Top Characteristics of a Successful Sales Professional

December 20, 2011 – 3:34 pm

Acquirent has been hiring sales professionals for close to a decade now and we realize that great sales people come in all different shapes and sizes.  That said we do believe there are a some characteristics that successful sales people hold in common.  These characteristics include:

1.  Having a Positive Attitude – Sales is tough!  If you don’t have a positive attitude in sales, you will not succeed.

2.  Asking Great Questions – Without asking great questions, one can’t uncover the true pain that a prospective client is feeling and how your solution/product can help.

3.  Shutting up and Listen! – You can ask the best questions (open ended of course) in the world, but if you don’t listen to what your prospective client is saying you will not know how (and even if) you can help.

4.  Be a Product Expert – Finally you need to know your product, your competition, the industry, etc.  Once you become a product expert, you move from being a “sales guy” or “sales gal” to becoming a trusted adviser.

When recruiting sales professionals for your organization, please try and keep these key characteristics in mind as they will hopefully help you identify your next star sales professional.

Happy Selling and Happy Holidays!

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I Want to Outsource My Sales Team, Now What?

October 30, 2011 – 3:06 pm

Great!  You have done your homework, consulted the powers that be and you have determined that outsourcing your sales force is the way forward.  Congratulations on this first big step. You might be wondering, now what?  Here are a few steps to ensure that your outsourced sales campaign gets off the ground running…

1)   Find the right partner: Assuming you haven’t found an outsourced sales company yet, you need to start doing your due diligence.  Start by researching companies, setting meetings, viewing pitches and proposals and be very selective.  Ask for referrals and meet the existing sales force.  Remember, this company will not only be working for you, but with you.  Choose wisely!

2)  Get your ducks in a row:  just because you’ve hired an outsourced sales company does not mean they’ll do all the work for you – remember, this is a partnership, and for companies like ours to succeed, we need you to have some skin in the game.  Designate a point person who will be the liaison between your outsourced sales company and your business, develop realistic goals you’d like to see set, and get us all the marketing and training materials you have.

3)  Make sure your product/service is market ready:  we have fallen into this trap before where a company hired us to sell a product that wasn’t market-ready.  While this might seem like a good way to get ahead of the game, it is not.  If you are outsourcing your sales team – you must have a product to sell.  Market research is another monster all together – we’d be happy to do it for you, but make sure you know what you are getting into and be prepared.

4)  Tell us everything you have learned:  We’ll ask you – but it’s best for you to prepare us with the ups and downs of your business, what has worked, what has not.  That way, we as the outsourced sales professionals don’t waste time repeating your past mistakes.

5)  Be flexible:  Outsourced sales is not a magic solution, it’s a learning curve.  We might try one tactic and realize it’s not working and then try another.  Maybe we’ll tweak the cold call script, maybe we’ll re-vamp the offering – either way, you can be guaranteed that the outsourced sales process will evolve.  This is good – this means progress.  Be flexible and understand that we have been here before, and we know what we’re doing.

Making the decision to hire and outsourced sales company is not always easy – but on-boarding that outsourced sales company can be a breeze if you are a willing partner who does their due-diligence and works with us along the way.  Remember, we’re not just your outsourced sales company, we’re your strategic partner.

Happy Selling!

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Pitfalls When Building an Inside Sales Team

October 24, 2011 – 3:16 pm

Building an inside sales team is not easy.  As leaders in the professional outsourced sales industry, we know this better than most.  We have built over sixty inside sales teams for our clients and, over the last 8 years, have learned a lot.  Here are some common mistakes people make when building an inside sales team:

1)  Assuming building a sales team is easy.  Sales people are a dime a dozen, right? Right.  But great sales people are few and far between.  Many of our clients come to us after months and months of fruitless recruiting efforts that have produced poor or no results.  Inside sales is very strategic and needs to be handled that way.

2)  Hire the right sales manager.  Hiring the right sales manager is the difference between a successful sales campaign and an unsuccessful one.  As a professional outsourced sales company we know this all too well, which is why we hire the best and promote from within.  It is integral that you find someone who can lead your organization and has experience managing an inside sales team and a track record of success.  And remember, a great sales person usually does not make a great sales manager!

