Prospecting Enablement Buyer Guide by Nancy Nardin

2011 Sales Prospecting Enablement

Buyer’s Guide The Ultimate Buyer’s Guides for Marketing & Sales Software Volume 4: Sales Prospecting Enablement

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Table of Contents: Sales Prospecting Enablement Ÿ Sales Prospecting Enablement: The Basics

Ÿ The Three W’s: The Foundation for Effective Sales Prospecting

Ÿ The First W: Finding the “Who”

Ÿ The Second W: Knowing “When” to Call

Ÿ The Third W: Understanding “What” to Say

Ÿ Featured Solution Example: OneSource iSell

Ÿ Sales Prospecting Enablement: Buying Considerations

Ÿ Sales Prospecting Enablement: Feature Checklist

Ÿ Sales Prospecting Enablement: Vendor List

Ÿ Next Steps

Sales Prospecting Enablement: The Basics That’s because, while we no longer have an “information problem,” we certainly have a “filter problem.”

Sellers have a glorious bounty of information available to them on the Internet today. They can find information on nearly anything they need, whether it’s about companies, prospects, industries, or competitors. And you can be sure sales professionals are expected to tap into this vast resource – to do their homework before they make a call. Their managers demand it, but more importantly their prospective customers demand it. Gone are the days when reps can cold call a prospect armed with only a name, a title, and an audacious belief they can wing it. The Web’s bountiful information can be a boon to sellers who need to hold credible conversations with buyers. But the Web’s information windfall has created a very serious problem. Like soldiers weighed down with a hundred pounds of gear, we order our reps out into the field burdened with so much information they don’t have time or energy for their mission. That’s because, while we don’t have an “information problem,” we certainly have an “information-filter problem.” And that filter problem is what’s killing sales productivity today. Without a solution to the information filter problem, salespeople are cursed with a conundrum: they can’t increase their efficiency without the right information and they can’t get the right information without negatively impacting their efficiency. Indeed, the fastest path to increased sales productivity is to protect a rep’s selling time. The more time spent with real prospects, the higher your sales will be. The more time spent researching instead of selling, the lower your sales will be.

The 3 W’s: The Foundation for Effective Sales Prospecting If your reps don’t have an efficient means of obtaining the 3 W’s, their productivity will suffer along with your overall sales results and profitability.

Prospecting enablement should provide reps with three crucial pieces of information: 1. Who to sell to 2. When to contact 3. What to say If your reps don’t have an efficient means of obtaining the 3 W’s, their productivity will suffer along with your overall sales results and profitability. Reps can conduct their own research or instead they can spend that time talking to a real live prospect. A rep’s time is finite. Where do you want them to spend their limited time? How much time do your best salespeople spend on prospect research? According to CSO Insights, the average salesperson spends 17% of his or her week conducting research. That represents nearly one full business day every week that is no longer available for selling. Knowing this, it’s easy to conclude that productivity can be increased simply by reducing time lost to research. Protecting prime selling time for productive sales conversations is what “Sales Prospecting Enablement” is all about. A sales prospecting enablement solution can provide reps with the right information at the right time so they can spend more time with the right people. Make sure the prospecting enablement solution you choose delivers the three W’s so reps can spend more time selling.

The First W: Finding the “Who” Who are the target companies and contacts? The answer will be different for every rep depending on the territory or target market. Whether their target market is a specific industry, company size, geographic location, job title, or a combination of traits, the first step in prospecting is to build a list of potential targets. Here are some common methods your reps may be using to create a target list of companies and contacts: Can you afford to pay reps to mine the Web, filtering through the vast amounts of data?

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Search the Web using keywords Obtain directories from relevant conferences and associations Search the LinkedIn directory based on keyword, job title, or industry Use a crowd-sourced contact database like Jigsaw or Netprospex to find specific contacts Scour Websites of known target companies for the right contact Guess at email data using the format found on a Website Cold calling News alert services like Google Alerts

Can you see how 17% of a rep’s time can easily be spent on these tasks? Yes, many sales managers are reluctant to invest money in prospecting tools when “so much information is available for free on the Web.” However, the problem isn’t a lack of free information but too much information to “filter” through. Can you afford to pay reps to mine the Web, filtering through the vast amounts of data? One hour lost to list-building each day equals a full 30 days of selling time lost over the course of a year according to the 215 Principle. When you have reps search for information, you’re paying them not to sell. Instead, look for a sales prospecting enablement solution that allows reps to quickly and easily create a list of companies that meet their territory criteria and that provides key contact data such as email and direct-dial phone

The Second W: Knowing “When” to Call Prospects with sales trigger events are up to 8X more likely to buy.

