Leave the Hang-Ups To Us

The Art of Recruiting the Right People

by Colleen McCarty, VP Talent & Organization Development

Initial Call counts itself fortunate for the simple fact that we are actively looking for good people to join us. Since the news is full of stories where the converse is true, one could assume that our Recruiting Team is enjoying a lighter workload. But in a world where “be careful what you wish for” is all too true, our Recruiting Team is working harder than ever. True, sourcing resumes has gotten a lot easier than in years past, and we are receiving record numbers of resumes in response to the few ads we are carefully posting. But with lots of resumes comes lots of reading to carefully review that the people we talk to have the right skills for our clients' needs. Especially hard is screening out the number of people that clearly need work, any work, and are willing to do anything. Many people think they can do this work, but rare is the person who thrives on the challenge and has the level of professionalism we require.  Recruiting wades through the stacks of resumes looking for individuals who love cold calling, who genuinely enjoy the challenge of getting through gatekeepers and voice mail to finally reach the right decision-maker so they can generate interest in less than 120 seconds. And while perhaps a few more of those special people are looking for work now, finding them is just as hard as it ever was.

The Conversion Scientist

by Catherine Brown, President

Earlier this month, I went to a day of training provided by the local chapter of the American Marketing Association.  My favorite speaker was Brian Massey out of Austin, TX.  He calls himself the Conversion Scientist -- as in a person who helps other companies "convert" website visitors into qualified leads or customers.  What I liked about him is that in coming and giving the talk and giving away information, he took a dose of his own medicine. One of the points in his talk is that people are afraid to give away the knowledge that makes their companies unique, and yet he says it's exactly in giving away information about your subject expertise that builds credibility.

Brian also shared that he categorizes websites into four different kinds that companies tend to have.  Most of us are stuck in "brochure site" mode.  (Initial Call has slightly bridged the gap by beginning this blog but I can see that I have a lot of work in front of me if we want to morph into something else.)  Brochure sites aren't terrible, and they are common in professional services companies. However, he stressed that people want information, and INFORMATION is what keeps them coming back.  This has renewed my interest in continuing to share meeting statistics, inside sales best practices, the true cost of various kinds of leads, etc.  Brian analyzes company websites as part of his service offering if you'd like to discuss that with him.  The presentation was about 40 minutes and you can listen to an audio version of his presentation.  Enjoy!"

But I Thought the Sky Was Falling

by Amy Keuper, VP Sales

You can’t turn on the computer, TV or radio without hearing Henny Penny’s warnings of doom and gloom.  Almost every news piece bemoans the state of the economy.  Pre-election hype?  Fear-mongering?  Good ratings nonetheless.

Perhaps I am just naïve, but I don’t believe we are entering the next Great Depression.  We might get there eventually, but we are not as close as the media would have us believe. 

We cannot dismiss the genuine suffering that many are experiencing.  However, we can focus on three timeless truths:

1.  An economic downturn doesn’t have to be bad news for absolutely everyone.  Even in the Great Depression someone made money.  Currently, shopping at second-hand stores is up--as are stock prices for discount retailers.  Are you looking to increase sales activity and gain market share or are you resigned that an outgoing tide must lower your boat with all the others? 
   
   

2. We are blessed to live in what is still the greatest nation on earth.  A good idea coupled with the right strategy—executed with hard work--still usually equals success.  Are you listening to positive messages about what is possible for you and your business or are you allowing negativity and paranoia to affect your drive?
   
   
3. A major paradigm shift always represents an opportunity for those willing to see it.  If you make buggy whips and you see that cars are here to stay, you can adjust to meet a new market need or you can go out of business.  Have you taken time to evaluate market shifts and plan necessary adjustments or are you merely hoping your previous success will continue?

Some may be paralyzed with fear--shrinking back and waiting for a safer tomorrow, but you should keep moving forward.  A recent increase in sales inquiries here at Initial Call confirms that many [smart] companies aren’t sitting back and waiting to hear that the waters are safe. 

How to Leave a Voice Mail Message

by April Karli, Corporate Communications

Have you ever thought about leveraging your voicemail messages for maximum sales effectiveness? Recently Ford Harding posted an article called How to Leave a Voicemail Message suggesting ways to leave informative and concise voice mail messages that are likely to be returned. Tips include: state your name first thing in the message, indicate the urgency of your call, provide the core of your message concisely, and consider leaving a personal message at the end. One tip that may surprise you is to leave your phone number at the beginning of the message, immediately after your give your name, rather than the end. Here is a link to the Harding & Company blog where you can find this and many other helpful articles.

Focusing Your Profiling Efforts

by Amy Keuper, VP Sales

In an earlier post, we introduced our underlying premise that the terms “profiled” and “qualified” are not synonymous when it comes to target accounts in the complex sale. The purpose of this post is to further outline the steps involved in profiling accounts: objective targeting, high-level sorting and contact verification.

