Test Your Sales/Marketing Knowledge
Before viewing this content, test your knowledge of effective Sales and Marketing techniques with a question from one of our Skills Assessments!
You have been given a list of 100 large businesses -- the Fortune 100 -- to call. Your goal is to get at least 10 appointments with their CFOs. But after calling each one many times, you've only gotten five appointments. What do you do?
a -
Keep calling until you get five more appointments.
b -
Ask for a new list.
c -
Change your pitch, and then try again.
d -
Take a break, and start again after you're refreshed
The correct answer is (c). Getting five appointments certainly shows some success, but given the information provided in the question, we have to assume that the expectation (or need to produce leads,) is greater. The question implies that you're limited to just those 100 companies, which is common in B2B telemarketing, so asking for a new list at this point (i.e. without having changed the pitch,) is probably unreasonable. But making no changes, as implied by option (a), after making 300 calls is like the definition of insanity -- doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. In fact, the pitch should have been changed sooner. Finally, taking a break may be a good idea, but without changing something fundamental about the approach, it probably won't do any good.
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Recruiting and Coaching
Let's face it: Human beings can be a challenge.
Finding people who actually know what they're doing, when it comes to Sales and Marketing, is hard enough.
But do you even know what to look for?
Given the high turnover rate among Sales and Marketing professionals today, recruiting seems more like a crapshoot than an investment.
At LeadGen.com, however, we can help you find the right people to fill those key Sales and Marketing slots.
But more importantly, we can help you define, staff and manage those positions in a manner that will enable them to achieve their objectives, and for you to achieve yours, too.
It Starts with the Right Strategy
Here's the sad truth: With even the best personnel, and even the best training, having the wrong Marketing or Sales strategy means you're probably going to fail. So the most important thing to do, before you ever start recruiting, is to make sure that your strategy is likely to work.
But think about the problem here for a moment. On the one hand, it makes sense to hire based on your strategy's need for particular talents. So you should develop the strategy first, and then hire, right?
On the other hand, you may need to hire people in order to help you develop your strategy.
How does that not create a Catch-22?
At Leadgen.com we let you start by making sure that your strategy is actually going to work. And instead of looking for "saviors" and "rainmakers" who don't exist, overpaying and praying, or engaging in self-fulfilling prophesies, we believe in helping our clients hire competent people who can execute an effective strategy that we help develop.
We then help you design the job, and the recruiting plan, to attract people who fit, and who can get the job done. We test candidates according to proven skill filters. And we present options who we think you (and, if appropriate, we) can work with. We then help on-board them, train and coach them, and make sure they - and you - get the results you're looking for.
In other words, we don't throw you a bunch of candidates, and wish you luck. We first help develop a strategy that's likely to work. We recruit people who have the skills and experience needed to execute that strategy. We tee them up. And then we coach them - tweaking the strategy as necessary - until they're successful.
There are two main job categories where we specialize:
Marketing Management
If you want us to make sure you achieve your goals then we're going to need to be intimately involved in the development of your Marketing strategy.
We can then recruit and work with your Marketing VP, Managers and staff to make sure you get the results you need.
Sales Management
We won't be responsible for closing sales for you without an equity stake. But we can help make sure you have Sales Leadership, Sales Teams and a Sales Management process that drives opportunities through your funnel to a successful close.
In other words, we don't leave when the recruiting is done. We stick around and actually make sure they perform.
The End Result: Funnel Management
Funnel Management is where the "rubber meets the road." It's making sure you have enough opportunities coming into the top of the funnel. It's making sure the leads are qualified, and that they get pushed through the funnel. And it's making sure that profits (and satisfied customers) come out the other end.
When you use LeadGen.com we can participate in your weekly Funnel Management meetings to make sure things close. And it's also how we get feedback on how the program is doing so we can assure continuous process improvement.
And that's not a Catch-22. It's how the job actually gets done.
So whether you're looking for one person or fifty, we can help you build a high-performing organization.
It's all part of the One-Stop Shop.
