Is partnering with Incept a short-term or long-term thing?

Customers use our on-demand inside sales division both to address short-term needs or really as a resource for their long-term marketing strategy. We absolutely see the best results when our services are designed to complement a long-term project. Short-term relationships can generate attendance for an event or try to generate leads for a sales blitz, but finding a solution to handle the top of the funnel long-term should be a priority for your business.

Over time, long-term relationships will continue to benefit both parties. The longer you outsource inside sales to a partner, the more time you can spend delivering your core competencies to customers. Furthermore, Account Growth Specialists will begin to specialize in your business, becoming a trusted sales rep and advocate for your business.

At Incept, our intent is to become an integral part of the way you operate and service your customers. We also understand that there are times that our sole purpose is to help you scale to a point that you can transition this process internally. In some situations, we can even create a handoff system where we generate interest and then transfer that back to your team to take it from there. It is essential to select an inside-sales team that will be flexible with your timeframe.

What exactly is on-demand inside sales and why do I need it?

We consistently hear a need in the marketplace from companies facing the dilemma, “Should I incur costs to generate sales or wait until my sales have come so that I can invest back in my business?”

The solution

On-demand inside sales - a fractional and variable cost approach to lead generation. On-demand inside sales programs are built to give companies the ability to rent sales consultants at a rate that allows them to scale their businesses without the burden of fixed cost.

The value of on-demand inside sales is growth potential. Having on-demand inside sales gives you the ability to create top of the funnel activity without having to fully commit to hiring, training, or managing a full-time employee.

Could you successfully generate leads in-house?

This is a valid option to consider; you could absolutely hire and train this position to be an internal resource. Strategically though, if you have a product you want to distribute and don’t want to be in the business of creating top of the funnel activity, prioritize your core competencies and leave the lead generation up to an on-demand inside sales team.

4 Ways To Engage Your Leads After The Sales Call

You've cold-called your way through a list and talked to people who were either ready to buy, interested but not ready to buy, or not interested. So often, the ready-to-buy group becomes the focus of inside sales representatives, and the rest of the list is forgotten. What you really need to do is keep your brand in front of those interested-but-not-ready-to-buy folks so that when they run into a problem your organization can fix, you're the first company that comes to mind. 

Here are four ways to engage your cold call list after the sales pitch:

Send an email newsletter

One of the easiest things you can do to keep interested-but-not-ready-to-buy folks (and even your not-interested folks) engaged with your company is through an email newsletter. A monthly email filled with relevant articles, helpful content and industry news is the perfect way to stay in front of your contacts. 

Many of you have shied away from sending out an email newsletter because of the time commitment and consistency it requires. You might be able to write enough content in the first few months, but when things get busy, it's the first thing to fall off your to-do list. I'm here to tell you that you don't have to generate all of the content you send!

A few years ago I was sitting in a session at Content Marketing World that was extremely thought-provoking. The speaker shared several stories from around the world about how content marketing helped to drive small businesses' success.  I immediately projected all of their ingenuity, creativity, and success onto the speaker since he shared the stories. That same principle can be applied to your email newsletter.

Our secret to consistency is by using the incredible content that other companies are already generating. There are so many great articles online that authors and businesses are begging to be shared with your audience, and as long as you point your contacts back to their website, you're good to go. 

Create content for your website

Even better than sharing other people's content is sharing your own! Write about topics your future buyers care about and want to engage with.

What questions are they asking? What questions are they Googling?  We're big believers in the Sales Lion strategy of 'they ask, you answer:

This strategy is incredibly simple - listen to the questions your customers have been asking you all along!  Use this information to drive the content you create. Make sure you are detailed, informative, non-biased and answering their questions as comprehensively as possible.

This content not only allows your prospects to continue engaging with you through other channels and help them through the buying cycle, but it also helps other potential leads find you through search. It's a win-win.

PS - add your blogs to your email newsletters too.

Enroll your leads in drip campaigns

As defined by Pardot, "drip campaigns are automated processes that send a set of messages or content to sales leads at the right moment to move them through the sales cycle. Drip campaigns allow you to consistently “touch” leads with relevant information based on time intervals, actions taken by prospects on your website, or other parameters, freeing up valuable marketing and sales resources without neglecting your prospects."

