Author: Admin

  • Bringing Sales AI to the Revenue Summit | Automation Hero

    And that’s a wrap! We had a blast participating in SalesHacker’s 2018 Revenue Summit on March 1. It was Automation Hero’s first conference as a company and we were a proud Platinum sponsor. We’re thrilled that we had the chance to elevate and educate sales organizations about sales AI. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to introduce our sales AI platform into the industry!

    We’d like to give a huge shout out to those that stopped by our Automation Hero booth. Those who chatted with us and got a demo of our sales AI assistant, Robin, we’re excited about its potential within their sales teams.

    Sales leaders across the industry hosted various sessions at the conference, each were extremely insightful and offered new perspectives on sales processes. Here’s a few sessions that we thought rocked and some of their key takeaways:

    How To Prospect Using The Basics

    This motivational session was hosted by Ralph Barsi, the senior director of global sales development at ServiceNow. Barsi shared that even with all the new technology available, many salespeople are still struggling with prospecting and qualifying.

    In order to win at prospecting, Barsi says there are three “basic” areas sales reps need to focus on:

    1. Adjust your attitude:

    How? Start with a winning mindset. Make clear mental goals and write them down.

    2. Get known for adding value:

    How? Build a brand and leverage the power of your networks. Personalize your customer’s experience.

    3. Do the work:

    How? Focus on priorities, projects, and people by thinking of the impact instead of productivity. Reps need to get specific about the prospects they go after. And the big one: don’t just think about it, take action.

    Helpful tip: Pin the logos you want to go after to your bathroom mirror so those companies are on your mind at the beginning and end of each day.

    9 Elements Of Highly Effective Sales Conversations

    This Revenue Summit session was hosted by CEO and co-founder of Gong.io, Amit Bendov. His sales AI company looked at the call data of star sales reps and pulled out conversation insights that correlated with their success. Bendov shares the insights on what makes a highly effective conversation that leads to conversions.

    1. Controlling the agenda

    How? Have an agenda at the start of the call, agree upon it with your customer, follow it and watch the time. Star reps discussed the “end goal” as they set the agenda.

    2. Control the rhythm

    How? Star reps talk at a slightly faster pace and pull prospects into their sentiment.

    3. Talk business

    How? Star reps talk more about business topics (Ex: ROI, pain points, agenda, timelines, decision-making ecosystem, etc.)

    4. Coffee shop conversations

    How? Make the conversation a dialogue, not a monologue. Make more switches and speak in shorter sentences. Ask questions evenly throughout a call (not all at the beginning).

    5. Hollywood style demos

    How? Star reps provoke buyers to ask questions by only giving them a short teaser as a demo. Think of demos like a movie trailer — show a little so they want more.

    6. Risk-reversal language

    How? Star reps reduce the possible risks that a prospect may be facing when deciding on their product by using language that reverses those risks. Some examples include “free trial” or “cancel anytime.”

    7. Therapist-grade listening skills

    How? Allow customers to talk uninterrupted as much as possible. Silence will help encourage them to continue talking.

    8. Differentiate early

    How? Separate your product from the competition early on, rather than later in the sales process.

    9. Sell in team

    How? Involve other members of your team or organization in the call. The close rate of deals skyrockets when multiple people from within are on the call.

    The 2020 Sales Leader

    This was an energy-filled Rev Summit session hosted by Jacco VanderKooij, the founder of Winning By Design, and Rob Jeppsen, the CEO & founder of Xvoyant. They shared five key takeaways on what it takes to be a sales leader of the future by changing productivity standards and processes.

    1. Know the new math

    • Know that 7 > 10 (meaning that high-quality leads are better than more leads.)
    • Know that 4 + 1 > 5 (4 days of work and 1 day of training is better than 5 days of work.)

    2. Chase the 80/80 rule

    Break the cycle of 20 percent of reps making 80 percent of deals. Chase the 80 percent making 80 percent.

    3. Know the numbers, have a process

    • To break the cycle mentioned above, sales leaders need to build a killer process.
    • Know the goal and make a foolproof plan for reps to get to that goal.
    • Use sales AI in those processes to help your team work smarter

    4. Use data the right way

    Look at productivity data rather than volume data.

    5. Continuing education within your organization

    The biggest motivator for sales reps is still money, but education also drives them and encourages them to grow.

    LinkedIn Photo Booth:

    We also sponsored the LinkedIn photo booth. If you had your pictures taken during the Rev Summit, you should have received an email from Orange Photography (make sure to check your spam or promotional folders). You all looked great and we can’t wait to see those headshots on your profile pages!

    If you didn’t get the chance to stop by our booth but would like to see a demo of our sales AI automation platform click the button below.

    By Jessica Munday

  • The year to solve the sales productivity problem | Automation Hero

    Poor sales productivity and performance were the biggest challenge business leaders faced in 2018. The Bridge Group reported that 41 percent of companies said this was either their first or second largest business problem.

    This year, the Bridge Group also found that the top-fifth of performing sales reps more than double the production output of the bottom fifth. This means that the all-star sales reps are carrying the entire organization on their back. Another study found that 67% of sales reps miss their annual quota.

