Your Reps are spending significant time, effort & energy trying to speak with prospects live.

When the great miracle happens and a prospect tries to call your Sales Line, are you making it easy for them? Are you sure?

Many companies have a department they’re not even aware of – Sales Prevention. It’s comprised of delightfully polite, yet ultimately rage-inducing auto attendant that prevent Prospects from reaching your Sales Reps.

The good news is that there’s a way to downsize the Sales Prevention Department. Here’s how:

• Dial the phone numbers listed on your website, booth, cut sheets, etc.
  Make sure you call the main line and the sales line (if they’re separate). This will help you understand the prospect’s experience.
  How quickly is the phone answered, if at all? If you have an auto attendant, is the Sales option 1^st, 2^nd,  6^th? Is the prospect forced to listen to a commercial before you provide them with routing options? 

I recently sat in on a vendor presentation and let me tell you, it was a disaster from hello.

From the start, the Seller launched into a canned pitch - essentially a 10 minute monologue about their product. She sounded like Billy Mays, the Infomercial king. When I was able to interject, she provided a slightly varied version of her canned pitch. I never received a direct answer to my questions.

Needless to say, I was quite frustrated. Here’s a company with a seemingly good product (at least from what their website suggested) but the seller failed at moving the process forward. After the call, my client commented that he would not evaluate the product because he couldn’t envision working successfully with the sales rep.
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Prospecting, prospecting, prospecting… no matter how much we want our “A-players” focused on closing business, building pipeline is still an integral part of any successful sales strategy.

Many Reps equate prospecting with the dreaded cold-calling. Some feel that their tenure has elevated them above the prospecting fray.

Probably more importantly, bells aren’t wrung & club isn’t often achieved for prospecting prowess. It’s no wonder Reps shirk, skirt or under-power their prospecting efforts.
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It is up to us, the Inside Sales Leaders, to address this. Reps need to understand that prospecting is a process; not an event. The once-per-week call blitz is not sufficient. Successful prospecting requires a daily process, a good attitude, and the right tools to be successful.

When you think of prospecting, think of a Swiss Army Knife: