"Sales isn't my thing..."

I was at an event the other night, and I met a CPA. We got through names, and 'What do you do?'s", and when he learned that I oversee a team of on-demand sales experts and help small businesses grow their sales funnel activity, his response was, "Sales isn't my thing."

Sales isn't your thing? 

I gave a quick shrug and laughed it off to keep the Sarcastic Monkey in my head from blurting out, "You know that sales literally pays everyone's bills, right?"

Obviously, I knew what he meant - that he isn't the type who can walk up to a stranger and try to convince them they need what he has, and handle rejection after rejection, day after day. But let's talk about that; I mean, is that really anybody's thing? 

I'm sure those people exist, but I'm in sales, and the way I just described it (the way most people think about 'sales') sounds absolutely awful to me too!

What's the alternative?

Early in my sales career, I was given advice that I employ at every sales call, networking event, and social gathering I can: Ask, "What's your story?"

The things I've learned since utilizing this approach have been remarkable.

Stories open up opportunities for sales.

Stories have characters - your prospect, their stakeholders, yourself. And every good story has a conflict - a problem that needs solved.

If you are listening well to your prospects' stories, you won't need to convincethem they need what you have. They'll tell you themselves in the story of their business.

Your story is the happy ending.

You then have the opportunity to tell a different kind of story. Telling your own story is a non-invasive way to write the resolution to your prospects' stories. 

Whether it's telling the story of how you solved others problems like theirs in the past, or how your company is the sort of partner that your clients enjoy working with, tell the happy ending story that comes when your prospect chooses to work with you.

Maybe sales "isn't your thing." But we all tell stories. Make telling great stories your thing.

Hubspot's take on why cold calling is dead

I recently published a post called Cold calling sucks.

As I was surfing LinkedIn and other sites today, I stumbled upon Hubspot's take on the same topic, titled, "6 Data-Driven Reasons Why Cold Calling Flat Out Sucks." 

Their research is sound, and their data doesn't lie. In fact, it takes my emotional rant about how much the actual action of cold calling sucks, and adds a lot of data behind why the practice of cold calling doesn't actually accomplish what you want it to accomplish.

I, however, disagree with the fact that cold calling is dead. I'm more prone to line up under another post written by Mike Schultz at Rain Sales Training, where he explores, as I did in my previous post, the various reasons why.

Without regurgitating his entire blog post, I'll wrap up here by saying, just because it hasn't worked for you yet, doesn't mean cold calling doesn't work.

If it's not your forte, accept that, and find a partner who's an expert in inside sales.

If it's too expensive, find a way to hire someone cheaper, or look into developing a well-structured co-sourced sales strategy.

If you're focusing on networking events, writing a book, speaking engagements or other high-octane methods of driving funnel activity, awesome! Fill up the spaces between these events with time-tested, well-executed prospecting.

Where do you fall on the scale of "cold calling's dead" to "cold calling works"?

Cold calling sucks.

There it is – I said it.

Cold calling flat out sucks. It always has. It always will.

It’s probably the best way to generate consistent, quality leads.

But it sucks.

It’s a time-tested way to clean up your old database and find new business from old customers.

But it sucks.

It’s the quickest way to test the waters in new markets.

But it sucks.

It’s an absolutely necessity to keep the top of the sales funnel filled so your closers can focus on closing.

But it sucks.

It’s a way to supplement the slower drip marketing campaigns that generate inbound leads.

But it sucks.

It’s a safe way to gain initial traction when launching a new product.

But it sucks.

It’s an efficient way to qualify prospects and deliver higher-quality leads.

But it sucks.

It doesn’t matter how many positives there might be, cold calling will always be a necessary yet terrible aspect of your marketing and sales process. It sucks because it’s hard to find someone who will make dozens of calls a day while representing your company well. And it’s hard to staff for seasonal demands, not to mention if I do get someone good, they’re valuable enough that they want to move up in the company or find a better opportunity elsewhere. Or the other problem – they’re just not good, but you can’t afford to pay someone more to attract higher talent.

And it just sucks.

Should associations co-source their member engagement?

I’ve spoken with a number of Directors of Member Relations at various associations. One of them was one of an eight-member staff. Another works with 17 other people, and a third works with more than forty staff members in the corporate headquarters of an international organization. Their member engagement goals for 2016 vary, and their strategic marketing initiatives are vastly different, but the one thread that connects them all together is the need for a more focused member retention strategy. The ways they’ve done it before – sharing responsibilities between staff with already-full plates, sending out email reminders that may or may not get opened, or bringing on part-time temps or interns for targeted, short-term campaigns – are simply not as fruitful as they need to be. The result is associations bleeding members at a faster rate than they can recruit, which means annual revenue falls, budgets get squeezed, and strategic initiatives get bottle-necked, sending them on a year-after-year downward spiral.

It’s time to pull up out of the dive and join association-industry thought-leaders in modeling the successful strategy of customer engagement in the software/technology industry. It’s time to explore co-sourcing.

Get the most out of your talented staff

Tech companies have already moved to a model where they find the most effective and profitable pieces of their customer engagement continuum to co-source. This allows their highly skilled experts who are well-equipped to handlethe most value-added activities. These experts no longer waste their valuable time resetting passwords, addressing billing concerns instead of doing what they were hired on to do – be experts.

You were hired in as Director of Member Relations or Member Engagement Coordinator. By following leaders from other industries in your own member-engagement systems, you’ll not only find more valuable time available to your internal teams, but will also discover new ways of turning fixed costs into variable ones and driving new revenue. You could turn the tables as an innovator in the associations industry.

