by Shannon F. Sales cold calls are not usually stand-out events, either for the person making the call or the person receiving it. After the receptionist writes (or pretends to write) your name down, she or he generally forgets that you exist. Even if you get through to a decision-maker, you are probably just one of many disruptions that day. The general forgettability (we made that word up) of the average cold call is partly to blame for the staggering number of touches you’re probably going to have to make before you manage to set an appointment (between 12 and 18, ouch). Following up the right way can help you set more appointments, more efficiently. Always send a follow-up email Immediately after you hang up the phone—even if you just left a brief voicemail—send an email. It should be something like, “Hi, I recently spoke to you (or tried to reach you) regarding _____. I would like to set up an appointment to discuss_____. Please contact me at your convenience.” Busy people are more likely to check their email than answer the phone, so even if repeated call-backs don’t elicit a response, a simple email may do the trick. Connect with them online As soon as you’ve spoken to a prospect, connect with him or her on LinkedIn. This will give you another means of contact. Plus, you may be able to reach out to other members of the same company who are connected to your initial contact. Remember: the […]

    If you haven’t touched Linkedin since your last job search, you probably still think of this professional networking platform as little more than a way to get your resume out there. Like friends that you only call when your car breaks down, however, Linkedin won’t do you much good if you don’t pay it the occasional social call. If you nurture your Linkedin contacts through good times and bad, you’ll have a solid network when hard times hit. More than just a job-seeker’s tool, however, Linkedin can help you find and manage prospects.   How? Well, if you’re familiar with the way Linkedin works, you know that it organizes potential prospects according to your degrees of separation. Contacts that you know directly are first-degree connections, but you also have access to your connections’ connections, or your second-degree connections. That means you may be indirectly connected to a critical decision-maker within a company if your golfing buddy or accountant knows her and is willing to make the introduction via Linkedin. When you think a particular company could benefit from your product or service, see who you may have access to within that organization. If you work hard to build your network, you might be surprised at who you can easily reach. When you have a mutual friend or acquaintance, a prospect is much more likely to welcome a meeting—and your sales pitch.   LinkedIn is also a great way to get others interested in what you have to say […]

  You likely already use Facebook as a personal platform for showing off pictures of your enviable vacation or the fancily-plated dessert you had last night, but Facebook is more than just a way of sharing (or oversharing) with friends and family. A corporate Facebook page gives your company a chance to get personal with potential clients.   How? Share, Engage, and Invite.   Share   If you find useful information online, like a helpful sales video or a how-to article, you can spread the wealth of ideas and get people “liking” your company simply by sharing what you’ve discovered. Let’s take a look at a personal parallel: which Facebook friend’s regular status updates do you most look forward to reading, the friend who clues you in on interesting news and funny videos, or the friend who accosts your news feed with pictures of their lunch or worse, their most mundane thoughts and feelings?   When sharing, be highly selective. It could be something you have found online or a blog post you have written, but make sure it provides useful content for your readers. Also stay on topic; news, trends, and tips in your industry are your best bet.   Engage   Get people talking and exchanging information. When you Share, you encourage your readers to check out what you have to offer. But are they commenting on your status updates and checking out your company website? Engaging your readers can be as simple as asking a compelling question […]

    You already know that B2B prospecting can be accomplished by cold-calling, networking in person, and other means of finding potential buyers for your product or service. But what about social media? Unless you live under a rock on an undiscovered island, you’ve heard that social media can help your business. The thing is, many business owners don’t know exactly how to harness social media as a valuable sales and PRM tool. In this three-part blog series, we’ll explore how three social media platforms can help you find and nurture prospects to grow your sales.   Today, we’ll look at Twitter.   Many of the people who vowed they’d never waste time tweeting are quickly changing their tune, so if you dismissed Twitter as frivolous, you may want to reevaluate this social media tool. The trick is to look a Twitter as a way to connect with and engage your prospects, not pitch your product to them. Focus on getting your audience interested in what you have to say. They’ll naturally become curious about what you have to offer, especially if you offer useful information.   So what should you tweet about?   You only have 140 characters, so make it pithy and memorable. That’s easier said than done, so let’s look at three of the most retweeted tweets in the history of tweeting.   In honor of oil-soaked birds, ‘tweets’ are now ‘gurgles.’ –Stephen Colbert   Yes we can. –Barack Obama, 21 March 2010   RT for a […]

