The Sales Hunter

JULY 23, 2019

To be great at prospecting, you don’t have to be born with the “sales gene.” Commit to prospecting, regardless of what else needs to be done. Use multiple processes that fit each segment they prospect. Work consistently to improve their process and more quickly engaging the prospect. Use the telephone heavily.

Prospecting 242

Prospecting Buying Cycle Social Media Segment 242

Zoominfo

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

So how can you scale communications with prospects and leads in the space between nurturing and closing a deal? They are a component of campaigns where individual readers (who could be possible prospects) are sent crafted messages after they set off a configured trigger. How Do You Set up Email Automation? Basic Steps. Technical Steps.

Prospecting 262

Prospecting Scale Lead Nurturing How To 262

SBI Growth

FEBRUARY 16, 2013

In sales, knowing when a prospect is in the market is the Holy Grail. This means prospects are active (not latent) at specific times. These markets have natural buying cycles. Sometimes they are because of product life cycle, or evolving technology. If you miss the window, you can cross that prospect off the list.

Inbound 317

Inbound Marketing Buying Cycle Guidelines 317

The Pipeline

MAY 28, 2019

To succeed in prospecting, in fact, in any element of sales, you need to own your time. As alluded to above, all humans fall into this 24-unit paradigm, including prospects and clients. This provides a couple of specific ways sellers can use the time to improve buying and selling. Return On Time.

Buying Cycle 309

Buying Cycle Face-to-face Lead Scoring Lead Rank 309

SBI Growth

AUGUST 25, 2013

Instead, their buyer was engaging with sales later in their buying cycle. The frontline of the buying cycle is research and information gathering. In 2011, the Sales Executive Council reported the average B2B buyer engaged with a vendor 57% of the way through their buying cycle. The reason was simple.

Collateral 314

Collateral Buying Cycle Software Software 314

The Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

While it is true that the only reason for a prospecting call is to set up the first formal interaction, there is so much more that can be accomplished. One thing that many fail to do in prospecting calls is set the momentum for the Discovery and beyond. Most are focused on and working on getting that primary directive right.

Prospecting 210

Prospecting Harvest Call-back SME 210

Zoominfo

DECEMBER 28, 2020

They’re customers’ verbal buying signals—the cues your sales agent homes in on when talking to a prospect. And they’re online buying signals—the data trail—that prospective buyers leave as they research solutions online. Additionally, teams that harness the buying cues benefit from more precise and efficient sales cycles.

Lead Rank 309

Lead Rank Intent Data Closing Buyer Intent 309

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 25, 2020

We get so much about prospecting wrong. We contact other prospects, only to pitch our products and services, ending with, “Are you interested, can I invite you to a demo.” We inundate prospects with email after email, call after call, LinkedIn messages, texts, everything. We tend to treat prospecting as an event.

Prospecting 166

Prospecting Ideal Customer Profile Sales Qualified Lead Buying Cycle 166

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 16, 2025

For example one sales person at a client happens to be outstanding in prospecting. You would think she’s making her number, but she isn’t–she’s not pursuing the volume of deals she needs to make her number, she hates prospecting—again, she has full cycle responsibility.

Objections 119

Objections Face-to-face Maximizer Buying Cycle 119

Score More Sales

JANUARY 31, 2012

You’ve listened online and are following your prospective customer – the one you are about to close a big deal with- socially via every means possible. Through a very strategic conversation with your prospect, both they and you are in agreement, and things get moving forward. Consulting. Be open to an alternative strategy.

Lead Rank 275

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Pipeline Top of Funnel 275

The Pipeline

MARCH 7, 2019

Buying cycles have expanded more than measurably. Other sources confirm this trend in lengthening buy cycles. On the field, that is with a prospect in Discovery, sellers need to be counter-intuitive. Many working on old timeframes and presumed related work-flows, get frustrated as the cycles stretch.

Buying Cycle 244

Buying Cycle Commission Education Buyer 244

Sales and Marketing Management

AUGUST 14, 2017

My definition of prospecting is trying to take prospects from latent to active need. Another way to phrase that is to say that: Prospecting is looking for people that aren’t looking. There are several advantages of making proactive attempts to start buying cycles: You can start at levels that have the authority to create budget.

