Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Have you ever called a lead on a Tuesday morning and heard nothing, but tried that same lead two days later and they responded back almost immediately? That’s not luck -- there’s some science behind why this happened. According to research from James Oldroyd and InsideSales.com, effectively reaching out to prospects comes down to one thing: timing.

For example, did you know 4 to 5 p.m. had a 164% better connection rate than 1 to 2 p.m.? Or that connection rates drop by 400% if you respond in 10 minutes instead of five?

The following infographic reveals the best times and days to connect with respond to prospects. Science and data are starting to dominate sales. Are you keeping up?...

Just as the best athletes constantly practice, improve, and refine their strategy, successful salespeople are always experimenting with existing techniques and trying out new ones. After all, the second an athlete or rep stops striving to get better, they backslide.

We’ve rounded up 56 one-sentence tips to keep you in peak selling shape. Whether you want to focus on your presentation skills, your approach to calling prospects, your methods for closing, or all of the above, you’ll find some great words of wisdom in this list....

When reps need to connect with particularly important or hard-to-reach prospects, normal research methods usually won’t suffice.

To grab these buyers’ attention, earn their respect, and provide them value, salespeople must go deeper than a basic LinkedIn skim.

These five methods will surface extremely helpful details about an organization, its strategy, and its individual leaders....

Breaking the fourth wall happens in performance when an actor (improviser, comedian, etc.) interacts with the audience and brings them into the performance. It creates the “we.” It says to people that there is no wall between us and the audience. And, in the corporate space, it signals that there is no wall between the company and its customers.

Truly, there isn’t—there is only the shared “we.” Improvisers (I am a businessperson and an improviser) know this well. Without your best customers, you have no brand. They own the brand, so it’s time to let them in on where it makes sense. As I said to the attendees at the Visual Storytelling Institute Conference when I gave my keynote, “When you break the fourth wall to engage your audience, you create magic.” Because when you allow people to participate in the direction of the experience as it happens, you create a shared experience of “we.”...