Which Profile Are You?
In my 15 years in Inside Sales, I've noticed a lot of reps struggle with how to approach their book of accounts. To find the great opportunities in any account deck, we have to be like a miner panning for gold. Whether you have 300 or 3,000 leads in your book, chances are only a small percent will be gold, quite a few will be fool's gold and most will just be rocks.
Most of us fit one of these four Gold-Miner profiles. Which are you?
When I did sales I found myself in category #3 before I got the hang of it. And although I love great tools, like ZoomInfo, LinkedIn and InsideView, I don't recommend using them right away. Only take the time to research when you smell the gold (see below - Category A and B leads). The other exception is when you're working strategic large-ticket deals or calling Decision Makers you might actually connect with today. In the meantime, we're going to dial the account first - yup, even before we look them up on the web!
Finally, being Miner profiles #1 and #2 can work for a while, but only if we have a manager who doesn't require territory management, or a marketing department that buys unlimited leads or drives killer inbound traffic you get credit for. Must be nice... and probably won't last!
If you agree these aren't long-term winning strategies, here are three simple ideas to start to more efficiently mine your book for gold:
This is especially good when you're first getting started. Make a list of the top five "at-a-glance" attributes of a good lead that you can find in your CRM. Then sort your book to make a prioritized call list. Voila! Attack your book from the top. Here are a few of my favorite quick-qualifiers:
Just like the adage "pay yourself first," make your first call about qualifying the account instead of trying to reach the decision maker. When you break your work down into two parts (qualify and THEN contact) you'll get better results faster - and have more fun! I promise, it will also save you months of wasted dials into accounts with zero gold.
The key is to think of two to three easy questions that anyone in the company can answer; these will give you the clues you need. Chances are your qualifiers will have something to do with company size, growth, direction or activity.
Phrase your question in a simple and non-threatening way that is in your customer's language NOT yours, and is something a receptionist, service or sales rep can answer. In other words, if you need to know how often people use hotels (because you're selling a travel service), don't ask how many nights / month management stays in hotels, ask if people there are, "On the road a lot... Out more often than in?" It isn't always foolproof, but you'll quickly determine if you smell gold or the account is just a rock, and you'll avoid wasting months trying to connect with a decision maker only to find out you've been walking around with a bunch of worthless rocks weighing you down. Try something like,
"How many people work there?"
"Do you guys all work in that one location?"
"Does everyone have a computer?"
Now Categorize
A good categorization system dictates how hard you work for the gold. Try a simple ABCD system, where A has the highest potential for revenue/profit (however you are compensated) and D is dead.
When you're done with the qualifying call, categorize the account and start working smarter. This will take over for your quick-sort method now that you have real data to use. Sort your book by the qualification category and attempt "A" accounts at least 10 times (and use those Web research tools!), "B" accounts at least six times and "C" accounts at least three times. Remember, on average, inside sales people quit calling decision makers after two to three calls. Be the smart one who doesn't throw away the gold and who doesn't weigh himself down carrying around a bunch of rocks.
Happy mining!
In my 15 years in Inside Sales, I've noticed a lot of reps struggle with how to approach their book of accounts. To find the great opportunities in any account deck, we have to be like a miner panning for gold. Whether you have 300 or 3,000 leads in your book, chances are only a small percent will be gold, quite a few will be fool's gold and most will just be rocks.
Most of us fit one of these four Gold-Miner profiles. Which are you?
- If I don't see the gold on the surface, I throw away the rock
- I'm going to carry around all of the rocks in case one might have gold
- I'm going to methodically study each rock one at a time
- I don't really have a strategy and I'm calling my book in alphabetical order
When I did sales I found myself in category #3 before I got the hang of it. And although I love great tools, like ZoomInfo, LinkedIn and InsideView, I don't recommend using them right away. Only take the time to research when you smell the gold (see below - Category A and B leads). The other exception is when you're working strategic large-ticket deals or calling Decision Makers you might actually connect with today. In the meantime, we're going to dial the account first - yup, even before we look them up on the web!
