B2B Sales Lounge » Sales Cycle

The Art of the Follow Up Call

Dan Vescuso — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:00:10 +0000

The follow up call is usually the most important, and the most difficult, call in the sales cycle.

Without an organized plan of attack it is easy to lose the interest of the prospect even if they were very responsive during the initial cold call. In an article written by Jim Domanski, president of Teleconcepts Consulting, Jim gives several tips on how to make your follow up call as effective as possible.

Jim starts off by stating the importance of establishing a specific date and time for the cold call to take place. Many reps will leave this open ended, saying things like “I will follow up with you in a few days”. This can lead to a long game of phone tag, which not only increases the length of the sales cycle but can frustrate your prospect and decrease their interest. Make a precise appointment time with your prospect for when you will follow up. And when you do actually make the call, make it exactly when you said you would (no points for being fashionably late here). If they don’t pick up, leave a message and try them back a few minutes later. If they still don’t pick up, try once more towards the end of the day and leave a final message. This lets them know that you were punctual and persistent, but not to the point of being a pest.

Another important thing for the sales rep to do is to be memorable. The prospect is most likely very busy, and will forget all about you within days of the initial cold call. Consider sending them a handwritten note, or even just an email. It is essential to build a relationship with your prospect, and there is no better way to start than sending a thank you note which shows them that you are willing to make the extra effort.

Before the call, send an email reminder to the prospect which contains an agenda for the call. The agenda doesn’t need to be long; better yet it should be concise and to the point. However it should not contain anything that makes it seem like they need to make a commitment by the end of the call. If the prospect feels pressured into making a decision too early, they might not show up for the call.

When actually making the call, try to demonstrate that you are there to help the prospect. Open with your name and company name, but then go into a few sentences outlining the purpose of the call: first identify the problem areas for the client to remind them why they were searching for or receptive to a solution in the first place, and second briefly state the purpose/agenda for the call which should include how you plan to address the clients problem. Be clear and concise; this will instill a sense of confidence in your prospect. The more confidence they have in you, the more relaxed they become, and the more likely you will be to close.

Are you ready for your follow-up call?

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The Future Looks Bright for B2B Sales, but Hold the Rose-Colored Glasses

Dan Vescuso — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:32:06 +0000

Recent economic reports indicate the recession is coming to an end and a survey conducted by OneSource shows that B2B sales professionals agree with that sentiment – approximately 50 percent surveyed saying that their 2010 sales pipelines are healthier than this same time last year.

But let’s not put on the rose-colored glasses just yet. OneSource’s B2B SalesPulse survey also found that most sales professionals are facing longer sales cycles (59 percent reported longer sales cycles; only 16 percent reported shorter cycles). This might suggest that even though more B2B sales opportunities are popping up, tighter budgets during this early economic recovery phase continue to reign in spending, drawing out the competitive evaluation process before prospects are ready to sign the PO.

With longer sales cycles and more thorough evaluations from buyers, it’s no surprise that B2B sales professionals are relying more on sales intelligence tools and a mix of traditional and social media sources to uncover the hottest leads. Among social networking information sources, LinkedIn was rated the most effective by a wide margin for B2B sales prospecting and research when compared with Facebook and Twitter and blogs.

Looking ahead to Q2 and beyond, we expect social media sources to play an increasingly important role in the sales intelligence mix. Stay tuned for more B2B SalesPulse surveys that we’ll be conducting to watch and track what’s coming next.

How Are Best-in-Class Sales Organizations Responding to Today’s Challenges?

Dan Vescuso — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:24:20 +0000

A recent Aberdeen Group research paper, Sales Intelligence: The Secret to Sales Nirvana, points to some key findings that reveal how “best-in-class” sales organizations* achieve above-average results–even as budgets shrink and sales cycles stretch out.

Economic Challenges No Surprise, But Lead Quality Trumps Lead Quantity

What is pressuring sales leaders, and what actions are they taking in response?

Economic challenges and the increased knowledge of the competitive landscape were the top two pressures identified in the report—by 47% and 44% of respondents, respectively.

While the economic landscape is beyond the control of sales leaders, preparing reps for successful discussions with better informed prospects is a major focus for successful executives. According to the survey, the emphasis on effectively overcoming budget objections and addressing cost-benefit concerns is a contributor to sales effectiveness–enabling reps to focus on fit and competitive advantage.

Three in four respondents—across the board—cite improvement of lead quality in the sales pipeline as their primary strategic action in response to economic and competitive pressures. With just over half of respondents citing it, database segmentation and analysis to identify profitable customers was the second most common action item designed to increase sales effectiveness.

Sales Leaders Cite Lengthening Cycles as Key Concern More Often Than Peers

One in four (27% of survey respondents) cited lengthening sales cycles as a primary business challenge; but nearly half (46%) of “best-in-class” organizations indicated this as a top-three pressure.

Why are these top flight organizations more concerned about longer sales cycles than their peers? The data suggest that these companies are proactively identifying a major drag to revenue generation and developing strategies—including the use of sales intelligence—better preparing reps and aligning their messaging with the business challenges of their prospects. These activities reduce the “getting to know you” phase of discussions, enabling sales reps to work the opportunity more effectively at converting prospects in a compressed sales cycle.

What Common Characteristics Are Hallmarks of Top Performers?

Three common characteristics mark best-in-class performers:

72% currently have a process for tracking prospect engagement
64% have a centralized repository of marketing and product information
51% currently have executive-level support for the use of third-party information providers within sales

Other Performance Keys

The report identified other critical considerations in driving sales effectiveness, including: consistent, repeatable prospect management and sales processes, attention to data management issues (e.g. centralizing information, unifying customer information) and the incorporation of sales intelligence–critical company and competitive insights—as part of the sales process.

Download a full copy of the report…

*Aberdeen’s criteria for “best-in-class” included year-over-year improvements in:

Lead conversion rates
Percentage of reps achieving quota
Sales cycle time
Time spent researching relevant company/contact information