What kind of benefits come from partnering with an inside sales organization like InceptGrows? Caleb has the answer:
Ohio Inbound Marketing Day
Ohio Inbound Marketing Day is coming up in just a few weeks! On December 9th, we'll be travelling down to Columbus, Ohio to spend the day learning from industry experts about inbound marketing. If last year's #OIMD is any indicator, it's sure to be another day filled with big learnings and fun people!
Join Us At Flight!
Launch League is hosting their first conference dedicated to midwest startups called Flight. Entrepreneurs, investors, and supporting partners will all be convening in downtown Akron on December 1st and 2nd to learn from experts about startup marketing, fundraising, business operations, hardware development, design, and development.
Integrating Email Into Your Inside Sales Strategy
Integrating email into your inside sales strategy is essential for sales success. Gone are the days where prospects pick up the phone and willingly chat about their business problems. While that can still a great place to start your strategy, most prospects need to be nurtured through other channels before they are ready to trust you and your solution. Email is one of the best channels to start with.
Have you seen these tips for managing B2B sales reps?
I recently came across this post that outlines suggestions for managing and motivating a team of B2B sales reps.
I'd like to draw your attention to #6. Hire Appointment Setters. Your team works hard. They're skilled, successful sales people who have contributed to hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue over the years. Is it any wonder that when you ask them to call through cold leads, or mine an outdated database for new customers, they're less-than-enthused?
Introducing Your Business Growth Solution
What if there was a team of fractional inside sales specialists that tossed you top-of-the-funnel sales activity daily so you and your team could spend your time where it really counts - closing new business?
Meet InceptGrows.
"You don't have experience working with our industry."
B2B sales can be frustrating because most people tend to operate in a mindset that their industry is the exception to the norm.
It may not matter that we have helped software companies reach high-level decision-makers at their target companies; if we haven't helped financial software companies reach high-level decision-makers at their target companies, suddenly we have no experience (sarcasm).
Inbound Sales Day 2016
As a practice, sales has changed. Today's buyer is more sophisticated than ever before. They are Googling problems, researching solutions, downloading best practices, and becoming more informed before ever talking to a sales representative.
So how should your inside sales team adjust to these changes?
Why I love working with startups
I recently sat down with a gentleman named Ed who recently started a hearing-aid business. He has investors, suppliers, and is ready to take his product to market and begin establishing some test data and case studies. He was referred to me through a mutual friend who said, "You need to talk to these guys - they're the experts at helping small businesses grow!"
Now Hiring: Sales Prima Donnas
Let's be honest - sales people can be a pain. I'm the first to admit that I'm probably not always the most fun to manage. I've recently gotten experience managing other "me's," and it's given me a bit of perspective, not only on the headaches I've undoubtedly caused my boss, but on the level of stress that must come with anyone looking to hire, train, and manage a sales team.
An epidemic of missed revenue...
Do you need to tighten up your hand-off?
I ran the 4 x 400m on my track team in high school, and I was reminded today of how critical the hand-off is. The valuable seconds that can be gained or lost in the passing of the baton can be the difference between winning by a few strides and losing... by any distance.
This seemingly simple concept is something that carries with it implications from business management to sales and marketing. As you continue reading, I challenge you to think through areas where you could save valuable time and money by tightening up your hand-off.
"Sales isn't my 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."
Cold calling 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.
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.
Get your rising-star sales person their batting practice
Picture your short-tenured, high-potential sales person working on a close. He’s at the critical end of a challenging sales process with a big prospect. This prospect has great strategic value and a revenue potential to match. Now listen to your stomach. Are you nervous that your experienced closer isn’t having that conversation? Or are you excited at the opportunity the new guy is getting at this moment? Yes, you obviously want to win the business, but if you’re not also thinking about the value of the experience for their development, win or lose, then this post is dedicated to you… and your education on why those big at-bats are absolutely critical to their future success.
Keeping your All-Star Closer on the Mound
This installment seems pretty intuitive at the surface, so stick with me as I go a little deeper on the concept of why taking less value-adding activities away from your rainmakers makes sense. Also, we’ll spend a little time on the collateral benefits to the organization of freeing up your best closers’ time.
There are essentially two paths where this initiative can go once things start moving and your rainmakers have more time:
- More energy with/on current volume of prospects
- Same energy with more prospects
Sales is about getting your hitters their at-bats
Hopefully your sales team is made up of one of two types of people, or both:
- a) experienced closers
- b) young guns that are quickly on their way to being closers
If you have lingering mediocrity in your sales team, or even worse, you don’t have one or aren’t sure, let me know and I can point you to some great books or consultants to help you get the right people on your sales bus.
This piece is about execution and results, so we will assume you have already scouted and selected your team. We’re going to talk about a critical step yielding the sales growth you’re after.