When hiring for lead generation, candidates who are a good fit for outbound prospecting share 4 key qualities. Over time, experience confirms that these traits are still important today. Sales and marketing management may find itself with an ample candidate pool. Here are four qualities to keep in mind as you hire employees to build leads through outreach.
1. Outbound Prospecting Ability and Willingness
Many sales and marketing managers believe that inbound lead generation representatives can easily take on the duties of outbound prospecting. More often than not, this doesn't work out because the skill set required for outbound prospecting is different than the skill set required for inbound response. Be sure your candidate is capable, experienced, willing, eager and hungry to prospect proactively and take on outreach activities.
2. Client and Relationship Orientation
Another important sales and marketing management trait to evaluate is representative's ability to engage with a potential prospect. Warm or otherwise, they must guide a conversation with people they have never spoken with previously. This is not an easy task. It requires skill, knowledge and finesse, at the very least. It is truly an art to make a connection with a potential prospect early on, and to establish a relationship. An individual who values and demonstrates strong client relationship skills is key to success in generating leads through outbound prospecting. This is especially true if the outreach campaign includes engaging with senior level executives.
3. Strategic and Focused Mindset
A hunter mindset, combined with a consultative approach is crucial for outbound prospecting success. Especially when focusing on targeted, more complex accounts, it's essential for the representative to understand the account and key players in a strategic, managed, organized fashion during the engagement process.
4. Industry Knowledge: Quick Study and Sponge-Like Absorption
To connect and engage at high levels, a lead generation outbound prospecting representative needs a sponge like ability to quickly grasp and retain industry knowledge, key target market and pertinent target audience information.
At Exceed Sales, we are passionate about lead generation as an art and science. We help you achieve results beyond your expectations with our lead generation services. CEO Elisa Ciarametaro is author of the Exceed Sales blog, and the free Focused Outreach Lead Generation E-Book.