I was asked a great question during a recent conversation with a founder: When should you take a spearfishing approach to finding new customers and when should you use a shotgun? It depends on what you’re hunting. Large vs small How important is a particular company to you? What is the payoff for landing this account? When thinking of this payoff I recommend thinking of lifetime value (in terms of profit ideally not just revenue.) Maybe the account also has strategic value, like a key new logo you want to brag about, maybe to get other firms like that on your bandwagon. Once you have a sense ..read more

Prospecting is hard. There’s no need to make it even harder. I’ve run dozens of experiments over the years on how to get through the door and start working with a new account. In every experiment, I’ve found that the number one factor that influences a successful outcome has been a human relationship. The smartest piece of content has never beaten a warm introduction from another person. In my own experiments, I’ve found a referral of any kind (not necessarily from a client) to be 3.25 times more effective than a cold approach (based on time spent–it’s even more effective in te ..read more

According to recent research from SalesLoft best-performing senior salespeople (like Account Exectuives) need to self-source around 48% of their pipeline–rather than having leads come from a sales development rep (BDR, SDR etc.) or inbound via the efforts of their marketing department. This uptick in the need for AEs to self-source deals has likely been driven by economics, the need to “do more with less”, but is I trend that may continue as AI tools free up AEs from admin tasks. If AEs are going to self-source their deals, I believe they are going to have to be good at certain skil ..read more

We may be entering a “new, new era” of selling—an era that takes us back to good old-fashioned relationship selling. Up to this point many of the tools available to sales teams have encouraged volume-based sales techniques, like mass emailing and cold calling. But as more and more salespeople use these tools, buyers have become inundated with low value communication. Inevitably connection rates and conversion rates have dropped quickly. At the same time, driven by a softening economy, account executives have been pushed to “self-source” more of their pipeline (60-70% according to Jason Bay ..read more

In the near future, savvy salespeople are going to greatly enhance their sales by leveraging AI. One of the mechanisms for this improvement will be leveraging the “social graph” more effectively. It’s always been true that a referral beats any other lead, with referrals converting to customers 50% of the time, according to Joanne Black. AI will help us use our “social graph” to find referrals without spending too much time on research. Up to this point, this kind of research has generally been too time-consuming for the average salesperson. The best tool today for this research is Linked ..read more

This is number 8 in a series of interviews I am conducting with subject matter experts and practitioners in the sales profession. I am examining where we are today with AI in sales and where we are going. This interview is with Adam Rubenstein, CEO of Traq.ai. Traq.ai’s artificial intelligence helps analyze sales conversations to point out opportunities, risks, tasks, and other highlights, and guides users to do what works best for them and close more deals. Here’s a summary of our conversation and below this summary is the full transcript of our interview. 1. AI will save salespeople time Ad ..read more

This is number 7 in a series of interviews I am conducting with subject matter experts and practitioners in the sales profession. I am examining where we are today with AI in sales and where we are going. This interview is with Heidi Messer Co-Founder of Collective[i]. Collective[i] provides the most comprehensive solution on the market for companies seeking to optimize revenue using AI, connections, and collaboration. Here’s a summary of our conversation and below this summary is the full transcript of our interview. 1. Traditional sales models vs. AI-enabled selling. Heidi says we are movin ..read more

This is the sixth in a series of interviews I am conducting with subject matter experts and practitioners in the sales profession. I am examining where we are today with AI in sales and where we are going. This interview is with Dave Brock. Dave is CEO at Partners In Excellence, a consulting firm that helps its clients OutPerform and OutSell their competitors. Dave is also the author of the “Sales Manager Survival Guide.”​  Here’s a summary of our conversation and below this summary is the full transcript of our interview. 1. More human selling Dave thinks AI will drive salespeople ..read more

If you’re taking a new job in sales or marketing, read this book first. It could save you leaving your job within three to six months! I love the “bullseye framework” developed by Louis Gudema and explained in his book Bullseye Marketing—just out this week in its second (updated) edition. If you are not interested in anything else, it’s critical to your career survival in any marketing or sales role, to understand the basic framework. Here is in its simplest form. The Bullseye Framework Step 1: Sell to your current clients. Step 2: Sell to other people looking to buy right now. Step 3: Sell ..read more

This is the fifth in a series of interviews I am conducting with subject matter experts and practitioners in the sales profession. I am examining where we are today with AI in sales and where we are going. This interview is with Scott Ingram. Scott is the Founder of Sales Success Media and hosts the Sales Success Stories and Daily Sales Tips podcasts. Here’s a summary of our conversation and below this summary is the full transcript of our interview. 1. Disrupting the traditional sales model Scott sees AI disrupting some traditional sales models like geographic territories. He says those may ..read more