September 8, 2025 • 18 mins
In this episode of the B2B Brand180 Podcast, Linda interviews Dawn Grooters, a business development expert with 20 years of B2B sales experience. Dawn shares her journey from top-performing field rep to inside sales leader, and how she developed a hybrid sales approach that blends the best of both worlds.
They explore the benefits and challenges of internal vs. external sales teams, and how B2B companies can scale their sales efforts effectively. Dawn also introduces her Hybrid Sales Advantage training program, offering strategies that combine field and inside sales techniques.
The conversation covers key topics like CRM setup, integrating marketing and sales, and why consistent follow-up is essential for driving results.
01:23 Dawn's Journey from Field Rep to Inside Sales
02:59 Differences Between Internal and External Sales Teams
05:16 Hybrid Sales Advantage Explained
10:08 Setting Up Field and Inside Sales Teams
12:52 Common Pitfalls and Follow-Up Strategies
14:24 Marketing and Sales Collaboration
More about Dawn here:
https://www.brokenvesselsales.com/masterclass-signup
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-grooters-a8b480105/
Linda's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindafanaras/
Millennium Agency: Brand Strategy | Marketing | Web Design: https://mill.agency
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mill.agency/
Linda's Books:
Claim Your White Space
https://www.amazon.com/CLAIM-YOUR-WHITE-SPACE-CRITICAL-ebook/dp/B0CLK8VLYV
Passion + Profits: Fueling Business And Brand Success
https://www.amazon.com/Passion-Profits-Fueling-Business-Success-ebook/dp/B0CLLDDSNX/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Linda Fanaras (00:00):
Welcome to the B2B Brand 180 podcast, where
we'll discuss branding andmarketing strategies for your
business.
Our goal today is to help youmake transformative, innovative
changes that can give you that180 degree shift in your
marketing efforts or completereversals and brand strategies.
I'm Linda Fanaras and I'm theowner of Millennium Agency, a
(00:21):
branding and growth strategyfirm and host of the B2B Brand
180 Podcast.
Today I am excited to bring inDawn Grotters.
She has 20 years of expertiseand relationship driven B2B
sales.
She started as a successfulfield rep before mastering her
own power of inside sales afterthe tragic loss of her son.
(00:45):
She has developed a great hybridsales approach that helps her
sales colleagues really reachmore customers, grow their
business, and create that worklife balance.
That eliminates burnout.
So great to have you here, Dawn.
I'm super excited to have youshare some of your insights.
It looks like we'll be coveringmaybe some of the differences
(01:07):
and benefits of internalexternal sales teams and really
how B2B companies can scalethere Salesforce.
So if you could just take aquick moment and introduce
yourself.
We could get started.
Dawn Grotters (01:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, thank you so much forhaving me today, Linda.
I'm excited to be here.
So, yeah, so I've been in thegift and home industry for about
over 20 years now, and, startedas a buyer.
So I worked for a chain ofHallmark stores and then I moved
into the sales world, as a fieldrep going door to door for
(01:40):
retailers, selling products inthe territory that I had.
I did that for about threeyears, and then, one of my
children did pass away.
And so when that happened, Iknew I didn't want to be out on
the road anymore.
And so the agency that I wasworking for had said, we're
thinking about starting insidesales.
Do you wanna do that?
So I thought, at least I can beat home with my other kids.
(02:02):
I'll go ahead and give that atry.
And when that happened, theykind of gave me a computer, a
phone, and a list to startcalling.
So I started calling thosecustomers, made a lot of
mistakes, got hung up on all thethings that happened to us.
But I started to kind of think,what if I could make these phone
calls more like when I was inperson, so what would I do in
(02:24):
front of those customers that Icould kind of translate over the
phone?
And so I started asking a lot ofquestions, which led to building
relationships, understanding theretailers more, and then, ending
up writing a million dollarsjust over the phone every year.
That's so great.
Yeah.
So did that.
And then now I have my owncompany where I help other
businesses with inside sales andhybrid sales strategies.
Linda Fanaras (02:47):
That's great, Dawn.
That's exciting to hear.
So yeah, the door to door, thosewith the good old days, right?
Yes.
Yes.
That definitely can't happentoday too often, but things have
changed quite a bit.
Yes.
Awesome.
Well we can get right into it.
So I would love for you toexplain, there's a lot of
differences there.
A lot of things that havechanged since.
Do it going from door to door,making phone calls, having a
(03:08):
Rolodex card and having toolslike Salesforce and other
strategies, and hard salesversus sort of a soft casual
sale.
