I recently read/listened to a great post on John Jantsch's Duct Tape Marketing blog titled 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success.  While I was reading it I thought...these are the building blocks of success for a company of any size! 

I thought it would be fun to turn the information into a pop quiz. Here are John's steps:

Take the Quiz!

1) Narrow your focus. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is not the Fortune 2000! The days of casting out the big net are over. The companies that win are those that clearly define what a high probability account looks like in great detail and go after those companies with a vengeance.

How well have you defined your ICP?  If the answer is very well - give yourself 1 point. 

2) Differentiate or compete on price. Are you really different than your competition? And, if you are, can the sales/marketing organization articulate your differences in less than 3 minutes?

If yes - give yourself 1 point.  If not, let's hope you are competing on price.

3) Create marketing materials that educate. There are two kinds of marketing materials that educate. White papers that educate your technical audience and marketing materials that educate your business user or decision maker.

If you have both - give yourself 1 point.

4) Lead generate to be found. What is your strategy for inbound lead generation? Do you have a blog that is ripe with interesting content? Do you know what search words are being used when you are found? Are you using social media as part of your marketing plan?

If you can answer yes to all of the above - give yourself 1 point.

5) Create a lead conversion process. What is happening to the leads you do generate? Do you have an effective process in place that consists of 4 touches in 10 business days? Does each touch deliver a unique portion of your value proposition?

If you can answer yes - give yourself 1 point.

6) Harness technology and the internet. Do you have a marketing automation platform in place? Have you developed an automated lead scoring and lead nurturing system that is effective and allows prospects to self identify?

If you can answer yes - give yourself 1 point.

7) Live by the calendar. Prospects are fickle. It is not their job to remember you it is your job to stay in front of them. Do you have a marketing plan in place that allows you to stay in front of prospects with interesting content and compelling offers?

If you can answer yes - give yourself 1 point.

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That's it.  So, thank you John for a great post and getting me thinking!

Now dear readers, take the quiz and let me know how you do!

Conducting demos is an established step in almost every sales process. I thought I would share with you some of the skills that you need to acquire to ensure that the demo is effective and showcases not only your product but also your sales ability.

Rule Number One - Establish a Demo agenda:

From a communication perspective this:

• Sets a vision with the prospect that you are organized and professional.
• Sets the stage for what you are going to discuss.
• Communicates an estimate of the length of the meeting to show you are cognizant of the importance of their time.
• Allows you to check-in with the prospect to make sure you are going to cover everything he/she hopes to accomplish.
• Allows you to create a vision for what you want to accomplish.

From a process perspective this:

• Should start with a first bullet that allows you to take a few seconds to confirm the prospect's pain, reiterate the conversations you've already had with them. Things may have changed and you may have additional participants in the meeting that aren't up to speed.
• Forces you to stay on track.
• Allows you to control the meeting. If the prospect brings you off track, you are able to say something like "keeping with the agenda, I'd like to continue discussing xxxxx".
• If you are nearing the end of the meeting, but would like to continue, you should always get the prospect's agreement before you proceed. This is not only courteous but also serves as a qualifier to see how engaged in the process they are.
• Should always end with this bullet "Determine Next Steps". This documents the fact that both you and the prospect have committed to defining what the next steps in the process should be.

So, hope this helps. Lots more to come in the future on how to deliver effective demos. Stay tuned!

I recently read a posting on Dave Kurlan's blog Understanding the Sales Force. It is titled How to Coach a Salesperson. The point of the posting was about how to help your salespeople avoid the "Happy Ear Syndrome". I have included an excerpt below but the whole post makes for an interesting read. 

Now, here is my question for you: If your sales rep sent that email to a prospect in the closing phases of a highly competitive situation, what would you think?

And even more importantly, what do you think he did when he got the response that pretty much told him that the incumbent vendor was kicking his butt? You guessed it; he continued to communicate via email.

I think I have finally figured out one of the reasons that sales people suffer from call avoidance. They are not comfortable handling objections or asking the hard questions in person or over the phone but they are via email. Email makes it not personal for them but it also makes it not personal for the buyer.

Isn't selling about communicating and building relationships? 

If you are a sales manager reading this post and you can relate to this situation, you have to assume some responsibility for the problem. Do you know how and when your team is using email to communicate with qualified prospects?  Have you prepared your team to handle objections that come at them real-time? How much time have you spent with them on closing techniques? Do you do live coaching and role playing?

I would love to hear from sales managers that execute best practice coaching techniques. Feel free to post and happy selling!

All of our clients are interested in learning how they can make their sales and marketing initiatives more effective by reaching more decision makers. Well, it all starts with the list. You can't target who you can't see.

