Springboard

We Make Sales Happen

How do you know if Outsourcing is right for you? 

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You have heard about all of the benefits of outsourced sales. Outsourcing sales can save your business money. Outsourcing sales can increase your business’ profitability. Outsourcing sales can help you grow your business. Blah, blah blah…

You have heard that spiel over and over and over again. But you are still not sure that outsourcing sales is right for YOU and YOUR business. It is important to examine your mindset before outsourcing your organization’s sales to an outside entity.

“If you believe all sales people are evil, you’ll likely have a bad experience because you’ll hire someone that will ultimately fulfill your expectation,” says Springboard CEO Karin Schwartz. Sales outcomes are a snapshot into the organization itself, if there’s a problem in sales most likely it’s not the only department in trouble.

So before you think about outsourcing sales, ask yourself the following questions:

  1. Do you need to see the person every day to believe they are working? If you need to see a salesperson each and every day, you may be a micromanager.  Micromanager has a negative connotation but let’s face it most of us business owners are to one degree or another, a micromanager.  And if this is true, outsourced sales may not be right for you. Remember, the more a salesperson is in the office, the less work they are actually doing.
  2. How long is your sales cycle? If your sales cycle is short where price is the dominating factor (transactional sales), then outsourced sales may not be right for you. You need volume not relationships.  If your sales cycle is longer and dependent on building relationships (relationship sales), then outsourcing may work for you and your business.
  3. Will your salesperson perform multiple tasks on a weekly basis? Do you need someone who can take on service and account management as well as sales? Most likely you are better off hiring 2 different people as these tend to be different skill sets but if you absolutely cannot do that, then focus on growing existing clients and hire someone who thrives on building relationships, who wants to take care of their clients, and who can ask for referrals.  This would be a full time hire.
  4. How technical does this salesperson need to be? It really doesn’t matter provided your sales person has access to someone who is technical who can assist them when the time comes to get into the highly technical details.
  5. What are my expectations of a sales person? As we said earlier, if you believe all sales people are evil, you’ll likely have a bad experience because you’ll hire someone that will ultimately fulfill your expectation.  That being said you need to determine and communicate how this person will be measured.  It’s certainly easier to “measure” the activity of a full time sales person.

So when should you outsource?

“You should consider outsourcing when you need someone with existing connections and relationships and you see value in the introduction but can handle the rest in-house,” says Schwartz. “Since we tend to be more cost effective than hiring full time and our consultants are fully entrenched in the areas our clients do business we can be far more efficient so essentially for the equivalent of hiring one full time business developer we can create of team of 3-6 highly experienced business development professionals who are having conversations with your prospects daily.”

If you have any questions about Outsourced Business Development, please contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the financial burden of an in-house business developer.

At Springboard we know sales!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

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The WHY of Success: WHY do some Business Succeed when others Fail?

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Why are some organizations more successful than others, despite being no more qualified than the competition?

Why are some leaders able to inspire when others are not, despite having no “special” attributes?

Why!?

Simon Sinek seeks to explain the WHY in his lecture, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Action.


“The inspired leaders and the inspired organizations, regardless of their size, regardless of their industry, all think, act, and communicate from the inside out,” said Sinek. He further explained this theory using what he calls his Golden Circle.

 

What: Every organization and every leader knows what they do.

How: Some organizations and leaders know how they do what they do is better than the competition. For example: our computer is user friendly, our car gets great gas mileage, etc.

Why: Very few organizations and leaders know WHY they do what they do.

And no, profit is not a why. It is a result. The why is a purpose, a cause, or a belief. The why has to do with why your organization exists? You do not exist to turn a profit. If you do, your business might not be around very long.

Pursuing a result is a recipe for failure; it is what drives businesses into the ground. Pursuing a belief is what drives businesses to succeed, despite the odds. It is what drives prospects to you.

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it,” said Sinek. “The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have; the goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.”

The WHY of Sales

The why, the belief, is the reason a prospect buys your product or service. And everyone’s why is different. Because of this, there is no one size fits all sales solution. The key to sales success is to understand your prospects why and respect that belief throughout the entire buying process. This is how you foster long, happy client relationships.

“They know you ‘get’ them,” said Springboard CEO Karin Schwartz. “They trust you; they believe in you.”

If you have any questions about Business Development, please contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the financial burden of an in-house business developer.

At Springboard we know sales!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

The Candle Problem: Rethinking the Way we do Business

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What truly motivates your employees? How do you, as a business owner, foster a more efficient workplace to ultimately drive sales and increase profits? Well, traditional business practices would lead one to believe that extrinsic motivators, like monetary rewards, are the best way to motivate your employees. However, recent studies show that there may be a mismatch between how businesses “motivate” salespeople and what science knows to be effective.

This is the subject of speaker Daniel Pink’s speech, “The Surprising Science of Motivation.”

The Candle Problem: Participants are tasked to attach a candle to a wall in such a way so wax will not drip on the table below. To do this, the participant may use a book of matches and a box of thumbtacks.