What do you think the biggestdifferences and benefits are of,
like, if you're looking at aninternal sales team versus maybe
an external sales team?
How do companies kind of get thebest of both worlds with a scene
(03:28):
like that?
Dawn Grotters (03:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I think there's benefits toboth, like inside sales and
outside sales.
I think there's benefits toboth.
I think it's more of a strategy.
You need to look at more of likethe customers that you're
working with and that you'regoing after.
What's the best strategy forthem?
So there's definitely customersthat want an in-person
appointment where they want tosee the product, they wanna meet
(03:50):
the salespeople, they wanna havethose meetings.
That's very important for someof those customers.
Then there's some of thosecustomers, and a lot of the
times right now we're facingthat if you are a field rep
where they're like, I don't wantan appointment.
I don't have time to see you.
want you to come into my store.
I don't want you to come into mybusiness right now.
I just don't have time.
(04:11):
And so that's where more of aninside sales approach is better.
They still need your help andyour guidance and they still
need for you to tell them like,here's best sellers.
Here's maybe where the bestproducts are or services that we
need, but we wanna be able toshare that information with
them.
But it could be through phonecalls, it could be through
(04:32):
virtual meetings, it could bethrough sending emails with like
top sellers, things like that.
So it's using both of thoseapproaches for the right
customers.
And so that takes a littlestrategy.
'cause not right, everything isright for everyone, but it does
take some figuring out where youneed like those field reps,
where you need those insidesales.
(04:53):
And then even those field repsneed more of those skills to be
able to make the phone calls touse email appropriately.
Right?
Like all of those skills to kindof blend.
And that's kind of where thathybrid comes in, where you need
to blend both strategies toreally make a difference in your
territory or, your book ofcustomers that you work with.
(05:14):
That makes sense?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Linda Fanaras (05:16):
So you have a hybrid sales advantage that you
speak about quite a bit.
If you can break that down forme just so I can understand like
why it's so powerful with B2Bfirms in particular.
Dawn Grotters (05:29):
Yeah.
So it is taking what I hadlearned as a field sales rep,
adding the inside sales skillsto it.
So basically with that, what wedo is we teach in hybrid sales
advantage.
It's a training program.
We teach you how to use thephone, know how to call your
customers, what to say, whatquestions to ask.
(05:50):
You know what that approach is.
We have a four step phone callprocess that we make to help.
Keep engagement with thosecustomers that we're calling.
And so, we teach you that andthose inside sales skills so you
can leverage that, right?
Then our second step in thatprocess is we are looking at how
do you blend both of those, sowhich customers do you go visit?
(06:12):
We look at your list ofcustomers and we say, which
customers should I go visit?
Which customers can I call, andwhich customers do?
I maybe do both, where maybe Ionly visit them twice a year,
and then I do phone calls inbetween.
So we really look at how tostrategize with your list of
customers.
Who belongs in which bucket,basically you say, okay, which
(06:32):
bucket?
So then we know how to approacheach customer in the best way.
Linda Fanaras (06:36):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Dawn Grotters (06:37):
And then the third part of that process is
we're setting you up with a CRM.
If you're not using one now, youshould be.
And so how do you create thatCRM and customize that CRM to
fit your specific sales needs.
Who should be inside sales?
Who should be outside sales?
And then who should be in as ahybrid customer?
How do you set that up in yoursystem?
(06:58):
And then how do you leveragethat system with the customer
engagement data that happensthrough a CRM and knowing how to
set up follow up tasks, all ofthose things.
So you're using that system tothe best of your ability.
Linda Fanaras (07:11):
So when you're looking at different types of
prospective customers as anexample, how would you break
that up?
So, if you were to handleProspect A, certain way versus a
Prospect B, can you give someexamples to the audience on how
that list may get?
Split up, is it based on companysize?
Is it based on title?
Dawn Grotters (07:28):
If they have existing volume, that's a sure
tail sign.
It's a sure sign looking at thevolume.
So obviously your higher volumecustomers, you probably wanna
have more of that in-personappointments with them.
And then, some of the lowervolume customers.
That would be great to startwith phone calls.
If they came, if they said, Hey,we would love for you to come in
(07:50):
and set up appointment with us,great.
We can move them into adifferent bucket.
But, we start by looking atvolume.
We look at the number ofcustomers on your list, and then
we look at kind of location.