It’s one thing to solve the “who” problem. But reps can’t possibly contact all prospects on their target list. There isn’t enough time in the day, so where do they start? Often reps will simply go down the list from the top. They might start with the larger companies, or companies in a specific industry - if they have that information. But that approach only helps them pinpoint the “who,” not the “when.” The ideal method of prioritizing calls is to contact each prospect at the right time based on a key trigger events. Sales trigger events are anything that might cause a prospect to desire - or become more open - to change (and a need for your products and services). In other words, trigger events indicate when the “timing is right.” What are the trigger events that indicate good timing for your products? Are your prospect companies more open to change when new executives are hired? How about when new products are launched or when new plants are announced? A great sales prospecting enablement solution will proactively alert your reps when to make contact. It will: Ÿ Automatically prioritize the most relevant, timely prospects Ÿ Send personalized trigger alerts that indicate selling opportunities and reasons to call Ÿ Offer individual dashboards to show the hottest prospects for each rep in order of “prospectability” Choose a solution that scours multiple sources for information and that not only aggregates the data but also selects the most accurate content from each source. The system should also offer a live feed of trigger alerts to enable reps to take timely action. Prospects with sales trigger events are up to 8X more likely to buy. Make sure your reps know when these trigger events occur before your competition does.

The Third W: Understanding “What” to Say Whether or not the call’s objective is reached depends mostly on how well-prepared the caller is.

With the right sales prospecting enablement solution, reps can know who to call and when. The remaining question is, “What can reps say to get the prospect’s attention when they make the call?” The common wisdom used to be that a caller had only 20 seconds to make an impression. Now the number is pegged at 5-10 seconds. If a rep survives those first few seconds what will he or she say? Reps must do their homework and prepare. It’s crucial to define an objective before making a call. Whether or not the call’s objective is reached depends mostly on how well-prepared the caller is. It is simply no longer acceptable to pick up the phone and wing it. Prospects don’t want to hear about your solutions; they want to know why you’re calling them. Every rep should at the very least, have a general understanding of: Ÿ The prospects’ business - what do they do Ÿ The specific challenges he or she faces especially if these challenges have been noted in the press Ÿ The common challenges of the industry and how your solutions have helped similar companies Ÿ The family-tree structure of the prospect’s organization Reps can be significantly more effective on a call if they also know: Ÿ Important news announcements that could affect the prospect’s business Ÿ When a prospect has been quoted in a news release or online article Ÿ Changes in a prospects company or industry - trigger alerts - that indicate a relevant topic for discussion Ÿ Overall industry trends that are likely influencing prospects’ thinking and their ability/desire to buy Ÿ The prospect company’s SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) The sales prospecting enablement solution you choose should give reps ready access to this type of information. There’s no excuse not to be well-prepared. Every call should result in a relevant, credible conversation with the

Featured Solution: OneSource iSell iSell gives reps the 3 W’s (who, when, and what) and delivers the information in dashboards customized for each rep’s convenience.

In each buyer guide in our series, we feature one product to showcase the possibilities and to illustrate how to use it. iSell by OneSource is a great example of a sales prospecting enablement tool that is solving the information filter problem, making it easier for reps to sell more. iSell gives reps the 3 W’s (who, when, and what) and delivers the information in dashboards customized for each rep’s convenience. OneSource iSell provides each rep with an automated feed of hot prospects prioritized by: . Relevance based on target industry, company size, geography, etc. . Sales triggers, such as new funding, exec changes, or other critical events . Depth of information available on the specific contact The suggested prioritization makes fast work of what is otherwise a tedious task: determining which leads are best at any one point in time. iSell refers to this as the contact’s “prospectability”. The hot-prospect feed includes contact information and the context and real-time opportunity information needed to initiate productive discussions.

iSell won the 2010 Top Sales Award for Top Sales 2.0 Solution.

