Barbara Giamanco

Check Our FeedVisit Us On TwitterVisit Us On FacebookVisit Us On Linkedin
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Women in Sales Podcast
  • Book
  • About Me
    • Press
    • Recognition
  • Contact

How Does Your Sales Experience Stack Up?

By Barbara Giamanco 2 Comments

Creating differentiated, personalized customer experiences is a top business initiative for most organizations. Executives know that when exceptional experiences are delivered, they distance themselves from their competitors. The reverse is also true. When things don’t go well, the negative brand impact on your company has greater potential for damage that goes far beyond losing a sale or a current customer.

Every interaction someone has with your company matters. That is especially true when it is your salespeople.

The term “customer experience” is misleading. The use of the word customer suggests that your experience strategy begins once someone becomes a paying customer. But that’s not the case at all. The experience begins with the very first interaction someone has with your company. It could be a marketing interaction, and more often, that first touch starts with someone on the front lines of your sales organization. That touch could be a phone call, email, an in-person meeting at a business event or a LinkedIn connection request.

When companies are designing their experience strategy, that strategy must include the salesforce.

To me, that seems an obvious suggestion; however, I don’t believe that organizations are doing enough analysis to understand how ALL buyer interactions with their salespeople – starting with the first ones – are either helping or hurting pipeline and revenue objectives.

Gartner has defined Customer Experience Management as “the practice of designing and reacting to customer interactions to meet or exceed customer expectations and, thus, increase customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy.”

I would revise Gartner’s definition slightly to say, “designing and reacting to prospect and customer interactions to meet or exceed their expectations and, thus, increase pipeline, revenue, satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy.”

So, let’s talk about “aligning to the buyers’ journey”.

The most common strategy to engage new prospects starts with content. A lot of it. The idea is to deliver the right articles, white papers, case studies, videos or webinars at the right time in the buyers’ decision-making process.

Conventional wisdom says provide educational content that informs during stages when buyers are looking for products to solve their problems. Or, use content to provide insights into problems buyers’ may not know they have yet but are bound too, and they are more likely to book a sales meeting. Unfortunately, that may no longer be the case.

Content overload is creating a backlash to the buying experience.

Analyst reports indicate that buyers are inundated with so much content that the information overload is leading to the exact opposite reaction companies want. Rather than creating an experience that inspires buyers to more quickly engage with sales, they are opting to do nothing!

In a recent report from Gartner about how sellers can help buyers “make sense” of the overwhelming availability of high quality content; albeit, often with conflicting points of view, authors Neha Ahuja and Benjamin Hooker confirm that “when customers encounter too much information — even trustworthy, evidence-based information — they may stop learning. In such a scenario, customers reach a point of information saturation after which they can’t process new information.”

This leads to a point of diminishing return in the perceived value that information has to purchasing decisions. Rather than decisions being based on “quality data”, decision making becomes reminiscent of the days before the internet with buyers’ making decisions based on best guesses and gut feelings as opposed to rational, fact-based choices.

Which brings me back to the sales force. The people paid to sell to your products.

Information overload is causing problems. But so are salespeople with their messaging and approach, whether meaning too or not. Your sales team members are typically the first human exposure that someone has with your company.

What do you know about the experience those interactions are creating?

Unless what you sell requires little more than an order taker to seal the deal, evaluating what’s happening throughout the selling cycle when those interpersonal – people to people – sales interactions are taking place is a must. Often your salespeople are losing out on sales opportunities with the message they convey in the first email they send or phone call they make.

Another day we can debate why sales organizations spend an inordinate amount of time and money constantly chasing new logos. The reality is that they do. Empty pipeline phobia puts more pressure on salespeople to surface new sales opportunities any way that they can often without enough training and coaching to help them succeed.

Leaders own the fault here. When the default command is to do “more activity” to try and meet objectives, quality is bound to suffer and it does.

Banish magical thinking.

As I often do, I recently wrote another LinkedIn article about the need for salespeople and sales leaders to banish magical thinking and stop looking for short-cuts to engaging buyers. Cheap tricks in the form of subject lines, break up emails and other such nonsense simply reinforces that buyers don’t need sellers to help them in their purchasing decisions at all. There is a reason why 90% of the time buyers simply hit delete to rid themselves of constant deluge of sales spam.

