As I perused my TweetDeck this morning, I noticed Garth Moulton’s (the world’s biggest rolodex Jigsaw’s VP of Community and co-founder) blog entry from yesterday, “Cold Calling is not even on the Endangered List.” Great blog entry where Garth concludes with the following:
“So the truly efficient organization (I’m talking B2B here) has to have at least a couple people (researching first!) braving the last matrix of hell known as cold calling to start the conversation that will eventually lead to a deal.” Read more… »
Steve Richard, co-founder for sales training organization Vorsight, wrote a guest blog article yesterday for sales strategist Chad Levitt’s New Sales Economy Blog. The article, entitled “11 Sales Tips for Cold Calling and Prospecting,” offered some good insight into making the most out of each and every attempt to get in touch with your potential buyers. One of the questions that Steve suggests asking yourself is this:
“Do you revisit your talking points periodically to more effectively tell your story and stand out from the vendor noise and static?”
This is a great question! It makes me wonder how many times prospects hang up on teleprospectors because they do nothing to make themselves unique in terms of their messaging. There is some interesting discussion going on over at that post, and I think you should take a look at it and join in the conversation.
*Picture credit: Linda Cronin via Flickr
Okay, if you’ve got a stick of gum, a paper clip, three pennies, a ball made of rubber bands, and an acorn who are you? A lot of folks may say that you’re the contents of the front pocket of a seven year old boy, but they would be wrong. Actually, the real answer is a flame thrower if you’re in the hands of one Angus MacGyver – yes, THE MacGyver. You remember him, right? They guy with a penchant for getting out of inescapable situations by creating some contraption out of things he’d find on the ground or in his or a partner’s pockets. MacGyver was awesome (besides the mullet) and one of the cooler aspects of that show was actually trying to figure out how he was going to do what he needed to do, and with what. Like I said, the guy could make a tank out of a broken baby-stroller and a coat rack. More than anything, MacGyver was inventive, and without a doubt, one of the top 100 qualities of a great teleprospecting rep is being inventive. Read more… »
With today being December 31st, the last day of the calendar year in 2009, I wanted to continue (but not finish) my countdown, or my top five “wants,” for your teleprospectors in 2010. If you were here on Monday, you read that my first desire for your BDR’s in the coming year was more confidence. I’ve shared with you many times over the last four months about the importance of confidence for your BDR’s. Confidence makes them better teleprospectors – you can’t argue that. What else, though, should you want your BDR’s to have, though? Well, good thing you stopped by! Here are my numbers two and three top “wants” for your B2B lead generators in 2010. Read more… »
Do you know the definition of what a “vicious circle” is? According to dictionary.com it’s, “a situation in which effort to solve a given problem results in aggravation of the problem or the creation of a worse problem.” Maybe you’ve seen it comically played out in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Spoiler alert for those of you who’ve never seen it in the last ten years, but there was a character in it named Fat Bastard, a Scottish hit man, played by Mike Meyers. Per his name, he really is a fat guy under the employ of the movie’s main antagonist, Dr. Evil. Near the end of the film, Fat Bastard tries to kill Austin Powers and his co-spy in the movie, Felicity Shagwell, by pretending to be a UPS delivery guy. Fat Bastard crashes through their front door and tries to kill them, and eventually breaks down in tears and admits that, “I eat because I’m unhappy, and I’m unhappy because I eat. It’s a vicious cycle. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s someone I need to get in touch with and forgive: meself.” If you find yourself thinking that you don’t have any budget to put towards teleprospecting in 2010, I think you’re going to find yourself falling into the same vicious circle that got you to that point in the first place. Read more… »
I’m sure around the holidays that you, like me, will have a good number of parties to attend. Now, some may be family affairs while others may be for work, but for the most part those holiday parties typically have the same thing in common – food. Wherever you go, I’m sure that there’ll be plenty of food to eat. Folks will have spent time preparing and cooking great appetizers and main dishes, and desserts, too. One of the things that may run through your mind while you’re at an event, and probably while you’re eating, is “how can I make this at home?” For a lot of you, though, the better question will be, “how can I make this better at home?” That’s what cooks, do, right? They find something they like and then they make it better. The same thing can be said for your teleprospecting efforts, you know? You’re sales prospecting machine may be great, but there’s always a way to make it better right? Of course there is! Read more… »
I’m not too young that I can’t remember Lee Majors as Steve Austin, The Six Million Dollar Man. Sure, it came out in 1974 and ran until 1978, when I turned five years old, but I know I watched it on reruns. I even had the really cool Bionic Man action figure; you know, the one where you look through his eye for bionic vision? That show (and action figure) was awesome! Here’s this astronaut who is badly injured during a crash and the government comes along and gives him cybernetic parts, and basically turns him into a superhero. The opening to the show was so cool, too. “We can make him better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.” How can you do that with your teleprospecting campaigns? How can you take a sales prospecting effort that’s crashed and burned and rebuild it? Read more… »
We’ve all got friends in our lives that say that they’re going to do something and then they don’t do it, right? It’s not just me, is it? Hell, I know I’ve BEEN that person before. I’m not proud of that, but it’s the truth. For the most part though, hopefully we can forgive our friends if the gaffe wasn’t too great, and hopefully they’re able to do the same thing for us. But when it comes to work, it’s a little different, isn’t it? If you’re counting on someone to do something for you and they just never get it done, that isn’t as easily forgivable, especially if you’ve got deadlines to keep. How do you keep people accountable to doing what they’re supposed to be doing? And speaking about teleprospecting in particular, how do you keep BDR’s accountable? Read more… »
Oh man – we’ve all made them right? Mistakes? I can think of some mistakes I’ve made in my life and am glad I’ve learned from them. No mistake, though, will be greater than what I call 2002’s Worst Job Move Ever. I needed a job and took the first one that was offered to me from the- medical-technology-company-that-shall-remain-nameless. This was a bad move all around for me. For starters, it was business casual all the time. Oh, except for Fridays when I could wear black jeans. Yes, you read that right, black jeans. Who wore black jeans in 2002? My ex-boss, that’s who. He made the determination as to what “casual Fridays” would be like, and black jeans were the only option. Next, there was the travel. I’m not a fan of flying – I’m not all John Madden about it, but I don’t like it. I was told, at most, I’d travel 4 times a year. Well, after 3 trips in 2 months, I realized I’d been duped. We all make mistakes, but not all of us learn from them. I’d like to talk with you about some teleprospecting mistakes and how your BDR’s can learn from them. Read more… »
Okay, so for the most part, I really can’t stand reality television. I watched my fair share of MTV’s The Real World (when it really was “real” back in 1992) before it became obvious that the same “type” of character was cast season after season. I watch stuff like Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen shows and who doesn’t watch American Idol, right? Don’t judge me for my television watching, please! This past weekend, however, while I was flipping around the channels, I came across A&E’s new reality show called Steven Seagal: Lawman. How can I pass this up!? This guy was in the coolest action movies of three word titles the early 1980’s had to offer! Who can forget Above the Law, Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, and Out for Justice? Steven Seagal was (and apparently still is) a bad ass, and I think teleprospectors can learn thing or two from him. Read more… »
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