3)  You’re never out of beta-testing. Don’t quit testing.  Sales is always evolving, and yours should be too.  Never stop tweaking and adjusting the sales process to yield better results.  Listen to your sales representatives – they are in the trenches.  Figure out sales metrics and do market validation programs.  As an outsourced sales company we are constantly changing our tactics with campaigns and it is one of the many reasons we are successful.  We focus on figuring out the number of calls someone should be making, the number of converted opportunities, the number of conversations, and the number of appointments.  We focus on whatever will help to lead us to success.

4)  Have realistic goals.  As a company who focuses exclusively on outsourcing sales, we know how important having realistic goals are.  Many of our clients have a slightly inflated view of their product or service (understandably so!) and don’t realize that getting “x” amount of deals in month 1 is completely unlikely and unreasonable.  Don’t put out an unrealistic quota in terms of revenue.  This will set all who are involved up for failure.  Start small, and work up from there.

Building and insides sales team is not easy, but it can be done – especially with the help of a professional outsourced sales campaign.  Give us a call today and let’s see how we can help you build your ‘dream team’.

Happy Selling!

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Don’t Hire a Sales Team – Lease One!

October 17, 2011 – 3:14 pm

There is this notion that utilizing a professional outsourced sales company is signing away your sales force for life.  That it is some sort of permanent, irreversible move.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  Hiring a professional outsourced sales team is by no means a permanent fix (though it could be!) – think of it as leasing an office building.  If you’re not sure you want to buy or the financial capital is not there, what’s the next best thing?  Lease it!

We at Acquirent take pride in the fact that we become our clients’ strategic partners – and our strategic partners have helped many, many companies reach their goals without the permanence of hiring and housing a sales team.  If you are a company that is either just getting started, bringing a new product to market, or would like to test the waters before you dive in head first – then hiring a professional outsourced sales company might just be for you.

The benefits of “leasing” a sales team and hiring one are many.  First of all – many business owners are in the dark about how difficult it is to recruit sales talent.  When you “lease” professionals, you can rest assured you’ll be rewarded with the best talent.  We have all the recruiting tools and networks readily available and at our fingertips and we’ll use them for you.  In addition, leasing an outsourced sales team is often a much cheaper option than doing this in house.  We already have the “machine” running and all we need to do is plug you into it.  We have the infrastructure, the hardware and the software needed to get an outsourced sales campaign up and running.  Not to mention the professional staff in place to keep your outsourced sales team up and running – sales managers are famously hard to find and, lucky for us (and you), managing sales teams just happens to be our core business so it’s what we do best!

If you are considering hiring a professional outsourced sales company, fear not!  You are simply leasing a sales team.  We enter into six month or year long contracts with our clients so you can enter into an agreement you feel comfortable with.  It’s then up to us to make sure you renew!

Happy selling!

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Biggest Mistakes Made When Sales Staffing

October 14, 2011 – 11:45 am

I think we have made it very clear that sales staffing is NOT easy to do.  Sure, finding people to fill a role in today’s economy is not hard.  But finding the right people can be downright exhausting.  In the past, we have identified how to recruit great sales people as well as what to look for in a great sales person.  Today, we’re going to delve into the most common mistakes people make when sales staffing.

1)   Looking for experience over ability – some of our very best sales representatives were plucked right out of college with zero to very little sales experience.  When sales staffing, we look for “Sales DNA” – competitive nature, track record of success, challenge-hungry and hard working are just a few attributes of the “sales DNA”.  Don’t discard a person who could be your next #1 representative just because they haven’t been in sales before.  Everyone must start somewhere!

2)  Personal recommendations – we incentivize our employees to send us the resumes of their friends and peers.  After all, our employees know what it is like to work with us.  Be careful, however, because not all personal recommendations are good ones.  Just because a candidate is the cousin of your best sales person does not mean they have the same (sales) “DNA”, put them through the interview process just like everyone else.

3)  Poor preparation – it blows our minds how many people have no clue what they are doing when it comes to sales staffing.  Don’t just “wing” the interview.  Be prepared with scripted questions that will help identify the right person for the job.  I always start every interview first by a description (and tour) of our company and our offices (culture = important) and then I ask if the candidate has any questions for me.  If a candidate has no questions – that is a red flag.  But you wouldn’t know that unless you adhere to a sales staffing process so be PREPARED.

4)  Talking through the interview – I cannot tell you how many candidates have told me about interviews where they literally didn’t say a word because the recruiter/owner/hiring manager talked their ear off the whole time.  DO NOT FALL INTO THIS TRAP!  While it is important to give the candidate a clear picture of the company and job at hand, the most important part of the interview is to learn about the candidate!! Ask scripted questions and write down the answers!  You will NOT remember every candidate you see – trust us.  Let the candidate take control of the interview if they seem so inclined – this can be a good test on confidence and communication.

