Category: Sales & Marketing

The hottest addition to the sales world right now is something called ‘Inside Sales’ or ‘Sales 2.0’, a process of selling that involves the sales team to never leave their desk and go through the entire sales cycle behind the phone, computer and other tech. Sounds perfect, right?

The inevitable shift to Inside Selling has been welcomed by many businesses out there – the costs are minimal, the tools out there create little friction and the customer is respective of the remote sales process. I’m certainly in favour of the whole ‘revolution’ but it comes with a number of issues and headaches that inevitably have driven companies back to the old process of selling or hurt them in the long run.

What I’ve decided to do is create an incredibly simple list that pin-points the problem areas of Inside Sales and gives you a way to overcome the hurdle or if  you happen to have a different way you’ve overcome the problem then drop a comment, I’d love to hear it!

Firstly – setting one of these fully functioning Inside Sales teams isn’t easy, it’s actually a lot of trial and error to find out what works and what doesn’t or more specifically what processes create the least amount of friction when your sales team is dealing with a customer. This very simple mishap is usually the reason why the Inside Sales focused business fails, the management is in fact setting up the team for failure.

1. No Leadership or Training

Straight away we’re looking failure square in the eyes because the management team has decided that the Inside Sales team can do it on their own and really don’t need much training. It’s all online and we all certainly know how to use the internet these days, sure but the entire process needs to be looked into and understood by both the management team and sales team.

The only real way anyone can do this is through the process of training and learning from an individual with experience, if the company doesn’t offer this to the Inside team then they’ve got to just go through the motions and learn from their mistakes. Mistakes are great for learning but in small amounts, without leadership or training these mistakes tend to grow and build up leading to a disfunctional sales team that sit there looking at their screen blankly.

It’s relatively simple to get over this hurdle.

Get someone on the team that’s had experience of Inside Sales and ask them to provide the needed training or if you want it done in a crash course style of training outsource the training initially and build on it internally afterwards. Don’t leave the training out of the equation, it is needed as the process is vastly different to a traditional sales role.

2. Lack of Structure

Inside Sales teams still need to have the same style of structure as a traditional sales team does. So that means that:

• There needs to be departments or separation within the team that controls and holds certain parts of the sales cycle (lead generation, closers etc)
• The team needs to know when leads get handed off, when deals get signed off etc
• Who’s in charge of account management?
• What is the sales process?

The list isn’t huge here but the basics are highlighted however with every company the needs of the team can vary so use your expertise and knowledge to answer any queries and questions yourself.

Once the structure is clearly defined the Inside Sales team will know what they’re doing with little guess work being needed.

3. Sales Cycles Are Longer

Inside sales people spend the entire day behind the desk pounding out calls and getting endless rejection. This comes with the territory but everyone needs a quick and easy win sometimes to refresh their ego and boost morale.

So if you happen to be selling products at £1000 a pop it might be worth considering creating a product or offering something of less value to initially get the customer on board and ultimately give your sales team an easy morale booster.

4. Inside Vs Outside Sales Battles

Lets face it, most sales people are incredibly competitive with an ego to match which means that in a lot of cases there will be an initial lack of respect from the outside sales team towards the inside sales team. Sounds childish but understandably the outside sales team will question the work ethic and everything else of the inside sales team.

Minor things like handing off tepid leads, cancel appointments that are well qualified or ask the inside sales team to do general admin tasks. Consider it the ‘apprenticeship’ phase but in the end a well run team needs to have no in-fighting at all.

This is where the importance of structure comes into play – define everything clearly and early, both the inside and outside sales teams need to understand what a hot lead is, when to hand it over and so on.

5. Marketing Is Disconnected

Sales & Marketing are considered to be the same thing in many cases so it’s hard to understand why there always seems to be such a disconnect between the two when put into practice. Inside selling involves the process of using social media to promote and generate leads, it also involves various other online marketing ideas.

In order to create effective marketing campaigns the sales team should be speaking with everyone, not just the marketing/inside sales team. They are at the front of the business, promoting it and learning from the people they contact. These are details that need to be shared which also brings me to the lack of co-working on marketing campaigns. When an inside sales team works on social media marketing, the outside sales team should be paying attention to what is being said and how it’s being said.

To get over this issue ensure that the sales (inside and outside) and marketing teams have meetings and consistently communicate with each other. Initially it’ll be hard but in the long run they’ll see the results too, eliminating and fear or doubts.

6. Unrealistic Goals

Management teams seem to assume that an inside sales team, because of its work style, can achieve more and ultimately should have higher/harder goals. It might be true that they can achieve more that a field sales person BUT that doesn’t mean they should be forced to work in a different manner.

Inside sales is still about generating hot leads, arranging meetings for the field sales people and ultimately moving the sales cycle along – all of these take time and patience. Setting goals that are impossible to reach without the sales team comprising their ethics and your company’s name is always a road leading to failure.

Set specific goals for each member of the team, ensure everyone is happy with them and create a desire to achieve these goals. Again setting up products and offers that the sales team can get quick wins and morale boosters will also take the team further.

7. Having a New Message

Sometimes a product will end up having a complete overhaul with the messaging which (back to the disconnect between marketing and sales teams) somehow always ends up confusing the sales teams and this includes both the inside and outside teams too.

If you happen to change the messaging of a product ensure that every single department and team understands what it is that has changed and where the positioning and messaging is now focused.

8. Endless Apps & Tools

To grow alongside the demand and growth of inside selling there has been an increase in inside sales focused or compatible apps and tools created. Which is great as we get to try out various new shiny tools and apps learning what works well and what doesn’t but the time spent trying out these things is where inside sales teams get hurt the most.

Look to minimise or at least centralise the entire list of tools everyone uses and ensure everyone has the correct training and understanding of it. In most cases people fail to adopt this new tech because they simply don’t understand it or don’t want to understand it as it tends to waste time going through a trial and error process.

Article Contributed by James Burbank

Most business owner whose business has just started to grow and who are getting into the whole marketing game find that the search for the right marketing agency is not the simplest task in the world. In fact, after a while, it becomes quite obvious that this is a task of herculean proportions and something that has to be approached with due diligence and prudence. In the following text, you will find a few questions that you need to ask yourself as a business owner when looking for your perfect marketing agency.

Will I benefit from the services of a marketing agency?

Before you actually start looking at different marketing agencies that are available to you, you need to take a good hard look at whether you actually need the services of such an agency. There are cases in which business owners hire marketing agencies simply because they think they earn enough and that this automatically means they need marketing experts.

You have to work out whether a marketing agency will be able to bring you new business and whether it will pay off for you. If it is going to be an uphill battle where you will be throwing money at an agency and they will be struggling to find a single new customer. It is a cliché, but it all comes down to the return on investment.

What do I need from my marketing agency?

Once you have definitely decided that you need a marketing agency, you need to work out for yourself what it is exactly that you need from them. You may need just a market research and a few ideas on what you can do; you may need a comprehensive marketing campaign that will last more than a year and that will involve your entire brand, it all depends.

The reason why you need to get this straight is that this will be the most important factor in choosing the marketing agency. You will need to find the experts in that particular field. It is unrealistic to expect that every marketing agency does everything perfectly.

Can I trust this marketing agency?

You will never hire a marketing agency just because their name sounds cool. You will be checking their reputability; you will be checking their track record and you will even be checking their finances if you are smart. You can find plenty of information on pretty much every agency these days and it has become very difficult for them to hide things that they do not want known. Still, with all the information that you can get anywhere you look, the best thing is to get a recommendation from another business owner that you trust.

Can I work with these people?

Sooner or later, you will meet with the people from the agencies that you have narrowed down your search to and this is where you need to ask yourself whether they are people with whom you will want to work. This is more important in this industry than in most other that may be involved with your business. For example, when you are looking for an accountant firm, you just need someone who is reputable and know their stuff.

With a marketing agency, it goes deeper. They will need to understand you and your business and you will need to be able to work with them towards getting the best possible service that you deserve. We are not saying that you need to be best friends with your marketing people, but they should be more than just a service.

About the Author

James Burbank has spent years in marketing and brand promotion for US-based businesses in Australia and Europe and currently blogs from home on a number of subjects. For anyone’s marketing needs, he always recommends Marketing Angels, a marketing firm from Sydney, Australia.

Article Contributed by Sophie Andersen

Taking part in trade shows can be really useful and fruitful for every company. By participating in such events, you get to know other companies’ tricks and strategies and what is sometimes even more important, other companies also notice you. Beside fellow businesspeople, you also get in contact with the trade visitors. One of the crucial outcomes of being present at a trade show is representing your business and products, too.

Ready-made products

When it comes to products, the best advertisement for every business is to offer the potential customers to try their products. If you make something edible, you need to have large quantities of the given goods at the stand, so that passers-by and representatives of other companies get an opportunity to try your products.

Beside your own products, you always need to have some other giveaways. If the trade show and the branch you are a part of do not actual deal with self-made production, but you sell something, always have stacks of presents for the clients. Speaking from my own experience, it is obvious that many stands and book fairs and trade shows suffer from the lack of originality and creativity. If you visit several book fairs in one year, you will see that most publishing houses give discounts for the same books and even their booths look the same at different fairs. That is not a wise marketing strategy. You always have to have a certain quantity of giveaways and promotional materials with your company’s emblem on them.

Raffle and unusual promo items

Promotional materials can really increase the number of people who attend your booth and want to buy your products. Too many trade show participants have the same approach – pens, pencils, plastic bags, T-shirts and that is about it. If you all giveaway the same promo items, then none of you will be visible to other clients. Instead of wasting your money on the pen print, you could invest in a raffle. One member of promoting staff could stand at a particularly crowded corner at the fair and hand out leaflets for the raffle. Also, the leaflets should have a small map of the show and a mark to point at your place. In addition to that, there should be a serial number of the leaflet-ticket and the time of the raffle. The prizes for the raffle could range from umbrellas with your company’s name on them to thin raincoats in your company’s colours and other unconventional items. When throwing a raffle, it would also be great that you have a large promoting banner or a promotional marquee in colours and logo(s) of your company, too.

The booth spot

A very interesting thing when it comes to trade shows is the place for your booth, too. If you know that some companies overlap with your business targets, move from them, to the area where there are no rivals. However, you need to be aware that some trade shows insist on grouping the manufacturers of similar products in the same area. Whatever the case is, you always need to try to stick out and attract customers with the tips from this text.

About the Author:

Sophie Andersen is a marketing expert at Top Hat Marquees at Sydney. She is in charge for designing promotional marquee and make them look awesome at trade shows. Sophie loves to write and share her expertise.

You may have heard it said ‘Stories Sell’.  It’s true.  We really connect to a good story and it’s a proven marketing and sales tactic.

You know this instinctively, you only buy something when you really ‘believe’ it.  And you can take any example from your own life.  Think about the last purchase you made; what was the pitch?  What did you believe when you bought it?  I can guarantee you, it was a great story.

However, I’m not writing about new ‘tactics’ here.  I want to write about something much more authentic and personal than the latest proven business building gimmick.

And what’s this got to do with your business?  Well you can be the very best in the world at what you do but if you can’t sell your services, you simply don’t have a business.

Here are the 5 reasons your business needs YOUR story and these are also the 5 ways you can build your business authentically and easily.

1. Your Story is evidence of your expertise.  What you have experienced; including your personal life events, research, education and approach, is the best evidence of why you are perfectly placed to provide your service to others.
2. Your Story creates powerful connect. When we hear your authentic story we are reminded of our own related experiences and instinctively understand that you get it!
3. Your Story is inspiring. Your potential clients are struggling to achieve something.  You have grown beyond that struggle so by telling that story you are inspiring others.
4. Your Story is the key to attracting clients.  Your story differentiates you from others in your market.  People always remember the story and be attracted by it. You show up as human, approachable, knowledgeable and most importantly, relevant.  Clients find you when you start telling your story.
5. Your Story makes you money.    Add up all of what’s said before…more connection, more expertise, more inspiration, more clients – yes, it means you will make more money and have a thriving business.  Now what business owner  would say no to that!

You need a great story.  And you don’t have to make it up.  You have a great story.  Don’t doubt it.  You story is who you are, it’s how you create your reality, it’s how you show up.

Start showing up powerfully with your authentic, compelling story – your business will thank you for it!