If you manage a large sales force or if you run a small business, this book should be able to help improve sales prospecting. It would help if you use systems, such as a database for sales and marketing, but even if you are self-employed and have to sell on your own to expand your business, you can gain some new thoughts here.
Prior to the new century, the average sales rep kept track of prospecting via a manual process of index cards and notebooks, showing the name of a potential client including such important data as phone number, address, needs, and personal information. Then SalesForce came along in the late 1990s. Originally used as an online Tickler System for sales, it has since expanded into its own industry, turning the entire CRM (Customer Relationship Management) process on its head. Now it's difficult to imagine any business operating without SalesForce as part of the selling flow.
In this book, Aaron Ross, who helped grow the revenue for SFDC (salesforce.com) exponentially, provides a clear explanation of how he and his team accomplished that while teaching the reader some very good tips and tricks. Eschewing the old world concept of cold-calling a Lead in the hopes of eventually getting a sale, Ross takes us through a more holistic approach, by using warm marketing to reach the prospective client. There are helpful suggestions for re-evaluating the sales funnel and sales pipeline while also showing the main metrics to be tracked.
I live and breathe within SalesForce, so the book was easy to read. But given the expense of SalesForce for smaller businesses, the book can still be used as a clear explanation to tackle the always needed task of selling to new clients. The idea is to triple your revenue and to do so predictably. That is, if you have a firmly established sales hunting system, you can more reliably predict future bookings and have fun doing it.
Book Season = Year Round (B2B, B2C, C2C)