From Impossible to Inevitable, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 7Spears—Outbound Prospecting

Spears are one-to-one campaigns, such as targeted outbound prospecting or business development initiatives for getting appointments with anyone who's not coming to you—whether customers or partners (Figure 7.1).

FIGURE 7.1 Careful targeting is the key to outbound success.

In addition to Salesforce.com, Acquia, Zuora, and Responsys (bought by Oracle) are examples of companies who've created $100 million-plus revenue machines with Spears.

The original Predictable Revenue book outlined the “Cold Calling 2.0” outbound prospecting model, which:

• Claimed “salespeople shouldn't prospect”—that to create an outbound system that avoids the “revenue rollercoaster” and creates predictable revenue, companies need to specialize sales roles. They need prospectors who only prospect and closers who (almost) only close. Salespeople who do everything (prospecting, responding to marketing leads, closing and managing accounts) end up doing many things poorly instead of one thing well.
• Created friendly alternatives to high-volume cold calling, replacing it with sending cold referral emails and cold referral calls.
• Systematized the entire process into a step-by-step funnel, creating a predictable way to generate qualified leads on-demand from companies who have never heard of your business. Create this and you'll remove your growth ceiling.

Outbound prospecting ...