We are of the opinion that it’s better to invest getting your CRM in workable order so you can market directly to real names at the right companies than it is to spend more in order to market broadly to prospects and people you merely hope are right.

We define profiling as high-level analysis based on a prospective customer’s revenue, geography, industry, offering and (sometimes) the name and title of a person. When you buy a list from a broker (InfoUSA, ZoomInfo, Hoover's, D&B, etc…) and you narrow your results on the basic information listed above, you are beginning the profiling process by setting some objective parameters around who is a fit for you.

The next level of profiling includes a review of your target accounts’ offering(s). We have found that you can “bucket sort” and effectively eliminate about 25% of your target accounts just by reviewing their website. This step seems basic, but we have seen hours of calling wasted on accounts that, upon closer examination, were obviously never a fit. Someone should objectively ask, “From everything we can tell at this point, does this company meet our basic customer criteria?”

The final element of profiling is assembling or verifying contact names and information. Our experience is that purchased lists are typically at least 30% invalid. So, while a list may not cost much (between .10 and $1 per name), the data may not be very usable unless you invest in it further. Our recent work confirms that your cost for labor to verify a purchased name and title then secure a valid email address will run between $10-14 per contact.  Factoring in the cost of list purchase and other related expenses, the final cost per name may run up to $25.

Keep in mind these key steps in focusing your efforts occur before what we call “qualifying” begins. More in the next post.

Profiling vs. Qualifying

by Catherine Brown, President

Work within “inside sales” is challenging enough, but the lack of standardization on various important terms makes it even tougher. My firm provides what we call “inside sales” contract help to other companies. We mean this to be broad, encompassing lead qualifying, research work and lead nurturing. However, not everyone means the same thing when they say “inside sales.” For example, some people call inside sales telesales or even telemarketing.

In selling and delivering our services, we and our clients must be aligned on what certain terms mean so that we are fulfilling expectations, not just contract terms. The importance of defining words properly becomes clear when sales departments’ and marketing departments’ purposes overlap in the area of account qualification, when they ask, “Is XYZ company even a target for us to be pursuing?”

A Sales organization may think, “If marketing would only provide us with qualified leads, we could focus on winning the business….” or “We just need Marketing to profile accounts so that we can go after them.” Account qualification can be broken down into increasingly specific, ever narrowing levels, and accounts are continually qualified as they move down through the funnel. So….where does Marketing end and Sales begin?

Distinguishing account profiling from account qualifying is helpful when mapping out a lead hand-off strategy. Common definitions must underlie the use of these terms so all parties work under the same assumptions about the scope of these tasks. We would love to see standard usage on these terms adopted within our industry.

 

When we at Initial Call say, “profiled,” we mean that the information sought can be gathered primarily on the internet, without a live conversation with the Buyer on the phone. When a client is looking for more—if someone has to find and reach the Buyer to answer questions, then it’s not profiling--it’s qualifying. Qualifying is gathering key market intelligence around a specific set of criteria, uncovering information that can only be learned through conversations with the prospect.

 

The next few blog topics at Initial Call will revolve around this idea of account profiling and qualifying. In our next installment:  what a profiled account really costs.

The Power of a Well-Maintained Customer Database

by Barb Cullen, VP Client Delivery

Maintaining an accurate and current database of target customers and prospects is essential for sales and marketing success. Too often I see the state of a company’s database or CRM and understand why they may be having difficulty filling their sales pipeline. Sometimes the database is focused on capturing individual respondents to a marketing campaign rather than capturing corporate attributes about whether the target company fits the “ideal customer profile.” Other times the database is outdated with old contact names, missing email addresses, and incomplete information about the company.

The first scenario is problematic in that it profiles specific individuals and progress with one specific individual. This focus is too narrow. Individuals come and go at a company. Individuals respond to marketing campaigns for different reasons: the Amazon gift cards, the free book, tickets to a sports event, or the raffle prize, or maybe even, if you're lucky, because they have interest in the end product. Salesforce.com CRM users can work out of the “Leads” section of the database or the "Accounts" section. Leads focuses too much on individuals and not enough on Strategic Account Development. However, Accounts allows Salesforce.com users the ability to continually collect more defining information about an account as a strategic target. Creating lists through Accounts rather than Leads builds up a list of individuals who work at the target account and groups them together in the “Contact” section of the database, visible under the Account name.

The second scenario I often see is a database with outdated and/or incomplete information. This situation is problematic even if a company wants to target its existing customers. Whether being faced with competitive threats in the marketplace or employee turnover at your customer sites, you want to have a means to communicate your services and to be able to do some “maintenance marketing” to keep your message in front of your customer. Maintaining accurate contact information is essential. When your internal champion leaves a company, and your contract is nearing the end date, you don’t want to be shown to the door. To extend your customer relationship, it is important to be able to communicate to the right people – having their correct names and email addresses can help you to do that.

