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Prospecting - A Modern Approach?

by BillyParadise
9 replies
A bit of background - we sell something akin to a B2B SAAS. Average contract value is $5-10k/year. Great margins, but not wholly software, so not 98% margins like those lucky people.

My reps need serious help. Our plan requires them to do 10 sales a month, but they're not hitting half. They say it's because they are too busy qualifying leads, and after thinking about ti a while, I think they might be right.

I've been doing a lot of reading on Sales Specializing, and most specifically, the role of dedicated prospector, or in modern-day words, a "Sales Development Representative".

Inside sales. Following a system to turn cold into warm. To turn "Who are You?" into "Hey, yes, that sounds linteresting! Tell me more!". To get meetings for my theoretically-high value sales guys. (I promise I'll say nicer things about them when they start closing at the rate we all agreed on!)

A couple of good blogs on the subject
https://salesloft.com/resources/blog/
https://www.saastr.com/academy/

While most of the telemarketing people in this section seem to be in the "Contact a thousand people a day" camp, these "Modern Prospectors" advocate a different focus.

Pull 50ish prospects into your funnel every day
Over the next 10 days, touch them by phone, email, and social if possible. 7-8 times.

Now it's important to note that the guys at salesloft want to make it as complicated as possible so that you'll need to buy their operations software. Fair play, but at a minimum of $300/mo, it's not yet in the budget. Our SugarCRM will have to do for now.

We're going to start out with the following 'cadence' of contacts:

Day 1:
- First contact (voice): determine the right person to talk to and get their direct email. Update CRM (1.5 hr)
- Send initial email. All emails slightly personalized. (1/2 hr)

Day 2:
- Follow Up Call - No Voicemail (45 min)

Day 3:
- Follow Up Call - No Voicemail (AM) (45 Min)
- Follow Up Call - Leave Voicemail (PM) (1.5 hr)

Day 4:
- Email 2 - Personalized (1/2 hr)

Day 5:
- No Touch

Day 6:
- Email 3 - Personalized (1/2 Hr)

Day 7, 8:
- No Touch

Day 9:
- Final Email (1/2 hr)

Day 10:
Remove from active prospecting, put on long term marketing list


How we're going to keep track of everything in CRM, I'm still not quite sure. My ops manager is in for a surprise on Monday, poor guy!

When collapsed, a single day looks like this:

First: Confirm any appointments for the day, answer emails, check reps' calendars for openings
Next: Work on a new crop of leads. Clean up what the agents sent you from the previous day. (our night-shift agents are going to be pulling the leads)
Next: Send Email 2 (Day 4)
Next: First Contact Calls (Day 1) 8:30 - 10am
BREAK!
Next: Follow Up Calls (Day 2) No Voicemail 10:30 - 11:15
Next: Follow Up Calls (Day 3) No Voicemail 11:15 - 12pm
LUNCH!
First: Follow Up Calls w/ Voicemail (Day 3) 1pm - 2:30
Next: Email 3 (Day 6) and Email 4 (Day 9)

Seems like a pretty full day. I'm not sure whether 50 new leads a day is a manageable pace. Only one way to find out! (Maybe that salesloft software will be helpful after all!)

My ops manager is going to be the guinea pig for a month while we work out the details, and then assuming he's able to a) keep up the pace, and b) produce a reasonable quantity of leads/meetings, we'll make some hires for the roles, and assign an SDR to each sales person.

Then they'll have no excuse not to hit quota!

Is anyone else around here employing such a process? If so, did you have good results? Any hints?

For those who haven't, I'll try to remember top pop in here to let you know how it's going.
#approach #inside sales #lead generation #modern #prospecting #sales development
  • Profile picture of the author savidge4
    Maybe not the process I would use.. but I think the process will work. the ONE thing that is striking me... you want 50 leads a day? and you are asking 1 man to make cold calls for 1.5 hours a day ( 8:30 to 10am ) simply NOT going to happen. I would go so far as to say that he wont be able to make 50 dials.. let alone converse with 50 people let alone get past the gate keeper let alone any amount of qualifying.

    Being a Sales Development Rep.. its a full time on the phone job.... all these e-mails and what have you in the process need to be automated.. you are basically building a funnel, and the key to a funnel is flat out automation. Paying a guy to fiddle around and configure all of the prospect e-mails 6.5 hours a day... really?

    I am going to be pretty straight forward here if salesloft is $300 a month and you cant / wont invest that, there are issues other than your sales process.

    IF you only have 1 SDR right now.. pay the money.. give him the tools KEEP HIM ON THE PHONE.

    Contrary to what you state in your OP... it IS about 1000's of calls. HOW do you think you get down to focusing on 50 or so? look here https://salesloft.com/resources/blog...reach-process/ #4 specifically - Power dialing and cranking out calls

    You are wanting there to be an easier way... there isn't... sales no matter how you look at it is a numbers game

    Think of it this way.. if ( hypothetically ) you can find interest in 3% of whom you contact.. how many calls is that? Your script is SO GOOD you can get through to 10% - 50 leads a day is 500 calls.

    I stated at the beginning, my process would look different. I would start with a branding piece ( a post card ) your company name and some generic cures for business pains. I generally will not follow this up with a phone call. Next would be a letter formatted more industry specific piece being less generic in the pains and cures. after this I would start in with the phone attempts After contact is made I would be presenting a well developed white paper ( again as industry specific as possible ) and then move towards the close

    If your product is broad spectrum by nature ( meaning many industries / business types can use it ) I would focus on one category at a time. This allows in-house and outside sales reps to all be on the same page.. and using the same language.

    The key in ALL of this is tracking. I will flat out say without tracking you are spinning your wheels. how do the postcards perform? how does the letter perform? how does the phone contact perform? how does the dripped e-mails perform? Tracking / testing is how you make a funnel good at best to majestic.
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  • Profile picture of the author ukpropinvest
    Banned
    Originally Posted by BillyParadise View Post

    A bit of background - we sell something akin to a B2B SAAS. Average contract value is $5-10k/year. Great margins, but not wholly software, so not 98% margins like those lucky people.

    My reps need serious help. Our plan requires them to do 10 sales a month, but they're not hitting half. They say it's because they are too busy qualifying leads, and after thinking about ti a while, I think they might be right.

    I've been doing a lot of reading on Sales Specializing, and most specifically, the role of dedicated prospector, or in modern-day words, a "Sales Development Representative".

    Inside sales. Following a system to turn cold into warm. To turn "Who are You?" into "Hey, yes, that sounds linteresting! Tell me more!". To get meetings for my theoretically-high value sales guys. (I promise I'll say nicer things about them when they start closing at the rate we all agreed on!)

    A couple of good blogs on the subject
    https://salesloft.com/resources/blog/
    https://www.saastr.com/academy/

    While most of the telemarketing people in this section seem to be in the "Contact a thousand people a day" camp, these "Modern Prospectors" advocate a different focus.

    Pull 50ish prospects into your funnel every day
    Over the next 10 days, touch them by phone, email, and social if possible. 7-8 times.

    Now it's important to note that the guys at salesloft want to make it as complicated as possible so that you'll need to buy their operations software. Fair play, but at a minimum of $300/mo, it's not yet in the budget. Our SugarCRM will have to do for now.

    We're going to start out with the following 'cadence' of contacts:

    Day 1:
    - First contact (voice): determine the right person to talk to and get their direct email. Update CRM (1.5 hr)
    - Send initial email. All emails slightly personalized. (1/2 hr)

    Day 2:
    - Follow Up Call - No Voicemail (45 min)

    Day 3:
    - Follow Up Call - No Voicemail (AM) (45 Min)
    - Follow Up Call - Leave Voicemail (PM) (1.5 hr)

    Day 4:
    - Email 2 - Personalized (1/2 hr)

    Day 5:
    - No Touch

    Day 6:
    - Email 3 - Personalized (1/2 Hr)

    Day 7, 8:
    - No Touch

    Day 9:
    - Final Email (1/2 hr)

    Day 10:
    Remove from active prospecting, put on long term marketing list


    How we're going to keep track of everything in CRM, I'm still not quite sure. My ops manager is in for a surprise on Monday, poor guy!

    When collapsed, a single day looks like this:

    First: Confirm any appointments for the day, answer emails, check reps' calendars for openings
    Next: Work on a new crop of leads. Clean up what the agents sent you from the previous day. (our night-shift agents are going to be pulling the leads)
    Next: Send Email 2 (Day 4)
    Next: First Contact Calls (Day 1) 8:30 - 10am
    BREAK!
    Next: Follow Up Calls (Day 2) No Voicemail 10:30 - 11:15
    Next: Follow Up Calls (Day 3) No Voicemail 11:15 - 12pm
    LUNCH!
    First: Follow Up Calls w/ Voicemail (Day 3) 1pm - 2:30
    Next: Email 3 (Day 6) and Email 4 (Day 9)

    Seems like a pretty full day. I'm not sure whether 50 new leads a day is a manageable pace. Only one way to find out! (Maybe that salesloft software will be helpful after all!)

    My ops manager is going to be the guinea pig for a month while we work out the details, and then assuming he's able to a) keep up the pace, and b) produce a reasonable quantity of leads/meetings, we'll make some hires for the roles, and assign an SDR to each sales person.

    Then they'll have no excuse not to hit quota!

    Is anyone else around here employing such a process? If so, did you have good results? Any hints?

    For those who haven't, I'll try to remember top pop in here to let you know how it's going.

    No i 100% agree. I'd rather talk to one really interested person a day then have to sift through 100 tyre kickers. I worked at a company years ago whos approach was 10+ hours day, phone 300+ people get 10 "interests". It was lunacy!!! I told them so and walked.

    Work smart and you can make a lot more.
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  • Profile picture of the author ukpropinvest
    Banned
    another approach is to do away with needing high sales. So glad i stepped away from having to make 6+ sales a month. Now 1 sale a year does me..:-)
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    • Profile picture of the author BillyParadise
      Originally Posted by ukpropinvest View Post

      another approach is to do away with needing high sales. So glad i stepped away from having to make 6+ sales a month. Now 1 sale a year does me..:-)
      Ever so slightly missing the point.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pett123
    Sounds like you have to test it to see. Being in affiliate marketing in the tech industry and SEO, you have to create a way to get in front of target market. But I hope your plan yields some buzz
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Lessard
    There are lots and lots of people employing this process.

    They are the ones on here looking for alternatives when they start to burn out because something in the complex machine breaks or changes.

    First to address a few quick things.

    "My reps need serious help because our plan requires them to do 10 sales a month but their not hitting half."

    - It may be that it is your plan that needs help, not your reps.

    "They say its not working because they are too busy qualifying leads."

    - Really there are too busy talking to people that are NOT leads.

    A lead is someone who:

    - knows who you are
    - knows about your product
    - has raised their hand in interest


    The system sounds neat and all and it may work.

    or

    You could just write world class copy about your offer
    put it in front of the right people on FB or LinkedIn or paid search

    and those that see it at the right time in their journey will raise their hand.

    You will talk to them once and they will just buy it
    without the need
    for each of you to spend so much time "touching" each other.

    Don't get me wrong I am all for touching :-)

    But i prefer to do that with my wife on the beach
    rather than with a bunch of people that don't need, want or are ready to buy my products or services.
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    • Profile picture of the author eccj
      Originally Posted by Peter Lessard View Post

      There are lots and lots of people employing this process.

      They are the ones on here looking for alternatives when they start to burn out because something in the complex machine breaks or changes.

      First to address a few quick things.

      "My reps need serious help because our plan requires them to do 10 sales a month but their not hitting half."

      - It may be that it is your plan that needs help, not your reps.

      "They say its not working because they are too busy qualifying leads."

      - Really there are too busy talking to people that are NOT leads.

      A lead is someone who:

      - knows who you are
      - knows about your product
      - has raised their hand in interest


      The system sounds neat and all and it may work.

      or

      You could just write world class copy about your offer
      put it in front of the right people on FB or LinkedIn or paid search

      and those that see it at the right time in their journey will raise their hand.

      You will talk to them once and they will just buy it
      without the need
      for each of you to spend so much time "touching" each other.

      Don't get me wrong I am all for touching :-)

      But i prefer to do that with my wife on the beach
      rather than with a bunch of people that don't need, want or are ready to buy my products or services.
      You don't want to spend that much time "touching" people who don't want to be touched. Savidge mentioned giving them something they all actually want, like a white paper. Something more in line with the Dream 100.

      But spending that much time touching people who nether know, like, or trust you, by just trying to sell something is a fast way out of businesses.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    I'm confused, you're selling $5 - $10K software per seat and can't afford $300 a month for the whole operation?
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  • Profile picture of the author Yvon Boulianne
    i hate your process, that was killing my business now my service are like product, i sold them without appointment, without proposition and without delay, they just buy it like a product, click on it and pay...

    when someone want to meet for a sales i charge them 450$ as a consultation, i'm done with giving my time for free

    btw i call 30 peoples, talk to 3-4 of them and sell 1-2 so forget numbers, that's not the game now, it's create a conversation, show interest, help and be different, be a badass

    that's all about having a process and a strong brand...
    Take Care
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