Sales Team Issue #1 - Uncovering Viable leads –  

                                                                                                             

Across multiple industries over several decades, sales team members have voiced concerns to me over finding closeable opportunities. This becomes magnified during times of economic contraction. During the years following the mortgage driven recession of 2008, I met numerous people who had been totally pushed out of their previous fields because the market had evaporated. Or as in the case of a commodity like crude oil and the associated industries, supply and demand can cause wild gyrations in price. Consequently, viable customers can literally disappear overnight.

Despite all your valiant efforts, remember you do not control the market. Don’t allow marketplace fluctuations to affect your positive attitude and sales efforts.

Keep in mind, this article is addressing the B to B marketplace. Specifically, Services, Manufacturing and Distribution.

Depending upon the size of your organization, as a sales team member you may be the beneficiary of a well-organized marketing department’s efforts. However, in a smaller organization you may be pressed into the responsibility of doing the majority of your own marketing.

As a result, the individual’s activities may vary significantly. In a larger company with multiple marketing efforts underway, you may find that the leads are being scored for viability before they are passed to a sales team member.

Since we are aware that shoppers are doing product research before they reach out to a supplier, the speed of your response is important. History has proven that industrial shoppers will typically look at three suppliers before making a decision. Therefore, it is critical to respond rapidly or suffer the consequences.  

As a large B to B representative with a limited number of accounts to manage, it will be incumbent upon you to know all the buying influences and decision makers in your assigned account or geographic area. Never assume that you have the account sewed up just because you have a signed contract with your customer. In my experience, national account roll outs will experience push back from the dispersed facilities in favor of the old favored, local suppliers. These sites will require extra handholding until you develop a bond of trust. Work purposefully to develop relationships with your buying influences that will allow for open conversations about future demand.

Keep your ear to the ground with your contacts for internal changes that may spur demand growth. For example, in the refining and chemicals industry the annual overhaul and turnaround time periods could increase demand for products up to a as much as 20% or more.

Be sure to address problem issues or unique demands for products and services on a high priority basis. Your successful responses will develop a loyalty that will pay dividends for years to come. As you develop trust relationships, ask your current customers about opportunities inside and outside their company.

Watch for press releases, chamber of commerce websites, industry associations, and industrial publications for new expansions into your area of responsibility.  

Work diligently to become a subject matter expert regarding your products, company, industry, and the customer. Your ability to be a resource will promote respect and repeated business. And polish your presentation skills to the utmost.

As salespeople we tend to be activity junkies. Do not allow that mental pressure to sidetrack you into nonproductive activities. Be determined to dig into and bear down on the preparation required to serve the customer and stand out in your profession.

For the smaller business owner or sales manager, sales and marketing become a combined effort.

The foundational aspects of the marketing efforts must be in place. This starts with an informative, well-designed website that is rich in SEO words for your target market.

Your value proposition and differentiating benefits must be clearly stated on the website. In conjunction with the information is a landing page or communication link that allows for direct communication with the salesperson.

Since many smaller businesses are limited in time, money, and expertise to conduct digital marketing campaigns, it is imperative that you have a very specific target market identified. This means that only the title and department of the individual you need to contact, but the size of the company and whether they are independently owned or a branch operation of a corporate entity. Keep in mind that many of your potential key contacts at large accounts will not have the same decision-making authority as their counterparts in independently owned companies. Typically, the time to penetrate that account and close the business may be beyond what you can afford to invest. However, don’t punt upon first examination. You may want to involve higher management or a National Accounts team to pursue the opportunity.

Unless you are responsible for sales in a start-up, it will be best to start with an existing customer list and analyze who you should be calling on.

Use chamber guides, Google and Yelp to discover similar prospects in your target markets. Sign up for ThomasNet industry guides as a source for prospecting names.

By all means, have a viable, user friendly Customer Resource Management tool (CRM) to log contact information, track your efforts and log your results.

It is also possible to purchase lists of companies with key individuals based on SIC codes, geography, size, ownership, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and multiple other demographic criteria.

(Try Data-Axle and Hoovers/Dun&Bradstreet)

Depending upon the level of marketing automation and metrics you intend to establish, you make want to acquire a CRM platform that automates and tracks your engagement efforts.

(https://www.hubspot.com/ - Is well worth your investigation)                     Personally, I have used ACT as a CRM which also has some marketing integration available.

My personal preference for specific prospecting in a B to B world is a form of LinkedIN mining. The professional version does allow for more market segmentation; however, the non-paid version is powerful as well. Be sure to have a thorough personal profile oriented towards your services and a company profile that differentiates you from the company.

The process is to make connection requests into your target market, (expect 20-40% acceptance rate), capture their name and contact information into your CRM and e-mail platform database. Post informational insights about your industry and areas of interest daily. Publish articles from subject matter experts in your industry. Interact with other 1^st degree members about their posts.