We’ll give detailed examples of how iSell transforms the way that you sell by continuously delivering the most timely and relevant opportunities personalized to each rep’s specific needs.

Who to Sell to iSell users customize their profile to deliver information to fit the way they sell.

An iSell user opening the tool the first time is prompted to configure a profile fully customized to the way he or she sells. By selecting from criteria such as geography, company size, company, and contact type, the salesperson narrows the focus of iSell to target only the most impactful universe of companies and contacts. As users learn more about their sweet spot, they can fine-tune these settings.

iSell users customize their profile to deliver information to fit the way they sell.

iSell will continually look for more prospects that fit this profile and include them in the list. Users can build up to 25 unique lists to suit their varying needs and target customer profiles.

When to Contact In order to help solve the issue of who to call first, iSell prioritizes the list using a prospectability index.

Even with a tight set of criteria, iSell could still deliver a list of thousands of potential sales prospects. In order to help solve the issues of who to call first and when to call, iSell prioritizes the prospect list using a prospectability index. Among the key factors iSell uses in determining “prospectability” is the presence and recency of a sales trigger. iSell offers over 30 different types of trigger alerts and the user selects exactly which ones he or she wants to include in the prospectability calculation. Each rep can select their trigger preferences based on what’s relevant for their accounts and how they sell. iSell then prioritizes the prospects automatically and allows the rep to spend more time selling instead of trying to find the right opportunity. iSell users can also create custom triggers based on criteria they define.

Prospectability is iSell’s recommendation to the user of who they should contact first so they may optimize their selling time.

Once the user has configured their preferences, iSell delivers a steady stream of prioritized prospects directly to the rep’s desktop via the “prospects feed.” The list is prioritized by “prospectability” which is indicated by index to the left of each prospect’s name. Prospectability is iSell’s recommendation to the user of who they should contact first so they may optimize their selling time. The score is driven by how well the prospect meets a user’s list criteria, whether or not iSell has direct dial and email information for that contact, and the presence of the types of triggers selected by the rep. iSell provides direct dial and email for each prospect

Prospectability

The prospects feed also shows a user when they are connected to contacts or companies via their LinkedIn credentials. A LinkedIn icon will let the user know if a contact or company is on LinkedIn, and a First, Second, or Third icon will tell the user how closely they are connected to the contact or company . From the prospects feed, you can perform several actions for a given prospect, including setting reminders, sending to crm, rating the prospect, and adding to new lists.

The salesperson can achieve greater success by first gaining an introduction from a common connection.

iSell's deep integration with the LinkedIn API completes the picture for a salesperson. In addition to significantly broadening the contact universe, which helps answer the question of “who,” iSell's LinkedIn integration answers the question of “how.” By connecting to the user's personal LinkedIn network, iSell iidentifies the rep’s connection to the contact, or identifies his or her closest connection to the company. The salesperson can dramatically achieve greater success with an introduction from a common connection.

The user’s LinkedIn connections to a company, prioritized by level of connection

Company Profile Page The salesperson can rely on iSell's company profile page to instantly gather critical information pertaining to the target

In addition to timely, trigger-based information, the salesperson can rely on iSell's company profile page to instantly gather critical information pertaining to the target, including industry profiles, company profiles, competitor insights, and SWOT analysis. A list of key contacts within the company is shown which matches the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s preference for his or her contact type. The rep can then immediately understand the personnel landscape based on contacts that are relevant. Armed with a company profile, a user can review all of the key data about the target in one place, allowing for a deep and meaningful conversation with a prospect.

Ultimately, tools such as iSell aim to optimize the sales prospecting process. Without these tools, top sales reps accessing similar types of information would have to conduct many different activities on many different sites, which would monopolize their time. The profile of a salesperson who does the research, prepares for calls, and prioritizes activities is usually that of an “A Player.”

The profile of a salesperson who does the research, prepares for calls, and prioritizes activities is usually that of an “A Player.” A sales prospecting enablement tool such as iSell can give “A Players” more time to conduct revenueclosing activities, while helping “B Players” become “A Players.”