Gatekeeper 249

Gatekeeper Buying Cycle Call-back Face-to-face 249

Zoominfo

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

Your sales engagement platform might tell reps when to send an email, but it has no idea if a prospect is actually in a buying cycle. Integrate Sales Tools into a Unified Platform Prospecting, forecasting , sales engagement, and conversational intelligence should not operate as standalone systems. The list goes on.

Strategy 147

Strategy Scale Marketing CRM 147

The Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

Perhaps it speak to their attire when they are asked to telephone prospect). But if managers were to actually use these tools, they would learn that sales cycles are much longer than many pretend, all while buying cycles are running much longer than buyers themselves expected when they started their buying cycle.

Buying Cycle 203

Buying Cycle Sales Cycle Quota Retail 203

SBI Growth

JANUARY 13, 2014

You may need to call on customers and prospects in unfamiliar areas. This can drastically reduce your time spent planning and prospecting. Offer to buy them a drink at the upcoming sales kickoff meeting. Ask for insights on key customers and prospects. Understand your customers buying process before throwing up solutions.

Territories 335

Territories Ideal Customer Profile Call-back Decision Maker 335

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 28, 2012

Are you able to track the online behavior of your prospects and leads? Are you able to scale personalized communications to your prospects and customers? Does your content reflect what your buyers and prospects are interested in, or just talk about your product and services? Do you have a systematic way to qualify your leads?

Lead Generation 317

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank Lead Scoring 317

The Pipeline

DECEMBER 18, 2018

But there is a fundamental question that salespeople fail to take into account, and if they did, they would find it changes the way they see the prospect, and how the prospects respond as a result and become customers. But in how many times have they actually done this, this case how many times have they gone through a buying cycle?

Buying Cycle 247

Buying Cycle Buyer Face-to-face Objections 247

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 17, 2013

It led to a significant number of comments with one of them being this question: "Dave, in your opinion, with all the training that is available and has been delivered to sales people over the years, how come sales people still fail at executing an effective approach to qualifying a prospect. Forget what we want to call the approach.

Decision Maker 269

Decision Maker Consultative Selling Buying Cycle Proposal 269

SBI Growth

APRIL 26, 2013

What things stimulate them to enter a buying cycle. How buying decisions are made. CALL TO ACTION: If your buyer research is limited to customer & prospect surveys, there’s a gap. What insight are you specifically looking to gain? For example: What are they doing when they are not in the market for your solution.

Customer 316

Customer Buyer Persona Survey Demand Generation 316

Anthony Cole Training

JUNE 11, 2013

Let''s pretend that you have the ability to create the buying and selling process of your product exactly the way you would want it to work. At The Objective Management Group, Dave Kurlan, the president of the company and creator of the sales force evaluation, defines this as "Buy Cycle".

Buying Cycle 195

Buying Cycle Education Objections Insurance 195

DiscoverOrg Sales

AUGUST 7, 2018

Your prospects are out there right now, hunting for a solution to a problem you can solve. These signals, aggregated across a company, and measured against normal levels of baseline activity for a given topic can be a strong indication of purchase intent and they often surface long before prospects visit your site or your competitors.

Intent Data 313

Intent Data Intent Data Lead Rank 313

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Does the stage of the opportunity logged in CRM sync with where the customer is in the buying cycle? Outward-in research: Win/loss interviews determined: LinkedIn Groups is where prospects are discussing our product frequently. White papers offer prospects the greatest deal of information about our product.

Data 267

Data Analysis Sales Operations Buying Cycle 267

Score More Sales

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

Work closely with marketing so that you are getting good educational content to where your prospective customers are before they contact you. According to IDG Connect*, less than 40% of buyers say they spend their time in the buying process either interacting with your sales team or reviewing promotional content. Is it clear?

Top of Funnel 284

Top of Funnel Lead Rank Lead Scoring Lead Nurturing 284

SBI Growth

AUGUST 16, 2012

Simply put, you have to drive your own brand to ensure that prospects are finding you when searching for options. The reality is that B2B buyers today will progress almost 60% of the way through the buying cycle before they ever engage a sales rep. Your prospects are doing the same. Your prospects are doing the same.

Social Media 290

Social Media Lead Rank Ideal Customer Profile Networking 290

MTD Sales Training

JULY 26, 2016

Instead, think about how you can get the prospect to think of what you have in terms of how it will benefit them. It may sound something like this: “Tom, many businesses in the construction industry have been able to save over 15% in their long-term buying cycles by using our preferred supplier status discounts. Happy selling!

