The CRAP Report

Well, if you’re anything like me, you’ve spent your day with family and you’ve had your fill of turkey and bad football.  Hopefully you’ve also had the opportunity to reflect on things you’re thankful for.  While the typical stuff comes to mind for me – my wife and my son, their health and happiness as well as the same for my extended family, the usual is really no less important.  Every year that I spend with my family makes me truly more thankful that they’re in my life than the year before.  On a more professional note, there are a number of things that I’m thankful for as well, and what a better day to share them with you than today? Read more… »

My colleague Lindsay wrote about shifting teleprospecting strategies this week, and it got me thinking…

I realize I may be alienating any readers who are not fans of the Boston Red Sox with the following analogy, but what can I say?  I’m a Masshole!  Seriously, though, maybe this happens to your favorite baseball team, so just try to substitute the Sox for your team, and David Ortiz for the player on your team this happens to.  If you notice, when David Ortiz is up to bat, the opposing team typically “puts the shift on.”  The entire infield shifts over to right, because that is, more often than not (when its not a home run) the location of where Ortiz tends to hit the ball.  Other teams in baseball have realized this, and in turn, when Ortiz is up to bat, the players shift position.  In the same light, your teleprospecting team (or manager for that matter) needs to know when to “put the shift on” when your sales prospecting efforts may not be as effective as they should be. Read more… »

Last week I started a four part series on why the people managing your teleprospecting team need to be a little bit like each of the four members of The A-Team.  On Thursday, I shared with you how your BDR Manager needs to be a pilot for their team, a little over the top, and quick thinking like “Howling Mad” Murdock.  On Friday, I explained why your telesales manager needs to be a “master of disguise,” resourceful, and focused on your customers like Face was.  In addition to all of those qualities, your BDR Manager also needs to know when enough is enough, how to keep your troops in line, and how to be a fix-it man.  Today, it’s all about the meanest, toughest, Mohawk-headed badass of The A-Team, B.A. “Bad Attitude” Baracus. Read more… »

Let me recount a favorite movie scene of mine for you…

The Terminator: I’m a friend of Sarah Connor. I was told she was here. Could I see her please?
Desk Sergeant: No, you can’t see her she’s making a statement.
The Terminator: Where is she?
Desk Sergeant: It may take a while. Want to wait? There’s a bench over there
The Terminator: [looks around, examining the structural integrity of the room, then looks back at him] I’ll be back!

The next thing you know, SMASH!  A car drives right through the front of the police station!  Adaptable man, adaptable!  In the movie of the same name, The Terminator, played by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, was easily one of the most adaptable movie villains of all time.  Sent from the future to assassinate Sarah Connor, the mother of the Terminator’s future’s protagonist, the Terminator stops at nothing to accomplish his goal.  I want, and you want, teleprospectors who are adaptable like the Terminator. Read more… »

I hate being sick.  I know I’m not the only one out there who does, but I just want to get that out of the way.  Regardless, back to blogging!

So, last week I shared some thoughts with you on whether or not your sales prospecting vendor was listening to you and whether or not your business development reps were listening to your prospects.  Today, however, I want to ask you if you’re listening to your teleprospecting vendor?  If you don’t have someone providing your sales organization with qualified opportunities, maybe you’ve got a team doing that in-house for you, in which case, I would pose the same question.  They need you, you know, if your project with them is going to be successful or not.  No B2B lead generation provider is an island!  So what about you then?  Are you listening to your teleprospecting team? Read more… »

So, if you’ve been reading The CRAP Report now, you know that I’m typically writing for folks that may either be looking to outsource their teleprospecting efforts or that may have their own internal sales prospecting team.  I’m also writing for folks that are looking to improve their Business Development Rep’s, be they a vendor or an in-house team.  Oh yeah, and my Mom.  Today, though, I really want to speak to those folks who’ve outsourced their sales opportunity generation efforts.  There may be some take-aways for others, but if you’re working with a vendor who is finding sales qualified leads for you and your sales team, this one’s for you. Read more… »

Look at the definition of the word “resilient” and you’ll learn that the word means a few things, but of particular interest to me, and to teleprospecting, is “recovering readily…from adversity.”  When I think of the attribute of resiliency, I think of Det. John McClane, played by Bruce Willis, from the “Die Hard” movie series.  Forget the fact that the guy keeps coming back from one film to the next, if you just watch the first one alone, the guy is the personification of resiliency.  If you’ve never seen “Die Hard,” here’s the spoiler warning.  Stop reading if you don’t want to know the plot.  So, John McClane goes out to the West Coast from New York to spend Christmas with his wife.  Upon arriving to his wife’s Christmas party, German terrorists enter the party and take everyone hostage.  What the hell does this have to do with B2B lead generation and teleprospecting reps in particular?  Keep reading! Read more… »

Alrighty, well – here we are:  The last installment of my comparison of lead generation and the classic movie The Breakfast Club.  Last Wednesday I began my tour through the Saturday morning detention crew with Andrew Clark.  Andrew, being the athlete of the group, represents the scope of a sales opportunity, because as an athlete is susceptible to pains, so the business profile should be full of them.  Last Thursday, Claire Standish, the princess, correlated with budget, and last Friday, John Bender, the tough guy of the group, represents the tough people you have to sell to, the decision makers.  Yesterday I spoke about Brian Johnson, the brainy kid of the group and his relationship to a lead’s timeframe.  Today, we finish up with the isolated member of The Breakfast Club, Allison Reynolds. Read more… »

Yesterday I started my five part series comparing the important aspects of a fully qualified sales opportunity with a different member of The Breakfast Club.  I talked about how the athlete of the movie, Andrew Clark, is like the business profile (or scope) of a lead; it’s typically the strongest section of a lead and full of pains and needs.  Today, I want to talk to you about the princess of any good quality sales lead, or how I like to think of it, the Claire Standish section. Read more… »

How lame does that title sound, huh?  Almost as lame as what one client told me, regarding how prospects would feel about their product:  “The streets are going to want to marry you!”  You know what I found during that campaign?  The streets didn’t even understand my language. Read more… »