The debate about whether to leave a voicemail message on a cold call is as old as voicemail itself. You all know that leaving a voicemail rarely results in a callback, no matter how great your technique. Statistics found on various sales web sites show a range of five- to ten-percent of voicemails are returned. So even if you are spectacular at your VMs, you might top out at 25-percent call backs. So is it really worth it?

I say yes. Definitely. You just need to change your reason and expectations for leaving that message. Instead of expecting a callback, use the voicemail as a friendly, personal, targeted billboard. If you do it right, the next time the person sees or hears your name, they'll have some kind of positive brand recognition.

The next target name and title for your new B-team salesperson pops up on his screen. He takes a quick look at the company web site and then punches “dial”. His conversation starts the exact same way his last conversation did. He doesn’t have any context for how your company can help his target, instead using a “One Conversation Fits Most” approach.

How much better would his sales numbers be if he could cater each conversation to the person on the other end of the phone?

1. Research the company as it relates to what you’re selling: It’s not enough to get an overview of the target, for example, understanding that they manufacture and sell lenses. Your team needs to get a quick overview that is relevant to the product that they want to sell. Using recent articles about the company might have tremendous hints for their needs (for example, if they have new management or if they recently opened a new location). In addition, current articles about their industry might point to pain that they’re having that your company can address (for example, if there is a huge market for a new size of lenses and they are going to need to ramp up production). If you can start your conversation with a relevant bridge between what you’re selling and what they need, you are much more likely to engage a sale… than with a generic conversation.

Lay the foundation for better sales performance in 2011 by taking the Incite2 Challenge.

The Basics - Incite2 90-Minute Challenge Details

Incite 2 is a plug-in for salesforce.com that helps your sales professionals: 

• Make More Calls
• Have Better Conversations
• Know Who To Call

More calls equals more qualified leads, equaling more revenues. 

The trouble with a classic elevator speech is that in tele-sales no one has the time or the inclination to hear what you have to say.

Communicating by phone is different than face to face where a suspect or a prospect will grant you a few more moments if only to be courteous. On the phone it is simple and easy for a prospect to terminate the call and that's one of the main reasons why you need an escalator speech.

An escalator speech is an abbreviated version of an elevator speech and it is absolutely vital in the world of B to B tele-sales. Whereas an elevator speech is based on the premise that you present what you do over the time it takes to travel a few floors up an elevator, the escalator speech is based on the premise that you present what you do in the time it takes to travel only one floor.

• Number of qualified leads
• Number of opportunities in the pipeline
• Number of closed deals

All of these goals have one thing in common - increasing current output levels.  There are many ways to arrive at making the gains in output - add more people, work longer, etc.

With many organizations using the telephone more and reducing travel, one place to look at in more detail is productivity on the phone.

More Calls = More Results

The wonderful thing about increasing call volumes is that the results of those call tend to track consistently across all of the milestones in your sales cycle.  All things equal, a 20% increase in call volume will equate to a 20% increase in:

Change.  Inevitable,  Constant.  Everyone's talking about it.  Social media, the new (2.0) customer, the downsized organization - and how selling strategies need to change to adapt to today's customer.

As sellers, I think we can all agree on a few things, today's customers: 

• Are harder to get on the phone
• Are less likely to respond to email
• Can discover a lot more about us and our solutions than they used to be able to (because we help them)

Oh yeah... one other thing: 

• Our solutions and services are still relevant... helping improve and optimize our prospect's businesses. 

In October 2010 ShadeTree send out a survey request to sales vp's and managers, inside sales managers and marketing vp's and managers.  The short survey was focused on understanding how salespeople go about the job of prospecting: 

• Figuring out who to call
• Where to find names
• Building list / call queues 
• Related challenges

Key Findings:

• Over 60% of salespeople report difficulty determining who to call
• 82% of salespeople reported that better lead pipeline reporting would be valuable to them
• 73% of salespeople have difficulty building call queues within their CRM system

Below are results from the survey.  

Please accept our invitation to contribute to one of the most remarkable surveys that we have ever used, contributed to and learned from: 

In this series we detail the new capabilities in ShadeTree's Incite2 product Fall 2010 release. 

Incite2 helps salespeople make more calls and have better conversations - increasing sales results.

In this series we detail the new capabilities in ShadeTree's Incite2 product Fall 2010 release. 

Incite2 helps salespeople make more calls and have better conversations - increasing sales results.