Finally, being Miner profiles #1 and #2 can work for a while, but only if we have a manager who doesn't require territory management, or a marketing department that buys unlimited leads or drives killer inbound traffic you get credit for. Must be nice... and probably won't last!
If you agree these aren't long-term winning strategies, here are three simple ideas to start to more efficiently mine your book for gold:
- The Quick-Sort
- Qualify First
- Categorize Your Accounts
This is especially good when you're first getting started. Make a list of the top five "at-a-glance" attributes of a good lead that you can find in your CRM. Then sort your book to make a prioritized call list. Voila! Attack your book from the top. Here are a few of my favorite quick-qualifiers:
- A buying history (sort by $ or # of purchases)
- A marketing / service history (they know about us already)
- Multiple decision makers are listed - more chance to win!
- I have knowledge in the industry or territory- easier rapport & success stories
Just like the adage "pay yourself first," make your first call about qualifying the account instead of trying to reach the decision maker. When you break your work down into two parts (qualify and THEN contact) you'll get better results faster - and have more fun! I promise, it will also save you months of wasted dials into accounts with zero gold.
The key is to think of two to three easy questions that anyone in the company can answer; these will give you the clues you need. Chances are your qualifiers will have something to do with company size, growth, direction or activity.
Phrase your question in a simple and non-threatening way that is in your customer's language NOT yours, and is something a receptionist, service or sales rep can answer. In other words, if you need to know how often people use hotels (because you're selling a travel service), don't ask how many nights / month management stays in hotels, ask if people there are, "On the road a lot... Out more often than in?" It isn't always foolproof, but you'll quickly determine if you smell gold or the account is just a rock, and you'll avoid wasting months trying to connect with a decision maker only to find out you've been walking around with a bunch of worthless rocks weighing you down. Try something like,
"How many people work there?"
"Do you guys all work in that one location?"
"Does everyone have a computer?"
Now Categorize
A good categorization system dictates how hard you work for the gold. Try a simple ABCD system, where A has the highest potential for revenue/profit (however you are compensated) and D is dead.
When you're done with the qualifying call, categorize the account and start working smarter. This will take over for your quick-sort method now that you have real data to use. Sort your book by the qualification category and attempt "A" accounts at least 10 times (and use those Web research tools!), "B" accounts at least six times and "C" accounts at least three times. Remember, on average, inside sales people quit calling decision makers after two to three calls. Be the smart one who doesn't throw away the gold and who doesn't weigh himself down carrying around a bunch of rocks.
Happy mining!
Factor 8 is a team of Inside Sales experts helping call centers
sell more, ramp faster, and benchmark against the best in the Industry.
Everyone on our team has over 15 years of experience building, launching, running, and turning around inside sales teams all over the World for companies like IBM, SAP, Google, Grainger, and more.
We provide 3 key services:
Benchmarking - helping sales centers see where they stack up against industry best practices and devise plans to improve.
Custom Sales Training - When we train front-line sales and management teams, we share proven phone-selling tactics, messaging suggestions, and coaching. This isn't just another sales theory class!
New Rep Program Design - we build on-boarding programs that take agents from the DOOR to the FLOOR faster, better, and selling MORE.
Follow us on Linked In, the web at http://www.factor8training.com or email info@factor8training.com to learn more.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lauren_Bailey
Everyone on our team has over 15 years of experience building, launching, running, and turning around inside sales teams all over the World for companies like IBM, SAP, Google, Grainger, and more.
We provide 3 key services:
Benchmarking - helping sales centers see where they stack up against industry best practices and devise plans to improve.
Custom Sales Training - When we train front-line sales and management teams, we share proven phone-selling tactics, messaging suggestions, and coaching. This isn't just another sales theory class!
New Rep Program Design - we build on-boarding programs that take agents from the DOOR to the FLOOR faster, better, and selling MORE.
Follow us on Linked In, the web at http://www.factor8training.com or email info@factor8training.com to learn more.
