Sales and business development is one of the most sought after job titles in the world today with 376,300 jobs in 2014 alone. What company on this planet cannot use a great sales professional on their team who can simply SLAY it right?
Well, I have the unique opportunity to travel all over and train newbies on the art of selling and developing new business for recruitment and staffing solutions as well as many other fields. The biggest challenge that I find is rookies trying to understand what sales activity looks like on any given day (everyday really right)? Check out these stats!
- The average sales development rep makes 52 calls daily (The Bridge Group)Tweet this Stat
- It takes 18 dials to connect with a single buyer (TOPO) Tweet this Stat
- Call-back rates are below 1% (TOPO) Tweet this Stat
- Less than 24% of sales emails are opened (TOPO) Tweet this Stat
- Over two-thirds of buyers wait longer to initiate contact with vendors than they did two years ago because they are doing more research themselves (SAP) Tweet this Stat
- 52% of B2B buyers said that the biggest risk of getting a purchase wrong is wasting company money (SAP)Tweet this Stat
Now, activity starts with the mindset to initiate the activity. It means research and planning. In my experience I have found that Rookies really don’t want to do the research and planning that it takes to create the activity they need. Most of them just want to run out and pick random clients or companies to call with very little thought process. As a coach and trainer, it’s my job to ensure they see the value in the work that has to be done prior to reaching out. Here’s an example…
For the sake of this article we will call my student Jennie! Jennie has been in the Software Development industry for a few years now. She graduated from one of the top technical universities in the country and decided she wanted to start her own niche recruitment and staffing agency business. She set the business up, got her marketing off the ground and launched! Awesome right? WRONG!!! She totally missed one MAJOR step in the formation and setup of her business…a SALES STRATEGY! Who is her target market, what do they need, what do they want and what value can you provide to them.
As her trainer and coach, I encouraged her to create a strong sales and business development plan, one that will allow her to work in her business in the most efficient way. Initially, she chose to go in another direction and four months into her business she was wondering why she had made only very little revenue.
We had a great coaching session on what was working and what wasn’t and she quickly came to realize that she WAS missing a sales strategy. She also confessed that it takes too much time to do research on 100 companies…LOL! I was amazed because when I started recruiting and staffing we were only given a white pages (to call candidates) and a yellow pages (to call companies). Now, the internet has all of the information one would need right at their fingertips right? LOL! Something else I got out of that session was that she was afraid of calling people. She was afraid of calling people and really didn’t know how to build relationships. She said, “Dee that is VERY intimidating and I choose to pass.”
Interesting enough, I hear a lot of Rookies say the very same thing. Not just Rookies either! I’ve worked with niche recruitment and staffing companies who have been around for 30+ years, and when I ask them why they have a decline in sales, they all tell me because they don’t like to “sell”.
My favorite saying is, “People do business with people they like AND KNOW”.
Now, with all of the social media outlets and information that is given today, we should be in the world of building relationships and getting business. Tell me… how do you handle your fears of selling and developing new business, and how have you overcome!
Inquiring minds would like to know!
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Dee Williams is a Business Lifestyle Strategist, Author, Speaker, Staffingpreneurand Recruitment & Staffing Trainer and Coach. She is also the Author of A Crash Course in Starting a Recruiting & Staffing Agency Business: In 10 Easy Steps, and the Founder of Staffingpreneurs Academy. You can catch Dee on Wednesday night’s LIVE here. With a goal to inspire One Million People to Unleash Your Ideas! Dee is who you call when you’re ready to share your Big & Bold business ideas with the world or are simply ready to get inspired about business. Check out her live FB Video Blog and don’t forget to like her Facebook page!
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