Who

When

What What

‘A’ Player’s know the 3 W’s

Buying Considerations: Questions to Ask Yourself Using iSell as an example, we showed how easy sales prospecting can be.

There should be no question that sales prospecting enablement solutions provide an ROI. Eliminating the time lost to research and call preparation alone can save up to 17% of a rep’s time - or nearly one full day – each week. Reps can spend that time instead in front of clients selling. But the time-saving is only half of the story. Knowing when to call and what to say can increase sales. Using iSell as an example, we showed how easy sales prospecting can be. If you’re still unsure whether you need or would benefit from implementing a sales prospecting enablement solution, ask yourself the buyer consideration questions on the next two pages.

Buying Considerations: Questions to Ask Yourself Page 1 of 2 Buying Decision

What is the projected timeline for deciding on a solution? Who should be involved?

Buying Decision

What are the main problems you're looking to solve? How are these problems affecting your profitability and productivity?

Buying Decision

Have you asked your reps what they need to prospect more efficiently?

Credibility

How important is it for reps to be prepared and knowledgeable about the prospect before they call?

Credibility

How much time do our reps currently spend researching a prospect ahead of the call? Is it enough? If not, why?

Prospect Identification

How much time is wasted each week searching for the name of the right prospect?

Prospect Identification

What are the main methods used by your team to find the name of the person to call? How often are they successful?

Prospect Identification

How much time is wasted each week searching for the prospect's contact details?

Prospect Identification

When reps discover a hot prospect, how easy is it for them to search for and find similar-type companies/people?

Prospect Identification

When reps schedule in-person meetings, can they easily identify accounts in the same vicinity?

Sales Effectiveness

Do our reps make enough cold-calls? Why not? Do they know who to call?

Sales Effectiveness

Do our reps know all of the key players within an organization they are selling to?

Sales Effectiveness

Could reps sell position our products and services better, and ultimately sell more, if they understood their prospect's industry better?

Download Spreadsheet

Buying Considerations: Questions to Ask Yourself Page 2 of 2 Sales Effectiveness

Do our reps know what to say to appeal to and capture the prospect's attention?

Sales Effectiveness

Based on the 215 Principle, how is the time lost to prospect research affecting productivity and revenue?

Sales Effectiveness

Do certain events or "triggers" (new plant openings, product announcements, new hires etc.) signify an opportunity for our product/s?

Sales Effectiveness

Are reps aware when these events happen? How and how quickly? Could our competitors be acting on these "trigger" alerts before we are?

Sales Effectiveness

Do we give reps the information they need to prioritize their prospecting efforts or do they mostly "go-down-the-list" when making their calls?

Sales Effectiveness

Do reps hear far too many "no's" when attempting to schedule appointments? If so, why?

Sales Effectiveness

When cold-calling, what's the ratio of "yes's" to "no's"? Is that ratio high enough?

Sales Effectiveness

Are reps calling the right prospects at the right time?

Sales Effectiveness

What would the impact on profitability be if reps called more of the right people at the right time?

Sales Effectiveness

What would the impact on salespeopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s morale be if they called on more of the right people at the right time?

Sales Effectiveness

Do our reps have easy access to an organizations "family tree" (subsidiaries, branch offices, etc.) so they can crosssell?

Sales Prospecting Enablement: Feature Checklist The amount of effort required to gather information goes up exponentially as you add more vendors to your research list.

One of the hardest things to do when shopping for any solution is to compare features across vendors. One reason is that vendors often call features by different names. Another reason is that vendors often have different versions, each with varying feature sets. The amount of effort required to gather information goes up exponentially as you add more vendors to your research list. What we recommend instead is to create your own list of needed features, then make the vendors do the work. Ask yourself the buying consideration questions on page 18. Then review the checklist on the next two pages. The checklist is also available as a downloadable spreadsheet so you can modify it as needed. The downloadable checklist will give you the ability to mark the appropriate column: don’t need, nice-to-have, must-have. Perhaps you’ll even want to add additional columns such as: don’t need now, will need in the future. Have each of your constituents complete the checklist so everyone’s requirements and priorities are considered. As you talk with vendors, share your requirements with them. Instead of having to match vendors to your requirements, let the vendors match their software to your needs. You’ll find out quickly which vendors are truly customer-oriented by the way they respond.

