Selling isn’t a numbers game.

Sales people have product to move, quotas to meet. They have less time and larger territories than ever before. And to make matters worse, selling cycles are getting longer as decision makers strain to balance the competing needs for value and quality.

Why then do so many sales reps ignore sales leads generated at great expense by advertising, websites, direct mail, email and other promotional efforts?

Simple. It is more productive, more cost-effective for them to work existing leads, recontact existing customers and develop referral business than it is to call on an unqualified lead.

What do sales reps want? [...]

Walking the aisles of a virtual trade show.

There are things I like about going to a trade show: Looking at one nondescript booth after another and wondering what the heck business these people are in. Being invited to enter yet another prize drawing so the marketing manager can show the boss how many “leads” were collected at the event. Asking a question and watching the exhausted booth person search for answers that weren’t on the well rehearsed script.

Things I don’t like: The travel. (Just shoot me.) Walking the endless rows of nondescript booths wondering what the heck business these people are in. (It’s a love/hate thing.) Paying $12 for a steamed hot dog and a 3/4 oz bag of chips.

But I digress…