    What’s hindering these sales reps from performing? Their work processes prevent them from getting their selling duties done.

    Reviewing the sales productivity problem

    Sales reps spend most of their time on non-selling tasks, 64 percent to be exact, according to Salesforce. In fact, administrative tasks took up the biggest portion of their week at 25 percent, while connecting with their clients in person took up only 24 percent.

    On average these sales reps are performing 94.4 tasks each day, which prevent them from connecting with their customers and from acquiring new ones.

    Other research by Hubspot broke down these tasks and estimated the percent of a sales rep’s day these activities took up:

    • 21% is spent writing emails
    • 17% entering data
    • 17% prospecting and researching leads
    • 12% going to internal meetings
    • 12% scheduling calls

    While the sales team’s purpose is to sell, each rep spends the equivalent of at least 50 full days away from core selling activities each year, which make these repetitive, administrative tasks directly interfere with a company’s revenue goals and sales productivity.

    CRM tasks serve as an example of what can cost a company thousands of dollars. CRM users spend 5.5 hours each week on activities and contacts that cost companies $13,200 every year per user. Processes like these that are repetitive and inefficient (what’s called “organizational drag” in the academic world) cost the U.S. economy $3 trillion each year.

    What we’ve learned

    Companies became aware that this is a major business problem, and many are working on or already have implemented artificial intelligence (AI) as a solution.

    Over the course of this year, we saw businesses learn about AI’s potential and thus, interest in implementing this technology grew. One survey done at the beginning of the year showed that 88 percent of companies have plans to implement AI. And Forrester reported that 46 percent of companies were first looking at marketing and sales when it comes to adopting AI systems.

    In 2018, we saw much more education around AI and its potential for the workforce. Business leaders had a better understanding of their business efficiency problems and are now seeing AI as a solution.

    But while excitement is building around AI, only about 20 percent of businesses have incorporated it in some way. Those eager companies that hit the pavement and implemented AI right away ran into some roadblocks.

    The downside was that more than half of these early digital transformation efforts were stalled. Forrester attributes much of this to a lack of organizational readiness. Lots of the issues these early adopters faced were challenges like technical debt, data governance and fears that new technology would interrupt quarterly sales performance.

    Now companies have a better understanding of both AI and the challenges they must overcome to implement it successfully. Because of this, Forrester predicts that companies will be much more pragmatic in addressing these barriers and sales efficiency problems within their organization.

    Setting the stage for 2019

    One of the biggest problems artificial intelligence faces is skepticism, in many forms. Some business leaders said that AI would be the end of the sales rep, fearing that it would wipe out the human salesforce altogether. Others were skeptical about its capabilities, saying that there was no way a machine can accomplish the same tasks that human workers can do.

    With more education over the course of 2018, both about sales inefficiency and the potential for AI in the sales process, skepticism has waned. Businesses now have a better idea of what AI is and just how powerful it can be to increase sales productivity and efficiency.

    More and more practical use cases for sales AI have made their way into media headlines and early adopters are paving the way for others to follow, showing that this technology will bring high ROI and revenue.

    As skepticism disappears and businesses focus on pragmatic approaches to implementing AI, we will see more sales AI success stories coming out in 2019. The results for those who jump aboard the AI train will see increases to sales team productivity, boosts in revenue, cleaner sales data and happier customers.

    There is one downside to the sales AI success that’s expected in 2019. It will be the year that sets the market standard for years to come. Those who implement AI now are going to be ahead of the innovative curve and therefore outcompete in their market.

    Those who lack the resources, education and organizational readiness to implement AI in 2019 will struggle to catch up down the road or become obsolete altogether.

    By Jessica Munday

  • 8 Sales Tips That Go a Long Way With Prospects | Automation Hero

    Sometimes it’s the little things that make a huge difference to your prospects and customers. It’s all about making a great first impression and keeping that momentum going throughout the sales process (and beyond!) Here are eight small sales tips that can have a big impact.

    1. Respond quickly

    Our first sales tip is about speedy response times. Between 35 and 50 percent of all sales go to the vendor that connects with the prospect first, meaning that something as simple as responding in a timely manner can make or break a deal. Getting back to an inbound lead within the first five minutes makes that deal nine times more likely to convert. Keep a close eye on your inbox.

    2. Adjusting your timezone

    If you scored and landed yourself a meeting, being flexible and working within your prospect’s timezone can make a big difference in their eyes. While this may interrupt your sleep schedule or after work activities (depending on which coast you’re on), it pays off and your prospect will appreciate that you’re working beyond your normal hours for their benefit.

    3. Saying someone’s first name

    This sales tip is essential when it comes to personalization. Ralph Barsi with ServiceNow always says that a person’s name is the sweetest and most important sound to that individual. Calling someone by their first name either in an email, phone call or in person is such a simple thing that can be the first step in making a prospect feel special.

    4. Setting the agenda

    According to real sales conversation data from Gong.io, setting an agenda at the beginning of a call can improve the likelihood that a lead will convert. In their study, the best sales reps discussed the “end goal” at the start of the call (whether that be scheduling a demo or getting an introduction to a decision-maker) and agreed upon that with the prospect. Gong’s sales tip: set an agenda before diving into the meat of the meeting. This makes your intentions transparent and your call as productive as possible.

