Sales Prospecting Perspectives

It’s the middle of the shortest month of the year, and between calls I hear the familiar orchestra of different off-putting sounds from other cubes: wheezing, coughing, sniffling, sneezing, and zombie-like groans of inside sales reps plagued with cold and flu symptoms.

Happy holidays, Sales Prospecting Perspectives readers. It's back to work at AG, as inside sales reps and managers plan for Quarter 1. Sales and marketing professionals should start off the New Year on a high note. Our advice? In these last few days, inside sales reps should continue to call, but should also review the year's progress. How much have you changed as a sales professional? What about your messaging is different now, and why? Inside sales managers, have you come up with ideas to motivate your team this past year, and what are the results? Does gamification influence your leadership style? It's important to reflect on 2013 before we move in to 2014, and then adapt our sales strategies accordingly. Below, Sam gives some good advice for how to end the year strong as well. 

Even though it's a short work week that doesn't mean we'd skimp on all content. Check out these posts you might have missed from this week: 

... or if you're me, cut it up, douse it with glitter and make a star instead

The other day someone said to me, “When it comes to cold calling, it’s really just a numbers game. By reaching out to 100 people per day, there’s bound to be someone who says yes.” The comment took me by surprise and I thought to myself, "Wow, do people really think that’s all there is to cold calling? Do they really think of it as 'mindless' dials that will eventually lead to someone who says yes?"

Good morning, Sales Prospecting Perspectives Readers. Aren’t you glad it’s Friday? Before you celebrate the weekend by gearing up for the World Series, check out some of our favorite articles around the web this week!

Our job is to find highly qualified sales leads for our customers that will lead to qualified opportunities. Our clients come to us with a need to fill their pipeline and want us to do so as quickly and effectively as possible. One of the first questions usually asked when speaking with potential or brand new customers is what we ­recommend for a call strategy for the campaign. To be more clear, customers who are either outsourcing or supplementing their teleprospecting efforts to us want to know if calling efforts should be focused on cold calls, follow ups on warm leads from marketing events, or target accounts identified by their own outside sales reps.

Let’s get excited. Why is hitting sales goals important now and in the future?

• You can make the most amount of money possible at this time.

• You set yourself up for future career success by building a strong resume with which to sell yourself.

• Hitting your goal increases motivation for future successes.

From a marketing and a sales point of view, this week has been extremely busy. The chatter around the office has expounded as more and more people are returning from vacation. Marketing is gearing into the fall months as well, as we just released an eBook we've been working on all summer. Team leaders are working one-on-one with sales reps, and new employees are coming in every week, eager to get their hands dirty in sales. For the first week of September, we're doing great, and it can only go up from here.

Reading the title of this blog you might think, “Why would I not want to be comfortable with my client?” Or, “I have a great relationship with my client.” These are great responses, as you should want to have a good relationship and be comfortable in terms of communicating. But I am talking about getting to that point in your relationship where you might be getting lazy. For example, you could relate this to the point in a relationship with your significant other where you start to leave your clothes on the floor, or wear sweatpants to the movies. YIKES. This should never be the case with your client.

I can't believe it's finally the end of August. Fall is creeping upon us, employees are returning from vacation, and students are returning to school. We've published a few fall-based articles this week, and we're excited to hear what you think about them, and how helpful they've been to you!