Recent Posts from Kyle Parrish

Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away, Yesware was the go-to solution for AEs doing email outreach. 

Times change. 

And, while it’s made a valiant effort, Yesware just hasn’t been agile enough to maintain its position. 

Sure, Yesware bills itself as a sales engagement solution but, truth is, the features leave a little something to be desired. 

Ok, a lot. 

Truth is, these days, it’s just not part of the sales engagement conversation anymore.

Sales deals are complex and involve a ton of moving parts both internally and externally. 

Simply having a professional sales force doesn’t mean anything for your bottom line if you don’t arm them with proper sales productivity tools.

The right tools can help boost productivity by supplying salespeople with the information, repetitive or manual task automation, platform, and content quality required to communicate effectively with prospects and build rapport. 

However, with so many tools out there, it can be hard to keep track of the right productivity tools that could be exactly what your team needs to level up.

B2B sales prospecting has come a long way from the days of smile-and-dial.

Without the right software, getting results these days involves walking a long hard road paved with time-consuming manual tasks. And putting the hours in to get to know your prospects, build relationships, and establish yourself as the go-to provider of solutions. 

This means you need some tried and tested strategies as your road map.  

What’s that you say? Can we recommend any? 

You read our minds.  

We make software for the toughest, most clued-up B2B prospects going: sales professionals. So we asked our own hardworking prospectors how they tackle that herculean task.

Salesforce automation is non-negotiable for any revenue team (that uses Salesforce, of course).

If your team isn’t using Salesforce integrations and automation to cut down on annoying repetitive tasks, they’re not making the best use of their time.

You know it. And they definitely know it.

Salesforce has its own automated workflows (and they’re great), but there are other services and sales automation tools that integrate with the CRM and that offer far greater functionality and freedom for the user.

If you want your sales, customer success, and RevOps teams to focus on what you hired them for instead of tasks they have recurring nightmares about, you’ve come to the right place.

Sales objections are common in every industry.

Think about it— how many objections have you gotten that sound something like, “We don’t need that right now,” or worse… 

“.” 

(In case you’re wondering, that represents no reply at all.)

This is because businesses are constantly changing and evolving, which can make it difficult for buyers to know exactly what they need. 

As a result, it’s important to be prepared with how you’ll address common objections. 

This post discusses the different types of objections and 9 of the most common sales objections you'll encounter–and how to respond to them.

P.S. If you're looking for a sales engagement tool with a built-in dialer, multi-channel sequencing, and auto-follow-up features—that lives in your inbox—you can try Mixmax ⬇️

If prospecting to small and medium-sized businesses is an uphill struggle at times, enterprise sales prospecting is like making the ascent of Everest. You still need a lot of the same gear, but breaking into complex multinationals takes military planning and precision that goes far beyond the prospecting strategies that serve for landing SME customers.

 At Mixmax, we sell to salespeople so we’re used to listening to the challenges they face when cracking large accounts, and devising tools to help them achieve their objectives.

Outreach is an amazing sales engagement tool. 

For sales teams that are all about spray-and-pray.

If, however, you need to focus on nurturing prospects and building relationships, it’s not going to cut it.

If that’s you, chances are you’re looking for an Outreach alternative. But with so many to choose from, how do you know which is right for your sales teams? 

How often do you find yourself losing deals at the discovery stage?

In  sales, asking the right sales discovery questions can make the difference between a closed deal and a missed opportunity.

By digging deeper into your prospect's challenges, key drivers, and goals, you can uncover valuable insights that position you as the solution they need.

Without being on the ball in discovery, you can have the world’s greatest product but lose your sale to an AE with better questions.

But in a rush to get to the demo, companies often skip this step altogether, which wastes precious time and resources. Not to mention prospects dropping out of the sales funnel because they were never truly a good fit.

Too many AEs make prospects sit through a call only to give them a vanilla demo that doesn’t specifically address their problems and pains. 

We sell to salespeople, so we know all about how challenging discovery is.

The sales discovery process is an essential step in learning how you can bring value to your potential customers. But all too often, in a hurry to get to the demo, it’s rushed through as part of qualification or even skipped altogether. 

Biiiig mistake.

As Jacco van der Kooij, says, “Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice,” and this couldn’t be more true in sales. 

Trying to pitch a product without first understanding prospect pain or how they’ll use your solution is a crutch that lower-performing salespeople lean on way too heavily.

A crutch that will come back to bite you when prospects drop out of the sales cycle without buying. Or worse, sign up, find the product doesn’t meet their needs, cancel the contract at the first opportunity, and badmouth you on review sites. 

“Everyone is in a rush today to get to the punch line,” says Vincent Burruano, President of Vince Burruano Consulting Services. “Successful selling requires a time investment.”

How can you avoid these pitfalls?

If you’re a sales leader working at a startup, your main goal is to drive revenue ASAP.

Because the longer it takes to generate revenue, the harder it is to hit targets (but you know that).

Reaching faster time to revenue for startups is an uphill battle. And here’s why.

• There’s a lot of pressure since you rely heavily on funding.
• You don’t have previous data to analyze.
• You don’t have many case studies or testimonials you can share.
• You don’t have many customers who can recommend/refer you.
• Your product is still going through major changes.
• You don’t have a ton of leads.
• And the list goes on…

Don’t be discouraged. 

You’re a sales leader, which means you have the means to make a huge difference (especially in a startup). 

There are steps you can take to help accelerate the process and start generating revenue quickly.

*Spoiler alert* One of them involves working closely with marketing. Stop it you two; it’s time to bury the hatchet.