[FONT=Verdana]Yes, it is a regular practice to augment field or senior sales with inside sales to produce leads. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]It is a good idea because most people wonÂ?t prospect unless closely supervised. Inside sales people are in a call-center environment, so they are closely supervised.[/FONT]


[FONT=Verdana]Aside Â? I have a large, global software client whose call centers I was training on outbound calls. The top call center was in Slough, U.K. They were significantly better in all metrics than the other call centers, to include sales per person. When I was there they were complaining about the fact that they were the best call center in the worst facility. It was a big old warehouse, entirely open, and everyone could see everybody all the time. But they were happy that they were moving to a new facility in the next quarter. I was back after they moved. It was nice. Everyone had their own cube. No-one could be seen unless you went in their cube. It was pretty, private and quiet. Guess what happened to their metrics after they moved?[/FONT]


[FONT=Verdana]Inside sales doing the outbound, lead gen is usually justified on the basis that the senior sales person's time is too valuable. The real reason is that no-one wants to do it. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]An outbound call is like the 30 seconds you buy on a Super Bowl commercial - brief and expensive.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Who is best in that 30 second window - the most senior or the most junior people? [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]In a typical day of effective outbound calling a person will get in 100 dials and talk to five people. Much of the day is wasted in the space between actual contacts.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]A better solution is Connect and Sell.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]It is an outbound calling service with a team of people dialing for you. They donÂ?t talk to people, but when they get them live, they pass them to you. Your callers will talk to five people in an hour vs. five in a day. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]I thought it was too good to be true - and I worried about the 'delay' - so I told the Connect and Sell folks I'd have to try it before I'd recommend it.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]I've logged 4 hours - personally have done better than promised - 10 conversations every hour.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]This gets rid of the time argument. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Very likely most salespeople will give you 100 reasons this isnÂ?t a good idea. That's because time was never the real issue. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Good sales people will love it and you will figure out whoÂ?s weak quickly.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]IÂ?d suggest, if you try it, that you do it with just one person Â? your best one Â? as an invitation-only thing. If you force it on everyone they will push back If itÂ?s a perk, then theyÂ?ll all want it.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Contact:[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Dan Harding[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana](703) 862-6944[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]dan.harding@connectandsell.com[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][COLOR=black]http://www.connectandsell.com/[/FONT][/COLOR]

[FONT=Verdana]I donÂ?t endorse much. This is the single best innovation in selling in the last ten years.[/FONT]

Hi There,

I think you should also consider a referral program to help your sales person prospect effectively. If you can secure referred leads for your existing install base your closing ratios will drop and your profits will increase. For example a client of mine selling SaaS with an inside sales team used to have a 63:1 closing ratio with cold prospecting. They now work from 100% referrals and have an 80% closing ratio. You do the math! :D Their current clients are motivated to send referrals because the program rewards them with 1 free month of the service for every sale that closes. Now...I am NOT saying that giving away products and services is the right thing for you to do. I AM saying that if you can create an effective referral program by rewarding your current clients you can reduce your marketing costs and dramatically close more leads without having to add more headcount.

Absolutely, enhancing lead generation is always worth the effort.

Our company is based in New York and we use a telemarketing group from California. They employ retired businesspeople who are able to get past gatekeepers and get 'C' level contacts.

It costs us about $2K for a completed 'C' level meeting - but it's worth every cent. We don't pay for poorly qualified meetings or "no-shows". If a lower level replacement executive turns up on the day, we halve the payment.

We have been approached by plenty of companies offering outsourced services - it gets down to quality at the end of the day. Quotes seem to range from around $700 - $1500 per completed meeting.

I have been getting mail-bombed by a company with a fairly unique idea recently. They attend conferences and collect business cards from senior execs at the exhibitions, and as many as they can from senior attendees. You subscribe to it online. It is called Cardbrowser - sure you can google it to find them. If I remember rightly they focus on High tech and Life Sciences industries (I have nothing to do with this company by the way).

With lead generation you need to hold regular team meetings to make sure the marketers are comfortable with your latest pitch, new customers, latest collateral etc, and try to invent some promotions that vary the work they do. We get a weekly report on all prospects and a monthly summary. Our marketers join the first meeting (often a web conference) by phone and take meeting notes. They update our records in SalesForce as well.

Do it, just manage the quality.

Phil Brown