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Communication: The Foundation of Sales

Communication and Sales, especially B2B sales, go hand in hand. Very few decisions in the business-to-business landscape are made without some kind of human engagement. Effective communication between salespeople and buyers is crucial. In the process of communicating with prospects, talented salespeople focus their prospecting efforts on properly qualifying, utilizing Effective probing questions, and setting up sales opportunities that have a true “reason to meet”. Let’s dive into more technical concepts about communication.

The verbal communication process is built on four main components: encoding, medium of transmission, decoding and feedback. Encoding is the translation of thoughts. From a salesperson’s point of view, it is taking a larger, more abstract picture and breaking it down into simple terms for the buyer to easily understand. In order to enhance the encoding stage, the salesperson should focus on two things: their choice of words and tone. Using short words and phrases can keep the salesperson from rambling and losing the prospect’s interest. Having specific answers to the prospect’s questions will provide a level of transparency, ultimately leading to a more trusting prospect. The salesperson’s tone of voice should match the level of the prospect’s energy level. If the prospect seems quieter, having a loud and aggressive approach may just turn off the prospect for the rest of the conversation. (more…)

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Prospect List Development: Is Speed or Accuracy More Important?

When it comes to developing and qualifying prospect lists, the ultimate goal is to identify high quality targets who have the potential to convert into customers. Both speed and accuracy are important during this process, but should one be prioritized over the other?

Even though it sounds ideal to have an extensive list of prospects, you also want to make sure that you are reaching the right people – that you have accurate names of decision makers and their titles, validated emails, phone numbers, addresses and company descriptions. Obtaining these items is most certainly time-consuming. So how do we justify our time commitment in cleaning up our prospect records (i.e. maintaining a clean CRM)? Consider the following advantages and disadvantages of both speed and accuracy during the prospect list development process and check out our conclusion on which is more important: (more…)

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Pandemic hasn’t tempered coffee’s popularity

Published in Vending Times on April 19, 2021

Coffee is an essential part of the convenience services industry, especially considering the number of Americans who drink coffee every day has increased by 5% over the past five years, according to The National Coffee Association. In a recent report, NCA highlighted how the average American coffee drinker drinks over three cups of coffee per day. The coffee and beverage industry has seen a lot of changes over the last few years, and even more so due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Luckily for the coffee industry, 75% of coffee drinkers say the pandemic has not changed their coffee consumption. Check out the trends below to better target potential business prospects and consumers. (more…)

Jessie Geevers Business Trends, Trends and Research, Vending, Coffee and Micro-Markets Comments Off

How to Implement an Effective Lead Scoring Sales System

What is Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is a methodology that is shared between both Marketing and Sales that determines a lead’s sales-readiness. The process ultimately creates a list of leads that are compared and ranked based on which are most ready to purchase, also known as the “hottest leads”. The rank is assessed by the Marketing team and, when appropriate, turned over to the Sales team to engage the lead. Walk away from this article with at least this one action item: Rate each prospect A, B, or C for better segmenting in the way they are given attention.

The basics of lead scoring compares explicit and implicit information, as well as active and latent behavior. Explicit data refers to the information about the physical company you are prospecting, and can be broken down into two categories: firmographic and demographic. Firmographic information consists of the company’s location, the industry they are in, the number of employees they have, and other things about the company. Demographic information measures how the prospect fits your targeted audience by investigating specific job title or role, purchasing power, and the years of experience. On the other hand, and according to Nurture, implicit information analyzes the behavior of your prospects. This can be extracted through their actions, so if your prospect has registered for a webinar or your newsletter, it shows they may be interested. If your prospect has unsubscribed from your email, however, that would show they are not interested. (more…)

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20 Things We’ve Learned in Sales Prospecting Over 20 Years

It’s hard to sum up 20 years of industry experience in one article, but we are going to try. We are so excited to celebrate 20 years of providing B2B Appointment Setting & Lead Generation services, as well as Integrated Marketing solutions! Over the years, we’ve gained extensive sales knowledge that helps us provide continued value to our clients. After brainstorming as a team, here’s a summary of what we learned, particularly as it relates to the prospecting bucket of the sales process:

1. Maintain a Clean CRM.

Without a well-designed and well-utilized CRM, there is no way to organize a productive day. If you don’t know who your prospects are, how do you expect to nurture them and build brand recognition with them? If you don’t have a CRM, work on getting one, and use Excel for the time being.

2. Take Great Notes on All Prospect Conversations.

You may have a great memory, but why would you crowd your brain up with information from hundreds of conversations or rely on it, for that matter? Reflect on the interaction and enter all relevant information they relayed to you. Before your next call or email, revisit your notes to be precise and show you were listening.