5)  Hiring someone you “like” – while they do say the best way to gauge whether or not someone will be good at sales is to ask yourself “would I want to go have a beer with him/her?” hiring someone just because they share a penchant for your college basketball team is no reason to hire that person.  Make sure their skills match up with the job at hand as well.  Likability is definitely a huge factor in sales success, but it should not be the only one.

Sales staffing is a tricky business, but knowing what to avoid can help you find the right sales talent, every time!

Happy selling!

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Outsource My Sales!

October 10, 2011 – 3:11 pm

So you know you want to hire a professional outsourced sales team.  You have weighed the options and done your own internal risk assessment and have determined, it is indeed worth it.  You have found a strategic partner in a top of the line sales outsourcing company and are ready to go.  So what are the steps that will be taken to get your outsourced sales campaign up and running?  Without giving away too many of our industry trade secrets, here’s what we at Acquirent will do to begin your sales outsourcing campaign.

1)  Assess prior problems – our highly effective outsourced sales management team will meet with your company to discuss past successes and failures (unless, of course, this is a product launch).  We will begin to formulate a plan and develop a sales campaign and sales cycle.

2)  Competency call – our highly skilled inside sales recruiter will have a competency call with a liaison at you company to better learn what sort of person(s) we need to hire for your outsourced sales campaign.  Directly after this – we will turn to our existing network of inside sales professionals and begin actively recruiting your team!

3)  Develop a strategy – while the recruiting is going on, our outsourced sales managers will be busy developing a strategy for you.  We will map out a timeline that will take us from Day 1 all the way to our first “goal” (which you will help determine).  We will determine who to call, when to call, and develop very specific call scripts as well as prepare material on objection-handling and rebuttals to be utilized by you professional outsourced sales team.

4)  Hire inside sales team – by now we have hand selected the best of the best for your team.  We will then have a “round robin” interview day in which you and your team will interview our top inside sales candidates and determine who is the best fit for you.  We will help you every step of the way!

5)  On-board sales team – once your professional outsourced sales team is hired, it’s time to get them on-board and trained!  We turn to you, our client, and the experts of your product to help us with training.  We will turn the sales representatives over to you for as long as necessary (anywhere between 1 day and 5 days, usually) to get them trained up on the product.  Then, we put them through an 8 week sales training course which they will take as they are ramping up with you, so that they can use what they are learning ‘real time’ and apply it as they go.

6)  Start selling – after a short “ramp up” period, your outsourced sales team will be hitting the phones and selling full time for you.  You will get weekly metrics showing our progress, as well as weekly meetings to stay on top of what we are doing.

Do you want to outsource your sales force to us?  Give us a call today and see what we can do for you!

Happy selling!

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How a Sales Team is Like a Sports Team

October 3, 2011 – 3:09 pm

When outsourcing sales, it might be helpful to liken your sales team to a sports team.  If your sales floor is anything like ours, you’ll know exactly what we mean.  Here at Acquirent we’re running a full-contact sport (okay, not really, but…) and we treat our sales representatives as exactly what they are…a team.  There are actually more similarities between a sales team and a sports team than you might realize.  Read on…

1)   Attitude is everything – As outsourced sales professionals, we know that attitude can make the difference between a win and a lose.  Do you think Rudy would have ever gotten on the field if he had a bad attitude?  No way!  It’s the attitude of a team that makes it great and will eventually lead it to victory.  The same goes in the world of outsourced sales.

2)  Envision the win.  One thing we tell all of our sales representatives before an important call or meeting is to envision the win.  You must first see success and success is then more likely to follow.  Successful athletes like Tom Brady and Michael Jordan are documented to envision victory before it happens.  They envision the baskets or touchdowns and use the power of their mind to set the reality in motion.  It works the same in sales as well!

3)  Motivate, motivate.  A team without a great leader is nothing at all.  You can have the best athletes together on one team and if they do not have a great leader, they will not be successful.  Same goes for outsourced sales. As outsourced sales professionals, we know that sales management is an integral part of a successful sales campaign which is why we hire only the best.  We motivate our representatives to do their very best, and we keep them hungry and driven to seek out that next win.

