I just don’t get it. Why do sales reps that hate cold calling still do it?
I came from the sales era where all I had was a phone and a printed list of prospects. My first sales job didn’t include a computer on my desk! As blind as that seems now, remember that prospects were equally blind. The internet was useless and prospects learnt from brochures and your cold calls. If you didn’t call them, they won’t learn about new product initiatives.
In 2013, the sales rep can’t rely on anyone other than themselves. Making quota is the only option, even when cold call response rates & email response rates are down. Prospects are making it harder to do business, but Social Selling is making it much easier for sales reps. Sales reps need to learn LinkedIn Signal & Hootsuite. Forget marketing – list for your clients, prospects, keywords, competitors… it’s all there.
Sales for Life had the privilege to train CannedWater4Kids on Social Selling, a great non-profit helping ensure everyone has clean drinking water. When you hear Greg Stromberg talk about their initiatives, you can feel the value instantly.
A month ago, we had the pleasure to travel to Plainville, CT (just outside Hartford) to work with Health Consultants Group on Social Selling. Every insurance broker at Health Consultants Group had traveled into the office to eagerly learn how to drive business with LinkedIn. The champion to our deal was Tony Chandler , whom I met from a discussion on LinkedIn using LinkedIn Signal.
Last week we wrote a blog $350,000 In New Opportunities in 6 Months – Cost $600, which outlined my success using Social Selling to drive new business. The statistics are hard to ignore:
A few weeks ago, we blogged about “1 Beer, LinkedIn, 12 Meetings”, demonstrating the success of using Social Selling to drive prospective meetings. SAP TechEd has come-and-gone, but our client’s success has only begun. Our SAP VAR client came home with 1 extremely hot multi-million dollar opportunity, 14 scheduled meetings booked, and 85 follow-ups, all from our Social Selling – Lead Generation program.
How did our client build so much buzz at SAP TechEd? What did they do differently?
Marketing automation is hot. We all know that. It is one of the highest growth areas in marketing and sales technology today, and from many of the top analysts is expected to continue that way for at least the next 3 years. It is getting added to many company’s budgets as a line item for the first time. But what number should a company place in that box? Obviously, companies want to spend the least amount of money possible while still getting maximum return on their investment.
Sales Managers are frustrated with how quickly their sales reps give up nurturing a prospect. Time-after-time, sales reps get comfortable with making 1 or 2 touch points, and then giving up. Sales Managers would ask “where do we stand with this prospect” and the sales rep would reply “they aren’t interested, dead opportunity”.
Almost a year ago, a client of ours was preparing to attend SXSW (South by Southwest) in Austin, TX. They had a great product to offer, and wanted attendees at SXSW to see their stuff. As we were planning their lead generation campaigns, we devised a strategy using the following:
For the last few years, sales and marketing have invested heavily into marketing automation tools that help attract, nurture and influence prospects. This method of business development has now entered the “growth phase” for many industries – as companies are flocking to marketing automation systems. While marketing automation is vitally important for mass communication, most marketing campaigns can lack focus through USER ERROR.
Focus is exactly what more and more buyers require to capture their attention. Buyers are less interested in a generic marketing email that speaks to “decision-makers in general”. They want to hear about how to solve their unique problems when they are ready to start solving them!
Sales for Life was founded with one goal – to become the most trusted sales resource for its customers. During our journey, we’ve had the privilege of serving thousands of sales professionals and leaders around the world, from start-ups to Fortune 50 corporations.