3. Quality Prospect Lists Yield Better Results.

While purchasing a third-party list might be appealing cost-wise and a time-saver, the data will be outdated and require hours of thorough qualification work to update. Be prepared to Invest in a quality list – the growth of your business relies on it. Whether your team organically builds it in-house, purchase a list or have it vetted by a skilled call team like MarketReach, better data yields better results. (more…)

Jessie Geevers Appointment Setting, Lead Qualification Process, MarketReach Blog, Prospect List Management, Sales, Trends and Research Comments Off

How to Keep Prospects Engaged on an Insurance Sales Call

Let’s face it, keeping the attention of a prospect is hard. As a Producer, it’s sometimes difficult to differentiate from competitors. You will often encounter people who don’t have the time to talk, aren’t interested in listening to your agency’s pitch, or who will hang up immediately without giving the time to prove the value of your call. Oh, and we’re still smack in the middle of a Pandemic to add the icing on the cake! In a previous blog post, we provided some tips on how to gain a prospect’s attention during an introductory call. These tips included taking their guard down, using vocal variety, and asking smart questions. But, gaining a prospect’s attention is only the first step, getting them to stay on the phone, and engage is the next step. Consider these tips to keep a prospect on the phone once you’ve gained their attention: (more…)

Jessie Geevers Insurance, Sales Comments Off

How to Keep Prospects Engaged on a Sales Call

Let’s face it, keeping the attention of a prospect is hard. You will often encounter people who don’t have the time to talk, aren’t interested in listening to a pitch, or who will hang up immediately without giving the time to prove the value of your call. In a previous blog post, we provided some tips on how to gain a prospect’s attention during an introductory call. These tips included taking their guard down, using vocal variety, and asking smart questions. But, gaining a prospect’s attention is only the first step, getting them to stay on the phone and engage is the next step. Consider these tips to keep a prospect on the phone once you’ve gained their attention: (more…)

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Convenience Services Operator Sales Tips For a Rebuilding Year

Published on Vending Times Feb. 22, 2021

After a long and arduous year, 2021 brings a fresh start. Now is the perfect opportunity to revamp your company’s sales and marketing plan if you haven’t yet. All over the country, we have spoken to convenience services operators that have lost from 20% to 40% of their business due to a work-at-home environment that is a little more longer-lasting than we would have imagined. Those that have suffered the most have a better portion of their business in the white collar space. But – have hope – there are brighter days ahead, and there is something you can do about it. (more…)

Jessie Geevers Sales, Vending, Coffee and Micro-Markets Comments Off

Adjust Your Value Proposition to Fit New Risks

—Reprinted with permission from PIA Management Services Inc.—

Amanda Puppo
CEO, MarketReach Inc.

This past year, new risks are emerging that are affecting insurance agencies. According to a recent report, “… while insurance as an industry may be slow to change, its risk environment is not.”1 Amid the developing risks in the digital realm, the physical environment and the mid-pandemic world, your agency is figuring out how to adapt its value proposition to meet customers’ needs. This article will discuss some areas to consider when re-evaluating your agency’s offerings.

What is value proposition?

Your agency’s value proposition is arguably the most vital element of your overall marketing messaging. A value proposition explains how your product solves customers’ problems or improves their situations. Let’s face it, it’s not always easy for agencies to differentiate from one another. From our work helping insurance agencies get sales appointments with their prospects, differentiating (on paper) has proven to be the most challenging piece of the sales process—but it is the most important first step toward an effective sales strategy. In order to consistently provide value and remain competitive in the market, adapt your value proposition based on the world around you. (more…)

Jessie Geevers Insurance Comments Off

Prospect Qualification and Appointment Setting to Land More Meetings

This article was published on December 21st, 2020 in Insurance Journal.

The objective of prospecting is to find quality opportunities to narrow the sales funnel, and then consistently target that focused group with marketing messages to get noticed. For insurance brokers, you have the luxury of finding third party list sources that start you off knowing key data about your prospect universe. Instead of chasing non-qualified prospects — or worse, not even knowing who your prospect universe even is — prospecting followed by properly executed appointment setting leaves no rock unturned.

Every prospect on your list is a new opportunity to qualify, disqualify, set a callback or land a sales meeting for a producer. Phone outreach is the best way to land more sales appointments and the only way to determine if, in fact, the opportunities in your local universe or target industry are sellable. Phone outreach is also one of the only ways to incite two-way communication between a buyer and a seller, which will then lead to more closed deals.

What Is Strategic Prospecting Through Appointment Setting?

Appointment setting, also known as telemarketing, is based on strategically conducting calls in order to schedule introductory sales meetings with decision-makers. For best results, the prospects are pre-qualified through a qualification process, based on specific parameters set by your agency. Typically, to get in the door with workers’ compensation or property/casualty insurance, the qualifier is either total premium, or at least, staff size. Chasing opportunities that equate to less than $1,500 in annual commission is not good use of time or marketing dollars. Instead, reserve those opportunities to close for inbound only… Read more

Jessie Geevers Appointment Setting, Insurance, Lead Qualification Process, MarketReach Blog, Prospect List Management Comments Off