In iLantern’s last post, I discussed the science versus the
art of selling. Our fundamental belief is that the role of sales and marketers
is to add attributes to create a
holistic view of leads and to determine their position in the sales cycle in
order to move them through the funnel.
If you believe in that statement, then you are open to seeing what tools
help to add attributes so that sales and marketers can do their job more effectively. There is no clear path to nirvana, no magic
bullet that will do the work for you 100%, but there are tools available to
make it easier.
How does sales add
attributes now and are they asking the right questions?
They get on the horn and start asking questions to the
person that they have identified as the decision maker or someone who can point
them in the direction of the checkbook holder. They should have a list of
questions that help them to complete the puzzle of their seemingly nebulous
lead. Here are some of our questions?
1. Do they have budget?
2. Do they fit the firmographic profile for our target base?
3. Are there compelling events that have occurred that could
alter the decision process?
4. Have we located the decision maker?
5. Do they have a need for our services or product?
6. Do we know who else is bidding for the project?
7. Do we have any existing relationships that we can foster?
There are more questions even, but first and foremost, the
bottom line is: do they have the budget?
Your lead can love your product, but if they don’t have the deniro– they
ain’t buyin’. Even though that is the
most important question, like I said in the last post, it can come across as
rude if asked straightforwardly, and furthermore; we all know that “buyers are
liars”. Even if they didn’t have the budget, they don’t need to tell you. A
good sales rep will do their best to gather information, triangulate and test
the boundaries of questions that have been answered – testing the validity, and
then make a proper assessment of whether to keep pushing or can the lead. A
process that takes longer than watching water boil. Sales reps don’t have that
luxury. The clock is tickin’.
Do marketers add the
right attributes? Or are they still batch and blasting?
Marketers have a different role. They aren’t getting on the horn; they are
supplying the collateral, the content, the events, the buzz around the product
to move people from cold to warm, warm to hot, and hot to sales. They have the
luxury of automation to help communicate the right message to the right person. But even though everybody claims to focus on
segmentation, do many businesses actually implement segmentation based on the
entire picture? Do they have one message and just spam it to their entire list
still, even after everything written about the reasons not to do that? Is the answer as simple as adding event data
to help complete the puzzle, so the message actually resonates and helps to
segment a list based on earnings and
whitepaper downloads, bankruptcy and
webinar sign-ups?
Adding attributes can be automated. Why, then, are we using
our sales and marketing teams to make these discoveries and not prioritizing their
time to act on the information that
is easily spoon-fed with the right tools? Their role is to add attributes, so
why not give them the tools to do it? Then, sales and marketers can focus on
what humans are really good at: building trusting relationships. Knowledge is power – a cliché we all know. By
having the right tools, knowledge can come easily, completing the puzzle that
much sooner, leaving more room for marketers to send the correct message and
sales to use their people skills to close more deals because the right
questions were asked and answered, truthfully. The data doesn’t lie.
To learn more, visit: www.ilantern.com
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