This letter, from a Sales Manager, was forwarded to us at Maven TM by none other than Mr. Santa Claus, with a note attached asking us to help him out:
Dear Santa,
It’s been quite some time since I wrote to you as I am now 48 years of age. However times are hard, stress levels are high and now I need your help. I have been really good this year and worked terribly hard for my MD. As you know (because you are Santa after all!) my role of Sales Manager has become fraught with difficulties. Sales are down, budgets are being cut and the pipeline for 2013 is not looking healthy at all. So I am sending you my Christmas wish list in the hope that you can save my sanity.
1. Good working database of contacts
I have data, loads of data. I have lists upon lists of company names, contact names, email addresses, phone numbers. However I know that much of this data is poor, outdated and ultimately useless if I want to use it to generate revenue. How do I clean this data up, sift out the rubbish, so I can focus on the quality? I don’t want my sales people spending time on this - they need to be out selling. Please send me a cost effective solution to quickly clean this data and thus arm me with a database I have confidence in using.
2. An end to meetings with unqualified prospects
My sales guys are good. I have genuine confidence in them. However time and again they end up chasing and meeting “leads” who ultimately are never going to turn into customers. It is an easy trap to fall into as they are eager to follow up with any company that shows the slightest indication of interest in our products. I need to find a solution to this problem. I need my sales team spending their time with sales qualified leads, where there is a genuine need and a genuine opportunity for us to close business. Help me to get highly qualified sales leads so that I know my sales team are using their time wisely.
3. Steady stream of qualified sales leads
This leads me on to my next issue. We suffer from peaks and troughs in our sales activity. This happens for example after our marketing department launches an activity such as a promotion on our website. Inbound activity spikes, as do meetings and proposals, and there is a great flurry of excitement. Then suddenly the spike drops and we find ourselves scraping the bottom of the barrel once again. So, Santa, I need to find a method of providing my sales team with a steady stream of highly qualified sales leads.
4. The resources to generate these leads
So what is the solution? I need to find a reliable, cost effective resource which can operate as an extended arm of our sales and marketing function. Possibly this resource is the same one who can resolve my data issues. Is it possible that there is a company who can take on this list of mine, clean it, populate it and conduct a targeted calling campaign on behalf of our business? Is there a company who can provide a high level of service, represent our organisation in a professional manner, engage with C level contacts, uncover highly qualified sales opportunities, provide flexibility and transparency in their service offering and structure a campaign so that a steady stream of these leads are fed through to us on a monthly basis? If so, I need to find them
5. To exceed my targets!
By Roger Brennan