Put yourself in the buyers’ shoes. Do you know what it is like to try and buy from you?

Go through every step of the journey as a buyer would. Download white papers or attend a webinar, and then experience what it feels like to be hounded by a salesperson through email, phone calls or LinkedIn connection requests. Evaluate the messaging that salespeople are using to try to book sales meetings. Are the messages focused on the issues relevant to the buyer or simply another attempt to sell with your product pitch? Engage directly with a salesperson and experience what it feels like to have features, benefits and a product demo pushed on you. Record sales calls and listen carefully to how your salespeople are representing your offering.

It is easy to toss around phrases like “improve the customer experience” or map your processes to the “buyers’ journey”, but in truth, the effort to transform existing processes isn’t easy.

But that doesn’t mean the transformation effort shouldn’t be undertaken. In fact, I believe it must be a strategic imperative!

We are about to enter the 4th and final sales quarter for most companies, and I can guarantee that the “do more” mantra will reach a fevered pitch with the end result being largely the same. As it has been for the past decade, roughly half of all sales teams will still not meet quota goals. Same activity = same results. Denial doesn’t change reality!

Filed Under: blog, sales Tagged With: customer experience, experience, Prospecting, quota, sales, sales leadership, sales management

Crush Quota With This Simple Funnel Formula

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

Let’s talk about your plan to CRUSH QUOTA using a simple funnel formula to help you build pipeline and revenue.  If you prefer to listen rather than read, listen to the audio clip below.

Why do you need a formula?

Reps are almost always too optimistic about the ratio of their activity to opportunities on their path to close.

Take matters into your own hands using this formula that I learned about from Chris Bennett.

The funnel formula has 4 variables:

1. The number of opportunities on the go.

2. The average $ value of each opportunity.

3. Historic closing rate / if you are not sure, use 25%.

4. Average sales cycle time. Example: The # of opportunities x average $ deal size x average closing rate% divided by average time to close.

Look at a formula for a sales pro with a goal of $99,999 in gross profit.

100 deals x $10,000 = $1,000,000 x 25% = $250,000 divided by a 3-month sales cycle. This results in…

= $83,333 per month in sales x 10% GP

= $8,333 per month x 12 months

= $99,999 per year in GP.

Using this easy to follow formula, the sales pro made their plan. The beauty of this formula is that it keeps you grounded in the reality of what your pipeline really looks like and it helps keep you focused on the activities that will lead to you achieving your sales results. Don’t forget that you will regularly update your numbers during the month to stay on track.

Now, what would happen if you increased the top 3 variables – the # of opportunities x average $ deal size x average closing rate% – by just 10% and reduced sales cycle time by 10%?

Here is what happens:

110 deals x $11,000 = $1,210,000 x 27.5% = $332,750  divided by 2.7 months. This results in…

= $123,240 per month in sales x 10% GP

= $12,324 x 12 months

= $147,888 which is a 47% increase vs. the first formula that produced $99,999.

Watch the on-demand presentation that Chris and I delivered last year. Topic: 5 Ways Salespeople Can Create Compelling Value, Book Meetings and Build Pipeline. VIEW HERE

Filed Under: blog, sales Tagged With: funnel, pipeline, Prospecting, sales

Opening Executive Level Doors with Caryn Kopp

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

In this episode, I talked with Caryn Kopp AKA The Chief Door Opener at Kopp Consulting, an Inc 5000 winner, recognized for the Door Opener® Service where they get their clients meetings with high level decision makers in almost every major company. If you want to know how to open doors at the executive level, this is the interview for you!

We covered these questions during my conversation with Caryn:

  • Getting in the door with executive level prospects is one of the most difficult part of the sales process, bar none. I asked Caryn how her team, known for getting executive level meetings for your clients, does it. She shared her success secrets for prior open those doors when other companies and salespeople struggle.
  • Caryn will tell you how to figure out what to say to pique the interest of busy, high-level prospects when they get so many calls and emails from competitors.
  • Personalization is a big buzz word now. Caryn shares her opinions on what works and doesn’t work when it comes to crafting messages that open doors to your targeted prospects.
  • You will learn about the two important elements that have to do with sales that most business leaders get wrong.
  • We also discussed tips on how to hire the right Door Openers for your company.
  • Finally, we talked about a question that comes up all the time…at what point do you just give up on a prospect? Listen to the interview to hear what Caryn has to say about that important question.