Examples 120

Examples Prospecting Decision Maker Buying Cycle 120

No More Cold Calling

FEBRUARY 14, 2013

By virtue of selling more effectively you will naturally compress the customers’ buying cycle. Compressing their buying cycle will not only win you more orders, it will create more time for you to sell to additional prospects. Success begets success and you have kick-started your virtuous sales cycle.”.

Sales Cycle 179

Sales Cycle Buying Cycle Lead Scoring Lead Rank 179

Score More Sales

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

Take time to get to know more probable prospective buyers. Learn about their buying cycle, not your selling cycle. Get educated on professional strategies for brand building online before you start throwing messages to valuable prospective buyers so that you don’t prevent or damage relationships.

LinkedIn 247

LinkedIn Referrals Buying Cycle Twitter 247

The Sales Hunter

MAY 23, 2013

The sales cycle is shortening because of one thing, and that is the amount of information available on the internet. What this means is prospecting does not have the same merit for customers as it used to. This meant a good prospecting salesperson could at least generate a large number of introductory sales calls.

Sales Cycle 199

Sales Cycle Cold Calling Consultative Selling Education 199

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 14, 2022

Some observations: This presentation was intended for initial meetings with prospective customers. I hope the presenters were coached to thank the prospect as they closed the presentation. And this is what we must initiate in our initial conversations with the prospect/customer, reinforcing through their entire buying cycle.

Prospecting 110

Prospecting Face-to-face Buying Cycle Meeting 110

Sales 2.0

MARCH 4, 2012

This happened because a sales person was proactively prospecting not because we have a great website, great SEO or a great blog. But I am a fan of smart prospecting. Sure they may decide down the line here to send someone out to do some web research on alternatives to our product but who has the edge then?

Top of Funnel 218

Top of Funnel Funnel Cold Calling Inbound 218

The Pipeline

JULY 30, 2019

I’d like you to take a look at the marketing material or collateral you use to prospect and sell. Most materials provided to salespeople or made available for buyers directly is geared towards one type of prospect. But the vast majority of salespeople I meet admit that they need to sell to other prospects as well.

Buyer 277

Buyer Collateral Harvest Quota 277

Zoominfo

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

So how can you scale communications with prospects and leads in the space between nurturing and closing a deal? They are a component of campaigns where individual readers (who could be possible prospects) are sent crafted messages after they set off a configured trigger. How Do You Set Up Email Automation?

Prospecting 130

Prospecting Scale Lead Nurturing Campaigns 130

The Pipeline

JULY 9, 2019

Every journey has a beginning, middle and an end, and this is true for a buying cycle and sales cycle. I am sorry I don’t buy the customer-centric excuse, always there for them, your high margin customers don’t expect that. By Tibor Shanto. They are not looking for a pinball bouncing from one cc line to another.

Travel 291

Travel Maximizer Microsoft Face-to-face 291

Hubspot Sales

MARCH 20, 2018

When we talk about objection handling in sales, it is often focused on the later stages of the buying cycle, usually during negotiations. A crucial yet overlooked aspect of objection handling occurs at the very beginning of the buying process, during prospecting. Prospecting is hard. How could they be?

Objections 145

Objections Prospecting Call-back How To 145

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 29, 2012

Culture at another firm required Sales Reps to do their own prospecting and sales. Most sales were incremental or competitive displacement when prospects were in an active buying cycle. The IC plan was changed to diminish Rep prospecting. Will Reps be able to break their old habits?

Compensation 253

Compensation Hiring Incentive Incentives 253

Sales Hacker

DECEMBER 18, 2020

You’ll be seen as a combatant, and your prospects aren’t going to be heard. If you take the time to really listen to what your prospects are saying, and if you work with them to explore their ideas and issues, you’ll be seen in a much more positive light. 3 You and your prospect should be on the same side.

Objections 133

Objections Prospecting Ideal Customer Profile Sales Qualified Lead 133

No More Cold Calling

AUGUST 16, 2018

The best prospecting strategies require a human touch. McKinsey also created a template of what this human/digital communication preference looks like throughout the buying cycle, based on their surveys of business buyers. Believe that? Far too many sales reps do. They think that digital rules. Read the rest of the article.).

Fashion 219

Fashion Buying Cycle Cold Calling Survey 219