Ask Andi: When recruiting, potential salespeople run when they learn they’ll integrate lead generation with sales. I only have a couple of people on sales who make enough daily calls. The rest slack off or live in the hope they’ll pick up something through networking. What should I do?
Thoughts of the day: Integrating lead generation with sales has many folds to it. There’s no school out there to teach people sales. Finding good salespeople – at any level – is a process. Building a lead-generation program to supplement what salespeople can come up with on their own is a smart business. You want people who are motivated, smart, and willing to show initiative to master the job they signed up for.
Integrate lead generation with sales
Sometimes, people are just not made for a sales lead generation job. But don’t write them off because they don’t have much sales experience. Develop a training program within your company. Just like in school, create a syllabus for the program that outlines what you will cover. Outline what your salespeople can expect at each session. Ask your senior sales managers to work together to create this program.
Every manager or executive has a story about a prime sales candidate. After investing money and time in training, this person turns out to be over-promise and under-deliver. Often, we spend too much time focused on the “potential” that someone has, rather than accepting the reality. Sales are hard, but you hired these people to do exactly that, sell. Don’t be blindsided by a fancy résumé. Hire your salespeople on a probationary level, set a date for performance review, and at that time if they’re not performing, it’s time to cut them loose. There are people out there who would kill for the job, so be tenacious.
Provides a continuous flow of quality leads
Building a lead-generation program to supplement what salespeople can come up with on their own is a smart business. Consider measurable qualities that your customers need to have as viable prospects. Whatever your parameters may be, if your lead-generation program is working correctly, these prospective clients will qualify themselves.
You will be able to funnel a large number of prospects and turn them into a list of qualified sales leads. This ensures that you always have quality prospects and have a big enough pool to choose great customers rather than mediocre ones. If you want to take your company to the next level, choosing your customers has to be a number one priority. In the beginning, it was about quantity, but now, your sales team has to know that quality customers are more important. With a great lead-generation program in place, it will be easier to develop a large, quality-driven, customer base.
Ultimately you want people who are motivated, smart, and willing to show initiative to master the job they signed up for. But know when to cut them loose. Salespeople need to have the drive, but this is not something that you can teach. If you interview someone who has all the qualities of a great salesperson, drive, enthusiasm, ability to sell ice to an Eskimo, etc., but they’re lacking in the experience department, give them a chance. Enroll them in your sales training program and train them to be great salespeople.