Sales Prospecting Enablement: Checklist Category

Feature

Database Effectiveness

Multiple sources for updating and maintaining quality data

Database Effectiveness

System extracts the best data from multiple data sources for a complete and up-to-date picture

Database Effectiveness

Data on both public and private companies

Database Effectiveness

Social Media Monitoring and automatic intelligence-gathering

Database Effectiveness

Automatic prioritization of the hottest prospects based on relevancy, sales triggers, and degree of information

Database Effectiveness

Ability to tag or otherwise create your own contact database within the system

Database Effectiveness

Ability to download company reports, corporate organizational structure (Family Trees), contacts, and contact lists.

Database Effectiveness

Integration with major CRM software like Salesforce.com, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics

Database Effectiveness

Automatic ratings so sales can see at-a-glance which contacts to prioritize

Prospecting Effectiveness

Drag-and-drop user interface to easily organize and customize each user's display

Prospecting Effectiveness

Ability to save lists

Prospecting Effectiveness

Ability to save search criteria

Don't Need

Nice to Must Have Have

Download Spreadsheet

Sales Prospecting Enablement: Checklist Category

Feature

Prospecting Effectiveness

Ability to search by location: city, state, country, zip, area code

Prospecting Effectiveness

Ability to search for contacts by: Job title, company name, industry, location, SIC codes

Prospecting Effectiveness

CRM-like functionality built-in for keeping notes, activities and pipeline

Prospecting Effectiveness

Users can manage their own profiles and preferences

Prospecting Effectiveness

Mobile access to the database

Prospecting Effectiveness

Additional mobile functionality like directions and searches for companies in the area you're visiting

Prospecting Effectiveness

Company Profiles include; company description, history, products, locations, and more.

Prospecting Effectiveness

Detailed contact data including phone, job title, address, and email

Prospecting Effectiveness

Automatic SWOT reports (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats)

Prospecting Effectiveness

Access to key research on a prospect's industry such as; Industry overview, trends, Industry challenges, Industry forecasts

Prospecting Effectiveness

Access to contact's work history including past companies and job titles

Prospecting Effectiveness

Ability to view a companies "family tree" to understand parent, branch locations, and subsidiaries

Prospecting Effectiveness

Customize email trigger alerts for companies, people, and industries you care about

Prospecting Effectiveness

Social Media integration for quick access to a contact's social network links

Don't Nice to Must Need Have Have

Sales Prospecting Enablement: Vendor Listing Because it’s difficult to differentiate a long list of vendors, we thought “why not use their own words?” So the following list of vendors (in alphabetical order) states the main message we found on their Website home pages. Get a feel for their positioning by what they themselves choose to emphasize. We visited the Website of each company on the list and made note of (what we interpreted to be) their homepage main marketing message. Next, we list the lowest and the highest pricing found on their site. We’ve provided a link to their Website as well.

Sales Prospecting Enablement Vendor Listing Click here to request your free iSell trial Company Name

URL

From Website

DiscoverOrg

www.discoverorg.com

Access IT Decision Makers at Fortune Ranked and Mid-Market Companies

Dow Jones Companies & Executives

www.dowjones.com/product Business Information You Can Act On -djce.asp

Hoover's

www.hoovers.com

We Make It Easier

InsideView

www.insideview.com

Sales Intelligence, Social Selling, Sales Productivity

Jigsaw

www.jigsaw.com

The Easiest Way to Instantly Reach Business Professionals

NetProspex

www.netprospex.com

Crowd-sourced Prospects Verified for accuracy

OneSource iSell

www.onesource.com

iSell: Personalized Prospecting, Real-Time Sales Triggers & Social Selling

Zapdata

www.zapdata.com

Find New Customers and Grow Your Sales

ZoomInfo

www.zoominfo.com

The World's Most Dynamic Database of People and Companies

Next Steps Keep this Buyerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Guide handy: print a copy, bookmark it, or save it to your computer Download and complete the Buyer Considerations spreadsheet. Download and complete the Sales Prospecting Enablement Feature check-list. Learn more or schedule an introductory call: visit the iSell Website Share this report with friends and colleagues: