Prioritization: Where do I start?

“Action expresses priorities.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

Every company has an inherent wish to grow. 

Some grow organically, by doing what they do well, building a reputation, and having repeat customers. Some grow by bringing in the right talent recruiter who hires The Best in Class, and then attract new business with their Subject Matter Experts. Some grow by acquiring other companies. In any of these scenarios and the other possibilities, LeadGeneration and Inside Sales (LGIS) remains a critical piece to achieve success.

There are Best Practices related to LGIS that I have observed over the last 6 years in the Contract Research Organization space. I have worked LGIS at three small to mid sized multinational CROs, and before then I was an Account Manager at Global CRO that grew from 150 employees when I started to >16,000 today.

This article is part of a series exploring ideas on developing a LGIS team and the benefit the team provides to a growing company. Past installments reviewed defining the company’s brand/identity, appropriately segmenting the market, and now to review priorities.

Narrowing the Focus

Markets are huge, vast oceans of opportunity. Larger providers may be able to cast a net, and gather business based on name recognition. However, for smaller organizations, it’s more like deep sea fishing where you catch one company at a time. 

One option is to do a deep data dive into the market. There are intelligence tools, then that help to distill the market. In my industry, Zymewire has been an invaluable tool at three of the CROs where I have worked. Because the company was able to align itself to certain therapeutic areas, and certain company sizes, the entire market was then pared down by using the tool’s filters. Upon completion, a list of approximately 300 companies were reviewed according to their products in pipeline.

Target Definition

Once the list of targets is identified, priority must be placed on the list. Because you have already narrowed the focus, now better care can be given to which targets are more important than others, ie. tiering them for pursuit.

In the service sector, a major consideration is the company’s financing activity. If the company doesn’t have the money to outsource, then they are not a great target regardless of how well pipeline matches service expertise. Always align your best attributes to the Sponsor’s needs, and create messaging that will attract potential clients to you.

Nurture

In addition to being at the right place, timing is everything in sales. You may find the perfect target, but the timing may be off for any meaningful pursuit. The best way to handle this is to develop a plan for how to nurture those customers until the timing is right. Maybe you want to start a campaign that will provide quarterly installments. These installments should have meaningful, interesting content to continue to attract future clients to you.  This is one where you can leave out the team birthdays, and tell terrific stories about solving complex problems.

Develop an automated way to start those campaigns. The initial list of targets that you developed will always be evolving. There are plenty of products that provide this service. A few that I have seen include MailChimp, Persist IQ, and Infusionsoft. With proper planning, the campaign should keep you top of mind for when the timing is right.

It is important to keep on top of the target list. The initial assessment that the team makes is going to change over time. Priorities will also change. For example, you may have a company that you have in your Nurture Campaign that receives a huge funding. That company, then, floats to the top of your priority list and the folks you have been nurturing become more important.

LGIS takes informed, careful, deliberate action. It is not quick; however, in time, results follow.

Kristi Walke leads an Inside Sales team for a multinational Contract Research Organization. She lives in Union, KY with her husband Lee and three children, ages 17, 16, and 14. This article is the third installment of a series about Best Practices in Inside Sales and LeadGen.