The Pipeline

OCTOBER 18, 2013

Few send thank you notes anymore, I know that when I am the prospect, if I get a thank you note, it is so rare, I take notice, and mentally give the sender bonus points, points that may take them ahead of the other vendors. A hand written note, will just blow their mind.

Proposal 301

Proposal Vendor Buyer Meeting 301

Mr. Inside Sales

NOVEMBER 27, 2017

The below questions have been taken right from this value book: If after you’ve presented your product or service your prospect says they want or need to check on other offers/estimates/quotes, etc., Option #4: “What don’t you see with our proposal that you see in others?”. What about us would take us out of the running?”.

Proposal 124

Proposal Competition How To Insurance 124

Sales Gravy

FEBRUARY 4, 2025

Im Jeb Blountbestselling author of Fanatical Prospecting, Objections, Sales EQ, and INKED. By helping them present stronger bids or more compelling proposals, you become integral to their success. Nobody wants a vendor who goes dark when the pressure is on. Nobody wants a vendor who goes dark when the pressure is on.

Customer 80

Customer Licensing Proposal Government 80

Cincom Smart Selling

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

Quote and proposal software has generated a lot of buzz. Postings on social media, commentary from industry analysts, as well as user and vendor blog posts and white papers, all offer advice and information about automating the quote and proposal functions within the enterprise. Not everyone needs the most feature-rich systems.

Proposal 48

Proposal Software Software Scale 48

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 22, 2024

They’re having a great conversation, the prospect needs what you have, there is money available, you’re with the decision maker, and you start making some assumptions about how good this opportunity looks. So you ended the call and went to work on your proposal, an hours-long proposition in futility.

Closing 220

Closing Proposal Discount Decision Maker 220

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 14, 2014

Current Vendor. In a best-case scenario, a salesperson would turn this into 50 questions that a prospect will not want to answer because the prospects don''t have the slightest reason to spend their time answering all of these qualifying questions! Let''s discuss a few possibilities. Qualification. Current usage to capacity.

Sales Methodology 271

Sales Methodology Negotiation Proposal Analysis 271

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

Their prospects are very nice, say a lot of the right things, express interest in your offerings, request proposals, presentations and quotes, and promise to follow up. Picture #2 was the reality of winter in New England. Isn't that a lot like the sales calls your salespeople are conducting?

Decision Maker 215

Decision Maker Vendor Banking Call-back 215

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 12, 2023

Your prospects and customers use a similar process for choosing who to buy from. Things like collect five proposals, narrow the field to three, meet with the vendors, have them present, make a selection. Lyrics rarely impact my decisions (except Popsicle Toes ). Why is this important and what does this have to do with selling?

Prospecting 156

Prospecting Vendor Proposal Sales Process 156

SBI Growth

MAY 31, 2013

Here’s a great example: Rick, a sales rep with a wholesale coffee company, calls on a new prospect. The prospective company operates 25 boutique coffee shops. Switching shipping vendors at this point wasn’t an option. Sal proposes that he personally make the delivery. The other part: exceptional storytelling.

Infusion 335

Infusion Decision Maker ACT Follow-up 335

DiscoverOrg Sales

FEBRUARY 6, 2018

This is because Job title is a basic, fundamental part of the Ideal Customer Profile: Even if every other piece of the puzzle is perfect – the right industry, the right time, a perfect pitch – if the prospect is in the wrong department, or doesn’t have purchasing power … nothing else matters. Opportunity data.

Ideal Customer Profile 238

Ideal Customer Profile Data Intent Data Lead Scoring 238

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 16, 2013

If we were doing the technical work on this new feature we would have to identify all of the scenarios where the alarm would be triggered - points from which our salespeople would temporarily or permanently be operating in the dark with a given prospect or opportunity - otherwise it would be a useless feature.

Decision Maker 202

Decision Maker Proposal Vendor ACT 202

Sales and Marketing Management

OCTOBER 14, 2019

First, your decision-maker is probably talking to people from many potential vendors, not just you. Excellent listening skills, especially asking questions that show you’re interested in understanding the prospect’s needs and goals, can help you stand out from the crowd. Show an interest in your customer as a prospect and as a person.

Customer 239

Customer Closing Proposal Decision Maker 239

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 22, 2014

Let me propose several areas in which we could measure effectiveness to achieve an overall effectiveness score, while also serving as forward-looking indicators of likely business: New - There are so many sales roles today, and each has a different level of responsibility for getting opportunities into the pipeline.

