It’s important to network and link with other bloggers. On a regular basis, I review others’ blogs to try to find a common theme that brings us together. Today is a great day for sharing the treat that is a favorite topic–it’s Halloween after all. Check out the following blogs:

Michael Stelzner shares some Marketing Halloween Lessons and Diva Marketing Blog has a Lancome theme. Halley’s Comment has a daring photo and Church of the Customer has the cutest dog all dressed up. Guy Kawasaki is hosting a contest.

Blogging is getting more and more attention. I feel fortunate to live in a city where such great, innovative ideas start and I’m excited to be attending the San Francisco Business Blogging Summit  presented by a very cool San Francisco Company, Six Apart, who are founders of Moveable Type and Vox. They are committed to getting everyone blogging.

Amy Kahran and Justin Crawford did a recent talk on blogging. They discussed a couple of statistics from the July, 2006, Pew Internet & American Life Project telephone survey:

• 12 million American adults write blogs
• 57 million American adults read them (78% increase from the year before)

When we are prospecting or generating new opportunities, the introduction accounts for over 80% of the importance of the call. What about when you end a call? Usually we end it quickly because your prospect will say they need to step into a meeting or someone just walked into their office or they’ve got to jump on another call.

We pack so much information on the front end in hopes we will earn more time. Even when we’re making a sales demo or presentation, our endings tend to be weak. Take a look at Copyblogger’s entry on How do you go out with style in your ending?

There’s a great Dave Matthews song called The Space Between. Check out the lyrics. I like this phrase because in sales The Space Between is when we want to do our best work. When you are prospecting, The Space Between is the time that has passed from your last conversation until your next conversation. Sometimes days go by, sometimes months and we have to start a dialogue all over again. But you can shrink this time by doing the following:

1. Gain a commitment before hanging up from the call. If they want to review your material or proposal, set it up so they are prepared to review it when you contact them the following week.

2. Integrate information from your previous call to quickly bring them up to speed on what you are calling about.

3. Shorten the time of the request for a call back by half. For example if they want you to call back in two months, call them back in one month.

4. Time and space are not always tangible; we keep notes in our SFA tool of the last time we spoke, your prospects do not have these notes. We remember, they don’t always remember. Always provide a refresher in your introduction.

5. Realize how much can change within seconds and don’t assume the last conversation will carry you forward. The more time that passes usually ensures you’ll have to do more selling.  

I’m a very impatient person. I don’t like to wait. I guess it’s a true quality of a good salesperson. When we know how to make something happen, why wait around? Right?

This is the time of year that requires waiting around in my business. People are closing the year and putting together plans for next year. They are sluggish on making any decisions and want to wait until next year. Here are some typical responses you’ll hear this time of year:

1. We’ll get back to you once we have a better idea of our initiative.

2. Give me a call back in Q1.

3. Looks like we’ll put this aside and revisit it next year.

4. We’ll have a new team in place so let’s connect after the holidays.

5. There’s too much going right now, let’s talk early next year.

6. Our budget is set for the rest of the year.

7. We’ll know more about our needs in the next few months.

Sound familiar? So what do you do? Don’t wait. Be impatient. Create urgency. Remind them of what happens every day that passes and they don’t have your solution in place. Pull the pain and make it tangible for them. Take this time to work the org chart and leverage your influence.

I don’t like good-byes; never have and never will. Even in my training, if you’ve been in any of my sessions, the ending is usually a quick thank you and good-bye. That’s it.

When I observe the corporate scene, I watch new hires come through to fill old cubicles. I watch managers take on their new roles and directors get promoted to VPs. And I wonder, what is their exit strategy? How will they be remembered? Will everything they’ve built still stand long after they leave?

When an inside sales person leaves, it’s critical they leave clean tracks. There’s nothing worst than poor documentation or messy tracks. Even the brightest reps can fall short of good information capture, making it tough on the ones who proceed them in the territory.

I had lunch with a VP of world-wide sales yesterday, an extremely bright and talented woman who made her mark as Director of Inside Sales for a Fortune 500 company. She worked there for three years and cleaned it up, setting up new systems, hiring high-quality talent, motivating them, cheering them each month to exceed their goals and always fighting for their viability. When she left, her department quickly crumbled and suddenly people who had no idea what inside sales is all about stepped in to manage the organization.

How can something unravel so quickly? There are few people out there that really understand telesales and inside sales. Some know how to build it, others know how to grow it, while some know how to pull it apart. It’s a communication barrier that’s been around for many years. When it works well, it’s a synchronized machine that hums and when it doesn’t work well, it can fall apart very quickly.

What do we do when a No-Po requests for us not to communicate with anyone within their executive team? Do we cooperate with this request? Do we see this as a red flag and slowly begin to neutralize their influence? This is extremely delicate and we’d be taking a big risk in potentially damaging the relationship we’ve developed with this No-Po if we ignored it.

So when we get requests from No-Po’s in terms of protecting their turf, we must listen, respect and acknowledge them immediately. Remember, you must demonstrate a sense of loyalty but also be savvy in your efforts to leverage your influence throughout their organization. Some of these sample email requests demonstrate their need to protect their turf:

….please cc: me on all outgoing emails to my executive team…

…..if we are going to work together, I would appreciate you routing all requests, presentations and communications my way….