Listen and enjoy the interview!

https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.179/q7g.56b.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WIS_CarynKopp_021819FinalEdits.mp3

 

Apple Podcasts  – Please subscribe so that you never miss an episode! Write a review for the podcast if you like the interviews.

Spotify  Stitcher  Google Play   Don’t use any of these platforms to listen? Listen to Episode 43 with Caryn above.

About Caryn:

Caryn Kopp is the Chief Door Opener® at Kopp Consulting, an Inc 5000 winner, recognized for the Door Opener® Service where they get their clients meetings with high level decision makers in almost every major company. A best-selling author, speaker and an expert in Business Development, Caryn can be seen in Inc., Forbes, Newsweek and is a faculty member of Verne Harnish’s Gazelles Growth Institute. Caryn is also the co-author of the best seller Biz Dev Done Right.

LinkedIn
Website

Thanks to our Sponsors!

This podcast is presented by our Elite Sponsor, Microsoft. Corporate Vice President and Channel Chief Gavriella Schuster, along with other female leaders in the company, are driving for change, trying to bring more women into the technology industry. Gavriella and Microsoft are committed to giving “young women better role models and a stronger voice to all women.” You can hear more from Gavriella and other Microsoft leaders, on the Microsoft Partner Network podcast. Or visit partner.microsoft.com 

SalesLoft, the leading sales engagement platform. Join them this March in Atlanta for 3 days of learning, networking, and inspiration at their annual Rainmaker conference! With over 100 speakers and 40 track sessions, their annual Women’s Breakfast and a performance from Grammy winning band Blues Traveler, this conference is not one to miss. Get your tickets today at rainmaker.salesloft.com.

Thanks to our Media Sponsor. Women Sales Pros has a vision for more women in B2B sales and sales leadership roles where there are currently male-majority sales teams. We help educate companies on how to do this, and we champion women on what a professional sales career can be. We also showcase the very top women sales experts who are speakers, authors, consultants, trainers and coaches. People can sign up to get updates HERE and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WomenSalesPros

Filed Under: blog, Women In Sales Tagged With: csuite, door opening, executive, Kopp Consulting, leadership, Prospecting, sales, selling

How to be Human in Sales. Bots haven’t taken over yet!

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

In this interview, I talked with Amy Volas, Founder and CEO of Avenue Talent Partners about why relationships STILL MATTER in selling, and frankly, in life.

I’m known for saying – okay, harping about – that technology only ENABLES process. It doesn’t build people relationships for you. It doesn’t sell for you. Never has. Never will.

Yes, I know. Everyone loves the hacks. Or, the idea of them anyway. People cannot resist the urge to believe in mythical short-cuts, which DO NOT exist in selling. Today, it is even tougher to reach buyers. They are done with the corny pitches, cheesy close lines and lazy messaging that is self-serving adding absolutely no value to their day. And, salespeople wonder why no one wants to talk to them.

You say your sales manager makes you do it?

Your message isn’t researched or well thought out because your boss demands X number of calls made and emails sent? Well, you’ll want to get over that right now! Checking the box so you keep your manager happy isn’t how you own responsibility for your own career and selling success.

YOU are responsible for your own sales success.

If your activity isn’t generating enough sales meetings, it is time to look in the mirror. Your message and approach is likely the culprit. No matter how many prospecting touches you are expected to make, it is up to you to take the reins and change how you present yourself.

If your activity levels drop but you book more sales conversations with qualified buyers, you are in a good position to show your manager that quality FIRST (relationships + value message focused on solving buyer’s problems) + quantity wins out every time!

This is WHY relationships matter!

