Episode 231: Carole Mahoney
Meet
Carole Mahoney
Carole Mahoney has been called the “Sales Therapist” by a Harvard Business School professor. As the founder of Unbound Growth, she coaches Harvard Business School Entrepreneurial MBA students on sales, is a top 15 sales Influencer in 2020 by LinkedIn, a Woman to Watch in Sales by Sales Hacker, and a top sales coach by Ambition.
Our Mission Is To Change The Negative Perception Of Sales People
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According to Carole Mahoney, prospecting is one-on-one, high touch, quality communication, and outreach. Lead generation is more one-to-many, general messaging, and top of the funnel. If you want to be proactive and fill your funnel they’re both important. If you’re not prospecting you’re not going after your ideal customer. If you’re not engaging in lead generation you’re not educating, you’re not putting the word out there so people know how you are. But how you do both matters. That is why great content in all of your messaging matters. Carole Mahoney—the founder of Unbound Growth—shares her expertise in this episode of Sales Reinvented.
Outline of This Episode
- [0:50] The difference between prospecting and lead gen
- [1:28] Why both are important to the entire sales funnel
- [2:03] Carole’s lead generation + prospecting process
- [5:26] Attributes or characteristics of a great prospector
- [8:23] Skills salespeople need to develop to succeed
- [10:21] Top 3 dos and don’ts of prospecting and lead gen
- [12:59] Why copywriting and cadence matters
Carole’s lead generation + prospecting process
Carole emphasizes that you have to put out content that attracts the right people. It needs to be about them and their problems. Prospecting is easier when people have heard of your product or service. It also brings opportunities that you may not have considered.
What is the issue that people are dealing with that you can help with? Where do they start educating themself? That’s where you want to be. You can put out content through speaking engagements, webinars, podcasts, eGuides, checklists, and more. Lead generation can be creating a social media presence and creating your own content like blogs and podcasts. You need to be in front of people that you can help the most.
If a list of people signs up for your upcoming webinar, you can turn on your prospecting skills and reach out to them one-to-one. What intrigued them? What are they hoping to learn? What questions do they want to be answered? Include those in your webinar. Then you can follow up with them after the webinar.
Attributes or characteristics of a great prospector
The first and most important thing is to be able to manage your need for approval. If you’re concerned about what people might think, it will be difficult to prospect. It will be difficult to ask questions or push back. People are afraid of putting things out on LinkedIn or blog posts for fear of being heckled.
Secondly, You need to have a plan and discipline developed around it. You won’t always see immediate results. It may be weeks, months, or even years down the road. You can’t just jump in and expect results. Carole emphasizes that you can’t be a perfectionist. Things will never go exactly as planned.
Skills salespeople need to develop to succeed
Carole believes most salespeople need to work on their copywriting skills. Sellers often take whatever marketing hands them and sends those into their cadences. They don’t think about what they’re actually saying. But you need to take the marketing message and customize it to who you’re talking to. “Set it and forget it” makes sellers lazy. You need to focus on the quality of your message. Carole notes you should also block time into your schedule to be consistent. You need to develop resilience. It’s paramount to prospecting and lead generation. What are Carole’s top 3 dos and don’ts of prospecting and lead generation? Listen to learn more!
Why copywriting and cadence matters
Carole was working with a client who worked at a SaaS tech company who was struggling to get responses to her cadences. She was trying to move customers from a competitor to her product. But everything she sent out got a very low response rate. So Carole took a look at the first email. It was too long, it was all about her product/service, and she was asking the prospect to take a large leap—all in the first email. No interest or value had been established.
So Carole asked her to rework it. She wrote something that talked about their results and focused it on her prospects. She saw almost double the response rate and got conversations in the pipeline. She learned that you have to keep it brief, make it all about the prospect, and ask the right questions. Always focus on the potential value for the customer.
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Resources & People Mentioned
- BOOK: Grit by Angela Duckworth
Connect with Carole Mahoney
- Unbound Growth
- Connect on LinkedIn
- Follow on Twitter
Connect With Paul Watts
Audio Production and Show notes by
PODCAST FAST TRACK
https://www.podcastfasttrack.com
More About Carole Mahoney
What was the last book you read?
Deep Work by Cal Newport
Who / What inspires you?
Jen Singer – she is a writer and though she almost died from COVID, her posts and writings about it are full of humor and empathy.
Are there any aspects of your prospecting and lead generation skills that you are working on improving at the moment?
Yes, better pre-engagement and follow-up from speaking events. Website revamp and content strategy
Hobbies, Interests?
Yoga, homesteading, any and all outdoor activities
How can our listeners contact with you?
www.unboundgrowth.com or e(at)carolemahoney.com
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