'Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Kevin Stemple, Database Manager at AG Salesworks. Securing clean and accurate contacts is a battlefield; there are data mines everywhere, ready to cause mass destruction to your day and CRM system. One must tread carefully, or risk near certain doom in the form of financial loss, duplications or wasted time. But don’t worry! AG’s data man is here to provide you with some advice to clear the mines and win the war against bad data. First, know this: no data or lists are perfect. Trust me -- that just does not exist. MORE >>

'“Please place me on your no-call list.”. This is the phrase I’ve learned to repeat whenever someone calls my house during dinner time. Some anonymous person is always trying to solicit my money for products I definitely don’t need. Shake Weight? No thank you! subscription to Martha Stewart Living? Certainly not! common misconception about these calls is that anyone who uses the telephone to increase revenue for a company is an annoying telemarketer. But that’s simply not true. Teleprospecting is a more arduous – and more rewarding – job than telemarketing, but many people don’t know why. MORE >>

'I love playoff hockey. especially love it when the Bruins are winning. As the Bruins continue through another series against the Penguins, you can easily see their sense of urgency – and it always begins right at game one of each series. sense of urgency is something that athletes possess; it’s definitely something inside sales reps need to possess as well. Just like the Bruins give it their all from game one of every series, sales reps need to give it their all from the first of every month, quarter, year, etc. and I always respond with, “Someone with a high sense of urgency.” MORE >>

'I am so lucky when it comes to clients. am fortunate enough to work with individuals who truly value what we do and trust our processes. They trust that we are the experts, and that’s the key to every successful customer engagement we run as a company. Ironically, three clients have asked me the same question within the past two weeks. What are the key things you need for us not to do that clients have done in the past and that has caused an engagement to fail?” Below are a few key mistakes to avoid in order to ensure a successful program! Making every meeting and being accessible is crucial. MORE >>

'It’s the first week of a new month, and I’m sure your sales team is eager to pass qualified leads, meeting deadlines and stepping up to challenges. Here at AG, we’ve held contests over the past few weeks to pump up our own inside sales team. We’ve also produced a few blog posts to help inside sales reps with their technique. But first, we’d like to share a post from Jay Gaines at Sirius Decisions Blog , CMO Imperative: Share the Terror. In it, he describes an inspiring keynote address General Stanley McChrystal delivered at a SiriusDecisions leadership summit. Now, on to this week’s recap. MORE >>