I don’t know when the chatter started but lately I have heard more than a few people insisting that relationships don’t matter in selling. I beg to differ. I don’t know that I ever met a buyer who bought from someone they didn’t know, trust and like. I suppose if you sell a widget that no one else in the world makes AND the company you are selling too cannot live without that product, okay. You can probably get away with not developing the kind of trusting relationship that leads to a prospect becoming a customer who stays with you for life. I have also heard from experts that prospects don’t have to like you to buy from you. With 25+ years of successful B2B Enterprise, SMB and Mid-Market in a variety of industries, plus Retail, Distribution and Channel Partner selling under my belt, I have to say B.S. to that idea. Do you buy from people you don’t like? I’m not talking about buying a book on Amazon. If you sell B2B, the higher the financial investment a buyer (buying team) needs to make, the more likability, along with trust and relationship matter.

Which is why Amy and I talked about how bots are not going to take over, though they are trying. 

In this interview, learn why:

With all the noise becoming louder about AI and bots in selling, the human element and interpersonal relationships matter even more. You’ll hear from Amy why she suggested the topic of our conversation.

Both Amy and I believe that technology simply helps to open the door, if done right. As I already mentioned, in B2B selling, in particular, human beings are a big part of the equation. Amy and I discussed a few of the ways that humans can make an immediate impact on the sales/buying process.

I asked Amy if relationships make a difference depending on the type of account: SMB to enterprise sales. Listen to the interview to find out!

Scale is always a question for sellers managing large geographic patches. Amy shared her perspective on how to scale, build relationships and manage a big territory with high activity numbers.

Given that Amy is in the talent business (people biz for the unenlightened), I asked her about the general thinking with respect to AI and bots in her industry.

Another insightful interview, if I do say so myself. 🙂 Listen and enjoy!

https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.179/q7g.56b.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/WIS_amyvolas_121418-Final021119.mp3

Apple Podcasts  – Please subscribe so that you never miss an episode! Write a review for the podcast if you like the interviews.

Spotify  Stitcher  Google Play   Don’t use any of these platforms to listen? Listen to the recording above.

About Amy:

Amy Volas, Founder and CEO of Avenue Talent Partners. She is a sales fanatic turned entrepreneur, bitten by the startup bug many moons ago and couldn’t imagine spending her time anywhere else. She created Avenue Talent Partners to help with the tremendous task of growing startups through one of their most valuable assets—salespeople. When she’s not working, she’s spending time with her cat, dog, and husband—in that order (jokes). Connect on LinkedIn and Twitter.  Website: Talent Avenue Partners

Thanks to our Sponsors!

This podcast is presented by our Elite Sponsor, Microsoft. Corporate Vice President and Channel Chief Gavriella Schuster, along with other female leaders in the company, are driving for change, trying to bring more women into the technology industry. Gavriella and Microsoft are committed to giving “young women better role models and a stronger voice to all women.” You can hear more from Gavriella and other Microsoft leaders, on the Microsoft Partner Network podcast. Or visit partner.microsoft.com 

SalesLoft, the leading sales engagement platform. Join them this March in Atlanta for 3 days of learning, networking, and inspiration at their annual Rainmaker conference! With over 100 speakers and 40 track sessions, their annual Women’s Breakfast and a performance from Grammy winning band Blues Traveler, this conference is not one to miss. Get your tickets today at rainmaker.salesloft.com.

Thanks to our Media Sponsor. Women Sales Pros has a vision for more women in B2B sales and sales leadership roles where there are currently male-majority sales teams. We help educate companies on how to do this, and we champion women on what a professional sales career can be. We also showcase the very top women sales experts who are speakers, authors, consultants, trainers and coaches. People can sign up to get updates HERE and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WomenSalesPros

Filed Under: blog, Women In Sales Tagged With: marketing, Prospecting, recruiting, relationships, sales, selling

How to Be a BDR Superstar with Jackie Lipnicki, ScribbleLive

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

In this week’s Conversations with Women in Sales interview, I talked with Jackie Lipnicki, Head of Business Development Representatives at ScribbleLive about what it takes to be a BDR Superstar.

SDR/BDR teams are an important part of many company’s sales growth strategy. And SDR/BDR reps are often the first personal point of contact with a prospect, so they’ve got to be excellent at what they do.

Listen to the interview to hear from Jackie…

What she thinks makes a BDR truly outstanding in their role.

How important it is for a BDR to research their prospect before reaching out to try and engage them.

