Lead Prospector Rejected Today....

I received yet another cold call from someone, who I have no idea what they were selling, and before they could pitch... I hung up. Now my normal response.

I get these calls and emails constantly. Don’t get me wrong, I have worked in B2B sales environments for most of my career and empathize with anyone who is legitimately repping a real solution out there.... the problem is that there is too much noise for me to hear the right message from anyone. to defend my time, I block it all.

It seems that most companies still believe that a direct salesperson can walk in the front door like it is 1995. That becomes evident when you read the statistics on how many reps are achieving quota nowadays. It is fascinating to look at the job descriptions for B2B sales roles: Hunter mentality, Find and develop new business and exceed objectives, manage full sales cycle from lead to close, build pipeline of new opportunities through strategic outreach.

How do you expect a rep in a B2B role to “find new business” in a market that will not answer the phone or respond to email? If you are not with a well-known company with an established customer base, are you assuming that you just need more... or better reps?

We are all now inundated with new (lead gen) companies that know how to social sell and automate… (We also deploy some of these methodologies), but I have found that AI/Automation/sales tools in the wrong hands and with the wrong messaging/Intent gets stiff-armed just as quickly as the traditional lead gen call…

Lets get real, everyone wants to fill the top of the sales funnel but things have changed and many B2B companies are struggling. Leadership at companies I work with have realized for some time that the cheese has been moving for a while and they have to adapt. Even larger well known B2B companies are seeing their lead generation success rates decrease. Some high level observations lately have been:

1. You have to prioritize your marketing stack: If events and branding efforts generate leads, focus your budget appropriately, build discipline, and stick with it.

2. Traditional lead generation is not working; Find out quickly what does. (social selling, marketing spend, AI/Automation, more events in the budget, etc)

3. In B2B environments you have to find a way to drive leads to the sales team. Sales people are important but expensive. Do not burn the resource on low probability prospecting efforts.

Is your sales org and marketing plan adapting to the market in 2023?