I have been selling for many years. As the VP of Sales at InsideSales.com, I do not usually give demos of our PowerDialer for SalesForce software. Today, however, I took the opportunity to present to Brian Geery, Interim VP of Sales at Sustainable Minds and a managing partner at Sales Productivity Architects. Brian was a referral from a friend and sales expert, Trish Bertuzzi of the BridgeGroup. I have been evaluating what InsideSales.com can do to improve our game and increase our sales growth in 2012. I figured that doing the demo would not only clear my mind, but also get me close to our product and a prospect.
My demonstration was not as polished as one of my best salespeople, but it lasted the standard 45 minutes, and it covered in content and form, what a standard demo would include. It was also received favorably with the prospect requesting a formal proposal. It is good to know that an old dog still can do a few tricks!
At its conclusion, Brian offered a personal critique. Simply stated, “The demo was good, however, I think you could sell more, faster, if your demonstration was less about what your software does and more about how it solves my problems.” Brian was exactly right!
Dreamforce ’11-Day 3-InsideSales.com Having Best Dreamforce Ever!
1 September 2011 — Ken Krogue
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We are hearing that 45,000 people have registered for this Dreamforce and we have already talked with hundreds and are well on our way to giving away over 300 sweatshirt hoodies at the show!
Dave Elkington and I were at the show along with Thomas Oldroyd, our Sr. Director of Marketing, Michael Critchfield, our VP Sales and many of his team.
Thomas awarding ResponseAudit to #7 Best Response – Treehouse Interactive
Dave and I each gave 3-4 seminars in our meeting room that was packed to the ceiling with 450 hoodies and 8 nice leather chairs for folks to relax and learn about our Harvard research from Dave or 8 Best Practices from me.
RJ Tracy was busy giving live interactive demonstrations every half hour and worked circles around both Dave and I while the team answered questions from literally thousands of enthusiastic attendees.
RJ Tracy giving a live demo of PowerDialer for Salesforce 4.0
Scott Gardner, Mark Gaudette, and Brandon Byrge were moving full speed the entire time!
Rather than avoiding black cats and cowering in fear from triskaidekaphobia, the team at InsideSales.com decided to spend some time on Friday, May 13 at the Food & Care Coalition offices in Provo, Utah. Ten InsideSales.com volunteers worked and cleaned the kitchen, and served meals to Coalition patrons.
Robb Young, Director of Operations stated afterwards, “This was so much fun and they [the Coalition] were extremely grateful for our time and effort serving their facility. We will be participating in more of these service projects throughout the year and we encourage employees to come and participate. This is a great way for us to contribute to our community and help those that are less fortunate.”
The Food & Care Coalition was founded in 1986, and incorporated as a 501c(3) non-profit organization in 1988. Since that time, the Friends of the Coalition has expanded its operations from meals and clothing to providing community workshops, job training for patrons, an in-house dental clinic, and more.
By the end of 2011, the Coalition hopes to complete its new live-in residence facility for Utah County at-risk populations, and establish new training opportunities […]
A Gatling Gun Needs Lots of Ammunition – Our Favorite List Providers
21 January 2011 — Ken Krogue
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Seven years ago we set out to build the ultimate cold-calling technology. If sales is a numbers game, then the logic is that a PowerDialer can help reps go from making 35-40 calls a day to 200 or even 300. That’s great if you have enough leads to call. Or if you make enough calls to make contact.
And it is especially important when you realize that it takes 8-12 calls to make sure you have the best chance of making contact. Our research shows most reps call 1-2 times and give up.
To me leads are people who find me and I call them back. They have need.
A list is people who I find and call and try to generate interest and turn it to need. Occasionally I stumble upon the golden contact who has need when I call.
In just a few days we have spoken with Hoovers, InsideView, Jigsaw, and Zoominfo. We get asked all the time; who is best. Over the years we have tried them all and our clients try them all. In fairness, they change quite often. So we will keep trying them.
I have to honestly say the answer is the one I hate when people give […]
Today I just wanted to take the time to inform readers about a non-profit organization that we recently started working with because they deserve some very positive publicity.
The Center for Women and Children in Crisis administers facilities and programs in three locations in Utah for women and families suffering from the effects of abuse, violence, and sexual assault.
I don’t want to promote our involvement with them other than to say that we’re incredibly pleased to be able to help the CWCIC in an upcoming project, and to make other local and national citizens aware of the work they do, and of the many volunteer opportunities they provide.
You can reach the CWCIC at:
http://www.cwcic.org/
http://www.facebook.com/cwcic
http://www.twitter.com/CWCIC
-Ken
Cliche or Truth (or Both) — Better Sales Performance Means Fighting the Right Battle
25 October 2010 — Ken Krogue
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It’s absolutely cliche, but one of the things people most often ask me when I’m consulting is, “What’s the #1 thing I can do to make more sales today, tomorrow, and next week (as opposed to next month, next quarter, next year)?”
Usually they ask thinking that I’m going to give them some killer pitch or closing tip, some bit of wisdom that will totally transform their sales process, or maybe something that’s going to magically get them dozens of easy prospect referrals.
And it may be just as cliche as the question it answers, but the #1 reason for sales under-performance is poor marketing and target strategy.
As I’ve said before in my “15 Time Wasters of Inside Sales and Marketing,”
“A poor marketing strategy will lead your company to make costly mistakes, select the wrong market, or fail to reach the right target audience. While executive management has the primary responsibility of defining the sales and marketing strategy, every VP of Sales, Sales Manager, and Salesperson should ask him or herself:
What battle should we be fighting?”
I recently heard a quote that states, “There’s nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
Without the right strategy, it doesn’t […]
Have you ever lost an account suddenly, unexpectedly? As in, one month they were “happy campers,” and the next they just disappeared?
I hate to admit it, but we haven’t been immune to this syndrome. The root causes were varied; sometimes it was just change in the organization, sometimes it was a change in strategy, but sometimes it was because we simply weren’t addressing a key need or pain, and the client decided to look elsewhere.
These are the worst types of lost accounts, because the simple fact is, we weren’t doing our jobs.
I bring this question up because at work I have recently been shifted from using a PC to using a Mac (I can hear all of the Mac disciples out there now shouting, “Hallelujah! A new convert about to enter the fold!”).
And sure, the 24″ iMac screen is a dream. It’s dual-core, plenty fast, big hard drive.
Except there’s one small problem: without fail, at least once a day, there’s something about MacOS that irritates me to no end: the file manager.
The simple fact is that relative to its competition . . . .
Chauncey C Riddle
“Our religion is the sum total of our habits” – Chauncey Riddle
“As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.” Proverbs 23:7
Bryan Tracey
Character is the ability to follow through with a decision after the emotion of making the decision has past. Bryan Tracy
“This is the final test of a gentleman – his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him.” William Lyon Phelps
Thomas S Monson
“When we deal in generalities, we shall never succeed. When we deal in specifics, we shall rarely have a failure. When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of performance accelerates.“ Thomas S Monson
“Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” William Shakespeare from Julius Caesar
Frank Outlaw
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it […]