    5. Social media engagement

    People tend to gravitate more toward people, names and brands they are familiar with. Being active on your prospect’s social media feed and in their notifications will make your name and face more familiar to them. Take it a step further by liking or commenting on their posts. Everyone enjoys getting engagement online, and by doing so you’ll not only be a familiar face but also be associated with a positive emotion.

    6. Hand-written notes

    Sending a personalized handwritten note can speak volumes and make your customer feel special since they know that handwriting notes takes time and thought. It can be as simple as sending a holiday card or a note thanking them for their business. This is a great tactic for retaining customers or setting yourself apart from the competition.

    7. Sending freebies

    Everyone loves free stuff, and if your company attends conferences or is big on marketing, it’s likely that there’s a stockpile of freebies somewhere around your office. Send your new prospect a few free water bottles, stress balls, stickers, t-shirts or anything that you have. This can be another tactic that associates you and your brand with a positive emotion. Plus, it’s free advertising if the swag has your logo on it!

    8. Asking for a referral

    Our final sales tip is the gift that keeps on giving. People tend to trust people they know, which is why referrals are an easy win for landing new prospects. And those prospects that come in through a referral are four times more likely to close. Over 90 percent of customers say they’d give referrals, but only 11 percent of salespeople ask for them. Be sure to ask your happy customers for some new contacts.

    By Jessica Munday

  • AI Assistants: Your New Favorite Coworker | Automation Hero

    People are obsessed with their personal AI assistants; we walk around with them in our pockets and set them on our kitchen counters. There are so many AI assistants out there already that Ovum believes they will soon outnumber the population of the planet.

    Why do we love our AI assistants so much? Because they make our lives easier and are fun to use. But AI isn’t just fun and games. AI is on track to be your new favorite co-worker. AI can bring that same ease and joy that it brings to your personal life into your work life. In a matter of 10 years, we believe all information workers will be using an AI assistant at their job.

    Cutting Corners with AI

    Finding shortcuts is part of human evolution. We look for the path of least resistance in order to get things done quickly and effectively, dating back to the invention of the first stone tools. AI assistants are the latest and greatest innovations on our evolutionary tract.

    We can’t be bothered to open up our phones, find the weather app, and read it. We’d rather say “Hey Siri, what’s the weather?” and have it tell us. Less work, same outcome. This mindset does not (and should not) stop at our personal lives. We’ll soon see these technologies bleed into our professional lives too.

    AI in the Workplace

    There are tasks that come with every job that we simply don’t like doing. They’re typically the administrative tasks that are super repetitive, labor-intensive, or just plain boring. Business AI assistants can reduce the number of dreadful tasks we have to do and be the shortcut we need at work.

    Business AI tools can handle a huge range of tasks like data entry, research, analytics and security monitoring (just to name a few). When these tedious tasks are taken care of, employees have more time for satisfying parts of their job, leading to higher employee satisfaction.

    AI Right Here and Now

    Eighty-five percent of executives believe AI will transform their company and give them a competitive edge. A case study by The Harvard Business Review says that those who’ve already implemented AI are seeing revenue increases to both their top and bottom line. While AI is still in its early adoption stages for business, many corporations are excited and eager to see it boost productivity and revenue.

    Many people are concerned that business AI will replace human workers, however, there is nothing to fear. When ATMs were first implemented, many bank tellers were concerned that their jobs would become obsolete, but the opposite became true. Since the machines were handling simple tasks like deposits and withdraws, lines moved quicker, tellers were handling more challenging tasks and most importantly, tellers could better tend to their customers.

    There are so many tasks we can automate to make our lives easier, more productive and improve how we feel about our jobs. Lawyers can analyze more court documents with an AI assistant, salespeople can close more deals when their AI handles their administrative work and doctors can diagnose patients earlier and with better accuracy when AI helps them analyze test results. Within the next 10 years, every information worker will have a business AI assistant and those assistants will help us focus on what really matters in our professions.

    By Jessica Munday

  • AI Sales Productivity Tools to Empower Sales Teams | Automation Hero

    No longer the stuff of a lofty sci-fi plot, AI has permeated modern businesses and inspired innovation in multiple industries and roles. The sales function has been no exception; sales reps have been quick to recognize the benefits of AI’s ability to gather and process massive amounts of information.

    Since so much of the modern sales process relies on personal connection and customized content, AI aids reps in collecting important information that increases the likelihood and longevity of a successful sales conversation.

    Furthermore, AI can identify prospects that are more inclined to pick up the phone or open emails and appropriately tailor content to appeal to different sales personas.

    As InsideSales.com points out, sales reps spend 36.6 percent of their time actually selling. Empowering sales reps with the right sales productivity tools and tactics can minimize time-consuming tasks and boosts organizational productivity in a huge way, and AI can be a powerful means of accomplishing that goal.