….I would appreciate if you do not contact my boss as you and I are working on this initiative and I’ll keep him in the loop on how things progress. He doesn’t need to be involved in this….

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Are they going to help or hurt you in the long run?

2. Are they talking about you with their executive team or do you have to take matters into your own hands?

3. Do you think their level of influence is uncertain or questionable within their organization and that’s why they are so protective?

4. Have they been burned by hungry, clumsy, greedy, slimy vendors in the past that caused trouble?

5. Can you assure them of your loyalty while also set expectations about having access to a higher level?

This morning I got a message on my cell phone asking me to call this florist in Noe Valley to confirm my address because they had a flower delivery for me. I immediately called them back with heightened curiosity and asked why? Who are they for? Who are they from? When was the order placed? When will they be delivered? Can you tell I don’t get flowers on a regular basis?

The guy at the florist wouldn’t give out much information other than it was ordered by a man who wouldn’t give his name but said I would know who it’s from.

Ahhh, the mystery of things that keep us wondering and guessing. A special surprise can get us excited and give us a smile. Salespeople don’t do well in the wondering and guessing mode. As a matter of fact, they would lose their job if they tried to wonder about or guess their sales forecasts. We’ve gotta know what’s happening at all times. There’s always one more question you can ask and one more stone left unturned. We’re basically paranoid people and that’s a good thing!

We all know how fast viruses spread within inside sales environments. I’m not talking about technology viruses, rather the negative mood virus which usually spreads a lot faster. When someone sitting next to you is feeling negative about the company, the product/service, or their territory or comp plan, this has an affect on everyone. It’s difficult to distance yourself from it because it’s contagious.

I’ve been trying to practice being more compassionate with my communication and not lose patience so quickly. I’m also trying to not gossip, be judgmental or critical. I believe when we are in a position to influence and communicate with external and internal customers, we have a responsibility to maintain the highest level of integrity and professionalism. So when we rag on the negative stuff, we’re not giving our best.

I came across this company, Gossip Stoppers, that has a great niche. They provide workshops on the destructive potential of gossip and ways to eliminate it.

Be mindful with your communication this week.

Since I’m usually on-site coaching and training, I’ve decided to take you along and share the inside scoop on some of these call centers. Cubicle life is important when we work in an inside sales environment; it impacts our productivity, our mood and general sense of purpose. 

There’s so much you can tell about an inbound or outbound call center by just observing the set-up, the sound quality, the different desks, the phones, chairs, lighting and space. Some centers are vibrant, everyone is friendly and casual, and you hear the buzz indicating everyone is on the phone. Other centers may be in a high-stress zone, especially at the end of the quarter and signs about keeping the noise down may be posted.

It’s always interesting to observe the investment management makes for their teams such as providing them with state-of-the-art tools to enhance their cubicles. Wireless headsets, ergonomic desks and chairs and big flat-panel monitors are big perks today. You can also observe the excitement and competitive nature of the team within the center if there’s a contest of incentive running. 

Yesterday, I conducted training for Mercury Interactive in Boulder, Colorado. Known for BTO (Business Technology Optimization), this great company has recently been acquired by HP. I was out there training their talented SDR team and checked out their very cool office. They’ve taken over the old ClearWater Software offices so what do you think that means? Yes, lots of water, fish tanks and giant aquariums surround this center.  Fish tanks sit on everyone’s desk.

 How fun! The Mercury folks were great, friendly and energetic. Could that have anything to do with their calming, colorful and vibrant environment?

I’ve been doing some 1:1 coaching lately and it’s a perfect complement to group training. Coaching gives me the opportunity to get “up close and personal” with inside sales team members. There are so many nuances to listen for when sitting side by side with the champions. I may dedicate more blog entries to coaching within the next few weeks so stay tuned.

Right now, I’m still on my No-Po kick so here’s the deal. When and if we finally realize we are talking with a No-Po, we don’t let go that easily for several reasons. (1) We want to believe we can change them and that they’ll come around; (2) We don’t want to go around them, then feel stuck because they won’t give us their boss’s name; and (3) Our ego gets involved and we don’t want to pull them off our forecast and have to admit it was because of something as simple as we talked with the wrong person.

So what do we do? We continue to rely on them and believe they will help us out. We ask dead-end questions such as:

“So you’ll talk with your manager about our solution?”

“So you’ll present this in your next meeting? When can I call you back?”

“So you’ll recommend us as a vendor?”

Let Go. Practice detaching yourself once you realize you are talking with someone who really can’t make it happen for you. The most they can do is tell you how much they want your solution and like your products. Set expectations with them. Don’t ask to speak with their bosses but instead imply that you automatically will. Make statements such as:

“I appreciate you championing our efforts; I’ll be introducing myself to more folks on your team.”

“You’ve been so helpful and informative about your needs, I’m looking forward to learning more from your team.”

“I want to make sure I include you in all future communications with your managers and directors; can I get an idea of how you come together as a team.”