Bernadette McClelland

JANUARY 14, 2024

It becomes your reference point for success again in the future. So rather than me succumbing to any fear or bias, being able to reflect on this reference point (aka evidence) opened my thinking up to ask for feedback on LinkedIn. And when you focus on that and find those examples, you can then make better informed decisions.

Hiring 195

Hiring Face-to-face LinkedIn Guarantee 195

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 21, 2023

I’m tired of hearing sales leaders complain about not having enough leads, struggling to get access to decision-makers, and not making quota. A growing body of research backs up what I’ve been saying for decades: At least half of those referred prospects will convert to customers. Simply put: Sometimes technology holds us hostage.

Referrals 156

Referrals Social Media Cold Calling Sales Qualified Lead 156

Salesmate

JUNE 24, 2021

Let us dig deeper and know why appointment sales emails are important and what the vitals should be. Know about their industry, their expertise, their company size, and the age of the company. After you have learned about the industry and the prospect’s needs, the next thing is to provide them what they are looking for.

Outsourcing Services 52

Outsourcing Services Survey Follow-up CRM 52

Salesmate

JUNE 24, 2021

Let us dig deeper and know why appointment sales emails are important and what the vitals should be. Know about their industry, their expertise, their company size, and the age of the company. After you have learned about the industry and the prospect’s needs, the next thing is to provide them what they are looking for.

Outsourcing Services 52

Outsourcing Services Survey Follow-up CRM 52

No More Cold Calling

MAY 17, 2019

That comment was from a 20-year sales veteran, the kind of seasoned pro who should know how to get referrals, and given this person’s track record, should feel confident about asking. In fact, 83 percent of satisfied customers are willing to refer products and services, according to a marketing survey conducted by Texas Tech.

Referrals 327

Referrals Scale How To Cold Calling 327

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 15, 2021

None of us stands out during prospecting. They want you to ask smart questions about their business, engage them in conversation, and determine specifically how your product will mitigate their challenges. Those who do have a special way about them: They exude self-confidence, and they connect and contribute. Have We Met?

Lead Gen 397

Lead Gen Sales Qualified Lead Leads Marketing Qualified Lead 397

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 26, 2023

Recently, my good friend, ChatGPT had a discussion about pitches. ” In the Middle Ages, it evolved to refer to setting up a stall or spot where one could sell goods, as in “pitching” a tent or stall in a market. .” Pitching prevents us from engaging in collaborative conversations. It is one way!

ACT 111

ACT Advertising Advertising Promotion 111

Sales 2.0

MAY 20, 2020

Social distancing is all about breaking the social network. The same human connections that lets a virus spread and wreak havoc for us physically can bring some very good results. There are too many scary things in the world that we hear about every day. These keep your message from getting through to us.

Cold Calling 501

Cold Calling Referrals Networking Campaigns 501

No More Cold Calling

MAY 25, 2023

Often you can’t tell them apart, because sellers have similar offerings and the same party line about what they do. None of us stands out to B2B buyers. They want you to ask smart questions about their business, engage them in conversation, and articulate specifically how your product will mitigate their challenges.

B2B 177

B2B Buyer Referrals Sales Qualified Lead 177

Sales Evangelist

NOVEMBER 3, 2019

How to 10X Your Income With Repeat and Referred Business Repeat and referred business is a sure tactic to grow your business 10x. A reliable tactic to increase income is to use repeat and referred business. Sales is about selling an opportunity, and above all else, relationship. We're now in Asia.”

Real Estate 40

Real Estate Automotive Insurance Insurance 40

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 27, 2022

The message is loud and clear: It’s time to get serious about building a culture where diverse teams want to work. All of us, including people from majority demographics (think, white men) can offer different perspectives and points of view. Types of Diversity in the Workplace. Start Experiencing the Benefits of Diversity in 2022.

Research 257

Research Benefit Hiring Demographics 257

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 16, 2024

We know what we have to do, and, for the most part, each of us is well intended–we really want to do the things that cause us, our customers, and our companies to be successful. It’s about changing habits–individually and organizationally. Fear holds us back. I contribute my fair share to the clutter.)