Good lists with decision maker data is hard to find. Over the years it has gotten easier with many great online resources becoming available and Jigsaw has recently become a favorite of mine. For those of you that don't know, Jigsaw is a sales portal where you can buy or trade business contacts.

Well, Jigsaw has just done the unthinkable! Through their Open Data Initiative, they are now offering their data for FREE.

What??? Yes folks, you can now search for, select and download thousands of records at no cost. You can use this data to analyze territories, verticals or whatever else you always wanted to analyze but couldn't afford to.

This is going to turn the data business upside down! Check them out, download a list and go to town.

PS - While you are there, check out their blog Garth's World. Garth's view on the world is hysterically funny and will make you LOL!

UPDATE: The company data is free. When you download the company data Jigsaw will tell you how many contacts they have available for purchase. They are smart but they ain't crazy folks... they still have to pay the bills! 

I find it fascinating talking to sales & marketing executives about their company’s messaging and positioning. The reason I find it fascinating is that they are quite often able to articulate for me a great value proposition that paints a picture of what they bring to the table.

The problem is that when I ask them to translate that value proposition into an elevator pitch that can be used over the phone by their sales organization, they struggle. And if they struggle, can you imagine the struggle their sales people have?

These are the days of short attention spans. We need to be able to craft an elevator pitch that is an “actionable sound bite”.

Are you ready to take the “elevator pitch test”? There are 4 questions and each is worth 1 point.

Don’t read any further until you have written down your elevator pitch. Take the time to really craft the message that you deliver to your prospects on a consistent basis.

Okay, ready?

1. Are the first words you wrote: "We are the leading provider of..."? If so, you get 0 points.
   
   
2. Did you use more than 25 words? If so, you get 0 points.
   
   
3. Do you think your pitch aroused curiosity? In other words, would the prospect be intrigued enough to say “Tell me more”. If not, you get 0 points.
   
   
4. Now, call a friend who is not in technology and run it by them. Just give them the pitch and then ask them if they know what your company does. If not, you get 0 points.

So, how many points did you get? If you scored less than 4, at least you know what areas to work on right?

Most companies try to make their pitch too complicated. It seems the higher the price tag the more complicated the pitch. But, our prospects are inundated with messaging all day every day. Sometimes simpler is better...you know the KISS principle ("Keep It Simple Stupid")!

Oh and BTW, here is our elevator pitch:

We help technology companies build, evolve or validate inside sales strategies.

If you have a great elevator pitch you would like to share, feel free to post it as a comment!

What follows is the first in a series of quarterly interviews we will be conducting with Inside Sales executives.

To qualify, you must be at the Director or Vice President level and manage 6+ reps. If you are interested in being interviewed for future postings, please send an email to Trish Bertuzzi at tbertuzzi@bridgegroupinc.com.

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Featured Executive:
Silvana Sears
Director of Inside Sales
FAST Search and Transfer, a Microsoft subsidiary

Silvana, how long have you been with FAST?
2.5 years

How long have you been in Inside Sales and what was your background?
I have been in the technology space for over 20 years. All of my experience was gained through real world inside sales implementations at various companies.
- eCredit.com
- Salary.com
- Monster
- TeleSales, Inc.
- Corporate Software

How many people do you manage and what is their charter? I manage 13 Inside Sales Reps. They are responsible for qualifying leads for the field. They uncover and nurture opportunities and when the time is right, and the prospect is well educated, they set up a meeting for their field partner.
To be clear, these are not introductory meetings. We educate and qualify the prospect before we set up a meeting. Before the field is involved the prospect has seen a demo and truly understands our value proposition.

 

How much of your team’s effort is spent following up on marketing inquiries and how much cold calling?
Like so many other companies, our strategy evolves. We used to spend most of our time on inquiry follow-up but now I would have to say we spend 90% of our time on very targeted outbound cold calling.

Our target contact varies but typically we focus on the Chief Compliance Officer, the Chief Technology Officer or the Vice President of Interactive.

Do you have any metrics you can share with us?
Absolutely.
We make 55 calls a day
Connect with 8 – 10 contacts
Have a quarterly team goal of 350 meetings

Of these …
68% make it to pipeline
44% close

What technologies are in place to support your team’s efforts?
CRM: We have used salesforce.com but now we are moving to Microsoft CRM.
Marketing: We use Eloqua as our email marketing platform and most importantly for lead scoring.
Contacts: To research and find contacts we use Jigsaw, Hoovers and OneSource.

What metrics do you capture and how do you use them to measure performance or make business decisions?
- Typical things like dials and connects.
- A certain percentage of their meetings have to enter the pipeline.
- Also, a certain percentage of their activity must come from target accounts.
Closed loop reporting is a challenge. Inside sales uses saleforce.com and the field uses Siebel. Using two systems is not easy as you can imagine.

