Sales Leadership, Responding to Leads and Building Momentum - The 411, August 25th
Plus tips for working remotely and increasing reply rates.
Hey sellas,
Momentum is powerful. If you were lucky, you used to have it on your side.
Then 2020 came along and slashed everyone’s tires. Momentum stalled.
And once stopped, it can be hard to get back going again. Really hard.
The trick is to start small. Incredibly, unbelievably, small.
Read one page of a book. Make your bed or wash the dishes or tidy your desk. Do five pushups or go for a ten-minute walk.
Focus on things that will give you energy and a sense of accomplishment. That will propel you forward.
Apply to one job. Make one cold call. Create one personalized video.
Let one lead to two and two to three and three to four.
When you feel stuck, everything feels hard and pointless. Starting small feels futile, silly, hopeless. Like it’ll never be enough to make a difference.
But small actions, repeated daily, create big momentum.
And momentum is powerful.
This week’s edition is brought to you by Sizle, sales presentations that convert more leads.
Four Links
1. Best Practices for Lead Response Management
Here’s a solid pdf from InsideSales.com on how best to respond to inbound leads.
The long and short of it:
Best time to respond is within 5 minutes, connect rates drop dramatically if you wait any longer
If you don’t connect immediately, the best days are Wednesday and Thursday, either late afternoon (4-5ish) or early morning (8-9ish)
Make at least 6 call attempts to maximize your chances of success (most reps give up too soon)
Cassidy Shield, VP of Marketing at Narrative Science, shared their approach to distributed work:
“As long as you are hitting deadlines and monthly goals, you can work where you want and how you want.”
“No meetings on Wednesday.”
“Two mandatory 4-hour blocks set aside for work/creative time. No one should schedule over these times.”
“There is no need to answer ‘off-hour’ communications right away.”
“Delete all meetings from your calendar to start over. No status meetings as long as we adhere to communication and task management principles.”
“All tasks in Trello by category (content, web, design, ops, etc.). Write things down. Use Google docs to solicit feedback.”
“Use Slack for communication. Email for task requests.”
3. Morgan J. Ingram’s Tips for Increasing Reply Rates
“Be brief. Be brilliant. Be gone.”
More specifics:
78% of emails are read on mobile
First four or five words need to stand out
No “Hope all is well, staying safe, etc.”
Try “I saw...” “I noticed…” “I was researching…”
First two sentences personalized and relevant
Next part is value prop, how you help
Third part is call to action
Don’t ask for time
Try “Open to learning more?” or “Interested in a deeper dialogue?”
4. Long Read on Sales Leadership in a Remote World
I loved this post from Anna Baird, Chief Revenue Officer at Outreach, on how sales leaders can adapt and continue to motivate their teams.
This is what strong leadership looks like.
Some great lines and advice:
“Control what you can control.”
“Look challenges straight in the eye, and do what you need to take care of your team and your customers right here, right now — even if it’s way out of your comfort zone.”
“Check in regularly and engage in deep conversations.”
“Keeping the customers you have should always be your top priority, no matter what’s going on in the world.”
“Now is the time to master the basics of relationship building. Encourage your team to stand out by empathizing, listening, connecting, identifying pain points, and aligning solutions with business goals.”
“Human connection matters more than ever.”
Featured Jobs
1. CoderPad AE
CoderPad is a technical interview tool that makes hiring devs remotely quicker and easier than ever.
As one of the first two sales reps on the team, you’ll need to be hungry, scrappy and ready to handle the full sales cycle from open to close.
They’re looking for someone with a couple years of SaaS experience who knows how to close technical buyers.
Mailshake is a sales engagement tool that helps sales teams connect with prospects and close deals.
The company is fully remote, product-led, profitable and growing fast.
Looking for someone who’s comfortable hosting webinars and handling demos, and knows their way around a CRM.
One Tactic to Try
Put your prospect’s exact words in your subject line.
First name works, too. But is much easier to automate. I still open emails that start with “Steele…” but I’m increasingly skeptical.
If the subject line contains words from my LInkedIn bio or a social media post, on the other hand, I’m legitimately excited to see what’s inside.
This tactic works because it proves the outreach is truly personalized. Just for me.
People like receiving emails like that.
One Quote to Live By
“Remember, what you put into something is what you'll get back from it... always.” - Amy Volas, Founder and CEO of Avenue Talent Partners
Now you know,
Steele