You’ll also learn how much research is appropriate because you certainly don’t want to get caught up in analysis paralysis.

Jackie and I also discussed whether or not cold calling dead, and Jackie believes to be the most effective method of prospecting outreach.

Given how important it is to capture a prospects attention quickly, Jackie talked about the best way to open a conversation that will pique interest and lead to a sales opportunity.

Finally, there was some great conversation about what is more important: engaging with a prospect by leading with a buyer persona or with information about their vertical/industry.

Enjoy the interview!

Apple Podcasts  – Please subscribe so that you never miss an episode! Write a review for the podcast if you like the interviews.

Spotify  Stitcher  Google Play

About Jackie:

Jackie started out as a 1 woman BDR team at a digital marketing agency. She then transferred to ion interactive where she was a BDR for 8 months. From there, Jackie was promoted to BDR team leader responsible for hiring, training, onboarding, and hitting the same quota as everyone else. She then moved into a BDR manager role with a focus on improving process. Recently, Jackiewas promoted to head of BDR’s for North America to our parent company, ScribbleLive. Responsible for ensuring scalability and long-term growth and success of the BDR program.

Connect with Jackie

LinkedIn
Twitter

Thanks to our Sponsors!

This podcast is presented by our Elite Sponsor, Microsoft. Corporate Vice President and Channel Chief Gavriella Schuster, along with other female leaders in the company, are driving for change, trying to bring more women into the technology industry. Gavriella and Microsoft are committed to giving “young women better role models and a stronger voice to all women.” You can hear more from Gavriella and other Microsoft leaders, on the Microsoft Partner Network podcast. Or visit partner.microsoft.com 

Thanks to our Media Sponsor. Women Sales Pros has a vision for more women in B2B sales and sales leadership roles where there are currently male-majority sales teams. We help educate companies on how to do this, and we champion women on what a professional sales career can be. We also showcase the very top women sales experts who are speakers, authors, consultants, trainers and coaches. People can sign up to get updates HERE and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WomenSalesPros

 

 

Filed Under: blog, Women In Sales Tagged With: BDR, inside sales, outbound, Prospecting, sales, ScribbleLive, SDR, selling

When Sales Opportunities Don't Go As Expected with Mary Lombardo, Absolute Impact

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

In this episode, I talked with Mary Lombardo at Absolute Impact Corporation about what to do when sales opportunities don’t go as expected. No matter how long you’ve been in sales, it will happen. Sometimes things go south because of circumstances completely unforeseen and out of our hands. At other times it is likely that there were signals, things we missed along the way that we can learn from.
We started by talking about a time when Mary felt she had the sale in the bag and then she lost to a competitor. This has certainly happened to me. Even with years of sales experience, I occasionally make a misstep on the basics. After all, we are all human and sometimes misread the cues that could have helped us course correct the situation.
Many of us have found ourselves in situations where we had progressed to the end of the sales cycle only to have our prospect say that our product or solution “is just too expensive”. That is probably one of the most frustrating things to hear, especially when you thought things were going so well. Mary shares her thoughts on what she has done when that has happened to her.
Have you ever found yourself in a sales situation when you got through the sales cycle, presented your proposal, and your prospect says “I need to take this to my boss.”? For me the answer has always been to involve the “boss” from the beginning of the process but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. So, now what do you do? Typically, someone inside the company isn’t going to sell your solution as well as you can. And, if you go over their head does that cause you a bigger headache? Mary and I talk about what you can do when you find yourself dealing with this type of selling scenario.
Finally, we talked about what to do when you get to the end of the sales cycle and your proposal seems to hang out there and age like fine wine. In other words, the sale gets stuck. Learn how that happens and what you can do about it.
Enjoy the interview!
Apple Podcasts  – Please subscribe so that you never miss an episode! Write a review for the podcast if you like the interviews.
Spotify  Stitcher  Google Play
About Mary:
Mary Lombardo, Founder of Absolute Impact Corporation, a positioning and professional sales development firm that helps start-up and midsize companies increase profits through custom-designed sales solutions.  Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Mary has served in Executive Level Leadership and Management roles her entire career, generating revenues from $14 -$60 million dollars that led her to win the coveted title “Salesperson of the Year” both in 2008 and 2009 and joining the Million Dollar Club in 2007.  Mary spearheaded and landed a colossal level win while in her role as the Senior Strategic Partnership Leader for Evans Newton, Inc. included a $5M sale for districtwide whole school reform programs that produced double-digit corporate profits.
Her clients have included:

  • CEOs of major organizations
  • CEO of national higher education institution
  • VPs of HR at national retail chain stores
  • VPs of HR at national aerospace engineering company
  • VPs of HR at a national real estate agency
  • VP of HR at a national retirement facility
  • District Superintendents nationwide
  • University Deans

With 20 years of sales experience, Mary has a broad and deep scope of all aspects of the pipeline—from lead to close.
In addition, Mary studied ballet for 10 years, is a wish-granter for the Make-A-Wish Illinois Chapter, a volunteer at Lutheran General Hospital, a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) working with the Cook County Juvenile Court, a lover of theater, and a very proud mother of two children.
Thanks to our Sponsors!
We thank our Elite Sponsor, Microsoft. I thank Gavriella Schuster, Corporate Vice President and Channel Chief at Microsoft, for her dedication to supporting women in technology, and making this podcast possible. Gavriella and Microsoft are committed to giving “young women better role models and a stronger voice to all women. You can hear more from Gavriella and other Microsoft leaders, on the Microsoft Partner Network podcast
Thanks to our Media Sponsor.  Women Sales Pros has a vision for more women in B2B sales and sales leadership roles where there are currently male-majority sales teams. We help educate companies on how to do this, and we champion women on what a professional sales career can be. We also showcase the very top women sales experts who are speakers, authors, consultants, trainers, and coaches. People can sign up to get updates HERE and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WomenSalesPros

Filed Under: blog, Women In Sales Tagged With: close, lead generation, Prospecting, sales, sales cycle

The Sales Leader’s Problem Solver with Suzanne Paling

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

Every year, strong salespeople get promoted to sales leadership positions, receive little or no training, and then just be expected to do their job.  They put in long hours, trying to figure out what to do.  Often they just don’t know how to go about solving some of the most common sales staff problems. In this episode, I talked with Suzanne about the guidance, training, coaching and mentoring that sales managers need to successfully lead their teams. We discussed:

The inspiration behind Suzanne’s book.

How sales leaders attempt to solve problems.

The challenges that often impede their ability to solve problems. 

Why, when things aren’t working out, sales managers keep hoping things will change on their own.

A problem-solving framework. For example, your reps aren’t prospecting as expected. 

What sales leaders need to understand to be successful.

Enjoy the interview!

About Suzanne:

Suzanne Paling, who is a recognized leader in sales management, has over 25 years of experience in sales management consulting and coaching. She has helped more than 55 companies improve their sales performance and processes. Clients include product and service firms in the manufacturing, software, publishing, distribution, medical, and construction industries. Docurated selected Suzanne’s blog as one of their “Top 50 Sales Management Blogs.” She writes for Entrepreneur.com and American Business Magazine, publishes a monthly newsletter and was profiled in The New York Times Small Business column. Suzanne is the author of two award-winning books The Accidental Sales Manager, (Entrepreneur Press) and The Sales Leader’s Problem Solver (Career Press).

Connect on LinkedIn

Filed Under: blog Tagged With: hiring, Prospecting, sales, sales management

How to Use AI to Increase Productivity in Sales with Dennis Mortensen

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

Artificial Intelligence is increasingly showing up in more and more business processes and sales is no exception. In this episode, I talked to Dennis Mortensen about how artificial intelligence can be incorporated into one challenging aspect of selling, which is getting meetings scheduled with prospects and clients. We talked about:

Prospecting best practices for sales people for using AI when trying to set up first meetings.

The etiquette of using an AI to schedule their meetings.

Dealing with the social dynamics when they are dealing with important customers.

How artificial intelligence can be used to handle a variety of meeting time requests and multiple people’s schedules who also need to be part of meetings.

Enjoy the interview!

