This past week, InsightSquared had the opportunity and privilege to be one of the sponsors at the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP) Inside Sales 2013 Frontline Series – Boston. The special one-day conference was dedicated exclusively to the issues that inside sales professionals deal with on the frontline of their jobs every single day. As a Gold Sponsor, we were proud to not only support the event with our very own booth and give a presentation on the “Best Practices of Analytical Sales Management” but also to meet and rub shoulders with some of the most respected inside sales experts and professionals today.
Some of the inside sales topics covered including the top tools and technologies that help inside sales reps today, handling objections, the rise of social media as used in selling, training programs that work and a host of other relevant inside sales topics. With heavy-hitters such as Ken Krogue, Bob Perkins, Trish Bertuzzi, Ralph Barsi and Steve Richard presenting, the wealth of information, insights and best practices shared was truly something to behold.
Here are some key takeaways from some of the sessions we were fortunate enough to attend at the AA-ISP Inside Sales 2013 Frontline Series – Boston.
Ken Krogue – Inside Sales: Professional Sales Done Remotely
When it comes to inside sales, there might not be a professional more well-equipped or qualified to speak about it than Ken Krogue, the co-founder and President of InsideSales.com. Ken shared some fascinating statistics on the state of the inside sales industry, including the fact that in 2011, for the first time, inside sales became bigger than outside sales and is growing 300% faster. Ken also emphasized that, more than ever, inside sales is becoming about science (vs. the art of sales). Ken referenced the “Moneyball revolution” in sales, where sales managers had to use statistical analysis and improved data technology to be more effective at running their sales operations.
Trish Bertuzzi – Building a High Performance Inside Sales Machine
Trish, the President and Chief Strategist of The Bridge Group, Inc., knows a thing or two about building and running a top-notch inside sales team, and her session was unsurprisingly one of the most popular. Sales managers who showed up looking for the secret sauce of high performance inside sales teams discovered that Trish’s answer was simple: data. Referring to data as “the engine oil that makes the machine work” and urging more companies to use their data to find actionable insights and to make more effective business decisions, Trish emphasized an analytical mindset that was music to our ears.
Kraig Kleeman – The Power of Persuasion: Avoiding Weapons of Mass Miss-Communication
After opening up with some interesting personal anecdotes – including his friendship with Irish rock star Bono – Kraig, an author, speaker and global strategist, settled down and shared some great tips on how sales reps could be more persuasive and more effective at closing. He broke down the anatomy of a sales close thusly: demonstrate – disseminate – orchestrate – aggregate. He also warned reps to watch out for the “Trap of the self-close.”
Steve Richard – Preventing and Overcoming Objections
All sales reps, inside or outside, have to deal with objections on a daily basis. Steve, the co-founder of Vorsight, shared some tips on how reps can gird themselves against objections and be better at overcoming or preventing them altogether. His biggest point was that reps needed to be more stringent in building their ideal customer profile and be more effective in finding these ICPs. Additionally, he introduced his 6-step qualification process and noted that “there is no such thing as THE decision-maker anymore” in inside sales.
These are just a few highlights from what was an overall great event. Look out for more AA-ISP Frontline Series events and keep tabs on these inside sales experts to keep learning more about this ever-growing sales industry.