So if you are a field rep and acustomer's nine hours away from
you and they don't do quite asmuch volume, does it make sense
(08:11):
for you to put them in a outsidesales bucket where you wouldn't
be able to really, that's not agreat use of your time.
Maybe it's once or twice a yearyou go visit them, but not four
times a year.
So we look at some major factorsin that to say these are the
right places to go, but thenobviously it's communication
with those customers to see howthey want to be worked with and
(08:35):
if they, you could have a topvolume customer that doesn't
even want you to come into thestore.
True.
So we wanna find out, you know,that's where we start, is
looking at some of thosefactors, but then we obviously
work with the way the customerwants to work.
Linda Fanaras (08:47):
Got it.
Okay.
That makes sense.
So there must be some real keyfoundational pieces that have to
be in place before you decide,okay, we're gonna add reps,
we're gonna use an outside firm.
What are like some of thedifferent items or pieces that
need to be in place before youstart making those calls or
doing outreach or emailmarketing or whatever the
(09:08):
strategy may be?
Dawn Grotters (09:09):
Yeah, so you definitely wanna be ready for
it.
You don't wanna just start andnot have resources and assets in
place.
So if you have either digital ora hard copy catalogs.
Those are important for fieldand inside sales reps.
Making sure you have, pricelists if that's what you need if
it we're talking product here.
(09:30):
But if you have price lists, ifyou have, bestseller lists, if
you have, other like starterpacks.
You know, so sometimes like astarter pack or a bestseller
pack, those are great things tohave.
You wanna have all of those kindof assets ready.
Okay.
Whether that it's for field orwhether it's for inside sales,
because they're gonna both needthose.
(09:51):
So you wanna start with that?
And then again, it's looking atthe customer and if there's
anything else that they need.
And then also making sure yourCRM is set up correctly too,
because you wanna keep track ofall of that information with the
customers as well.
Linda Fanaras (10:08):
So if you were to look, if you were to compare
field sales to inside sales, canyou give me a couple examples or
maybe a few steps that ouraudience should actually take to
get each one set up properly?
Dawn Grotters (10:19):
Yeah.
So if you look at field sales,if you are a product based
company And you haven't ever hadsales reps.
Starting small is always thebest policy.
Maybe you find a coupleindependent reps in channels
that your customer, you know,you would have great customers.
So maybe it's spas if you have awonderful beauty care line and
(10:42):
you start with spas, maybe youlook for some independent reps
that sell into.
Linda Fanaras (10:47):
Okay.
Dawn Grotters (10:47):
Get that, get their feedback on what's
working, what's not working,what kind of displays you need
to have, all of those kind ofthings.
So start small with a coupleindependent reps and make sure
you have the inventory tosupport whatever they're going
to sell.
So I would say that's where youwould start with.
Field reps Okay.
For inside sales reps.
(11:08):
Again, you wanna have all ofyour things, all of your
resources available to thoseinside sales reps, but they're
gonna be making phone calls, sowhat are the questions that you
want answered?
So you would know the rightproducts to direct to them?
Because on a phone call youdon't have a lot of time, so
what are those few questionsthat you need to know?
You know, if it's, let's takespas again.
(11:29):
I'm calling into spas.
I would wanna know, like, do youhave a go-to face care line that
you already work with.
And then you would wanna say,well, does it include an
exfoliator?
Do you have moisturizing?
Do you have sunscreen to go inthat line?
And then based on thosequestions, you can say, okay,
well maybe you don't have amakeup line to go with that.
Right.
(11:49):
This would be a great makeupline to introduce to them.
And then having a couple keyselling points for them to
share.
Like, did you know this isgluten-free?
I didn't know that was such abig thing, but it is, we don't
test on animals, so what are thethree things that you would want
to portray to a customer on thatphone call?
So again, having thatinformation ready for whether
(12:12):
it's field or inside sales isgonna be very important.
Whatever direction you decide togo.
Linda Fanaras (12:18):
Yeah, that makes sense.
At least getting some of thoseinitial steps in place.
I think for the audience tostart small with maybe these
one-off ideas, I think it's agreat opportunity for them to
take advantage of that.
Yeah.
So I'm sure a lot of businessesmake sense.
They drop the ball, you startout all excited.
I know companies will bring inthese CRM systems, get them
(12:39):
started, then they fall by thewayside and depends who's there
and who's not.
And everybody has their productsthat they like or dislike.
So where do you see companiesreally dropping the ball?
Dawn Grotters (12:52):
I would say what with the, like a CRM or anything
that they're doing, it's thefollow up.