What percentage of your team makes goal?
80%

How do you motivate your reps?
We have contests where we give away Red Sox tickets or ipods. We also have team retreats. Many of our reps are self motivated. We offer a great compensation plan! Six of my reps are going to Presidents Club this year!

We also offer a great career path. Two of my reps have moved in to field sales positions. Combine all of the above and it adds up to a challenging and motivating sales environment.

What does the hiring landscape look like for you? How are you finding the candidate pool?
The applicant pool is pretty good. I get lots of candidates through referrals, both internal and external. I think our compensation plan combined with our career path has a lot to do with it.

What do you look for in a candidate during the hiring process?
- Someone who is articulate but also possesses excellent writing skills
- Their mind has to be technically wired
- Consultative approach to selling
- 5+ years experience
Even though we don’t close deals, I like to hire someone who has closed before. I think this skill helps them do a better job on the front end of the sales process because they know what has to happen on the back end. I think it contributes to our high conversion and close rate.

If you had one piece of advice to give an inside rep on how to improve their performance what would it be?
Really understand the message and have a great elevator pitch. Make sure you know all about the competition and how to sell against them – many times Inside Sales doesn’t think this is their job but the front end of the sales process is just as important as the backend when it comes to positioning your value and setting the vision of the prospect.

What is your biggest challenge when working with the field, marketing or channel?
Field – Trying to get them to communicate and engage on a regular basis. How was the meeting, what are next steps, what can I do better? Their view can be unrealistic if a great communication vehicle is not in place…you have to be sure they don’t assume that every lead should close without any further education.

Marketing – You have to be careful or they can be out of alignment with sales. For instance, sales wants vertical messaging and marketing goes horizontal. Quite often Inside Sales can get caught in the middle of this situation if the inquiries they are working (which were created by Marketing) do not fit the expectations of the sales organization.

What issues would you be interested in brainstorming with your peers about?
How to ramp new hires more quickly! Even though I did read your posting on this topic, and I agree with you, I would like to talk to other executives about any methodologies or techniques they employ.

Rose Mauriello is a guest blogger on the Inside Sales Experts Blog. She is the President and Founder or RRM Staffing a Boston based contingency search firm that specializes in Inside Sales candidates. Here Rose shares her counsel on how an ISR should effectively prepare for an interview.

Preparing for a Sales Job Interview:
The most important step in the process is that the candidate takes the time to do their homework.

Company homework:

• Research the company by thoroughly reviewing their website
• Read recent press releases
• Download a product demo and participate in a webinar (if possible)
• Be ready to articulate the company's value proposition
• Research the industry
• Learn who the competitors are and what differentiates them from the company you are meeting with
• Find out who you will be meeting with in advance and read their biographies. Look them up on LinkedIn and Google.

Personal homework:

• Know your strengths and be able to articulate them
• In practicing your responses to standard interview questions, make sure to include concrete examples of what you have done in the past that demonstrates your skills, experience and capabilities
• Know all of the details (you can bring a "cheat sheet" with you) on your past quota numbers and your actual performance as well as specifics on all relevant metrics
• Keep a list of key customers you have sold to and notes about the sales process for each situation

Anticipate and prepare for typical questions that you will be asked such as:

• "Tell me about yourself".
• "Why are you considering leaving your current position"?
• "Tell me about a competitive sales situation you were involved with and what you did to win the deal".
• "Who do you sell to? What is your sales cycle and average deal size?"
• "Tell me how you prospect to build the pipeline?"
• "How do you organize your day? Tell me about what you do from the time you arrive at work until you leave".
• "What are your strengths and weaknesses"?
• "Why are you interested in our company"?
• "Where do you see yourself in five years"?

Plan on asking several key questions such as:

• "What is the greatest challenge offered by this position?"
• "How is success defined for this position?"
• "How many sales reps are currently exceeding quota?"
• "What are the greatest challenges your company faces?"
• "What are some potential career paths within your company?"

During initial interviews it is generally not a good idea to ask about compensation and benefits. You want the company to be sold on you before getting to this point.

Be sure to close at the end of the interview. The best way to do this is to ask: "Do you have any concerns about my qualifications for this position"? This gives you the chance to overcome any potential objections that you can uncover about your candidacy.

Next step is to let the interviewer know that you are very interested in the position and company. Find out what the next steps are and reiterate your strong interest in taking that next step.

Look your best. Even if the company is "business casual", dress professionally as you would for a customer meeting. Wear conservative, but current clothing, shoes, etc. Do not wear overpowering cologne/perfume. Know the location/directions and plan on arriving at least 15 minutes early. Bring a notebook and pen - taking notes definitely shows interest and commitment. Get business cards from each person you meet with. Within 24 hours, send meaningful thank you e-mails that reiterate your interest and why you would be the best person to hire.