Lastly, it is important to be conducting some kind of marketing campaigns or activities in addition to the work that your sales people are doing. Tracking your target prospect companies and marketing to them via email or regular mail is extremely important.  Taking a multi-pronged marketing approach will help your sales team to generate more sales leads and lend more support for their direct sales efforts. Mike Gospe’s book, Marketing Campaign Development: What Marketing Executives Need to Know About Architecting Global Integrated Marketing Campaigns is a practical “how-to” resource for planning marketing campaigns. Look for a review on our blog soon.

There's Nothing Wrong With Me

by Amy Keuper, VP Sales

Communicating well is foundational to success. In sales, you can quickly lose your credibility with the use of a grammatically incorrect word or phrase. Even so, using proper grammar isn’t typically a conscious pursuit. On one particular point, however, people are sipping with their pinky fingers raised, verbally speaking. They are striving for correctness but getting it wrong. 

Not one lesson in all of history seems to have stuck in the minds of American children more than the English teacher’s maxim—misunderstood and boiled down to this principle: that using “I” is proper in every sentence, no matter what. I am hearing “I” misused on a regular basis—on the news, in conversation, and on TV shows. The English teacher in me would like to set things straight. 

First of all, rest assured—you aren’t as wrong as you fear. Only my children and the veritable Country Bumpkin are in danger of regularly using “me” incorrectly as a subject: “Me and Billy are going fishing.”  One easy way to check what is correct is to say what you naturally would say if you were referring to yourself alone: “I am going fishing.” This is it folks—what your English teacher was preaching. Don’t say, “Me want ice cream.” 

The confusion comes when the subject is at the end of the sentence, usually in a comparison. You can test what is right by finishing the sentence and repeating the verb. 

Wrong: “Stacy has brown hair like me.”
Correct: “Stacy has brown hair like I have.” 

Wrong: “Their family celebrates different holidays than us.”
Correct: “Their family celebrates different holidays than we [celebrate].” 

Wrong: “I am taller than him.”
Correct: “I am taller than he [is tall].”

What your teacher wasn’t saying is that “I” is always right. As an object, “me” is correct. Even with another person’s name included, “me” is proper. 

Examples, all correct:

“If you have any questions about tonight’s program, see me afterward.”
“If you have any questions about tonight’s program, see Gary afterward.”
“If you have any questions about tonight’s program, see Gary or me afterward.” 

The rule is that when you are the subject of the sentence, “I” is the way to go. “He,” “She” and I are pronoun subjects—the being or doer unnamed. 

Example:

“I was born on September 1^st.”
“He was born on September 1^st.”
“He and I were both born on September 1^st.” 

When you are the object, “me” really is okay! “Him,” “her” and “me” are simply pronouns used as objects—something is done to, for, or with, etc. this person. 

Example:

“Mom hugged me.”
“Mom hugged Ashley.”
“Mom hugged Ashley and me.”
“Mom hugged her and me.” 

I hope this is helpful. If you have any comments about this blog entry, email I and me will respond.

What Motivates You?

by Colleen McCarty, VP Talent & Organization Development

Can we get away from the Olympics? No, not sure we even want to in these few exciting weeks…

Ann Killion of the Mercury News wrote an article about Phelps’ amazing medal run and ended it with a quote from Phelps:

"My mom and I were joking," Phelps said. "My middle school English teacher said I'd never be successful."

Killian went on to say

“that teacher probably won't be getting an autographed photo of Phelps, with eight gold medals hanging around his neck.”

But that got me wondering how many of us succeed due to nurturing and positive encouragement? And, conversely, how many of us succeed because someone said we wouldn’t?

For those of us whose success is based on obstinacy, is that a key to being a better Sales Person? There are many traits touted for success in Sales: assertiveness, self-motivating, ethical, sociable, persuasive, knowledgeable are just a few. I certainly would not argue with any of these. But one I don’t see on the lists is “contrariness.” Is the word No just the starting line of our race?

Storytelling in the Corporate World

by April Karli, Corporate Communications

As I type this I’m waiting for a tech from our telecommunications company to come fix their service to our home. I could tell you one story related to my experience with their technology that might make you think twice before signing up with them. However, I could tell you another story about their customer service, both over the phone and in person, that might cause you to come to a different conclusion.

Stories are powerful. They draw us in, engage our imaginations, and can transmit timeless messages. Recently I’ve noticed many organizations are harnessing the power of story to help them grow. Evelyn Clark of Corporate Storytelling says,"More and more organizations-nonprofits and government agencies as well as leading businesses-are discovering the power of stories to persuade, to motivate...to achieve a number of their communication goals."

Another executive who understands the importance of storytelling is David Armstrong, CEO of Armstrong International. He has authored books and produced videos and CDs about storytelling. On his blog, Armstrong suggests steps to creating your own corporate story which include determining a purpose of the story, thinking of an experience to reflect the purpose, using an employee’s name and making them the hero, keeping it short and simple, writing it down, and looking for new stories as time goes by.

How have stories helped your business? Can you think of a story about someone in your organization and tell it to us here? We’d love to hear it!