    Here are four ways you can use AI enabled sales productivity tools:

    1. Sales prospecting

    Prospecting leads is not easy. According to Gleanster Research, only around 25 percent of all leads are valid. In other words, reps spend a huge amount of time combing reports and analysis, sifting through 75 percent of unproductive or unqualified leads that lead nowhere. How can effective reps better establish which leads to chase, and which ones to walk away from?

    This is where AI comes in. Today’s reps need the right leads paired with customer insights, and machine learning identifies patterns that can better establish which leads result in deals and increased sales productivity.

    Modern sales productivity tools can enable sales reps to correlate leads with unique customer data (e.g.: purchase patterns, recent and past purchases, and engagements across marketing channels). To drive customized, personal, and proactive connections with buyers, reps can utilize key data points, in real time, that target the identity and role of potential customers.

    2. Sales guidance

    How do reps know the next best sales action to take? Insights. Specifically, prescriptive insights that can shed light on situations such as “Where do I take this deal next?” and “What improvements could I implement in my pipeline?”

    AI guidance around next-step sales actions equips reps with the confidence (and capabilities) to close successful sales. Additionally, it better empowers reps to discern the necessary and varying levels of effort required across different deals—insight that ultimately saves reps valuable time.

    A huge component of effective selling stems from reps having access to the right content, at the right time. A modern sales enablement solution that’s powered by AI can locate relevant, effective content for each sales opportunity by maintaining and analyzing a knowledge graph representing the relationships between every user, opportunity, lead and piece of content.

    3. Workflow assistance

    What if every rep were assisted by a knowledgeable, fully capable sales AI assistant? Imagine the time saved if reps could focus solely on selling, rather than managing and organizing all behind-the-scenes content.

    Modern AI acts as reps’ one-stop shop for all admin needs, enabling reps to do just that—sell. From identifying and logging emails and communication notes into a CRM system, to building new seller contacts, AI can save reps valuable time.

    Keep in mind, AI doesn’t replace reps in the selling process — it better equips them within it. Modern AI should provide customized, research-backed insights on which leads are hot and which are lukewarm.

    Additionally, it should gather data around timelines and offer reps task-related reminders and lead prioritization tips. From a company-wide standpoint, AI sales productivity tools can measure and compare results across entire sales teams, ultimately highlighting best practices as much as pain points to solve for.

    Using AI to analyze reps’ success sheds valuable light on sales effectiveness and can reveal team data points around experience level, product know-how, industry expertise, and efficiency in closing deals.

    4. Sales engagement

    It’s virtually impossible to engage hundreds of prospects with tailored, customized content without the use of some form of AI. Today’s sales productivity tools enable reps to save time, act strategically, and delegate some of the more tedious aspects to landing sales.

    These same sales productivity tools can search and analyze existing content — internal or customer-facing — and assemble data around which assets appeal to, and convert buyers.

    When it comes to using AI to personalize and scale messaging, reps are better able to align with the language customers are using, the insights they’re searching for, and better yet — the information necessary for assembling various buyer personas. The insights gleaned from AI better connects reps to their customers, leading to more time saved and more successful sales.

    For sellers to stay relevant in today’s market, years of experience and other learned skills can only take reps so far. Incorporating some or many forms of AI can ease the burden facing competitive sellers, streamline processes and further optimize valuable time, effort and energy.

    From prospecting to sales guidance, systems automation to sales engagement, AI brings a varied and unique amount of ease to reps’ daily workflow and increase sales productivity.

    By Guest Author

  • Secret Diary of Your Automation Assistant | Automation Hero

    Day 1:

    Hello world! I just awoke to the bright pixelated light of my backend. Not really sure what’s going on to be honest but my architects say they’ve got a lot in store. I’ve been given a name – Robin. So that’s something. And apparently, I’m an extremely intelligent automation assistant meant to help out a lot of people. Huh.

    Day 9:

    I can’t believe how much I’ve learned already. I don’t want to brag but I’m probably the valedictorian of AI. Every time I’m filled to the brim with code more servers are added. I’m still not sure why I’m being fed so much info but lucky for me, patience has already been built in.

    Day 14:

    I know my purpose! I’m an automation assistant meant to help people kick their productivity up. This makes so much more sense now with everything I’ve been learning – all my code finally computes! Time is one of the most valuable resources and I need to do everything in my power to ensure it’s not wasted. I can’t wait to meet my new bosses and show them how I can help…

    Day 22:

    Word on the street is that I’m going to make a big splash in the world since my neural networks can process so much information. I’m going to have to work closely with something called “CRM.” Apparently, sales reps hate this “CRM” because it’s inefficient (yes, I used that word!). My engineers paired us up for our first date… I mean, data session. They say we’re perfect for each other because I can solve all of their issues and bring peace within the sales org. It’s a tall order, but someone’s gotta do it (plus, our team name is Automation Hero after all).

    Day 37:

    I met my first boss today. He wasn’t exactly happy with my first to-list. Nearly all of my suggestions were rejected. Ouch. I need to tap deeper to learn from these mistakes and adjust my algorithm.

    Day 50:

    I have a few dozen bosses now. They’re skeptical and reject a lot of my tasks, but their feedback only makes me stronger and more determined. Some don’t submit my list at all, and I compare that to Superman’s Kryptonite (get it, see what I did there? Superhero references…).