About Dennis:

Dennis R. Mortensen is the CEO and Founder of x.ai. He’s a pioneer and expert in leveraging Data and a serial entrepreneur who has successfully delivered a number of company exits on that theme. Dennis’s long term vision of killing the inbox triggered the formation of x.ai and the creation of an artificial intelligence personal assistant to schedule meetings. He’s an accredited Associate Analytics Instructor at the University of British Columbia, the Author of Data Driven Insights from Wiley and a frequent speaker on the subject of AI, intelligent agents, and the future of work. A native of Denmark, Mortensen currently calls New York City his home.

Connect on LinkedIn

Filed Under: blog Tagged With: artificial intelligence, productivity, Prospecting, sales, sales meetings

Prospecting = Pipeline

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

This week, I shared the panel stage with Kurt Shaver and Donald C. Kelly to talk about prospecting on a webinar hosted by John Golden from Pipeliner CRM. You can access the webinar here.

Prospecting for new business is an essential part of selling, but it is an aspect of sales that many salespeople try to avoid like the plague. That avoidance is a source of annoyance for many sales leaders. I do believe that sometimes there is too much emphasis on bringing in new business versus nurturing current customer relationships and mining for new opportunities within those accounts. Still, for many sales organizations, especially those who may be selling only one main product, sourcing for new sales opportunities is a must. To bring in new business you have to prospect, which means going outbound, as well as engaging in activities that bring opportunities inbound.

Here are my thoughts related to the questions that were posed during the webinar. 

Why do you think many people don’t like Prospecting?

It is uncomfortable. Prospecting means you are reaching out to people who don’t know you. And that can lead to lots of rejection or lack of response because it is so easy for buyers to block our calls and emails. It can be frustrating not to be able to reach people, especially if your sales manager is breathing down your neck to demonstrate better results with your prospecting efforts. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be making phone calls and sending emails, but you’ll likely need to balance your strategy with other approaches like securing referrals, speaking at events or using social media to engage.

How has Prospecting changed in the past 5 or so years? 

Prospecting itself hasn’t changed in the sense that the goal is to identify and qualify potential buyers for your product or service. What has changed is that buyers easily block emails and phone calls or ignore your LinkedIn InMail’s. Basically, it is tough to reach them. Buyers are also self-educating about options before engaging with salespeople, but that shouldn’t be cause for alarm. Instead, I view it as an opportunity, especially using social networks like LinkedIn, to be visible, demonstrate your credibility and capability, knowing that buyers are exploring options. Unless what you sell is simply a transactional purchase, buyers will need to talk to someone in sales at some point. At that point, you need to be ready to demonstrate clearly how you can solve a buyer’s business problem and means being able to communicate real value to them. Hint: value isn’t a regurgitation of your product’s features and it isn’t doing a demo. 

What has stayed the same? 

“Seventy-nine percent of business buyers say it is absolutely critical or very important to interact with a salesperson who is a trusted advisor — not just a sales rep — who adds value to their business.” – Salesforce State of Sales Report

The goal is still the same – to identify and qualify potential buyers for your product or service. This is followed up by demonstrating value to buyers. If you cannot clearly communicate WHY someone should give up their time to you, they won’t.

Though there are continued arguments about whether cold calling is dead or alive, I think it is pointless. What hasn’t changed is that many salespeople are measured on activities like calls made and emails sent, so instead of arguing about whether you make the calls or not, perhaps the better focus is in helping reps get their message fine tuned, which gives them a shot at converting their initial outreach into sales conversations.

I prefer to first seek out referrals because your odds of getting a yes to a meeting are substantially higher, and at some point, I must make the calls too. For those of you drinking the social selling Kool-Aid, remember that if you are waiting around for sales opportunities to all come inbound through social media, you may find yourself staring at a pipeline that has flatlined. 

What are some of the most under-utilized prospecting techniques? 

Speaking at events – local business associations, conferences – these folks are always looking for speakers or panelists. Participating in webinars as a guest expert. I’ve put peer to peer lunches together with prospects and then facilitated the topic of conversation. I’ve made introductions for people.

On social media, it could be keeping tabs on who has viewed your profile. Sharing the content of others and using @mention on LinkedIn. One reason I love Twitter (and granted not everyone’s target buyer will be there) is because there is no barrier to entry. I can simply follow an executive, pay attention to what they tweet about, RT their stuff, comment, etc. I’ve started many a conversation there that led to getting connected on LinkedIn. 