Good Luck!

What follows are some helpful tips on how to, or how not to, use a Product Marketing/Management executive as part of the sales process.  This is a guest post written by someone who recently read Tales from A Gatekeeper.  I found it informative and funny and wanted to share! - Trish Bertuzzi

I am a Product Manager. I recently ran across the Sales Tips: Tales from a Gatekeeper post on this blog and thought I would address the Inside Sales Experts Blog community of Sales Executives & Sales Managers.

What follows are based on my experiences and impressions as a Product Manager for software sales companies. Comments are welcome! I would also love to hear what we Product Managers can improve upon.

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• DO NOT use me as the next step in the sales process. 
  Does the sales process really run: get lead -> call lead -> confirm pulse -> throw Product Manager against wall -> see if it sticks?

• DO NOT introduce me on a call and drop this classic lazy sales guys line:
  "Great Bob, thanks for taking the time. Chris has some questions he would like to ask you." I do, but they center more around why I waste my time on calls with you - "Mr. 60% of quota"!

• DO have some perspective. 
  I understand that your perception about your most recent deal (win or loss) is your reality. But I have a Product to manage. The fact that Prospect A did not buy from you last week, does not drive my roadmap. You losing a single deal to a competitor I have never heard of does not make a fully researched and polished competitive analysis my new #1 priority. I appreciate that you are in the fray every day, but my job is to take a step back and think strategically.

• DO share your experiences with me. 
  I need Sales to share G2 with me (customer feedback, objections, competitive tidbits, price sensitivity, feedback on product benefits) to be successful.  If you lose to a competitor we have identified in our space, let me know. If you gain traction in a certain vertical, share that with me. I want the product and you as a sales person to be successful. I want to be listening to the market as much as possible. Be another set of eyes and ears on the street for me and I will back you up. At quarter end, I will be there for you and your prospects.

• DO NOT over commit. 
  Remember that training where you were "sure" you heard that new killer feature was generally available TODAY? Really?!?! I was there. In fact I was the one giving it. Nice try though. 
  Also, you cannot trot me out in front of your key account and expect me to back up your promises, over-commitments and straight-up BS. I want to win as well, but there is this guy - he is a my VP and he frowns upon bamboozling an account into buying from us.

And finally....

• DO try to understand what I do here. 
  Think of me as the GM for the Product. I don't make the product, but I care about why, how and when it is made. I don't sell the product, but I want to make sure the value, positioning, messaging and pricing are spot on. I don't support the product, but I demand that it delivers and that our customers love us.

Thank you for listening.  Happy Selling.

Since I started the LinkedIn Inside Sales Experts Group (request to join here) a little over a month ago, the membership approval process has afforded me the opportunity to review more than 240 LinkedIn profiles.  Most, I would say 90%, of the members are sales people but I have to tell you that I would never know that from looking at their profiles!

These are the days of social networking providing the public with not only information but a view of YOU.  These are the days when peers, potential employers and even prospects will look up a person on LinkedIn before they ever have a conversation with them.  And what do most of our profiles say about us?  Nothing.

Here sits your online resume for the world to see and most of us have expended zero effort in selling ourselves.  It is just a laundry list of places we have worked with dates attached.  Shame on us! 

Where is the sizzle?  Where do we let others know that not only are we are good at the game of sales but that we are passionate about it?

Here is a sample of a GREAT profile.  What follows was in the summary section.  I have removed the person's name to protect the innocent but it will give you a sense for what I mean...

Now, Mr. X is obviously no slouch in the ego department but hey it was interesting right?

If you think your LinkedIn profile is as well done as Mr. X's, please post a link with your comments in this blog.  Give yourself a pat on the back for being smart enough to brand YOU! 

Now, I have to go, I have to eat my own dog food and rewrite my profile.  Happy Selling!

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I love to read blogs that make me laugh and I read a post on The Sales Wars that was interesting and funny.  It was written by Michelle Doucette who is a gatekeeper for a software company in the Boston area.  Take a peek here and find an excerpt below:

I think the topic is one of interest to everyone in sales.  Times have changed and where we used to think we had to "get past" the gatekeeper, now we should figure out how to "work with" the gatekeeper. 

As inside sales practitioners, how much time do we spend on crafting a compelling elevator pitch for the gatekeeper? 

After all, we wouldn't be calling at all if we didn't believe we could help the company solve a business problem, but how do we convey that to the gatekeeper in way that is relevant to them?  Their immediate issues don't include getting their applications to market faster or SOX compliance.  They do care about being viewed as an asset and a contributor to the overall success of the company.  How do we help them to help us?

I would love to hear from the Inside Sales Experts community.  What have you found to be effective in working with the gatekeeper?