Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a post from Gillian Sontz, Business Development Representative at AG Salesworks. 

In B2B inside sales, you will often have to call lists, both warm and cold. When cold calling - which actually isn't that different than warm calling with the right preparation - it's important to make a strong first impression on new prospects. They've never heard of you before. They may have never even heard of your company before. Instead of coming off as a lazy sales rep interrupting their day's work, try out these cold calling tips to help position yourself as a trusted advisor first and foremost.  

I think it’s safe to say that nearly everyone in the sales game had humble beginnings. Some of you may have had the fake bravado on the outside when you started, but on the inside, like me, you were probably scared out of your mind. 

Inside sales representatives and business development representatives spend a majority of their time prospecting companies to find and create potential sales opportunities. Depending on the type of project, an inside sales rep may have many different campaigns to follow up on, calling both warm and cold prospects.

Let’s recap the colloquial definitions of “cold calling” and “warm calling.” I contact prospects for my client who have expressed interest in their solutions through downloading information on their website or attending their events. Reaching out to a prospect who already has a relationship with your client or that you have previously engaged with is considered “warm calling.” It is also common for a sales rep to prospect campaigns in which the prospect has had no prior engagement with a client. This type of situation is commonly referred to as “cold calling.”

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Cari Zoch, Marketing Manager at Avention, a company that offers real-time, actionable B2B data to deliver 21st century business info, solutions for sales, marketing and research. 

Salespeople are always looking for the holy grail when it comes to making cold calls. They can sort their lists, segment criteria but what’s most important?  Timing.

I’m here today to argue that timing is more than finding the best day of the week or the time of the day to pick up the phone. In fact, it varies by industry and type of prospect anyway.