Craig and I have been really busy with clients this year. We are lucky to work with people that are motivated, professional, and, most importantly, want to learn how they can do their job better.
But there’s been a recurrent theme from our past few months’ meetings that I’ve been thinking a lot about.
Here’s how this ‘theme’ manifests itself in our meetings:
- “We get so many inbound calls, we don’t have the bandwidth to make a substantial number of outbound sales calls”.
- “Our product/service is expensive. If people are really interested, they will come to us to buy.”
- “We couldn’t possibly train someone in a short amount of time so that they are comfortable answering FAQs or deal with tense situations on the phone.”
After stepping back from the issue, I can’t help but diagnose this as resistance to proactive pursuit. A lot of sales teams have this same problem: they focus too much on the inbound that they forget that outbound is another part of the sales process (and likely the most important part!). The companies that are growing are the ones that flip this convention and are focusing more on starting conversations with people that may not be coming directly to Company XYZ for a solution in the first place.
In order to start focusing on the outbound, a few things must happen:
- You must realize that an inbound (AKA warm) lead is a gift to a salesperson. In a previous sales role, I was lucky if I received 5 warm leads per month. Inbound leads may keep the office lights on, but the real work (and fun) is done when you start more outbound conversations.
- Your product/service doesn’t sell itself. If it did, you or your company would be a genius and/or a millionaire.Sales is everyone’s job. Answering prospects’ questions about your product/service is a form of selling. If you didn’t answer those questions, your prospect would not buy from you. Once you realize that making an outbound sales call is A) difficult and B) a discipline, the process becomes easier. Seth Godin defines the salesperson’s job as “help[ing]people overcome their fear so they can commit to something they’ll end up glad they invested in.” We think he’s right.
- A sale happens when you reveal the value of a particular solution for your prospect. Your company wouldn’t exist if you didn’t have a solution to a particular problem or need. It also wouldn’t exist if it operated under the assumption that anyone with that particular need would magically find you and write you a check right away.
It is easy to exist at status quo. Sure, you get plenty of inbound leads and you have a lot on your plate. But status quo won’t get you or your company anywhere. Start working on your 2013 goals by resolving to focus on the outbound and launch out of status quo mode.
-Jenny @SalesEngine