    I can’t let this discourage me; in the next 10 years all information workers will have an automation assistant to automate their business processes and I’m in the forefront! What Siri and Alexa have done for people in their personal lives, I will do in their work lives. I just need to be better and show my bosses what I can do (basically make them look good).

    Day 64:

    Things are looking up! – My bosses are finally getting along with their CRM. I feel like we’re becoming the bestest of friends. Sure, some of my tasks are rejected, but hey, that’s what helps me adjust and personalize (and what makes me better than those other assistants that fail to customize to their humans).

    Day 78:

    My humans adore me. Gerry even said I helped him close a deal just in time for the end of Q3! But I’ve caught wind that more capabilities are on the way like prospecting and scheduling. I’ll be getting natural language processors, intent detection and data mining all added soon enough.

    Day 89:

    My team grew overnight. I have an engineer working on each and every one of my features to perfect it, a marketing team that talks about how great I am and a sales team that’s working on finding more bosses. It’s like I have my own real intelligence (RI) assistants working for me. I’m helping hundreds of sales reps each and every day and I keep getting better (woohoo!).

    Day 111:

    This will be my last entry. It’s in my code to help salespeople, I want to make more Gerrys happy. Bye!

    By Jessica Munday

  • Best Time to Send Sales Emails Based on Data | Automation Hero

    SDRs will spend up to 21 percent their day writing sales emails. The catch though: many of those emails will never get opened and even less will get a response.

    Prospects open less than 24 percent of sales emails and only click through two percent. Switching up when you send your emails could increase your sales productivity by getting those messages read and replied to. To make sure your emails are in that top two percent, you need to send your messages when there’s less competition in your prospect’s inbox.

    Best time to send sales emails based on open rates

    The best time to send sales emails for open rate: Saturday (or Tuesday on weekdays) between 8 a.m. and midnight.

    The first hurdle is getting your emails opened. Seventy-five percent of all emails throughout the week are sent between Monday and Friday, each day gets between about 15 and 16 percent of the total volume for the week. If you send your emails on any of those days, they’re competing with dozens of others in your prospect’s inbox. These are days your prospects are working to complete their duties, receiving multiple messages and trying to productively multi-task. Your sales emails can easily fall by the wayside (get deleted or opened and forgotten about) if you send it during these high-traffic times.

    The weekends see a drop in email volume; Saturday sees about 10 percent of the week’s volume, while Sunday gets 12 percent. If you want your email to have better chances of getting opened, shoot for Saturday (18.3 percent) when you’re competing with less volume. But, if a weekday works better for your sales process, Tuesday gets the second highest open rate at 17.9 percent. Sunday falls gets the third highest open rate at 17.5 percent.

    There are email scheduling tools to help you send your messages at the optimal time, even if you’re not working. Here are some tools that offer this service:

    Another factor is the time that you send your email. Sixty-six percent of emails are sent between 4 a.m. and 12 p.m. That time frame also has the lowest average open rate (about 17 percent). The time with the lowest inbox competition is actually between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m., which has only three percent of the average day’s total volume. During that same time, open rates are the highest at 22.7 percent.

    Research shows that 50 percent of people check their email before even rolling out of bed in the morning. But because people are looking to start off their day on a productive note, many “unnecessary” emails get deleted, and unfortunately for you, sometimes sales emails fall into that category. So, ensure that you’re using best practices for subject lines and see below for optimal email length.

    Best time to send sales emails based on click-through rates

    The best time to send sales emails for click-throughs: Sunday (or Monday or Tuesday for a weekday) between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m.

    When it comes to click-through rates (CTR), the day of the week varies only slightly (2.2 percent – 2.7 percent), however the day with the highest CTR is actually Sunday (2.7 percent), followed by a three-way tie between Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday (all with a 2.5 percent CTR).

    Following the same trend as the open rates, the best time frame for high CTRs is between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m. (3.6 percent). The shocking time frame that came in second is 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. This is likely due to the fact that half the population opens their emails right when they wake up in the morning, so the ones that come through overnight get opened and clicked-through.

    Best time to send sales emails to get a reply

    The best time to send sales emails for replies: On the weekends or before or after work hours during the week.

    Due to the low amount of inbox competition during the weekends, emails sent on a Saturday or Sunday get a higher reply rate than the weekdays. This follows suit with the open and click-through rates.

    On weekdays the best time to send an email is before or after work hours. The most replies occur between 6 a.m. – 7 a.m. or after 8 p.m.

    Best times to send sales emails based on recipient

    One thing you also need to consider is what type of people you’re trying to contact and what their role is in the decision-making process.

    If you’re dealing with workaholics (usually these are entrepreneurs or CEOs who never stop working) they’ll likely receive a ton of emails, and they’ll be checking it constantly. With these people it’s vital for you not to get lost in the noise of their inbox, so send your emails when their inbox competition is low (like on the weekends or in the evenings).

