The CRAP Report

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.

The first character I want to take a look at is The A-Team’s pilot, H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock, played by Dwight Schultz.  Murdock was known for, among other things, getting out of his military trial because he was found to be “insane.”  Of course, the viewers of the show were lead to believe this as well, although he had brief times of being fully sane.  Come to find out, years into the show, Murdock was pretending to be mentally unstable, and that become part of his cover from being prosecuted as a war criminal.  I think if you’ve partnered with someone to manage your lead generation efforts, or your building your own team in-house, you need someone with a little bit of Murdock to them.  I see three things that Murdock was that you should look for in a BDR Manager: 

1. A pilot.
2. Over the top.
3. Quick thinking.

As I stated above, Murdock was The A-Team’s pilot.  Anytime they needed to fly somewhere that required them to take a helicopter, Murdock was the man for the job.  In the same way, your BDR Manager needs to pilot your teleprospecting team.  They need to be able to manage the launch of a project, bring it to a cruising altitude, know what the destination of the project is, and bring the project to a successful landing.  A great manager of sales prospectors knows how to get a teleprospecting project off the ground.  They understand the amount of time and effort it takes to bring a lead generation effort to a point where BDR’s are passing qualified sales opportunities at a good clip and they have a great handle on their objectives from a production standpoint.  They also know how to successfully bring a project to an end (when it’s required) without it crashing and burning.

Second, Murdock was over the top.  He had to be, though, right?  That was his cover; he needed to be that way to keep himself from being declared fit to be tried by the court.  In the same way, though, your BDR Manager needs to be a little over the top.  Hey, speaking from experience, when you’re dealing with people whose job is to be on the phones all day long and who typically get hung up on and yelled at for interrupting someone, they need a manager who can make their jobs a little fun.  I’m not saying that you need to coddle them and give them Romper Room, not by any stretch, but I am saying that by being a little over the top will help you lighten the mood of an otherwise very stressful, typically quota-driven job.  If you have a manager who can be a little over the top for teleprospecting team, and foster a culture that has an element of “fun” to it, your production values are going to soar.

Lastly, Murdock was quick thinking, and your BDR Managers need to be, too.  They’re going to be faced with a multitude of different problems every day, from employees to bosses to clients, and they need to be nimble in thought.  Murdock always had an answer for everything (albeit sometimes they didn’t make sense, as per his character), and he was creative in his thinking.  A great BDR Manager will be the same, at least in terms of being creative.  Salesforce.com isn’t working and your reps can’t make their calls?  Got a list of tradeshow attendees from THREE years ago as a starting point?  Haven’t seen a lead in a week and a half and the client is on the phone wondering why?  These are just a few of the challenges that I’ve had to deal with in the past, amongst hundreds other, each one requiring creativity and quick thinking.

Well there you have – my take on why the person managing your teleprospecting efforts needs to be a little bit like “Howling Mad” Murdock.  Tomorrow, I’m going to talk about why your BDR Manager also needs to be a little bit like Templeton “Faceman” Peck.  Stay tuned!