Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into A Sales Machine With The $100 Million Best Practices Of Salesforce.com

by Aaron Ross

Develop respected experts: The Sales Development role is often treated within a sales organization as a low-level job. If you treat it that way, you’ll get low-level results. It’s a challenging and often thankless role. Treat the team as, and expect them to be, experts. Don’t skimp on training, equipping or developing them. Set high expectations of their ongoing skills development. Qualify accounts and contacts before calling: Cold Calling 1.0 involves calling or emailing into unfiltered industry-based lists of targets. Prospecting into accounts of marginal potential is the most common waste of time by Sales Development Reps and companies. Spend serious time on identifying and clarifying your Ideal Customer Profile. Define what companies are the most similar to the top 5-10% of your customers, defined as the ones likeliest to purchase for the most revenue, and develop focused target lists based on these tight criteria. Research rather than sell: When reps do call into cold accounts, instead of making cold calls, make “research calls.” The intention is different: rather than trying to get the decision-maker on the phone, a rep simply learns about the company and whether there is even a potential fit or not. Mobile optimized emails: Avoid sending long sales emails that no one reads. Send emails that are very short (readable on a mobile phone). Be honest and to the point – what are you looking for? Go beyond basic SFA: Leverage your sales force automation (SFA) systems in eve...