That's where I think the ballgets dropped a lot.
Maybe they call a customer ifthey're gonna do inside sales
and they have it in their CRM,they call them three times and
they're like.
Right.
They're not answering.
They're not responding and thenthey just let it go.
Well, typically it takes likesix to eight phone calls to be
(13:15):
able to get a customer to beengaged.
Right.
And so you have to push pastthat.
You have to follow up, you know,more.
I'm not saying follow up everyother day.
That's not a great cadence, but.
Right.
What, like you would continuallykeep that customer in your
funnel and follow up with themuntil you did get a no, and then
maybe you would wait a littlebit longer after that.
(13:37):
Right.
So I would say the follow up,whether it's emails, whether
it's phone calls, whether it'sfollow up to a meeting that you
had and you didn't, the followup that happens.
That's where the ball getsdropped the most, and the CRM
can help you with that if youschedule the tasks and then you
complete them.
That's a big part.
Completing those tasks.
Linda Fanaras (13:56):
That makes sense.
Yeah.
And I think that's probably thehard part is really using that
system in a way that isconsistent because companies, or
if it's a B2B, other companiesmay not buy exactly when you
wanna sell.
But six months from now, if youhave those reminders set.
That might be the time whereyou're actually, making a
connection or they're ready tomake a change, and that, that
(14:18):
takes time.
It just takes time.
And then it's all about timingand need.
Yes, absolutely.
Awesome.
So, as far as marketing andsales working together and sort
of the speed of brief strategy,how do you see them best working
together?
Dawn Grotters (14:33):
Yeah, so marketing I think is really
important for providing thoseresources, right?
The catalogs, the digital assetsthat they would need best
sellers.
Marketing is really important inthat, but then even if they're
sending out like marketingemails to customers.
When we send those out as abrand, you can send those out
and then you get feedback.
(14:54):
Who's opened?
Who's clicked on that?
Well, a lot of times.
Companies don't do anything withthat, right?
They're like, oh, I had a 20%click rate.
Well, that's a great click rate,but if you don't do anything
with that, then it doesn'tmatter.
Right?
Right.
And so using that, to be able tosay, Hey, maybe I should call
this customer that had clickedon that, and this would maybe be
(15:14):
a great place to start, thatthese customers have all clicked
on it.
They've, shown, expressed somekind of interest.
Maybe I should call them and seewhat they were interested in.
You know, we sent out thisemail, maybe it was some top
selling products.
Hey, what, caught your eye withthat email?
and then getting some feedbackfrom them.
And you could actually turn thatinto a sale just by using that
marketing information.
(15:36):
And then following up with thosecustomers and generating sales
from that.
Linda Fanaras (15:41):
Yeah.
That makes complete sense.
Are there any other strategiesor insights that you'd like to
share with the audience today?
Dawn Grotters (15:47):
Yeah, I really think that, it's really
important to take what you have.
Whether the products and allthat you have and continually
just work with your sales teamand your customers to figure out
what is the best direction.
Right.
I think right now in the waythings are, in the economy and
stuff, we really have to levelup on what we're good at.
(16:08):
Yeah.
And so what are those customerssaying that they're like, I want
more of?
We've been working with a clientand we've been calling some of
their customers for them, andthe customers were telling us
that, we purchased this more inthe fourth quarter, more in the
fourth quarter.
So then that, client went to atrade show and they said, they
(16:28):
were hearing from the customers.
We purchase your line more inthe fourth quarter.
Okay.
We'll take that information thenand say, if you don't wanna just
be purchased in the fourthquarter, what kind of products
can we innovate and create thatwould be purchased, in other
times of the year, not just thefourth quarter.
Right?
So taking that information fromthose customers and leveling up
(16:49):
on it to really expand your lineor grow your line or be
innovative in your line tofigure out the best way to do
that.
Linda Fanaras (16:57):
Yeah.
And I think there's a lot ofstrategies like that, that are
out there that companies don'treally take advantage of.
Dawn Grotters (17:02):
Yeah.
Linda Fanaras (17:03):
And this is that opportunity.
Whether it's partnerships orlike you said, tactics that
maybe they just haven't reallylooked at.
Yeah.
I think it's a good opportunityespecially to reach out and
really get insight.
Yeah.
No, that's great.
Any other things that you'd loveto share or.
Dawn Grotters (17:18):
Yeah, no, I, would love to work, I love
working with B2B companies andso if anybody's interested in
learning more about hybrid salesor hybrid sales advantage, or
how we do inside sales, you canalways book a connect call with
me, and I'm happy to talkthrough where you're at and if
we would be a good fit for you.
