When you taught your kids to help wash the dishes, you probably didn’t start them off on Grandma’s heirloom china. When you taught them to play golf, you probably didn’t let them go crazy with your brand new clubs. So why should you start your new sales team off with your newest, most valuable leads?
A better strategy is to start their sales training with aged leads. That way, if your newbie makes a mistake, it’s less likely to cost you a valuable conversion. There are actually several benefits to teaching a new team sales strategy with leads that are less than optimal.
Aged Leads Are Less Expensive
If you’ve bought new, exclusive leads recently, you know it can take a big bite out of your company’s budget. Older leads are a different story. Depending on the lead generation company you’re working with, you can probably pick up hundreds of old leads for just a few dollars.
Repetition Is the Key to Learning
When you are conducting sales training, you want your new staff to have as many chances as possible to interact with real, live prospects. If you have a three-person team and if you buy 300 older leads, that means each member of your new sales team gets to practice working with prospects at least a hundred times.
Fear of Cold Calling
Many new sales agents would rather face a charging bull than pick up the phone and attempt to initiate a sales relationship with someone they don’t know. To some, hearing the other person say, “No,” is the ultimate failure. The best way to deal with this fear of cold calling is to have your new staff do it over and over, until it is no big deal for them to pick up the phone and make that initial contact.
Old Leads Can Help New Sales Staff Learn CRM
CRM, or customer relationship management, is at the heart of closing most sales. As your new sales staff works with their assigned aged leads, encourage them to develop a sales strategy such as follow up email and direct mail.
Never Say Never
You may give these older leads to your new sales staff as “throw aways,” not expecting any of them to convert, but you may be in for a surprise. A talented new agent who puts time and effort into his or her older leads may have a higher conversion rate than you expect.
If it works out that way, that’s just the icing on the cake!
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