Better managing the sales process
(Updated June 2024)
I refreshed on the book?Fanatical Prospecting?by Jeb Blount of Sales Gravy, Inc., a sales training company based in Georgia, which also has?a companion?company for sales recruitment services.?
Blount covers all the basics in terms of focus, approach, roadblocks and evolving selling efforts through "social selling" among the chapters.
Let me?emphasize some key?topics in the book that struck me given the shifts in the sales environment:
1) You have to prospect.
Seems obvious but?he lays it on the line first thing.
Prospecting is?not a desired part of the job but it is necessary.?It is "Job 1" so to speak for an opportunity to have true success.
If you cannot do it--and that means being willing to?accept that you are making contact and interrupting the status quo of the prospect to introduce a new idea for consideration--then you will fail or, as he puts it, "Have skinny kids."
Of course, you have to believe in the value of what you are offering.
To the benefit of the prospect, do some initial analysis before outreach, then highlight 2-3 valid business reasons (VBRs) for making contact as reasons the prospect may want to engage.
2) CRM is sacred.
This is a strong personal point I want to make, more now than ever.
I am amazed,?at a time where capturing and leveraging information is a constant discussion in business, how many sales organizations do not have CRM systems even at the most basic level or, if they do, do not fully leverage them and often allow their sales staff to not use it.
A CRM needs to be used to add basic institutional knowledge to an organization for short term prospecting and pipeline tracking, for the long term as staff changes and, at the least, provide current contact information?used for sales prospecting and marketing.
I did a sales development program with a long established company and was shocked to find they had no CRM system even though they had about 25 staff?on the sales team.
All of the institutional knowledge and relationship history was locked up in the minds of individuals whether they were still with the company or departed. They also wasted a tremendous amount of time because of an uncoordinated sales effort in the market.
A CRM should be foundational for connecting marketing efforts with sales enablement that better supports the sales dialogue taking place between a sales person and prospect.
Support, use and accountability, though, ultimately rests with management establishing standards and holding to them.
3) Personal branding,?in the mix of?developing relationships,?is important but not the primary driver.?
Given the various ways to connect and be visible these days,?personal branding can be beneficial. This blog post is, of course, a form of personal branding.
But blogging and other forms of content marketing?cannot carry the the bulk of lead generation for the vast majority of companies?or be what drives an individual prospect to purchase, but can still be very important. Content serves important roles:
These all come under the common recommendation of establishing "thought leadership" or, even better, distinct expertise as an individual and company.
Coming from roots in print media, this has always seemed obvious to me.?
I?represented strong?brands with great content that were known. That?helped with upfront recognition, establishing credibility and consideration,?but it?was and is still?necessary to?reach out and cultivate the sales relationship directly.
Quality content marketing efforts and email communications messaging?is one-sided, for the most part, and speculative in understanding the prospect based, even with the best developed definitions of buyer personas, on their?interaction with shared content.
Knowing what information the prospect has engaged with, through tracking, allows for a warm contact and a point of reference to start a conversation. It can be a huge jump on competitors. It does not tell you what they are thinking, though.
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You need?the interactive?dialogue to understand real gaps in the business opportunities of the client. The direct discussion should clarify true VBRs to work together and establish clearly desired key business results that will define success.
4) My only problem was?the use of email.
My challenge with email was not about the thoughts of the author.
He cautioned on content and structure of email to avoid being cited for spam and included a variety of tips.
He mentioned messages can be filtered out for?including pictures or links, especially links without obvious formats, like one with a?tracking link from a company like?Bit.ly,?or too many links in a note, including if you have one in the signature block which might go to your?company website or a LinkedIn profile.
The problem is that links are included to leverage the convenience of digital communication by?including the option for the recipient to tap?more information with a simple click.
Assuming we are trusted by the recipient of the message, digital marketing allows the sender to?conveniently attach PDFs or, ideally, link to a document library housed within a CRM platform or include links to landing pages with more details.
I am not faulting?the author as much as noting the predicament.
It also highlights it has gotten harder, due to prospects getting so many more forms of input of information and, correspondingly, having more filters in place,?to get a sense of interest?and initial response from a prospect, much less gauge true engagement for?consideration and, ideally, a sale.??
This only?reinforces the more brand equity and understanding a prospect has about you and your company, before any form of direct contact,?provides you?better odds.
This does not mean you wait for your company to be a high profile brand or first in your segment. As my high school basketball coach said, when looking at the talent of the team, "You gotta dance with what you brung."
You need to know your business, know your market, be tooled?in support, both technology and management support,?as best possible then get into the game each and every day.
Additional Resources
About me
I have been a career sales professional in B2B sales. This has included managing my own territories, selling jointly with others and managing sales teams.
My career started in Seattle with the Puget Sound Business Journal, but a significant portion of my professional time was in California, split between Los Angeles and Orange County, before a return to Seattle.
You can reach me via InMail or at [email protected]
Also
I am owner and community manager for the LinkedIn group?Seattle Sales, Marketing and Advertising Professionals, which has 4900+ members.
I am also one of the first million members of LinkedIn (2004). I have been a blogger on the platform since it was opened up in 2014.
I am a volunteer and former board member (2013-2019) for The Friends of the Seattle Public Library. I continue as community manager of the LinkedIn company page.
When I lived in Orange County I was a volunteer for the Friends of the City of Orange Library.