4)  Practice makes perfect.  Even the most raw talent can go wasted if not for practice.  No matter how great of an athlete you are, practice is key.  There is no substitution for working on your craft – and the same goes for sales.  In our outsourced sales business, we have daily meetings to address issues that need working on, weekly goal meetings with sales managers, and sales training seminars to make sure our sales skills stay sharp and ahead of the curve.

5)  Strategy can make up for skill. The best team does not always win, but the most strategic usually will.  In a triathlon, for example – a race can be won or lost in the transitions.  You might not be the best biker, runner or swimmer – but you can still win  race based on transitions.  When it comes to sales – we look for the most strategic way we can win more clients for our companies.  We think outside the box and look for unique ways we can get the inside track.

6)  Change plays mid-game.  When something isn’t working, it’s time to try something new.  A football coach will often call a time-out to change strategy mid-game, an as outsourced sales professionals, we will too.  We track our progress and the success of our sales efforts and if we don’t see results in a realistic time frame, we’ll change tacks and try something new.

7)  Consistency is key.  There is nothing more frustrating than an inconsistent sports team.  Play great one game, horrible the next.  What gives?  When it comes to sales – consistency is key.  You must show up every day with your A game, consistently.  Only then will you be a true success.  If there is one thing Tiger woods is – it is consistent (and we mean on the golf course).

8)  Be hungry for the win.  If there is one glaring similarity between athletes and sales professionals it is the need for competition.  Both of these groups thrive on competition and rise to the occasion when it’s presented to them.  If you don’t want the win bad enough – either on the field or in the office, you’re probably not going to get it.  It’s as simple as that.

9)  Victory is short lived – you must work to stay on top.  You don’t get to the Superbowl after winning one game – no, you must win many and you must win against the very best.  Same goes in outsourced sales.  Competition is fierce out there in the business world and sales has some of the toughest trenches out there.  You must fight to stay on top and remember never to become complacent!

So there you have it!  Is your sales team a true team?  If not, maybe you should take a trip to the nearest sporting arena and learn a few things!

Happy selling!

By admin | Posted in Outsourcing Sales, Outsourcing Telesales | Tagged | Comments (0)

Qualities to Look for When Sales Staffing

September 26, 2011 – 11:42 am

Staffing is never an easy feat, the recruiting process can be long and arduous.  However no position is harder to fill than a sales position.  Sure, sales people are a dime a dozen – but great sales people are like fine gems.  You must dig, dust off, discover, uncover and polish them.  After over six years in the outsourced sales business, we have learned a few things about sales staffing.  While great sales representatives aren’t easy to find, most of them share a few common traits.

When sales staffing make sure you look for the following:

1)   Track record of success: Look for individuals with an outstanding track record of success.  This doesn’t necessarily mean sales success, but success none the less.  Outstanding achievements, winning contests, being elected to something – all of these traits are the mark of a successful person.

2)  Confidence:  If your candidate can not look you in the eye or give you a firm handshake, show them the door.  How do you expect them to sell to your clients if they have no confidence?  The best sales representatives are confident.  And remember, there is a very fine line between confident and cocky.  Cocky is never attractive and it won’t be for your clients either.

3)  Intelligent and Creative: Sales is not a straight forward profession.  When staffing for a sales role make sure you ask probing questions that can tell you a little about these traits.  Questions like; “Tell me about a time when you had to think fast on your feet”, “tell me about a time when you thought outside the box to get a job done” will help to identify these traits. You MUST find people who can think fast on their feet while under pressure.  They must be able to find a solution where there might appear to be none…the best sales representatives are creative and will take the ball in their own hands.

4)  Excellent Communicator:  When sales staffing, the first thing you must look for are excellent verbal and NON-VERBAL communication.  Does the candidate listen intently?  Do they ask good questions?  Are they articulate and clear in their responses?  All of these are the mark of a great sales person.  Someone who hems and haws and can’t articulate a thought properly should not be in sales. In addition to verbal communication, they should excel at written communication as well – to identify this ask all our candidates for a writing sample.

5)  Loves a challenge:  Almost all of our sales representatives played competitive sports at least once in their adult life.  Athletes love a challenge, they thrive on competition – and so do great sales people.  When sales staffing, give the interviewees a small challenge; like a writing sample, and see what they do with it.

Sales staffing is not an exact science and it can be very difficult, but being able to identify the right sales talent when you see it will make the process that much easier!

Happy selling!

