Most people my team speaks to all day want have some collateral to review that gives them a good sense of the product/service and differentiators before they commit to an hour demo with a sales rep. Another core requirement should be a few compelling differentiators to share that set you apart from the competition. From what I’ve seen over the years making cold calls, it can be customary to place blame on your inside sales folks when they’re having difficulty uncovering solid leads. It shouldn’t take much longer than that. MORE >>

This went on for a solid 5 minutes and covered integration into current systems, implementation, differentiators and even references. I hate being cold called, which is somewhat ironic seeing as though I work for a company that specializes in cold calling. Actually, let me rephrase, I hate being poorly cold called. Because I have been exposed to what good cold calling sounds like, I consider myself a master on identifying good and bad cold calls. wish I were a master of rock and roll, throwing a 12-6 curveball or quantum physics, but I’m playing the cards I was dealt. MORE >>

In inside sales, a quality list or training and direction from your mentor can be the differential in whether or not you make bonus. In the hungry and cut throat world of sales, you have to be smart about how you play the game. Being a successful inside sales rep is not only based on your phone skills, but also reflects your ability to utilize the tools, training, and support of your mentors and peers. The keys to success are the tools and support you must employ to find your opportunities. Like the rest of America, I recently read the Hunger Games Trilogy. &rdquo MORE >>

You need to teach your reps the elevator pitch (based on value not features), top objections, key differentiators, industry terms and most importantly how to navigate through a company and get to the right person. I talk to a lot of marketing/sales executives that have no idea why their inside team’s lead numbers are down. The call number is in between 80-90 per day, they are having conversations, they know the product inside and out and they are hungry for leads, so what could be the issue? The first is something I see in about 90% of the companies I talk to. Thank you so much! MORE >>

In order to really differentiate yourself from the competition, you need to know what they are offering. Last week I wrote about the need for sales executives to go into their meetings with a plan of attack. wrote out a quick anatomy of a sales call, but it was very vague. Realistically, each meeting you have has a different desired outcome depending on what stage of the sales process you are at. It is with that in mind that I decided to write out what I think is the anatomy of several key sales’ stages. Step one of course, the discovery meeting. You could meet up for sushi (good!) MORE >>