Never forget that personal contacts are worth their weight in gold. Get involved in professional organizations that support your industry and develop relationships. Capitalize on past relationships from your previous selling efforts.

I am also highly in favor of e-mail campaigns into targeted market databases. This allows you to educate, entertain, and market to a large number of individuals in one single effort. The opens and click throughs from these letters allow you to continue your marketing efforts with some degree of familiarity. These platforms typically provide surveys, landing pages, marketing integration and product selling sites with the membership. (My provider has been Constant Contact since 2010)

Although not seen as a favorite among many salespeople, never forget the phone call as a viable tool. It would be best to determine your ROI before investing a large amount of time here. Or hire a lower paid associate or subcontract the effort out. You can expect 10-15 contacts per 100 calls. Depending upon your sales process and close rate, approximately 2% of those actual contacts have a probability of closing.  

You may also want to start following individuals on Twitter to find out about their likes, dislikes, and preferences before engaging with them. And of course, post your informational and marketing materials in Twitter as well.

Be sure to set up a YouTube account, shoot short informational videos and post several times a week. You can also post those links into your website and newsletters. Remember, many people are visual learners, and they will respond to a colorful graphic or video before they react to your written content.  

Trade show participation may be out of your budget; however, you still may be able to walk the floor, engage with people and obtain attendance lists. You may also want to register for the conference, attend breakout sessions and network with prospects and referral partners.

As you can see by the previous recommendations, there are plenty of activities to keep you extremely busy. However, as B to B professionals, never forget that your goal is to close business by personal contact. It is very easy to get pulled into the digital marketing world and lose that perspective.

We have moved from a world of Q & A, prepare, present, overcome objections and close. Work to have a solutions selling mentality as you uncover opportunities. As stated earlier that demands that you become a subject matter expert for every aspect of your capabilities and how that will solve the prospect’s issues.

As much as every professional salesperson is encouraged to focus on quality instead of quantity, it is still important to understand your prospecting numbers, close rate percentage and the length of your typical close cycle. 

For example, if your close rate from qualified prospects is 25%, and your acceptable close numbers are eight per month. Then the number of qualified prospects you need to have  on your close list (Sales pipeline) is relatively easy to figure out. 

(25/100 = 4)   8 closes x 4 = 32 prospects on the close list at any given time. If your prospecting efforts yield 100 leads per month that need to be contacted and you know that 32% will qualify to move on to your potential close list, then you are "on track" to keep your pipeline full and depend on your closing numbers to hit quota. If your sales and marketing efforts are not yielding the correct number of opportunities, then the effort needs to be analyzed to correct the number of prospects generated.

You must also understand the close cycle for your business. The length of time from initial contact to final close can vary greatly depending upon the category of product, dollar value of the item, capital budgeting process of your prospect, planning/purchasing rhythms in your market and the relative ease or difficulty in reaching the decision maker. As you are aware of your industry averages, the close expectations can be adjusted to help you understand the effort levels necessary to hit your plan.   

A last comment to the smaller B to B salespeople to develop and maintain a list of closable prospects. Stay on top of your close list with consistent reviews and obtain updates from your prospects to stay relevant.

Guerilla Marketing for Small to Medium Business Enterprises

The TOOL	Suggest Frequency
Company Name	Perennial
e-Stationery	Perennial
Business Card	Perennial
Website	Perennial
LinkedIN	Weekly posts/connections
YouTube	Weekly – Record & Post
Pinterest	Twice Weekly
Telephone Prospecting	3-5 Days a Week
Cold Calls	In Person: Bi–Weekly
1 to 1 In Person Meetings	2-3 a Week
Club/Association Memberships	Weekly/Bi-Weekly/Monthly
Social Media Posting	Daily – Informational
Newsletter (100 names to start)	Bi-Monthly – Monthly
Webinars	One per Month (or less)
QRP Codes	All Dispersed Informational
Direct Mail – Post Cards/Brochures	Monthly
Third Party Testimonials	On Website / As required
Speed of Your Response	Always!
Telephone Courtesy	A Learned Habit
Facebook /LinkedIn Groups	Once a Week
LinkedIn “Notifications” Work	2-3 Times per Week
Twitter	Post/Interact 2-3 Times Per Week
Personal/Business Tag Line Ten Words or Less	Constant Use
CRM Platform in Use	Constant – Tracking /Follow up
LinkedIN / Facebook Business Page	Constant Visible Presence
Advertising Give Aways	Pens / Paperweights / USB’s
Door Prizes	On Opportunity
Create a power group	Share / Ask for Referrals
Attend Mixers / Networking Grps	Weekly
Your Personal Demeanor	Personable / Open / Inviting Assertive – Not Aggressive

 

Go forth and sell!

 

Author: Gary D. Seale – MBA Trucon Communications

             www.truconbd.com