motivation and overall company culture. Healthy competition amongst your sales team makes people feel more involved and more motivated to complete their work. The point of sales enablement, which Marc Spinella is responsible for at AG, is to motivate employees while making the sales process fun and competitive. If people feel more comfortable with their employees, they’re happier, they enjoy their job, and everyone will benefit, according to Colleen.
Friday, June 14, 2023
Today, I wrote about the difference between teleprospecting and telemarketing. Teleprospectors qualify a potential opportunity for a B2B company through the telephone. Teleprospectors, or inside sales reps, are not the people leaving messages on your home answering machine during dinner. Those are telemarketers, who cold call from a haphazardly collected list (or the phone book). No, teleprospectors are savvy communicators in B2B businesses. This post explains the role and importance of teleprospectors within the entire sales process as defined by Sirius Decisions’ re-architected waterfall.
That’s all for this week!