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Follow-up: A Key In Outsourced Sales

September 20, 2011 – 3:04 pm

Many of our clients come to us looking for outsourced sales management after a failed inside sales campaign – they are disillusioned with the sales process, mystified by the hiring of sales personnel and totally underwhelmed by what they thought was their sales management team.  Fear not, you are not alone!  Today – we’re going to focus on one area that almost all of our outsourced sales clients neglected in sales efforts past – and that is the magic of follow-up.  One thing we at Acquirent drill into our outsourced sales representatives is the importance of this critical step.  Poor follow up has been the cause of many lost accounts.  Here are some tips to make sure you don’t get dropped and end up in the void:

1.  Return calls and emails promptly. Nowadays there is no excuse to not call a prospect back or return an email within 24 hours at the very LATEST (90 minutes is ideal).  Voicemail and email make this so easy.  Do not procrastinate getting back to people – I assure you, you’re competitors won’t.  Reply or call back as soon as humanly possible.

2.  If you’re late, call.  Life happens, meetings run overtime and children get sick – sometimes you might be late for a meeting or a call, people, in general, are understanding of this…IF you call.  Everyone has a cell phone these days, use it and be very apologetic.  It wouldn’t hurt to send a follow-up apology after the meeting as well (which leads us to #4…).

3.  Post meeting or call follow-up email.  Directly following a call and/or meeting I get right on drafting a brief email re-capping what was discussed and answering any questions or issues that might have been raised during the meeting.  This should be sent anywhere between 1-24 hours after a meeting has taken place.

4.  Set a time for another call, and show up.  If there is one thing we’ve learned in our tenure as an outsourced sales company, it is that you cannot count on business coming to you.  Same goes for meetings.  It is not up to your prospect to set up a follow-up call, it is up to you.  Once you have made your pitch, give them some time to consider your offer and set up a day and time when you will call to follow up.  And make sure you show!

5.  Send reminders for appointments/meetings.  These are as important for you as well as the clients.  Remember, you selling them your service isn’t as important to them as it is to you, and it might not be there priority.  Set meeting reminders or send a reminder 24 hours prior to make sure you don’t catch them by surprise.  This will also show them how organized and professional you are, remember – you’re always selling yourself.

6.  Say “thank you”.  In our experience conducting professional outsourced sales, we have learned that there is some serious power in proper etiquette, and a little “thank you” goes a long way.  It need no be sent by snail mail (the business world often moves too fast for that anyway) – but a well-crafted “thank you” email might just put you ahead of your competition.

Whether you are in outsourced sales or building your own sales force, remember these golden rules of follow up and make sure you don’t get caught twiddling your thumbs when you should be dialing the phone!

Happy Selling!

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Benefits of Outsourcing Your Sales Force

September 13, 2011 – 3:01 pm

As one of the leading outsourced sales companies out there today, we get a lot of email from people asking us how outsourcing their sales force will help them.  Typically, the benefits and value we can add depend on the client and business, but there are a few benefits that almost any outsourced sales campaign will reap for your business, here they are:

1. Cost savings in day to day operational costs:

Hiring and housing a sales team is expensive and most don’t realize just how expensive it is. By choosing the outsourced sales route you will not only be saving the money on the infrastructure, computers, and sales tools -but you will be saving on the hiring (and, if necessary, re-hiring) costs as well.  We assume all the risk for you.  We’ll pay the salaries and bonuses, as well as covering the mounting costs of many of the sales tools used today such as CRM’s, lead generation and sales software

2. Fewer departments to deal with:

The biggest benefit of outsourcing your sales force is that you do what you are best at. If your company excels at making IT software, you are free to continue doing that. IT software development is your core job, not selling them. You do what you are best at and we’ll do what we are best at. You make, we sell for you. It’s that simple.  You don’t have to deal with a sales force, sales managers and all that goes with that because we, as your outsourced sales company, will do it for you.

3. Flexibility of Choice:

When it comes to outsourcing your sales force, the power is in your hands! Since you are outsourcing your sales department to a sales outsourcing company, you have a choice of a plethora of vendors.  Do your research and find which company will work best for you; ask for referrals, check track records of success and ask to meet the existing sales teams  – you will learn a lot about a business just doing an office visit.

4. Better Quality of service:

Don’t forget that you may be the best at developing IT software, but accept that you may not be the best at selling them. When you outsource your sales department to outsourced sales professionals, you are outsourcing to the experts.  Our core business is selling.  It is what we do every single day, all day long.  As outsourced sales professionals we will be putting our very best foot forward when it comes to selling your business.  Remember, if you don’t win – we don’t win!

Happy Selling!

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