Top of Funnel 103

Top of Funnel Funnel Pipeline Exercises 103

No More Cold Calling

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

Think about it. Who are buyers going to talk to when they’re short on funds and stressed about the future of their organizations? But they’ll always speak with a person who’s been referred by a trusted colleague. Trust us (or else they wouldn’t do business with us). Image attribution: August de Richelieu ).

Referrals 323

Referrals Sales Qualified Lead Marketing Qualified Lead Lead Generation 323

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

And “We don’t know what we don’t know about sales” is a true statement in most companies. The Example Salespeople (anyone, with any title, whose primary role is selling) don’t know about their own skill gaps and blind spots. A lot of people don’t know what they don’t know about sales.

Company 212

Company Hiring Scale Forecasting 212

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 7, 2018

Relationships and referrals are what business is all about! When I interviewed Wes, senior vice president of sales for a well-known marketing automation company, I expected to hear all about the advantages of using his technology. Instead, he talked about the power of relationships for sales. At least 98 percent of us do.)

Referrals 310

Referrals How To Cold Calling Lead Generation 310

No More Cold Calling

MARCH 5, 2020

One of the first things I ever wrote about was enrolling your clients as part of your sales team. And they frequently don’t know who they should refer to us—because we haven’t asked for referrals and described our ideal client. This isn’t about you. Your satisfied customers will be happy to refer you, but only if you ask.

Referrals 432

Referrals Sales Qualified Lead How To Lead Rank 432

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 10, 2021

Fifty of the company’s best clients said they’d be glad to refer them! Suddenly my path was clear: I needed to fill the gap between what salespeople said about referrals, and what they were actually doing. I remember shooting a short video about my company. My points of view about referral selling have gotten stronger.

Referrals 385

Referrals Cold Calling Webinar Metrics Outbound 385

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 13, 2024

Sometimes we build greater confidence with our solutions through the references we provide. These are critical for us to develop and present to our customers, but too often, we miss the biggest and most differentiated part of our value propositions—us!

ROI 106

ROI Customer Opportunity Company 106

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 16, 2020

Yep, most of us are lazy and lack discipline. All of us perform our best when we are accountable and have the tools to succeed. How does your sales team really feel about selling? Here are some interview questions I use when I conduct pre-session meetings with my clients. How clear are you about what is expected of you?

Referrals 328

Referrals Sales Management Hiring Scale 328

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 27, 2023

While he was an advanced hitter, it took “outside experts” coaching him to realize he really didn’t know Jack $hit about hitting. Compare that with salespeople who, after five years in sales, could be referred to as veterans. What are they even referring to? Maybe they did and maybe they didn’t.

Hiring 156

Hiring Consultative Selling Coaching Report 156

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 10, 2020

They griped about “kids today” and wondered what this next generation was coming to. Many of us have turned into our parents, and now we deliver the same message to our kids and our grandkids, and to the employees in our multi-generational workforce. Don’t they remember how unfair that felt to us, just over a decade ago?

Face-to-face 421

Face-to-face Motivation Hiring Guidelines 421

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

I’d seek information I could use in talking to them about change. I’d go to the reference section, looking for all sorts of economic data, analyses, and other information. We talked for hours about how a 0.1 But it took me about 5 minutes to get a 100,000 foot view of the issues.

Face-to-face 116

Face-to-face Journal Research Tools 116

No More Cold Calling

JULY 20, 2017

Despite what you’ll often hear from technology gurus about lead generation tools, sales success isn’t determined by who has the best technology; it’s determined by who has the best relationships. Customers buy because they like and trust your account based selling team—or because someone they like and trust has referred your team.

Account 285

Account Referrals Lead Generation Cold Calling 285

No More Cold Calling

MAY 13, 2021

And we must constantly measure how our customers feel about our interactions.” Many buyers view us as pushy, arrogant, in-your-face people who only want the quick sale. They still picture the archetypal used-car salesman who flashes a big smile and talks a big game, and whom we’re not certain we can trust. Shake the Sales Rap.

Ideal Customer Profile 290

Ideal Customer Profile Social Media Referrals Sage 290

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 23, 2019

I also know there’s a lot of bad advice that’s proffered about referrals. When sales teams know how to ask for referrals, they don’t have to worry about identifying decision-makers, bypassing gatekeepers, or proving themselves trustworthy. Quiz asks, “Do your referral sources know the top two reasons to refer you?”