Some participants try to use the tacks to fix the candle to the wall. It doesn’t work. Other try to melt part of the candle and stick it to the wall. That doesn’t work either.

The Solution: Empty the box of thumbtacks, put the candle into the box, use the thumbtacks to nail the box to the wall, and stick the candle in the box.

The message of the candle problem is simple and can easily be applied to the business community, especially motivation. We must stop looking at what we think we see…what we think we know about motivation and start looking for more creative and effective ways to encourage salespeople and ultimately bolster sales.

The fact is that traditional, extrinsic rewards aren’t always as effective as we think.

“I can’t tell you how many leaders I speak with that think their sales people are motivated by money, but most aren’t,” said Springboard CEO Karin Schwartz. “It’s rarely about money.”

In fact, according to Dr. Bernd Irlenbusch of the London School of Economics, “financial incentives…can result in a negative impact on overall performance.” Instead, Daniel Pink encourages the use of intrinsic business motivation, which work because of three key factors:

  • Autonomy: The urge to direct our own lives
  • Mastery: The desire to get better and better and something that matters
  • Purpose: The yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves

“It’s not uncommon to see sales people motivated by cultivating long term relationships, helping others, finding the missing puzzle piece, receiving the accolades/appreciation, etc.,” said Karin. “The faster a business owner realizes how their people are motivated the faster they can develop a culture that thrives.”

If you have any questions about Business Development, please contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the financial burden of an in-house business developer.

At Springboard we know sales!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

The Biggest Business Development Mistakes

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If your business relies heavily on sales, then you know just how important it is to have a strong business development strategy. Still, even the best businesses fall victim to the same old mistakes!

  1. Assuming you know EVERYTHING there is to Know: Becoming proficient in the business development arena takes practice. Not just anyone can be successful…it takes serious work!
  2. Selling to the Wrong Person: Make sure you are talking to a decision maker. Don’t waste your time selling to someone who can’t even make the decision to buy your product or service!
  3. Failing to Make Multiple Contacts: What happens if you spend a ton of time developing a business relationship with a prospect only to have that prospect fired? Well, if you failed to make multiple contacts, you are screwed!
  4. Not Enough Prospects: Prospects are your lifeline. Without a healthy number of prospects in your sales funnel, your business has no chance of thriving!
  5. Waiting for Referrals: Referrals are great and a lot of the time, they drive your business. But you cannot rely on your clients to just hand over referrals. Get you’re a$$ out there and find business. Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals from happy clients. What’s the worst that could happen? They say no.
  6. Not Bringing More to the Table: What do you have to offer your prospects? If you are having trouble answering this question, then you are probably in the wrong business! And we are not just talking about your product or service. The prospect already knows about that. But what’s something you can do to help your prospect in their business? What can you offer the prospect that no one else can?
  7. Assuming you know what the Client Needs: You don’t know what the client needs. Only the client knows what he/she needs. So stop talking and start listening.
  8. Fear of Closing: Don’t let a prospect pull you in every direction. You are in the business of making money. So make the sale or cut your losses. You cannot waste your valuable time on a lost cause. That is just a poor business strategy.
  9. Trying to do everything In House: With salary ranges of $120-175k plus benefits, taxes, and expense reimbursements, companies are wisely moving away from in-house business developers and beginning to turn to outsourced business development firms, like Springboard, to ask, “How can we do this at less cost while hitting all the key areas?”
  10. Trusting Someone other than Springboard! If we didn’t think we were the best and if we didn’t know we could help you grow your business, we wouldn’t be doing what we do! So start putting your trust in Springboard Business Development!

If you have any questions about Springboard Business Development, please contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the financial burden of an in-house business developer.

At Springboard we know sales!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

Patience: It’s the Key to a Solid Business Development Strategy

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Patience. It is one of the most important virtues any salesperson can possess. Without it, you may try to push a sale before it’s ready to happen. This is the kiss of death for any salesperson.

Remember, sometimes you can hit it off immediately with someone and the sale happens immediately. Other times, it can take months to properly develop a solid business relationship. A good salesperson will be able to tell exactly when it is time to push as sale. You need to let the process fully run its course. Otherwise, you risk losing the sale.

Business is all about Building Relationships!

Patience is the key to building long-term business relationship. As a salesperson, it takes time to get to know your prospect’s wants, needs, and desires. Then and only then, once you have built a strong business relationship, should you even think about trying to make a sale.

Patience Pays Off!

Remember, a single sale is nice, but steady business is the key to long-term success. And relationships build long term business. Organizations that utilize a relationship building approach to sales have a competitive edge over their rivals. It has been said that 80% of an organization’s business comes from 20% of its customers, those satisfied customers who keep coming back for more.

Springboard Understands Business Development!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the financial burden of an in-house business developer.

At Springboard we know sales!

If you have any questions about Outsourced Business Development, please contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn as well!

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