Samir Sampat

When it comes to phone skills, there are a lot of different ones that have value. Selling is a lot different than it used to be, and yet in several ways, it’s also still relatively the same. If you are trying to build the best sales team, you’ll need to make sure that your sales development representatives (SDRs) have the best skills for their role.

Cold calling is far from dead. If anything, it has seen a resurgence in popularity as brands try to redefine the selling experience in today’s fast-paced, Internet-based society. Of course, the way that cold calls are made has changed slightly, since today’s consumer is much savvier and they get a ton of solicitation calls and junk messages every single day. If you want to get in on a good footing, the introduction is what counts.

In B2B sales, there is a hierarchy that must be followed. You can’t just call up a company, pitch to the receptionist, and land a new client because the person answering the phone liked what you had to say. Businesses have two main categories of people: gatekeepers and decision-makers (DMs). In this guide, we’ll help you learn all about getting past the gatekeepers to get decision-makers on the phone faster and easier.

We know what you’re thinking—you can’t possibly afford to hire a receptionist, so how are you supposed to give your audience the dedicated attention that they deserve? That’s where outsourcing comes into play. Since the average employee will cost you about 1.25-1.4 times their annual salary for training, benefits, overhead, etc., outsourcing could be done for a fraction of that cost and give you a lot more solutions for your money.

In business, outsourcing is sometimes one of the most valuable tools that you have. For some companies, hiring a sales team makes perfect sense. For others, the cost of investment is far too great or just unnecessary at this stage of business. After all, most companies spend about 1.2 to 1.4 times an employee’s salary on onboarding, training, and retention. Unless you’ve gotten to a place where you’ve got that kind of money to invest, outsourcing may be the way to go.

The numbers don’t lie—cold emails are usually just that: ice cold. People don’t have the time for your marketing hijinks and “secret email hacks”… just get to the point. Your first mistake in cold email outreach is assuming that people even care. Have you met the world around you? You’ve got about five seconds to make not just a good impression, but the perfect impression, and doing it via email is an uphill battle.

Setting up a sales team requires taking the time to learn all the roles and figure out what your organization needs. When you have a strong sales team, it works like a well-oiled machine and delivers all of the solutions that your business needs. It can even help you improve other departments ensure that your business is on track for success.

Marketing emails are still an effective means of reaching out to potential prospects. However, you do have to approach it properly, including coming up with the best possible CTA (call-to-action) to get your readers’ attention and make them want to respond, reach out, or otherwise convert. This may not seem like an easy feat, but it can be done if you’re willing to invest the effort and time.

The hiring process is never an easy one. Finding the right candidates can prove to be a challenge in even the best conditions, and right now, the market isn’t exactly in the best shape. Fortunately, there are some things that you can do to set yourself up for success, including just that—setting yourself up. Part of that comes in educating yourself on how to find the best candidates and what kind of interview questions you’ll want to use to figure out who the best fit for your team will be.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a great prospecting tool that leverages the entire LinkedIn network as part of your quest for lead generation. And if you’re not already using LinkedIn as a prospecting source, you’d better get on board. HubSpot did a study that showed LinkedIn coming in at 277% more effective than Facebook and Twitter for lead generation.