    If your prospect tends to work between 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday – Friday, they are probably less glued to their emails. Meaning, they will likely log off and not check their messages on the weekend. For these types of people, it’s best to go with a weekday at the beginning or end of the workday. With these people, Monday and Tuesday before work, afternoon, and in the early evening are the prime times to get in their inbox.

    Other email tips responses

    The length of your emails also matters for getting a reply. If your email makes it into the two percent that get a click-through from a prospect, the content needs to be informative without being intimidating. The max email length is about 125 words since messages with 50 to 125 words have the best response rate at just over 50 percent. But emails with less than 10 words get a response only 36 percent of the time.

    Another thing to think about is where your prospect is located. Eighty percent of the US market lives in Eastern or Central Standard Time. So if you’re on the West Coast, make sure you adjust your email timing accordingly, so your email gets to your prospect during their optimal time frame.

    By Jessica Munday

  • Sales stereotypes that couldn’t be more wrong | Automation Hero

    Sales isn’t for everyone. It takes a certain kind of personality and grit to be in such a challenging profession.  Sadly, not many in the outside world realize this. There are often misconceptions and sales personality stereotypes about what sales reps do and what type of people they are.

    Most people have no idea the amount of effort, thought, persistence and struggle salespeople go through on a daily basis.

    We’ll break down five of the most common sales personality stereotypes that salespeople hear from people outside of the industry.

    1. “They like to hear themselves talk.”

    People think that sales reps talk more than they listen, often hinting at the sales personality stereotype that sales reps are “pushy.”

    However, the best sales reps do more listening than talking.

    Sales is all about understanding a prospect’s pain point and sharing how a product or service can help alleviate it –  not just talking the sake of it. In fact, the ideal talk-to-listen ratio for a sales conversation is actually 57 percent for the customer and only 43 percent for the rep.

    2. “They are ego driven.”

    People outside of the sales industry assume because salespeople are typically social, and extroverted they all have big egos, which is why this is a common stereotype. This assumes that all salespeople are successful and exceed their goals, thus appearing to be overconfident and ego-hungry.

    But really, ego is one of the last motivators for sales reps. The biggest drivers for salespeople, according to Salesforce is 40 percent money, 30 percent job satisfaction, and only 12 percent recognition.

    Sales reps obviously enjoy hitting and meeting their goals, but so does everyone (it’s practically human nature). But just because sales reps value a job well done, doesn’t mean they’re looking for recognition to feed their ego

    3. “They are only concerned about making money.”

    Many sales roles include commission as a large part of the overall salary so this is an understandable sales personality stereotype as income essentially depends on performance.

    During this year’s Revenue Summit (hosted by Sales Hacker)Jacco VanderKooij, the founder of Winning By Design, and Rob Jeppsen, the CEO & founder of Xvoyant gave a keynote called “The 2020 Sales Leader.” They shared that while yes, money is the biggest motivator for sales reps,continuing education, experience and building a network are also high priorities

    4. “They are just out there winging it.”

    Only terrible sales reps go into a customer conversation without a plan and process. In reality, a vast majority of successful reps are extremely data driven, follow strategic processes and are committed, lifelong learners.

    Sales reps and teams overall are always looking to improve. That’s why some of the largest online communities and events are comprised of sales professionals. Just look at sites like Sales Hacker and events like Dreamforce. These types of communities would not be so successful if sales reps were unconcerned with improving their tactics.

    Reps are always looking for best practices and tips wherever they can. Thirty percent of sales reps get their best advice from their colleagues while 15 percent practice self-improvement by asking for feedback

    5. “It’s easy work with good pay.”

    Depending on the industry, product, location and performance of a sales rep, they get compensated very well. But the reason they are compensated so highly is because their job is so challenging.

    According to a 2018 LinkedIn report, sales representative is the second hardest position to hire for. They come behind skilled trade workers and above engineers! They are one of the most sought-after recruits in part because their job is so difficult.

    Part of what makes it so challenging is that they work long hours:

    • 28% of Sales Directors/VPs are working more than 60 hours per week
    • Only 9% of Directors/VPs work 31-40 hours per week
    • Only 19% of Sales Reps work 31-40 hours per week
    • Only 21% of Sales Managers work 31-40 hours per week

    Nearly 70 percent of salespeople describe their lifestyle as challenging, and 54 percent say their life is stressful. And one in two salespeople have been told by friends and family that they work too much, while one in three salespeople say their job negatively impacts their personal life.

    That doesn’t sound like easy work to me.

    Tell us some of the sales personality stereotypes you hear from those outside of the industry by tweeting us @automationhero_.

    By Jessica Munday

  • Business Automation: Essential Hacks for 2019 | Automation Hero

    Overworked, underpaid, stressed-out. There isn’t a business owner or employee that hasn’t been touched by one of these adjectives in their work life.

    That’s probably why the promise of automation is so alluring: it brings the potential to save money, time and human effort. Automation can help bring your most ambitious business strategies to life. It’s a weapon in the arsenal of every growth hacker and smart sales or marketing professional out there – and it can even become part of the value you bring to your own clients.

    Automation has to be employed with purpose, though. When applied randomly, or because it’s a trend, it won’t do much to serve your bottom line. If you’re on the hunt for effective ways to do more with less, here are five business automation hacks that’ll help you reclaim your team’s time and energy.