Proposal 235

Proposal Sports Sales Qualified Lead Scale 235

Keith Rosen

SEPTEMBER 9, 2017

Proposal submitted, follow up done but no response from the prospect. Since 55% of selling time is wasted on unproductive prospecting, here are 20 questions that prevent prospects from going MIA, increase sales and keep you focused on the right opportunities to prevent sales frostbite. “I sent the proposal.

Prospecting 103

Prospecting Customer Sales Qualified Lead Proposal 103

Score More Sales

MAY 19, 2014

when talking directly to a prospect. when talking to a vendor. She has a huge sales opportunity with someone who asked her for a contract – not a proposal. But the prospective client did not call back when he SAID he would – has that ever happened to you? Prospect says, “This looks great.

Call-back 214

Call-back Ideal Customer Profile B2B Conference 214

Sales and Marketing Management

JULY 19, 2017

As an example, imagine a rep sitting around in a lobby, waiting for a meeting in which he or she really needs to convince a prospect to change and show contrast between you and your competitive alternatives (or their incumbent vendor, for that matter).

Training 214

Training Face-to-face Research Proposal 214

DiscoverOrg Sales

FEBRUARY 7, 2018

SPOILER ALERT : Across all categories, it’s Companies Comparing the Products of Other Vendors in Your Category. The most predictive Intent data point is Companies Comparing the Products of Other Vendors in Your Category. The most predictive data point in this category is Requests for Proposal / Pain Points.

Intent 145

Intent Data Opportunity Intent Data 145

MTD Sales Training

JANUARY 20, 2017

This blog post is not going to cover how to handle objections, instead we are going to cover the underlying reasons why prospects don’t buy from you. Objections are, after all, just reasons and points that your salespeople need answer to satisfy the prospect that your product does the job. I mean, come on!

Prospecting 120

Prospecting Decision Maker Face-to-face Case Study 120

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 29, 2013

This reminded me of the prospect that has a strong relationship with the incumbent vendor. Representing the competition were the ants - ready and willing to take anything that they could away from us. A bird was flying overhead ready to crap all over us. They sit there and wait for the perfect moment to make you look bad.

Groups 209

Groups Decision Maker Proposal Vendor 209

The Pipeline

FEBRUARY 4, 2020

AE’s should do more, especially with better handoffs; leading to more quality proposals and a higher proportion of those accepted. Buyers over the last few years have shown that they are willing to take insight from vendors, but the insights must be on the buyer’s terms. Buyer Driven. As we have shared before buyers.

Revenue 370

Revenue Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank 370

DiscoverOrg Sales

JULY 10, 2018

You are working with a decision-maker who has some skin in the game, and they’re taking your proposal seriously. shows that the more negative sentiment you get during calls, especially in later stages, means the prospect is wrestling internally – hoping you can make them feel good. “We We already use another vendor.”.

Objections 243

Objections Buyer Persona Study Decision Maker 243

Hubspot Sales

MARCH 13, 2025

But mid- to low-level buyers have the tools to evaluate offerings on their own in fact, 96% of prospects do their own research before talking to a human sales rep. I wish vendors would look at their product training costs and reallocate some funds to make their sellers better business consultants. Confusing activity with progress.

Revenue 95

Revenue Meeting Top of Funnel Forecasting 95

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

Practically speaking, most companies do not increase the number of vendors they decide to speak with. Your prospects are making the very same decisions about your demos and if your demo isn''t creating reaction #1 above, then the quotes and proposals that follow are sure to create.losses. Can wait for it to be released on DVD.

Travel 251

Travel Decision Maker Insurance Insurance 251

Zoominfo

MAY 27, 2019

In an ideal world, marketing automation can help you engage with your prospects and customers efficiently and effectively. If timed and executed effectively, content can push your prospects through your sales funnel until they become a customer. Ask them the kinds of content they use most often during their interactions with prospects.

Top of Funnel 197

Top of Funnel Lead Scoring Lead Rank Marketing 197

LeadFuze

NOVEMBER 30, 2021

Many people don†t like proposals because they are a pain, and many think it is too much of an unknown. We send out a proposal, and the prospect never responds back. Need Help Automating Your Sales Prospecting Process? Why your prospect hates your sales proposal process. It†s happened to all of us.

Proposal 52

Proposal Prospecting Hiring Vendor 52

Zoominfo

MAY 5, 2021

You’re better off getting your advertisement in front of 100 people in a single row of that stadium—as long as they’re good-fit prospects. This includes when people research solutions, topics, and vendors on their path to purchase through activities such as online searches, website visits, content downloads, and event registrations.

