I believe there are no sales positions more difficult than B2B Inside Sales reps and Sales Development reps (SDRs) targeting new accounts. Every day these sales professionals answer the question, “What does your company do?” more than any other person in the company, from the CEO to an individual contributor. Yet, top inside sales reps and SDRs welcome the opportunity to answer the question all day, as upwards of 80% of their effort to connect with a person ends in leaving a voice message.
In companies selling complex B2B solutions, SDRs add significant value to inside (and external) sales reps by generating qualified leads. Trish Bertuzzi, CEO of The Bridge Group and Author, states it best:
“If your SDRs are booking meetings with the right types of companies, the right people within them, and the prospects are at least curious about addressing a potential pain, then the reps have done their jobs well.”
Every sales leader knows more qualified opportunities lead to more closed deals.
In today’s digital world, the most successful B2B companies have grown an inside sales organization to become a critical source of new account revenue with many reps carrying quotas in excess of $1 million! Yet, most companies are still struggling to adopt a successful inside sales/SDR model. What’s the problem? Answer: too much wasted time leading to frustration and motivational challenges. According to a recent whitepaper by InsideSales.com, the #1 “time waster” for inside sales and lead generation teams is a “Poor Sales & Marketing Strategy”. Failure to provide a unique selling proposition for sales and SDR teams is a key point stated in the whitepaper. There are many reputable training companies who can help your teams increase leads, leave great voice messages, craft solid emails, etc.; however, crisp value propositions are lacking from marketing in collaboration with sales for reps and SDRs to communicate when they do connect with the right target prospect.
Value selling to date has been primarily focused on B2B field teams in customer-facing meetings. It makes sense to most marketers since these customer meetings are normally scheduled for one hour with sales teams to present their company and solution with a sales approved PowerPoint deck or live demonstration. Value selling in a virtual business environment where messaging and graphics is actually more critical for SDRs and inside reps targeting new accounts where presentation and demo times tend to be 30 minutes (or less) especially in early stages of the sales process.
Leading B2B companies are “energizing” their inside sales and SDR teams by adopting value selling and creating value propositions which resonate with the specific prospect’s industry. Three keys to success of SDRs creating more qualified leads, and inside sales closing more competitive deals are:
- Establishing immediate credibility. Prospects want to hear from sales teams that have valuable insights, knowledge and successful customers in their industry. SDRs and inside reps can access an appropriate value proposition to prep for the call with core unique messaging, 2-3 pain points, and typical economic results for customers adopting the solution – all within 30 seconds. If the prospect has more time, a quick screen sharing link can display the value proposition and demo for qualified prospects.
- Engaging prospects in a conversation. Prospects asking questions indicate a desire to “learn more” from you – the selling process has commenced! Value propositions clearly show business drivers and assumptions used for typical customer results, so your diligence process of asking specific data questions becomes easier. Whether you’re a SDR qualifying a lead, or an inside sales rep trying to schedule the next meeting with decision-makers, getting the prospect to volunteer information is a big step in the process and differentiating you from competition.
- Winning the meeting! Achieving your meeting objective (i.e. schedule date for next meeting, gain access to decision-maker, schedule firm date for demo, use customer data to present results to CxO, close the deal etc.) energizes SDRs and sales reps. Value propositions are the foundation successful sales teams use to demonstrate knowledge of the customer’s business issues, prove economic results, and establish trust with customers during a lengthy B2B sales process.
