My stance on Sales Teams generating leads is simple. I prefer it being the work of marketing, BUT IT NEVER WORKS OUT THAT WAY! While I will review many books on the concepts of interviewing, qualifying, proposing, objection handling, building relationships, and all of the many skills needed to be a talented sales representative, there is really no secret or hidden talent in lead generation. If your phones are not ringing off the hook with inbound leads, if marketing is not handing you stack after stack of tradeshow or magazine leads, if you do not have dozens/hundreds/thousands of people asking you for information from your website, YOU MUST GENERATE LEADS AS A SALES TEAM! There are only two ways that I know of to do this and training on both is essential:

1. Cold Calling

I prefer having this be the solitary role of my most junior members, the new fashion is to call them Business Development Executives. It is not always of value to split this role up, and some argue that having to make these calls forces a sales rep to appreciate the value of an opportunity.

Now, I do not care how you dress it up, the first time you contact someone, whether you know nothing but their phone number, or their brother at another company, it is a cold call. The goal is simple, and if you train to it you will be successful.

The goal of a cold call is to determine if YOU want to sell to someone, and if THEY want to buy from someone. There is little point calling carpenters and trying to sell them financial auditing software, or calling people to use an online service if they do not have internet. In an initial call, you should somehow uncover if you want to call this company again.

Teach your reps that this call is not, and NEVER should be a sales call. Even if the prospect is interested, it is too early in the relationship to pitch. If they are hot to buy, jump to the interviewing stage and qualify them before presenting. Everyone will tell you the same if they have ever had great success as a sales person or coach.

Build a plan that makes this call a survey or marketing call. If you have a simple service, or renewable product, like job postings or nails, I suggest you give a sample away. This is a fantastic lead in as everyone will try something once if it is free. If you have a more complex offering, use this first call to offer only information via e-mail, fax, or the post. If you are calling in a non-threatening way, merely to provide a trial or information, deliver that information or offer, and then you set times to follow up that are met, you are telling your contact that you can be counted on. If you train your reps to execute this flawlessly, it will generate leads.

The hardest part to coach to is that sales reps want to PITCH,PITCH,PITCH, and if they cold call and pitch, they get shut down. This is why so many people condemn cold calling as a failing practice. It is because they are putting the last phase of the sale, closing, first. Teach your reps to hold their tongue and accept that there will be a need to get A LOT more data on the prospect before presenting their case for a close.

2. Networking

Now this is a refined art and requires you have a good amount of one of two things; either a large customer base, of a large networking base. Without either, see step one. It also requires a certain personality. You must be presentable and confident. In my opinion it is critical that a networker has great communication skills, a large memory bank of anecdotes and compelling stories, and an ability to read a perfect stranger and know how to behave to make them comfortable. Now for some, this is natural. In my day to day life, when I am with friends and family, I am a bit gruff. However, when want to, I know how to “work a room”. No one taught me how; it was inherent from my childhood. Others have to be coached to this talent. Teach them to evaluate behavior, to study mannerisms, and when taking them out into the world of customers and social events, spend a good amount of time asking them to study people. Always spend an equal amount of time after the event questioning them about certain people and behaviors.

When working with customers, teach them to lead with advice or assistance. Show value as a person, not just a representative of a company they work with. People have a natural tendency to help people who help them. If you or your reps do extra things for your customers, they will usually recommend you to others, if not offer up leads when asked. You know you have built a great relationship when they are willing to pick up the phone or bring someone in for an introduction.

It is important to teach people not to filter when networking. A good networking looks as every person as only a couple degrees away from a potential opportunity. Joe Somebody or Suzie Sweetheart might be in a completely different field, or way down the hierarchy, but they have friends, family, and co-workers that they influence every day. If you make a great impression, it carries over to that next phase. I remember once that I met a woman at a party on a Friday and we talked extensively about my new job selling headsets. I was excited about wireless headsets and went on and on about it. I realized at one point I may have been boring her, so I turned it around and asked her about her work. She was a teacher, kindergarten I think. While I intently listened to what she did as well, she saw by my probing questions that I was sincere in learning more. My daughter Sasha was four and soon enough someone like her would be helping to shape my child. The next Monday I walked in the office, and to my surprise, had an e-mail request for information about headsets in my inbox. The school teacher I was talking to had given my information to her brother. He had just opened up a new sales office in Arizona and when she shared my enthusiasm for wireless headsets, he decided to contact me. I sold him four that week, and another couple dozen over the next year. Not bad for a conversation had over a glass of wine, an e-mail, a phone call and a quote.

A final thought; teach your teams to treat cold calling like networking and it will be more successful. Engage the person who answers the phone until THEY move you to another contact. Do not try bypassing them by asking for another person. By showing this person that respect, you will end up with more people asking you to sell to them.