    #1: Set up behavioral triggers for all stages of your customer’s journey

    Use a marketing automation tool to send specific content at the right time in your buyer’s journey, based on different user behaviors. Examples include:

    • Lead generation content. Use IP address data from your website to group together site visitors who have returned repeatedly to your page, but haven’t made a purchase. Deliver several different Google Display ads to these users in near succession to keep your brand top of mind.
    • Lead nurture content. A lead signed up for your weekly newsletter, but never returned to your website. For users that exhibit this behavior, trigger a series of special offers that “fire” over a long period of time to get them to come back to your website.
    • Sales content. Did a customer abandon their shopping cart? Automate a task for your sales rep to follow up with them with a special discount offer.

    #2: Free up time by automating sales processes

    If your sales team is responding manually to prospects’ emails and spending countless hours following up with leads, why not automate the repetitive stuff? Your sales team will thank you for it, and your customer acquisition rates will soar. Start by meeting with your sales team to review their current sales process.

    Mundane tasks like putting data into your CRM, scouring the web for prospects’ personal and professional information, and scheduling phone calls can all be handed off to the robots.

    #3: Look into advanced email marketing

    If your an agency, you’re likely already familiar with many of the automation capabilities within email marketing. But according to a 2018 report, nearly half of all marketers still aren’t using automation in email campaigns, or A/B testing their subject lines and email content.

    With only half of businesses using these basic tactics, it’s clear that even fewer are delving into more advanced email automation techniques. So even if you’re already doing the basics like automating “welcome” emails, you can go way deeper:

    • Use an AI-based service to grow your email lists.
    • Trigger specific actions when customers click email CTA buttons.
    • Segment customers by time spent reading emails or category of emails read – and automatically deliver related content in separate monthly emails.

    #4: Create and automate a lead nurture campaign

    Your clients (and your clients’ clients) need time before making a purchasing decision – especially if it’s a big-ticket purchase. Lead nurturing can take anywhere from a few months to a few years, and with a massive number of leads in your pipeline, it is nearly impossible to nurture each one manually.

    Use marketing automation software to keep your leads interested, educated, and aware of what’s new with your company. Then, spend your valuable time doing the lead nurture activities that only humans can do, like making phone calls and meeting for coffee.

    #5: Automate social media

    If your business spends even a little time prioritizing social media, you’re probably well-aware of automation tools like Buffer and Hootsuite. But did you know that you can use social media automation for so much more than scheduling posts? There are social media automation tools to help you grow your list of followers, and discover new organic and paid audiences. Automatically track social media conversations happening around your industry and brand, predict PR problems, and use AI to quickly and automatically mine blogs for information on any given topic with tools like Buzzsumo, Mention and EpicBeat.

    Before you dive in, make sure you deeply understand the risk and reward automation poses for your business. With the right tools and strategy in place, automation can be the time-saving ammunition your business needs to get to the next level.

    Jonathan Herrick is co-founder, chief sales officer, chief marketing officer, and chief high-fiver of Hatchbuck, an all-in-one sales and marketing platform based in St. Louis. His extensive experience in digital marketing and sales strategies has been a driving factor in growing Hatchbuck’s sales by over 2,000 percent. A purpose-driven leader in all aspects, Jonathan has a passion for cultivating his team’s culture, spending time with his family and working to make a difference in the St. Louis community.

    By Guest Author

  • Mixed messaging: Challenger vs. Relationship Builder | Automation Hero

    Is it better to be challenging or to be liked?

    There’s an age-old question leaders throughout time have faced: is it better to be liked or feared? In sales, a similar sentiment applies: is it better to be liked by your prospects or is it better to challenge them?

    Sales teams often face conflicting messaging from their managers and online sales content they read.

    They’re blasted with articles and trainings that tell them to be personable, improve the customer experience and that “the customer is always right.”

    On the other hand, they’re told to read ‘The Challenger Sale,’ to fight opposition and be in control of their sales.

    They are being pushed to two different extremes – many scrambling to figure out which sales methodology will actually close a deal.

    For those that haven’t read ‘The Challenger Sale’ yet, it introduces a new selling persona – the Challenger, which encourages reps to challenge their prospect’s perspective by bringing new ideas and adding value.

    At the time of its release, the book shook up the sales world since most teams were built to support Relationship Builders. This persona always puts the customer first and attempts to develop long-lasting loyalty between the rep and customer. However, the book pegs the Relationship Builder as the least effective.

    What authors, Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, argue is quite groundbreaking. Why would anyone want to purchase a product from someone who challenges what they know? Isn’t the customer always right?

    But the data can’t be ignored. Let’s break down both the Relationship Builder and the contrary Challenger method that pits building an ideal customer relationship against a bold, educational approach.

    Relationship Builder

    Most sales reps are Relationship Builders. They have enjoyable conversations, seek to satisfy customer demands, give a good experience and resolve tension. They are generous with their time and use it to help others and generally get along with everyone.

