I love Trish’s quote below: “I am a card-carrying member of the outbound mafia.” Actually, Trish Bertuzzi is not just a member but the Godmother of the Outbound Mafia and an unchallenged authority on b2b inside sales. She is also the Godmother of the”Tells-it-how-she-sees-it” Mafia. It’s a great combination because she likely to tell you something you didn’t know but should know – even if it hurts. I love that. Her Madlibs are classic. Enjoy!
1. The b2b buyer is way too busy to be bored by you. If you can’t invest enough time, or worse yet, find anything interesting to share with them then leave them alone.
2. The biggest innovation in sales is that there is no big innovation in sales – it just gives us something to talk about. Great sales skills and process have been around since the beginning of time. The tools of the trade have changed – heck the wheel changed transportation – but moving the ball forward in a meaningful way still requires the same level of thought and execution.
3. The coolest thing happening in b2b sales is that Inside Sales has finally arrived. I feel like an overnight success thirty years later!
4. My favorite Sales 2.0 technology is the local presence functionality I get with my insidesales.com dialer. At last count my conversation rate increased by 24.7%!
5. My favorite sales book is SNAP Selling by Jill Konrath. I like a sales book you can read and not slog through. Jill is highly readable!
6. My favorite social media channel is twitter. That is where I keep my finger on the pulse of what people are talking about.
7. Social selling is a misnomer. Social doesn’t sell.. people do. Now Social Prospecting I can get behind.
8. I use Linkedin to do research not only on prospects but also our leads. I like to understand who we are attracting with our content.
9. Cold calling is broken not dead. I am a card carrying member of the Outbound Mafia and firmly believe inbound and outbound should get married. Having said that, there is no such thing as a cold call. You can find out everything you need to know about someone other than what they had for lunch.
10. In b2b, the idea of a funnel is getting over complicated. If people spent as much time disqualifying as they did pouring crap into the top of the funnel we wouldn’t need a 22 stage funnel with diagrams that look like eye charts.
11. The first thing every sales person should do is learn what a day in the life is like for their buyer. Talk to as many as you can about what do they care about, how are they measured, what are they reading, where do they go for information… you get it. As sellers we have to “fit into” their lives and not just try to attract them to ours.
12. Voicemail is your friend. How awesome is it that there is a tool that will let you leave an interesting and completely relevant 30-60 second commercial on how you can help someone build a better business?
13. The biggest mistake sales people make is in not focusing on disqualifying an opportunity. Typical close scenario: you win 25%, you lose 25% to competition and you lose 50% to the dreaded no decision. Think about how much time you could use more efficiently if you cut the no decision category in half….
14. The biggest myth in sales is that it is mythical. It is a science with a basic formula. You just have to figure out the formula for you and then execute it beautifully.
15. My most forgettable sales experience was – I have no idea… I forgot it.
16. The hardest part of selling is disqualifying an opportunity. Are we seeing a theme here? We all get excited when someone engages with us but if that person has no power or, worse yet, fails to continuously move the ball forward in the “give to get” scenario… why are we wasting time with them?
17. The next “hot-thing” in sales will be whatever some vendor makes us believe it is.
18. In 2015, sales will be just like it is now and always has been only with more bright, shiny toys to keep us interested.
19. My favorite sales saying is “You know what to do so just do what you know”.
20. Over the next couple years in sales, I can’t wait to see more women take the main stage at events as sales speakers. Sick of going to events and thinking I am at the Republican National Convention.
21. Madlibs with the Funnelholic is a great place to vent. Thanks for the opportunity!
Trish founded The Bridge Group to help B2B technology 
companies build world-class Inside Sales teams. Since 1998, they have helped over 200 companies build, expand and optimize Inside Sales – building pipeline, generating revenue and redefining the image of our profession.