Sorry, a little late seeing this, but I thought I would comment on your pointer to Better Closer Blog (thanks too).

It is all about context of your sales advice, as you know. In a B2B context, I totally agree with your comment, but the majority of my readers, clients, and sales teams I coach are high volume Internet Sales Centers. That simply means they are outbound calling on Internet submitted inquiries and generally are sourced by a lead generation company–like LendingTree or LowerMyBills.

So, I will break my analysis down a bit. In that case I am outbound calling hundreds of “general” inquiries a day. They are all direct consumers and may have intentions from curious on price, can I qualify for financial product, to I am ready now. They also typically put in the inquiry because they don’t want to sit on my 800#.

Therefore, in that scenario we typically set up a high volume “contact team” that does nothing, but make live contact, introduce the company, pre-qualify, and transfer to a better trained financial counselor.

The post was to open discussion on the topic because many of my clients are reporting higher contact rates and conversion rates on lead flow with the no voicemail approach. I like you thought that was a little counter-intuitive so I thought I would open the debate.

Thanks for spreading it. Gret Blog–I really enjoy it!

Thanks for checking in. Your program looks more focused and relevant than many of the lead exchanges we’ve all dealt with before.

Best of luck!

Brandon

Most of the other groups out there are populated with micro-businesses and individuals selling to micro-businesses and individuals. They don’t work well for consultants or business developers who are chasing established companies.

There will always be some element of people, at least over the short term, who look out for themselves, with no intention of giving back. The nice thing about the B2B Power Exchange is that those folks weed themselves out pretty quickly, as do people who are not experts in their fields.

For experienced consultants and business developers, the B2BPE meetings are like a homecoming party – where they can have intelligent business conversations with others who “get it.” For people who are not on top of their game or are not familiar with selling in a B2B environment at senior levels, the meetings can be pretty intimidating.

One other note about general leads groups: it is not just the willingness to reciprocate that makes a group successful. The attendees must also be able to reciprocate the right types of leads. If other participants are not in complementary businesses or at least chasing the same type of prospects, the group won’t work for you over the long term. Sure, you may get a bluebird every once in a while, but busy people need to use their time effectively, so they should go where their time will be best spent.

The B2B Power Exchange breakfast meetings are predominantly based in the western region for now, but expanding rapidly. The goal is to have 40-60 physical meetings running nationally by the end of the year. That being said, the organization also provides online meetings where business development pros from all over the country (and beyond) can connect with others to form relationships and pursue opportunities. Let’s face it; many of us chase business in larger territories than we can easily reach in a car or on a regular basis. Or we may be out of town working with clients and want to stay connected to our contacts at “home.” So these online meetings are proving to be a great way to maximize territory management.

There is a larger vision behind B2B. It’s not just about exchanging leads. It’s about leveraging current technologies and business models to help business developers, consultants and entrepreneurs do business in ways they could not have done it even a few years ago. It’s about saying yes to more and larger sales opportunities – and being able to effectively deliver on your promises. It’s about collaboration between peers who genuinely want to see and help one another succeed.

I have a confession to make. I probably come across as a big proponent of what B2B Power Exchange is up to. There is a reason for that. I am the founder of the group. But let me be clear about one thing: the group is not about me. Rather, it is about the people who plug in to the group succeeding.

Happy selling!