If your sales team is frustrated by their CRM, you’ll see some signs like:   Decrease in productivity Failure to meet sales goals Low morale Outright refusal to use sales software Mood swings Teeth-grinding, hair-pulling, or general listlessness   As a sales manager, you’re understandably concerned when your salespeople aren’t performing to the height of their potential. Poor performance can’t always be attributed to insufficient tools and resources, but in the case of slow sales software in today’s fast-paced marketplace, it’s easy to understand why sales reps are getting frustrated. Let’s take a look at the average sales software. It’s designed for managing existing clients, so making cold calls to new prospects and suspects using this software can be arduous. Every salesperson knows that reaching prospects on the phone (and getting them to listen to your pitch) is now harder than ever. In fact, it often takes twice as many calls to reach a prospect as it did ten years ago. But does each call have to take so long? Sales reps use as many as 300 mouse clicks per ten cold calls and take an average of six minutes to log a single call. Since it takes about 7 calls on average to make contact with a decision-maker, a sales rep could be spending upwards of 35 minutes just getting a single prospect on the phone, once. (And of course, the prospect probably won’t say yes the first time.) That’s why faster CRM is a trend we’re seeing a […]

If you’re familiar with the concept of engagement marketing, you know that giving prospects something valuable for free can help you close deals down the road. The trick is not to bring up your sales pitch yet—don’t even think about it. When you have wined, dined, educated, and inspired your prospect, only then can you seek an opening for discussion of your product or service. But what exactly should you offer to your potential customers? We list our top five favorite freebies. 1. An invite. You can contact prospects via LinkedIn, use your sales automation software to log in some cold calls, or send the old-fashioned snail mail invitation. Just make sure the word gets out to your prospects that you are personally inviting them to a free networking event. Offer guest speakers, food, entertainment, or whatever you think it will take to lure your target crowd. Hosting an event is not an opportunity to talk up your company. Instead, foster relationships and build trust by engaging your prospects in a friendly, low-pressure environment. 2. Your book. So you aren’t a 21st century reincarnation of Dale Carnegie? It’s okay if you don’t have a best-selling sales book or any book at all. You probably have it in you to write up some White Papers about your area of expertise or even provide valuable advice by word of mouth. The whole point: be clear to prospects that you’re an expert in your field, and they’ll be more inclined to do business […]

The book: Leveraging LinkedIn for Business Development By Brynne Tillman and Lisa Peskin Why you need it: When you’re mining for prospects, LinkedIn is often your best source to reach a key decision maker who may need your product or service. Many companies don’t know how to use LinkedIn to drive sales, but this guide (written by the founders of Business Development University) will take you to school. Why we like it: This down-to-earth guide + workbook tells us step by step how to turn a weak LinkedIn presence into a valuable sales strategy. It’s great for new and experienced social media users alike. What we learned: LinkedIn works best if you start nurturing connections when you don’t really need them. When the time comes to look for a job or pitch your new product, you’ll have a supportive network.  

Here in the Philadelphia area, temperatures have been off the charts this summer. Are your sales spiking too, or are you feeling the pinch from sales reps who are dreaming about their next beach vacation instead of logging cold calls? Summer is often a slow time for companies, but it doesn’t have to be. We have some tips for keeping your summer sales productive, at least until Labor Day. 1. Have a contest. Sure, we’d all rather be snorkeling, but it’s possible to have fun at work while increasing sales revenue. How? Try throwing in a summer-long sales contest or put a few bonuses up for grabs to keep your team focused and working towards a goal. A little healthy competition can enliven the summer months, and you’ll likely see results. Sure, it’s not a margarita at the poolside bar, but it will get your sales reps going. 2. Reward your sales team. You don’t have to stage a summer bash complete with Polynesian flame jugglers and mai tais, though you could. A dress-down day or pizza in the break room can be a much-appreciated reward for your team’s hard work. Your employees will be motivated to keep on increasing sales even when other companies are slowing down for the summer. 3. Switch up your approach. Keep in mind that many of your prospects will be vacationing over the summer, which means an email blast might not be the best way to reach potential clients. Who sifts through a week’s […]