Many businesses fail after the first two years because they don't know how to implement an effective prospecting process . In the early days of a business, it is possible to sustain business growth with the founders' networking and client referrals.
However, this method has a shelf life and is not sustainable in the long run. When the source of referrals dries up, the company starts to experience peaks and valleys in revenue. This is very dangerous for the operation of any business, considering that costs tend to remain constant.
This problem is even worse if there is no specialization apparel company database in the sales teams. When the salesperson is responsible for seeking new opportunities, they will have less time to actually sell .
If a salesperson spends a month prospecting for new business, they will not be closing any new sales. The following month, the CRM will be full of opportunities to be led to closing. The salesperson will probably hit their target and the company will see a spike in revenue. The problem is that the following month, there will be no new opportunities because the salesperson was busy with sales and was unable to prospect. This cycle will repeat itself, generating spikes and valleys in revenue.
Many business owners believe that the formula for increasing sales is to increase the number of salespeople. In other words, if the company has 1 salesperson to make 10 sales per month, when it needs to triple the number of sales, it simply needs to hire two more salespeople.
To increase sales volume, you need to increase the volume of lead generation at the beginning. Often, the number of leads needs to be proportionally higher, as the increase in volume can cause a drop in conversions due to the new marketing channels not being as assertive.
To get around this problem, you can create a specialization within your sales team. One professional will focus on prospecting new companies and another will be responsible for conducting sales meetings.
The first professional is known as a Sales Development Representative ( SDR). This professional must have a goal of generating new opportunities for the sales team. Their work process consists of sending personalized emails to segmented lists, contacting people who respond and qualifying whether their solution meets the prospect's needs. After completing the qualification stage, the SDR schedules a meeting on the salesperson's calendar to begin the sales process.
Aaron Ross, author of the book Predictable Revenue, cites some advantages of specializing sales teams:
Prospecting and sales are very different functions;
Salespeople hate prospecting;
Salespeople's productivity increases with specialization;
There is greater consistency in lead generation, and consequently greater predictability in sales.