The CRAP Report

One of the games I liked playing as a kid was Connect Four.  You remember that game, right?  It was like tic-tac-toe and checkers had a crazy love child.  You have to strategically connect four of the same checkers before your opponent does.  Playing the game with someone who’s never played before was fun, because it was easy to win.  More fun than that, though, was playing someone who had played before.  As a kid you could play for hours going back and forth with, “okay, how about best 9 out of 17?” or something like that.  The strategy of that simple game, much like that with tic-tac-toe, obviously determines the winner.  The same thing goes with teleprospecting and connecting with your intended contact.  How, then, do you as a manager (or maybe as the client of a B2B lead generation company) help your BDR’s connect “more”? Read more… »

I’ve blogged before about my love for the Cobra Kai from The Karate Kid, but today I want to share with you my admiration for Mr. Miyagi.  You remember him, right, Daniel LaRusso’s pseudo father/mentor/karate teacher?  What I love most about Mr. Miyagi was his dedication to not only teaching Daniel Okinawan style karate, but it was his dedication to Daniel as a person.  Yes, he was willing to teach him karate, but he was going to do so all while making Daniel a better person.  As the movie goes on, you can see Daniel’s transformation from a fearful victim of bullying to a very confident young man.  You know, when you think about teleprospecting and lead generation, it’s our jobs as people who manage BDR’s to make them better, too, and one of the key things we need to teach our BDR’s is confidence. Read more… »

One of my all time favorite cartoons from childhood was the Laff-A-Lympics.  Do you remember this one?  There were three teams of Hanna-Barbera characters who participated in various sporting competitions.  You had The Scooby Doobies, The Yogi Yahooeys, and The Really Rottens.  One of the reasons that I liked this show so much was because it was chock-full of characters from all different cartoons.  You like Scooby Doo?  He’s there.  You like The Blue Falcon and Dynomutt?  They’re in there.  You like Grape Ape?  He’s there, too.  How about The Creeply’s from The Flintstones?  Yup, they’re in it, too.  You get my point.  The other cool thing about the cartoon was not only getting to see all of those characters interact together, but they were all competing against each other, which of course, always leads to hilarity.  I think competition is one of the things I like best about being in a sales environment, too. Read more… »

Here’s the story – a Vietnam Vet comes to a small town to visit one of his former unit members only to find out that he’s passed away.  The Vet makes his way through the next town where he meets that town’s Sherriff, who does not like the look of the Vet and drives him to the town’s border and tells him not to come back.  The Vet comes back, gets arrested by said Sherriff and mayhem ensues with a manhunt in the mountains.  You’ve got to know that the Vet I’m talking about is the one and only John J. Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone, from First Blood (and its sequels).  How the hell does this relate to teleprospecting!?  Rambo was as inventive a movie character as ever, and believe me when I tell you, you want BDR’s who are as resourceful as Rambo. Read more… »

If you’ve spent any time teleprospecting and making cold calls, or maybe if you’ve spent time managing a team of business development representatives, you know that typically the turn-over rate is pretty high.  I mean, let’s call a spade a spade here – teleprospecting is not a glamorous job; nobody is getting a Nobel peace prize or a Grammy for doing it.  However, that doesn’t mean that the job is not important.  I, for one, have always felt that what folks in our industry do is very important.  Our clients depend on receiving qualified sales opportunities that hit their forecast and close as quickly as they can.  Sales qualified leads are important to our clients, their families, my colleague’s families, my BDR’s families, and my family.  If you’ve got great BDR’s working for you, or maybe you’ve got a great vendor providing you sales opportunities, how do you keep a BDR from burning their proverbial candle at both ends?  How do you keep them invested in a job that, typically, isn’t glamorous? Read more… »

Well here we are – the last of a four part segment on why your BDR Manager needs to be a little bit like each member of The A-Team.  Last Thursday I shared why your teleprospecting manager needs to be the pilot of his/her team, a little over the top, and quick on their feet like “Howling Mad” Murdock.  Last Friday I explained that your BDR Manager needed to be like Templeton “Faceman” Peck in that they should be a “master of disguise,” resourceful, and focused on your customer.  Yesterday it was all about being like B.A. “Bad Attitude” Baracus.  Your teleprospecting manager needs to be like a mechanic, a disciplinarian, and needs to know when to say no.  Today, I want to let you know why your BDR Manager needs to have the leadership qualities of John “Hannibal” Smith. Read more… »

Yesterday I shared with you the first of a four part series on how your BDR Manager should have characteristics from each of the four members of the hit ’80s TV show The A-Team.  I talked about how the manager of your teleprospecting team should be like “Howling Mad” Murdock, the A-Team’s pilot; they should be able to pilot your team, be a little over the top, and quick thinking.  In addition to those qualities, your BDR Manager needs to also be someone who can (obviously) wear many hats, has their focus on their client, and can be clever when the job calls for it.  Today, I want to talk with you about how the person who runs your teleprospecting team needs to be like the A-Team’s resident smooth talker, Templeton “Faceman” Peck. Read more… »

Growing up as a boy in the 1980’s with a love for all things action-related, it should come as no surprise to you that I’m a fan of The A-Team.  You remember those guys right?  The ex-military, mercenaries-for-hire team on the run for a crime they didn’t commit?  God I loved that show.  While I never understood why a team of highly trained Army Special Forces members couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn with their AK-47’s, the show’s ultra-action premise wasn’t lost on me at 11 years old:  The A-Team was trying to clear their name from something that they were accused of doing and didn’t, and helped a lot of people along the way.  Each member of the A-Team brought something special to the table and I think they’re a perfect analogy for the types of characteristics you need in someone to manage your B2B teleprospecting efforts. Read more… »

I bet most of you are probably like me – you’ve made countless numbers of cold calls, warm calls, and “Good-God-please-pick-up-the-phone” calls.  And probably just like me, at some point in your teleprospecting career, you’ve used tips and tricks to get a prospect talking with you.  Some work, some don’t.  Regardless of what was successful for getting your prospect talking, getting them to understand why they should be talking with you is paramount.  How do you go about doing this?  How do you take those few precious seconds after saying, “Hi, this is _____” and actually get a prospect to talk with you?  For me, I think it’s all in having a prospect understand why they need to talk with you. Read more… »

Yesterday I posed the question, “Is your teleprospecting vendor listening to you?”  Today, though, I want to turn the tables a little bit.  Are your Business Development Rep’s listening to your prospects?  I mean, I certainly hope they are; hell, YOU certainly hope they are!  How do you really know, though?  If your BDR’s are not actively listening to your prospects while they have them on the phone, the ramifications of that could cost you big.  Conversely, if your BDR’s are really listening  to the prospects that they speak to, congrats.  You’re probably seeing greater production from those BDR’s.  How do you know, though? Read more… »