In a perfect world, salespeople would spend the majority of their time selling. But as any sales rep could tell you, it’s not that simple.
The job often comes with plenty of other responsibilities that aren’t directly part of the sales process. Too often, these responsibilities prevent busy sales reps from focusing on what should be their top priority.
To paraphrase a former sales coach of ours: “If you’re not face-to-face with a prospect, or on the phone, or interacting in some way, you’re not selling. Building proposals is not selling. Doing research is not selling. Selling is having direction interaction with your prospects.” These kinds of nonessential tasks take away from critical sales calls and impact sales performance.
That sales coach would be dismayed to know how little time the average rep is spending on that type of interaction.
According to recent statistics compiled by HubSpot and SalesInsightsLab.com:
• Salespeople only spend 34 percent of their time actually selling.
• 66.7 percent of reps reached out to 250 or fewer leads in the past year.
• 81.6 percent of top performers spend at least four hours a day on sales-related activities or sales time, while only 60.8 percent of non-top performers spend at least four hours a day on sales-related activities.
• 42 percent of reps say that prospecting is the most difficult part of the sales process, followed by closing (36 percent) and qualifying (22 percent).
• 63 percent of reps says cold calling (obviously a huge part of prospecting) is the worst part of their job.
Let’s focus on those last two items. It’s human nature for people to procrastinate activities they struggle with or don’t enjoy doing. Why work on a challenging, unpleasant task when there is easier, more rewarding work to be done?
Which means there are likely plenty of sales reps who aren’t prioritizing prospecting, even though there’s no sales pipeline without it. You can’t sell if you don’t have people to sell to.
So, realistically, what amount of time should businesses be devoting to prospecting as part of effective time management?
There’s no exact number, but the best answer for successful sales is almost definitely: “More than you’re doing now.”
One sales blog recommends that a sales professional involved in the entire sales process should spend between 30 and 40 percent of their week prospecting for leads, given how crucial it is for filling pipelines. But if salespeople are only spending about a third of their total time selling, there’s no way they’re devoting that much valuable time to prospecting.
That’s where having an outside sales partner that specializes in prospecting can help you maximize time management strategies to increase efficiency. From finding the right target buyers for your services, to engaging these researched prospects in meaningful conversations, to following up with them in a timely manner, the right lead gen and appointment-setting firm can ease the burden on salespeople and allow them to focus on the steps of the sales process they enjoy and are most comfortable with.
Here are some of the ways VSA can address your prospecting concerns:
Reaching more leads
According to the statistics listed above, two-thirds of salespeople reached out to 250 or less leads over the course of a year.
Our team of experienced Business Development Representatives is reaching out to that many decision makers in a matter of days. Thanks to the technology we’re utilizing, in many cases VSA can make between 1,100 and 1,200 dials a week per FTE (40 hours). Most B2B call centers can make between 400 and 500 dials a week per FTE.
More calls lead to more conversations, which lead to more meetings and more closed deals.
Spending more time prospecting
We’ve had many clients over our 21 years acknowledge that they’re unable to devote enough time to prospecting on their own. Often, they’ve never even attempted a cold calling campaign before partnering with us, or if they have, it’s been a haphazard commitment involving only a handful of employees and hours.
Our BDRs can devote almost all their working hours to prospecting, so our clients know they’re getting a full-time effort as we elevate the campaign to be a real sales leader. And because of our team-based approach, each of our clients have multiple skilled and knowledgeable BDRs assigned to their campaign, allowing us to maintain calling during vacations or sick days and increase dials during the times that are most productive.
Cold calling with a smile
A study a few years back at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom revealed that smiles can actually be heard during a telephone conversation. It’s a safe bet that those 63 percent of salespeople who named cold calling the worst part of their job aren’t smiling when they do it.
You could argue that nobody really likes cold calling, but at VSA, that’s not necessarily true. Our employees have named us one of the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Best Places to Work three out of the last four years, and our BDRs have an average tenure of five years—far longer than the industry norm. We obviously don’t mind making cold calls on our clients’ behalf, considering how much time we spend doing it.
Because our BDRs work on multiple programs, it greatly reduces the chances they’ll get burned out calling on any one campaign. No two days are exactly the same. We’re constantly learning about new goods and services across multiple industries, which helps keep cold calling from growing tedious.
Conclusion
Almost every business would like to see their inside sales team spend more time selling. But sometimes, it just isn’t feasible, especially at smaller companies with limited resources. Their reps might be busy all day, but they’re not always busy selling.
When you partner with VSA, you can rely on the fact that we’re consistently selling on your behalf—especially during the hours that make the most sense for your campaign.
If you’re looking for a solutions partner to help you spend more time selling, give us a call. We promise we’ll make good use of the time.