There are many great partners who can assist in handling inbound/outbound phone calls, social media concerns, or even email inquiries. By using a partner to co-source your level-1 member engagement, you can optimize your membership experts’ time and energy.

Drive revenue from seasonal fluctuation

Customer service at a tech company requires being a thoughtful planner and an execution specialist in order to handle planned and unplanned spikes in call volume due to holidays, server issues, or acts of God (the East Coast recentlymissed countless customer-engagement opportunities due to inclement weather shutting down the customer service and tech support operations).

In the same way that tech and E-Commerce companies build in redundancy to handle these seasonal fluctuations around major holidays, annual software license/subscription renewals, and unpredictable external circumstances, associations should be planning ahead for predictable and unpredictable seasonal changes in member engagement demands:

• Contacting previous conference/expo attendees to drive event attendance/sponsorship
• Responding to time-sensitive pre-conference email inquiries
• Making anniversary-based calls every month to expiring members to drive retention
• Fielding weekend/after-hours emails and calls (especially if the office is closed unexpectedly)

By building in member engagement redundancy, you guarantee that your members can reach a live membership specialist when they need one, and that you don’t miss out on critical member touchpoints throughout the year.

Lead generation is expensive and time-consuming…

I recently found this quote that compared marketing cut-backs to stop a clock – budgeting for Marketing costs more money, but not budgeting for it costs even more.

Many companies are finding new, affordable ways to keep lead generation and prospecting initiatives happening year-round without breaking the bank.

Associations need to seriously examine their member prospecting initiatives. By not taking the time and, yes, spending the money to mine for new members, you end up costing the organization potential revenue by missing out on the dues and non-dues contributions made throughout the member lifecycle. Again, however, consider how you’re using your internal experts’ time.

Co-sourcing your recruitment/prospecting is a good way to mine your database of non-member contacts for potential new members. Then, follow up on warm leads internally and close the deal!

Hiring for Inside Sales vs Co-sourcing

When a leader has made the decision to add inside sales resources, there’s an adrenaline factor.  The pent-up demand in the market that is about to bust out.  The flood gates are going to open and your rainmakers (closers, best salespeople) are going to be drowning in buyers.

Then someone in the process has to translate that to an execution plan. Buhm Buhm Buuhhhhhhm.  This post is designed to be a pre-think teaser to a critical point in the plan, internal vs. co-sourced inside sales resources.

Things people usually consider:

• Pricing of outsourced work
• Partial cost of hiring internally
  • Recruiting cost
  • Training cost
• Ease or difficulty of training – most people don’t know exactly how easy or difficult it would be to bring on either an internal or co-sourced inside sales person, but most people also ask. Typically, it depends on the situation but is not as costly or difficult as expectations before asking.
• Outcomes – usually executives have an idea of the math they are looking to drive, framed in the size of the CRM database or purchased lists, additional revenue, leads, meetings, etc.
• Scope – how big are you looking to go? What do you want to accomplish?  What tools, channels, approaches are you wishing or willing to try?  Are you looking for immediate results?  What information or intelligence can be gathered with an effectively designed contact strategy?  How integrated will your closer need to be?

Things usually not considered:

• Full cost of hiring internally
  • Recruiting and training time – time spent by key individuals
  • Ramp-up time – how long will it take you and your key sales person to coach/develop/push this person to top effectiveness (when that cannot be your only focus)
• Average tenure of inside sales hires (recurring recruiting/training/ramp costs)
  • These are typically high-energy go-getters. This role is susceptible to factors like high career ambition, compensation sensitivity, and in some cases boredom.  It is hard to hire and retain these candidates long term for many companies… especially if they are good.
• Fixed cost of an internal hire
  • Can be a positive, if you have other administrative or appropriate skill-level work to share with them (and they are willing/enjoy doing it). Inflexibility of workload or skills can lead to underutilized overhead.
• Scalability – volume
  • Goes somewhat with flexibility, but on a grander scale. You will have periods where you are scrambling to keep them busy like holiday weeks when no one is in the office.  You will also have periods where you wish you had three of them, like the couple weeks before a trade show or conference.
• Scalability – focus
  • Executives tend to initiate the conversation around a specific activity, group of leads, etc. As they learn and innovate around the possibility of additional inside sales resources, things like alternate channels, new markets, unique content, A-B testing on communications, market research paths, etc. are exciting possibilities with potentially big rewards.
• Cultural fit/core competency
  • When you define what you’re looking for in an ideal candidate, how well does this align with your current culture, the individuals or team they will be working with closely, etc. Is your culture going to naturally attract/develop/retain a top inside sales person, or will this take special focus and attention from you or other critical leaders in the business.
• Communication – from your sales person
  • You may end up with an inside sales employee, dedicated outsourced inside sales agent, or outsourced team of reps. Your salesman’s ability to provide information to that person or people will have a direct impact on their ability to achieve what you’re looking for.  If they are waiting for information, script change approval, responses to interested parties, availability for meetings, etc. you will lose critical time in the sales process and possibly leads and eventual revenue.
• Communication – to your sales person
  • That same potential individual or team should gather TONS of information that will be critical to immediate results, as well as potential market intelligence that could feed into marketing, product development, and even operations. What are the expectations for that communication?  How often and to what depth are these things shared vs recorded vs analyzed for trends/themes?

Please reach out with other questions that you either have asked, have thought of asking, or popped into your head while you were reading this post.  I’ll be posting at least ‘Volume II’ version of this to help people go even deeper into their decision making process, and your comments will help encourage my writing energy, as well as shape the content of future posts.