Take your group of interested-but-not-ready-to-buy folks and send them additional content to figure out what they're really interested in. They way they engage with that email and content offering will help you learn a lot more about their problems and/or interests. 

Take Incept for example - we help our clients generate top of the funnel sales activity.  While our initial pitch may have been about cold calling to support lead generation activities, that's not the only way we support our clients. We may include introductions to other services in our drip campaigns so see if that's something that aligns more with their problem and/or interests. Cold calling wasn't a good trigger? We might try sending a lead generation follow-up blog, a white paper about strategic list building, or a video about our customer service work. 

Call Them Back In 90 Days

Just because they weren't interested in your solution three months ago doesn't mean you shouldn't continue to check in with them periodically. Ninety days is usually a good starting point, but depending on the length of your sales cycle, you might need to shorten or extend that window.

So whatever you do, make every effort to continue engaging with your leads! 

 

5 Ultra Life Lessons

I ran a 100K on New Year’s Eve: Here’s 5 lesson I learned to take with you to the workplace this year.

1.       Don’t let the fear of DNFing keep you from starting.

In the weeks leading up to the longest race I have ever attempted, I was constantly second-guessing myself. My wife and I debated the pros and cons of traveling out of state during the holiday season to participate in a race we had already paid for, but not thoroughly trained for, and so on. In the end, I toed the starting line. I wasn’t convinced I had what it took to make it to the finish line, but I sure as hell wasn’t going home without trying. Whatever it is that you’re afraid to start, or try, or create, because you’re not sure how it will turn out – take the journey and see where it ends.

2.       Take regular check-ins

Our bodies tell us a lot if we take the time to listen to them. Somewhere between mile 45 and 50, I intentionally did a head-to-toe check-in. I consciously zeroed in on every muscle group, every joint, and decided whether it was in danger or if it could go another few miles. What I realized is that everything hurt. But slowly down, stopping, walking, none of that would make it hurt any less. So I kept going. Regular mental and physical check-ins, individually or team-based, are crucial to continued health and productivity in every part of life. They allow you to determine if you’re moving forward at a healthy pace, if you need to throttle back, hit the gas, or throw on the brakes altogether.

3.       Proactively pursue a healthy R&R cadence

In October, I made the classic mistake of many a newbie-ultrarunner: I hydrated and refueled reactively. When I felt thirsty, I drank. When I felt hungry, I ate. This led to a massive crash and burn, and a much-too-long recovery process afterward. During my 100K on New Year’s Eve, I was hyper-sensitive to maintaining a regular nutrition and hydration cadence. This intentionality is probably the only reason I was able to finish the race. Don’t wait until you’re sick to take a day off. Don’t wait until you’ve gone postal to turn in your notice. Don’t wait until you’re tense to get a massage. Schedule a regular massage. Pick up a hobby and pursue it religiously. Take up yoga. Proactively pursue a healthy mental and physical rhythm.

4.       Eventually, new speeds become normal

Like I mentioned above, somewhere in the final fourth of the race, I realized that speeding up or slowing down didn’t affect how much my legs and joints hurt. Everything hurt as much as it could possibly hurt – and I was still running. Similarly, at work recently, my team and I have been working faster, harder, and longer than ever before to grow a new division. Last time we checked in, we all agreed that we never knew before that we could work that hard, and still be okay. Don’t be afraid to take on another project. Beat the deadline by a week. Come in 20 minutes earlier. Skip your Facebook break. Whatever it is, start to push yourself, and pretty soon you just might realize that what you previously thought was an unattainable level of productivity is now the new normal, and it feels okay.

5.       Finish on purpose

If I’m honest with myself and all of you, I enjoy the spotlight. There’s enough of a freak-factor to running ultramarathons that I ended up having quite the real-time Facebook following by the end of the twelve and a half hour race. I also knew going into the last mile that my mother was going to get my finish on video. So what did I do? Thanks to my wife running beside me and barking orders at me like a coach, I kicked it in. I gave everything I had left, picked up my pace, burned every ounce of fuel I had left and sprinted to the finish line. And that’s not all… when I got there, I jumped and slapped the “FINISH” banner. Whatever you’re working on, finish it strong, and go out with a bang. It matters. People remember.