Comments on: Is Call Reluctance® choking your sales effort? http://www.barrett.com.au/blogs/SalesBlog/2009/401/prospecting/is-call-reluctance%c2%ae-choking-your-sales-effort/ everybody lives by selling something. Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:15:30 +0000 hourly 1 By: Sue Barrett http://www.barrett.com.au/blogs/SalesBlog/2009/401/prospecting/is-call-reluctance%c2%ae-choking-your-sales-effort/comment-page-1/#comment-1555 Sue Barrett Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:20:41 +0000 http://www.barrett.com.au/blogs/SalesBlog/?p=401#comment-1555 Mark, you are very perceptive. Everyone in sales should know how to prospect and develop capability in this area. There are tried and true prospecting methods that work very well in an ethical and honourable way. However most people have been scared off prospecting because they were not properly trained to do so in the first place and have then probably listened to one too many horror stories which have made them feel even worse. So they avoid prospecting and instead become call reluctant. We all live by selling something so we all, in some way, need to learn how to effectively promote our capabilities and make ourselves visible for all the right reasons. Whether it's going for a job or selling a new idea we all need to make contact. All of us work in a contact dependent role. As for internal sales teams and telemarketing I agree that we could make much better use of that area and in turn give many of the people in these roles more interesting work to do and integrated them as part of a lead team approach as I have written about before. Thanks again for you ever insightful contribution it is a pleasure to connect. So as always Mark more thinking to do more work to be done in the world of selling. Cheers Sue Mark, you are very perceptive. Everyone in sales should know how to prospect and develop capability in this area. There are tried and true prospecting methods that work very well in an ethical and honourable way. However most people have been scared off prospecting because they were not properly trained to do so in the first place and have then probably listened to one too many horror stories which have made them feel even worse. So they avoid prospecting and instead become call reluctant.

We all live by selling something so we all, in some way, need to learn how to effectively promote our capabilities and make ourselves visible for all the right reasons. Whether it’s going for a job or selling a new idea we all need to make contact. All of us work in a contact dependent role.

As for internal sales teams and telemarketing I agree that we could make much better use of that area and in turn give many of the people in these roles more interesting work to do and integrated them as part of a lead team approach as I have written about before.

Thanks again for you ever insightful contribution it is a pleasure to connect.

So as always Mark more thinking to do more work to be done in the world of selling.
Cheers Sue

]]> By: Mark Parker http://www.barrett.com.au/blogs/SalesBlog/2009/401/prospecting/is-call-reluctance%c2%ae-choking-your-sales-effort/comment-page-1/#comment-1550 Mark Parker Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:31:47 +0000 http://www.barrett.com.au/blogs/SalesBlog/?p=401#comment-1550 Sue, In relation to your research, what characteristics define the 20% who do it well? I’ve long argued that many sales people – those who fall into the account manager or farmer group are just not mentally capable of doing the hard prospecting yards and when companies try and force them to do it, it drives them away from the organisation. One trend I’ve seen emerging in the US is the transformation of telemarketers from call volume based phone jockeys to highly skilled inside sales experts who are capable of nurturing leads up to a point where the lead is (almost) begging to see a sales person so as to buy something. What this is showing me is that the inside sales team has become the conduit between marketing and sales – using a variety of tools (including social media) to identify and connect with leads. The goal is to nurture a lead so that they are effectively qualified, and delivered to a sales person at a point that best fits the needs of the buyer (and not the sales persons need for more leads). The benefits for the company are extensive – marketing can learn from inside sales as to what effort is required to nurture certain segments, whilst the sales group benefit through a continuous supply of properly qualified and educated prospects – thus reducing prospecting reluctance. So is inside sales the panacea? No. The organisation still needs to ensure they have enterprise wide alignment to the sales strategy. Marketing still has to listen to sales and Sales still has to do their own prospecting. And most importantly, the whole business needs to trust the inside sales team and not pressure them or incentivise them to churn through the numbers. Sue,
In relation to your research, what characteristics define the 20% who do it well? I’ve long argued that many sales people – those who fall into the account manager or farmer group are just not mentally capable of doing the hard prospecting yards and when companies try and force them to do it, it drives them away from the organisation.

One trend I’ve seen emerging in the US is the transformation of telemarketers from call volume based phone jockeys to highly skilled inside sales experts who are capable of nurturing leads up to a point where the lead is (almost) begging to see a sales person so as to buy something.

What this is showing me is that the inside sales team has become the conduit between marketing and sales – using a variety of tools (including social media) to identify and connect with leads. The goal is to nurture a lead so that they are effectively qualified, and delivered to a sales person at a point that best fits the needs of the buyer (and not the sales persons need for more leads).

The benefits for the company are extensive – marketing can learn from inside sales as to what effort is required to nurture certain segments, whilst the sales group benefit through a continuous supply of properly qualified and educated prospects – thus reducing prospecting reluctance.

So is inside sales the panacea? No. The organisation still needs to ensure they have enterprise wide alignment to the sales strategy. Marketing still has to listen to sales and Sales still has to do their own prospecting. And most importantly, the whole business needs to trust the inside sales team and not pressure them or incentivise them to churn through the numbers.

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