To sell, there are no shortcuts or hacks.
You have qualified appointments, you sell. You don’t have them, you won’t sell.
B2B appointment setting is a crucial step for the commercial development of your business, especially in increasingly competitive environments where prospects are less loyal. Just look at the trend in attrition rates over the past few years.
However, some salespeople are reluctant to engage in it. Why? How can you motivate them to prospect without undermining their motivation or, worse, seeing them leave for the competition?
Two types of salespeople: telemarketers and closers
We distinguish between two types of salespeople:
Closers:
They dislike prospecting and rightfully so, because their job is to negotiate and close deals
The setters, SDR or also Telemarketers ; Their mission? Driven by a passion for research and customer knowledge, they identify qualified leads and guide them through the sales funnel.
These are two distinct sales profiles, but two entirely different roles.
In France, sales professionals are typically expected to handle the entire process: prospecting, understanding their target's needs, knowing the buyer personas and their pain points, negotiating, and closing the deal. This is what we call versatility.
In the Anglo-Saxon world, the trend leans towards vertical and horizontal division of labor. This is specialization. Each salesperson focuses on what they do best and on clearly defined objectives. It's the Taylorization of the sales process.
But still?
Taylorization: Anglo-Saxon Model for Maximizing Sales
«In the past, man was placed first; in the future, the system must be placed first» – Principles of Scientific Management, F.W. Taylor, 1911.
School and university history programs of the 20th century cover the revolution born from Frederick Winslow Taylor's theory. This American engineer introduced task specialization for improved productivity. Popularized in the automotive industry, Taylor's method of work specialization enhanced production efficiency and was adopted by all types of businesses. Inspired by the operations of Ford factories, André Citroën became a leader, outpacing his major rival Renault.
This work organization has also been applied to sales, notably enabling insurance companies to double their sales. At the beginning of the 20th century, insurance salespeople managed the entire commercial relationship: they prospect and sign contracts. The following week, they would return to their clients to collect weekly payments.[1]. After signing around a hundred clients, they are unable to close new deals because their workload is too heavy.
A group of anonymous geniuses then breaks down the process:
- Sellers who seek out clients and close sales;
- Collectors manage client files and collect payments. This way, each person excels in their role and can fully dedicate themselves to their tasks.
This new sales organization literally transformed the insurance world overnight. The success was immediate and the results spectacular: They simply doubled their sales..
For the first time, sales became a distinct activity and profession without having to handle payment collections.
Why streamline the telephone sales process using the Taylorism approach?
This scientific organization of the sales process achieves two goals at once:
- multiply sales;
- motivate salespeople.
By breaking down the sales process into simple, repetitive steps, Taylorization optimizes each stage of the process, from prospecting to closing the sale. It helps identify inefficient and/or time-consuming stages by improving or eliminating them entirely. Salespeople thus become more focused and hyper-specialized, well-prepared for objections, and fully knowledgeable about their target clients and products to present during each prospecting campaign.
The Taylorist work organization, applied to lead generation and B2B sales, encompasses three main commercial specialties.
Marketing:
The marketing department conducts research, develops sales pitches, anticipates and prepares for handling objections. It can also adapt the prospecting script based on data collected during the lead generation campaign.
Telemarketers: :
Thanks to the support of the marketing department, they have in-depth knowledge of the prospects, are particularly comfortable in their approach during interactions, and can respond dynamically to each particular issue raised by their target client. They increase the lead conversion rate, qualify leads, and schedule appointments with prospects.
The sales representatives :
The telephone sales funnel is set up following a successful lead campaign. The sales representatives' schedules are filled with appointments with qualified prospects, and the decision-making process is already well underway. Qualified appointments fulfill their promise: they negotiate and close more sales.
The Taylorization of work goes hand in hand with a simpler, faster, and more effective training of salespeople, which can reduce the time required for them to become operational.
Salespeople are no longer versatile. They do what they know best: negotiate, sell, and earn their commissions. Their morale is at its highest.
Turnover is at its lowest, and your HR manager is thrilled…
How Leads Provider leverages Taylorism to ensure highly qualified appointments for its clients?
At Leads Provider, our processes adhere to this scientific organization of work. We have several departments consisting of skill groups, each adding significant value throughout the entire process to, in fine, achieve clear and measurable objectives. To illustrate the above, let’s take the case of a process that Leads Provider excels at: complex sales[2] such as scheduling qualified phone appointments for a software publisher targeting mid-sized and large enterprises. To succeed in this type of operation, Leads Provider relies on three interdependent and complementary departments.
The marketing department :
In complex sales, the decision-making process is intricate. Identifying the right contacts and various stakeholders such as decision-makers, influencers, and users, etc, is challenging. With its expertise in research, monitoring, and information gathering, the marketing department enables us to gain a better understanding of the client.
The Social Selling department :
A team of social media specialists to: gather even more information about our personas previously identified by the marketing department; interact with and subtly influence them; and prospect to develop business.
The B2B prospecting department :
It is a team of inside sales representatives. True hunters, they rely on the other two departments to schedule and secure appointments by phone.
This results in a better understanding of prospects' needs, greater ease of approach, adaptability to each target client's issues, and, consequently, the success of our prospecting campaigns.
In conclusion, sales do not happen by magic. They result from a process of multiple actions converging towards a single objective: engaging with as many qualified prospects as possible and convincing them to buy.
Telephone sales processes must be organized scientifically and divided into simple, clear tasks to foster specialization among salespeople. This keeps them motivated, as they secure more qualified appointments, close more sales, and earn higher commissions.
However, it is important to note that the Taylorization of the sales process alone does not guarantee an increase in revenue. It must be supported by an appropriate sales strategy and a deep understanding of customer needs and expectations.
[1]Prudential, an insurance company founded in the United Kingdom, introduced life insurance policies to working-class families in 1875. It pioneered this new sales approach for this demographic with very limited means. The company enabled these families to purchase affordable life insurance policies in small amounts, paid through weekly premiums.
[2]A complex sale requires the involvement of multiple individuals on the buyer's side (decision-makers, influencers, users, etc.). This type of sale is commonly encountered in B2B environments, particularly with mid-sized and large enterprises.