Referrals 297

Referrals Scale How To Lead Rank 297

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 6, 2022

Here are 14 buzzwords I’m tired of hearing: Trigger events: Overused and tired, this phrase is not even about a gun, so I find the analogy disconcerting. Sales hack : Hack used to mean danger and criminal activity. Sales is about making connections that count. I admit that I’ve been using some of these sales buzzwords.

Fashion 207

Fashion Pivotal Cold Calling Quota 207

Sales and Marketing Management

JANUARY 9, 2019

Author: Ken Rutsky Albert Einstein thought about big things: space and time; the size, origin and destination of the Universe. Most of us business-to-business marketers are a bit more limited: Customers and competitors; the size and future of our market share. When buyers and sellers converse, they talk about the exchange of value.

Relationals 239

Relationals Competition B2B Sales Methodology 239

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 27, 2019

Instead, I explain why I think the connection would be valuable for us both. Well enough you’d feel confident referring them? Social selling success is not about the number of contacts, but about the number of true connections you have. That starts with a personal invitation, which most people don’t even bother with.

LinkedIn 307

LinkedIn Social Media Networking Cold Calling 307

Eyeful Presentations

SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

Dig a little deeper and search ‘PowerPoint is Evil’ (yes, really) and you’ll get just under 14 million results, most of which refer to an academic rant by a chap called Edward Tufte… don’t get me started. There are books, videos, blogs and TED Talks all dedicated to the topic.

Scale 58

Scale Engineering Software Software 58

RAIN Group

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

Often, this is because they haven’t thought about why buyers should refer them. So when a prospect comes to us via this route, some of the work is already done for us. They don’t have a system in place for generating referrals. We know our buyers rely on colleagues, associates, and friends to recommend providers.

Referrals 129

Referrals Buyer System Leads 129

No More Cold Calling

MARCH 29, 2019

When you think about salespeople, you probably picture men. We don’t wait for clients to refer us. We need to find mentors who guide us. We need to stop complaining about the Old Boys’ Club and focus on what it takes to get work done. Women in sales have a natural advantage.

Referrals 312

Referrals Cold Calling Networking Call-back 312

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 22, 2024

Sometimes, I feel like a broken record talking about Customer and Business Acumen. When I talk to leaders about their GTM strategies, the focus is on products and presenting the capabilities of products. Yet these same leaders complain about the ability to connect to prospects and customers. ” Usually it’s crickets.

Customer 101

Customer Face-to-face Enterprise Enterprise 101

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 26, 2021

There’s nothing like being in-person to build trust and credibility, get to know someone personally, and learn about their values. They’ll always take meetings with salespeople who are referred by someone they know and trust. They say virtual sales meetings are just not the same, and that’s the truth. Image attribution: Anna Schvets ).

Sales Meeting 287

Sales Meeting Meeting Referrals Face-to-face 287

The Pipeline

JUNE 9, 2014

We all know the value of referrals, although some seem to revere the practice a little too much, suggesting it trumps or eliminates cold calling or other forms of buyer engagement, when we all know it is about how to integrate approaches. I refer it to a recruiter, my opportunity is contingent on the recruiter doing their bit.

Referrals 306

Referrals Hiring Cold Calling SalesForce 306

Steven Rosen

APRIL 13, 2020

There is no playbook we can refer too, most of us are making it up as we go along. Be aware that small owner operations with small shops are worried about laying off their staff and how they will pay their bills. Boss: Texting is easier as our bosses might be driving us crazy. Create a journal club.

Sales Leadership 298

Sales Leadership How To Journal Conference 298

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 20, 2018

It’s time to get serious about business referrals. Those were the exact words of a sales executive when asked about the top business development activities for sales reps. Then he told us we can actually shortcut the sales process and “cheat with business referrals.”. They don’t care about their buyers.

Referrals 260

Referrals Lead Rank Cold Calling Social Media 260

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 24, 2021

When an experienced sales guy told me he wasn’t comfortable asking for referrals, I had to think seriously about the answer. Turns out most everyone has the same discomfort about sales referrals. It’s pushy and aggressive like the stereotypical sleazy used car salesman. How do I get over my reluctance to ask for referrals?

Referrals 256

Referrals Outsourcing Services Sales Outsourcing Meeting 256