The b2b buyer is sad and lonely and the Gracey Temperature Scale: Madlibs w/ @Peter_Gracey

I love the AGSalesworks team. Good guys who crank great content and a sense of humor. They really get inside sales, sales, and marketing – I was pumped for Pete’s Madlibs and I was not disappointed – This Madlibs with Pete Gracey is really funny with fresh perspectives. You know the kind of person you feel like you really want to drink a beer with? Well, Pete, I offer the immortal words of Bill Murray as John Winger in Stripes: “I want to party with you cowboy”. Madlibs with Pete Gracey:

1. The B2B buyer is sad and lonely because they have been digesting content that your marketing team hit them with all day long. Call them…have a sales conversation.
2. The biggest innovation in sales is social data generation from companies like Social123. By far the most accurate source for contact information we find out there today.
3. The coolest thing happening in B2B sales is a grassroots movement, started by me, right now to eliminate the use of the phrase “net net” in B2B selling. If you use it, it makes you sound pompous. I’m not even sure what it means.
4. My favorite Sales 2.0 technology is our click to call from Insidesales.com. Overnight productivity and accountability increases just for signing up!
5. My favorite sales book is Leadership and Self Deception by the Arbinger Group. Not a true “sales” book, but learning emotional intelligence and how to get out of your own way are critical skills to have in sales.
6. My favorite social media channel is Google+. Doubles as news feed and communication platform for me. It’s also not widely adopted yet so I still sound like an expert when asked about it.
7. Social selling confuses me. I think Trish Bertuzzi said it best on these pages when she called it a “misnomer”.
8. I use Linkedin like I use Facebook but for my business life. Facebook allows me to keep tabs on the people from high school who have gotten fat, bald, divorced, or generally just strange. LinkedIn gives me the same level of deep visibility into what is going on in the professional lives of my network. Great intel for my prospecting efforts.
9. Cold calling is dead. It ended the with the advent of corporate email. If you are dying to label the type of calling you are doing why not adopt the Gracey Temperature Scale to describe our calling efforts from here on out. Mildly Warm Calling, Luke Warm Calling, Warm Calling, Hot Tub Temp Calling, Scalding Hot Calling. Given the amount of senseless debate I see surrounding this term I think it makes sense to become painfully descriptive when describing what type of calling you are doing.
10. In B2B, the idea of a funnel gets brought up too much. We all know it and get it. We agree that it’s important. You put lots in up top…smaller amount comes out of the bottom. Got it!
11. The first thing every sales person should do is embrace your CRM. Great way to immediately differentiate yourself from every other sales person at your company by actually using the expensive tool they bought for you. I know I would like you more than the rest.
12. Voicemail is the single most misused and undervalued tool at your disposal. Teleprospectors and sales people do more to torpedo themselves via voicemail than you think. When part of an integrated call planning strategy, voicemail can be the thing that puts your connect rate over the top.
13. The biggest mistake sales people make is avoiding and\or battling marketing. They are there to help you. Do them a favor and make a point of thanking them for that. Then take it a step farther and ask them to collaborate on a small net fishing campaign for your territory. They’ll appreciate the effort.
14. The biggest myth in sales is the 80/20 rule that 80% of productivity comes from 20% of your reps. It’s not accurate. There a ton of good salespeople out there. I believe companies that feel they are living the 80/20 rule should look in the mirror first. Organizational issues or lack thereof drive sales performance more than the level of talent.
15. My most forgettable sales experience was falling into a hot tub while giving a young engaged couple a tour of the hotel I was working at. They were looking at it for their wedding and I walked right into the hot tub while explaining some nonsense about the ventilated roof of the pool area. They made me wear a polyester suit for that job and the chlorine from the hot tub caused it to disintegrate later. Low point for me.
16. The hardest part of selling is generating the proposal. It’s boring and involves typing. I wish you could just record the prospects “yes”, then say “do we both agree not to sue one another”…”yes”. Done!
17. The next “hot-thing” in sales will be the continued emergence of Enterprise level inside sales reps. Big deals being closed over the phone in the cubicle right next to you. Or even from home.
18. In 2015, sales will be Salestastic!!!
19. My favorite sales saying is…..none….anyone who knows me knows I hate “sayings’.
20. Over the next couple years in sales, I can’t wait to see the continued growth of reps requiring deep qualification in the leads that they receive from Teleprospecting. I’m wildly biased, but its the right way to go.
21. Madlibs with the Funnelholic is WAAAY more fun than blogging.

Pete started AG Salesworks in 2002 with his business partner, Paul Alves, with a goal of providing technology companies with high quality and fully qualified sales leads. As Chief Operating Officer, Pete oversees the daily operations of AG Salesworks, which includes client engagement, personnel management, business strategy, across-the-board data analysis and long-term strategic planning. He is also Adjunct Professor of Sales and Marketing for the University of Massachusetts Amherst.