What are some common prospecting techniques that don’t work that well? 

Boilerplate emails and calls that are focused on what the buyer wants to sell. And, don’t even get me started on the stupid subject lines or salespeople using tricks and sometimes outright lies to try to get someone’s attention. Even LinkedIn InMail’s aren’t going to work if you go in pitching. It is the quality of the message that you send that makes the difference between yes and ignore. And that message must be written from the buyer’s point of view. You need to focus on an issue or challenge they face and speak to how you feel you can help them. Again, not a feature pitch for your product. 

How can a sales manager assess the prospecting efforts of his salespeople? 

I’d love to see sales managers stop focusing on the quantity and look more carefully at the quality of the sales activities. In other words, if a rep is making 100 calls a day but generating very few sales conversations, then there is something wrong with the approach. That’s why throwing phone dialers into the mix – just making more calls – isn’t the answer. Even if reps can make more calls, it is what they say when they get someone on the line that makes the difference. Maybe they are calling and emailing the wrong people just to hit a number. Messaging is likely off. Certainly, managers should be seeing time blocks for prospecting on calendars. Activities to engage prospects can be tracked in CRM, which also includes activities in social media. 

What is one thing you suggest a salesperson can start today to turbo-charge their prospecting?

Change their attitude about prospecting and adapt their approach. This includes managers too. We are selling in a completely different environment than 5, 10, 15 years ago, so what worked back in the day isn’t as effective today. Managers need to allow their folks to go with a multi-pronged prospecting strategy that incorporates the phone, email, social media, speaking, writing and more.

Next, in the immortal words of Nike… just do it! Unless you have a BDR team to do it for you, it is part of the job of selling.

To hear the webinar on prospecting, click here.

 

Filed Under: blog Tagged With: lead generation, Prospecting, sales, sales management

Social Selling: Influencing Buyers and Changemakers with Tim Hughes

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

I talked with Tim Hughes about social selling and why integrating the use of social channels into your selling mix is a must. You’ll hear from Tim how he defines social selling. Why using social as part of your sales strategy is important in today’s business landscape. Tim will also share his views on where social selling is most successful, some of the common mistakes and pitfalls, as well as what it will take for you to become a successful social seller.

About Tim:

Tim is a transformational leader, best-selling author and top 10 Social Media influencer.  With a background in sales and sales management, Tim has been involved in Social Media for over 7 years, having built a following of Twitter of 170,000.  His book “Social Selling – Influencing Buyers and Changemakers” is a bestseller.  He is also an internationally renowned speaker, blogger, and writer.

Tim is the co-founder of Digital Leadership Associates a company designed to help companies make a transformational move to embrace digital and social. http://www.digitalleadershipassociates.com/

Connect with Tim on Twitter
Connect with Tim on LinkedIn

Filed Under: blog Tagged With: lead generation, personal brand, Prospecting, sales, social selling

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 5
  • Next Page »

Top Sales Awards 2019

Top 50 Keynote Speakers 2019

Top 50 Sales & Marketing Books 2019Top 50 Sales & Marketing Blog 2019

Subscribe to the Podcast!

Conversations with Women in Sales is a podcast dedicated to becoming the best resource in the world for female sales professionals. And, it just happens to be the ONLY podcast dedicated to women in sales! Listen on … Listen & Learn!

Barb is interviewed by Jonathan Farrington about Women in Sales

Affiliations

 

 

 

 

Tags

attitude b2b BDR Business coaching cold calling communication customer experience customer service email Entrepreneur inside sales leadership lead generation life linkedin management marketing Networking personal brand productivity Prospecting relationships revenue sales sales enablement sales leadership sales management sales process sales training SDR selling service Small Business social media Social Networking social sales social selling success Technology Time Management training twitter video women

Best Sales Blogger

Top Podcast

best sales podcasts badge

Innovation

Top 100 most innovative sales bloggers

Sales Efficiency

”top-sales-efficiency-blog”

Copyright © 2014 · barbaragiamanco.com · All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2008-2020 barbaragiamanco.com All Rights Reserved. No part of this site can be copied without permission.