Segment 246

Segment Lead Rank Trends Marketing Qualified Lead 246

Sales and Marketing Management

JUNE 20, 2017

The experiment was structured to assess three areas critical to the effectiveness and reception of a price increase message: attitudes, how likely a customer is to renew, and how likely they are to switch to a different vendor. But here’s the catch: the current vendor partner is now asking for a price increase for the next two-year agreement.

Vendor 166

Vendor Hiring Discount Retention 166

Sales and Marketing Management

DECEMBER 14, 2020

In fact, Kavadellas, CEO of Georgia-based Orasi, a software developer, reseller and consulting firm, was scheduled to play a round with a client and a prospect the day after we spoke with him in November for this story. Orasi’s team of 12 field sales reps is supplemented with 10 inside salespeople who call on a second tier of prospects.

Outsourcing Services 279

Outsourcing Services Face-to-face Travel Lead Rank 279

Hubspot Sales

MARCH 27, 2023

That means reps need to provide prospects with helpful and specific resources as opposed to stuffing irrelevant information down their throats — but you can't get there if you don't understand where your prospect is coming from. I don't always engage prospects at this stage, but if I do, I use a very light touch.

Top of Funnel 124

Top of Funnel Hubspot Buyer Prospecting 124

Shari Levitin

DECEMBER 31, 2019

my prospect said to me. my prospect said to me. you’re one of 2 vendors. my prospect said to me. we’ve got 3 cheaper proposals. you’re one of 2 vendors. my prospect said to me. we’ve got 3 cheaper proposals. you’re one of 2 vendors. my prospect said to me. you’re one of 2 vendors.

Cancellation 93

Cancellation Proposal Vendor System 93

Score More Sales

OCTOBER 18, 2013

These include prospects, customers, former customers, vendors, partners, and referrers? How do you handle pre-prospects? These are the names from marketing who are potential prospects or people you find on an industry list. What is the system you have for when new contact information comes to you? How did that happen?

CRM 193

CRM Ideal Customer Profile Top of Funnel Lead Scoring 193

Hubspot Sales

MARCH 22, 2018

Many salespeople become giddy when they see an RFP (Request for Proposal) that falls within their sales area. The prospective buyer must have a clearly articulated need. An RFP is a document issued by a purchasing company to a select group of vendors they believe can meet their company needs. What Is a Request for Proposal?

Sales Qualified Lead 109

Sales Qualified Lead Proposal Vendor Decision Maker 109

Zoominfo

MAY 7, 2020

You are working with a decision-maker who has some skin in the game, and they’re taking your proposal seriously. When sales prospects offer objections, it means they’re taking you seriously. Validate Your Prospect’s Concern. Prospect: “It’s too expensive. That’s exactly where you want to be. “We A study from Gong.io

Objections 213

Objections Decision Maker Case Study Face-to-face 213

HeavyHitter Sales

JANUARY 14, 2013

 The incumbent vendor has a huge sales cycle advantage and the tendency is for them to win business by default. Based upon my research, the odds of unseating an incumbent vendor is typically about one in five.   "It's a pain to switch vendors. We naturally prefer working with our existing vendors."

Vendor 155

Vendor Face-to-face Penetration Sales Cycle 155

No More Cold Calling

MARCH 19, 2015

Create a fulfillment mindset for your prospects. My company was one of 12 vendors under active consideration. My prospect: Had a relationship with an existing vendor for basic sales training. Spent time in Europe where the existing vendor was headquartered. Finally, the buyers chose the existing vendor.

Vendor 120

Vendor Proposal Small Business Small Business 120

SBI

JANUARY 22, 2013

Converting Prospects. Talking with prospects. Talking with prospects. Proposal/quote creation. Proposal follow-up. Talking with prospects. An organization with 100M in sales should generate 28M in incremental revenue by increasing their time spent with prospects from 35% to 45%. [1]. Converting Leads.

Energy 138

Energy Revenue How To Proposal 138

SBI

APRIL 2, 2013

For salespeople, the best use of time is to spend it talking with a quality prospect. A novice might ask, “Why don’t salesperson spend all their time with prospects?” Unless the prospect says, “Holy-smokes! Converting leads to prospects. Convert prospect to opportunity. Proposal follow-up.

Revenue 129

Revenue VanillaSoft SAP Decision Maker 129