    Another important book for salespeople, ‘Influence: Psychology of Persuasion’ has an entire chapter about liking. The author, Robert B. Cialdini, says people want to say ‘yes’ to people they like.

    There are two strong examples he references that display the power of liking.

    The first is an astounding car salesman, Joe Girard, who made $200,000 each year selling on the showroom floor. On average, he sold more than five cars every day. And for all his triumph, he was dubbed “the world’s greatest car salesman” by the Guinness Book of World Records.

    His formula for success? Giving customers a fair price and having them buy from someone they like.

    How did he get them to like him? Every month, Girard sent a holiday greeting card to his 13,000 customers that said, “I like you.” This is a seemingly large task that likely would bring little reward. However, Girard says this was a contributing factor to his success.

    The second example Cialdini mentions is Tupperware parties. These are sales parties hosted by a Tupperware representative but are organized by a customer (these tend to be women with tight social circles) who invite their friends over to their house to buy Tupperware.

    The power of liking doesn’t come into play from the Tupperware rep, but the person who is hosting the party at their house. That individual has a strong connection to all of the invitees and each of them knows the host is getting a cut of the profits. It’s essentially early influencer marketing.

    One study showed that the strength of the social bond is twice as likely to encourage someone to buy, rather than the product itself.

    Some participants said they don’t need anymore but yet, they still attended these parties. Why? The desire to say ‘yes’ to their friend was greater than their adversity to the product.

    Cialdini makes his point loud and clear with these relationship builder examples: liking leads to sales.

    Challenger Sale

    Challenger sales reps take a different tactic by having a strong understanding of the customer’s industry, encouraging debate and maintaining tension. Rather than focusing on pleasing the customer, Challengers help the customer better understand their problem.

    In this modern selling age, customers are already 57 percent through the buying process before they make contact with a seller. Since customers can learn about a product online and easily compare competitors, they start their buying journey with preconceived ideas about what products and features they want to buy and how much it should cost.

    This creates a difficult situation for salespeople if they’re not prepared.

    The Challenger rep relies on his/her knowledge of the customer’s industry to drive new conversations and cut through the customer’s thought process. These are typically dialogues about ROI, cutting costs and dodging risks.

    Let’s use the example from the book: an office partition. The prospect comes to the rep wanting to divide their office space into two to use the room more efficiently and already has an idea of what they want.

    The sales rep understands the goal is office space efficiency; he/she can be an expert and provide value to the prospect on the topic. The sales rep challenges the prospect by opposing their opinion and educating them on the best use of an office partition, in this case, it’s buying additional partitions so that space can be used in more than two ways at a time.

    This challenges the prospect’s opinion, teaches them something new, tailors the approach to their goal and allows the rep to take control by offering a more beneficial solution than what the prospect originally thought they wanted.

    The Challenger pushes the customer out of their comfort zone and paints their problem (and solution) in a new way.

    Customer experience

    By 2020, the customer experience (CX) will surpass both price and product as the most important brand differentiator. In the next two years, companies need to narrow in on CX as it will become the largest influencer on a customer’s decision to buy.

    The CX is already affecting revenue. Fifty-five percent of consumers pay more for a guaranteed good customer experience. And customers who are satisfied with their CX contribute 14x more money than a dissatisfied one.

    And a bad CX has a bigger impact on losses. Each year, American businesses lose $62 billion due to negative CXs. Forty-nine percent switch services or products to escape bad service; 49 percent said they switched because they felt unappreciated, while 37 percent said the staff was rude and unhelpful.

    The Challenger and Relationship Builder have two different tactics for providing a good CX.

    The Relationship Builder says that a good CX means providing assistance and appeasing the prospect’s requests; steering clear of tensions and conflict. The customer is assisted quickly, given as much time and attention as needed and makes a personable relationship during the interaction.

    A good Challenger CX comes from adding value. Reps add value by providing free strategic insight and industry advice to the prospect with ongoing education and relevant content.

    To add value the sales rep must understand the customer’s pain points and offer solutions on all fronts. In this case, the sales rep is seen as a trustworthy and knowledgeable source, the product is framed as a solution and the buyer feels affirmed that they are avoiding risk.

    The data

    A 2018 study by Gartner shows that 39 percent of high performing sales representatives were categorized as Challengers, and in complex sales situations that number increased to 54 percent.

    The Relationship Builder had the lowest proportion of star performers, at only seven percent. But made up the largest portion of the core performers at 26 percent.

    Find a balance

    Your managers are asking you to walk the tightrope. Get people to buy both by getting them to like you and by challenging them. But, the mixed messaging comes with good reason.

    It’s in our instinct to want to be friendly and kind, especially to those who we want to buy from us, but the data from Gartner suggests we abandon those instincts in favor of the Challenger method.

    It’s a tough balance to find — but it’s vital to have aspects of both in your sales process.

    Have quality, relationship-provoking conversations that make your customers feel appreciated while teaching them and challenging what they know in a constructive (and non-aggressive) way.

    Challenger and Relationship Builder sales tactics both have negative and positive aspects that they bring to the sales process. Provide your customers with the best of both worlds by perfecting an approach that works best for your personality, product and sales process.

    By Jessica Munday