Linda Fanaras (17:36):
Great.
Yeah, if you could let theaudience know how they can get
in touch with you specifically,that would be fantastic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So,
Dawn Grotters (17:43):
you can go to my website, BrokenVesselSales.com
and then, there you can connectwith me and then we can schedule
that call and kind of talkthrough.
I do like phone calls, so it's agood time for me to learn more
about you and you can learn alittle bit more about me, and
then figure out the best footforward.
So definitely there.
And then I'm also on LinkedIn,Dawn Grotters there and then
(18:04):
also on Instagram atDawn_Grotters.
Linda Fanaras (18:08):
That's, fantastic.
Awesome.
Well, thank you Dawn for comingin today and joining us for the
B2B Brand 180 Podcast.
And, it's great to have yourinsights around sales and
marketing and really some stepsto get the process going in a
systematic way to help companiesgrow.
So for our audience, I justwanna thank you for joining me
(18:30):
today and listening in.
If you need to get in touch withDawn, you can go to
BrokenVesselSales.com.
If you'd like to reach medirectly, feel free to connect
with me on LinkedIn or visitLindaFanaras.com.
Thanks so much and have a greatday.
Thank you.
Welcome to the B2B Brand 180 podcast, where
we'll discuss branding andmarketing strategies for your
business.
Our goal today is to help youmake transformative, innovative
changes that can give you that180 degree shift in your
marketing efforts or completereversals and brand strategies.
I'm Linda Fanaras and I'm theowner of Millennium Agency, a
(00:21):
branding and growth strategyfirm and host of the B2B Brand
180 Podcast.
Today I am excited to bring inDawn Grotters.
She has 20 years of expertiseand relationship driven B2B
sales.
She started as a successfulfield rep before mastering her
own power of inside sales afterthe tragic loss of her son.
(00:45):
She has developed a great hybridsales approach that helps her
sales colleagues really reachmore customers, grow their
business, and create that worklife balance.
That eliminates burnout.
So great to have you here, Dawn.
I'm super excited to have youshare some of your insights.
It looks like we'll be coveringmaybe some of the differences
(01:07):
and benefits of internalexternal sales teams and really
how B2B companies can scalethere Salesforce.
So if you could just take aquick moment and introduce
yourself.
We could get started.
Dawn Grotters (01:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, thank you so much forhaving me today, Linda.
I'm excited to be here.
So, yeah, so I've been in thegift and home industry for about
over 20 years now, and, startedas a buyer.
So I worked for a chain ofHallmark stores and then I moved
into the sales world, as a fieldrep going door to door for
(01:40):
retailers, selling products inthe territory that I had.
I did that for about threeyears, and then, one of my
children did pass away.
And so when that happened, Iknew I didn't want to be out on
the road anymore.
And so the agency that I wasworking for had said, we're
thinking about starting insidesales.
Do you wanna do that?
So I thought, at least I can beat home with my other kids.
(02:02):
I'll go ahead and give that atry.
And when that happened, theykind of gave me a computer, a
phone, and a list to startcalling.
So I started calling thosecustomers, made a lot of
mistakes, got hung up on all thethings that happened to us.
But I started to kind of think,what if I could make these phone
calls more like when I was inperson, so what would I do in
(02:24):
front of those customers that Icould kind of translate over the
phone?
And so I started asking a lot ofquestions, which led to building
relationships, understanding theretailers more, and then, ending
up writing a million dollarsjust over the phone every year.
That's so great.
Yeah.
So did that.
And then now I have my owncompany where I help other
businesses with inside sales andhybrid sales strategies.
Linda Fanaras (02:47):
That's great, Dawn.
That's exciting to hear.
So yeah, the door to door, thosewith the good old days, right?
Yes.
Yes.
That definitely can't happentoday too often, but things have
changed quite a bit.
Yes.
Awesome.
Well we can get right into it.
So I would love for you toexplain, there's a lot of
differences there.
A lot of things that havechanged since.
Do it going from door to door,making phone calls, having a
(03:08):
Rolodex card and having toolslike Salesforce and other
strategies, and hard salesversus sort of a soft casual
sale.
What do you think the biggestdifferences and benefits are of,
like, if you're looking at aninternal sales team versus maybe
an external sales team?
How do companies kind of get thebest of both worlds with a scene
(03:28):
like that?
Dawn Grotters (03:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I think there's benefits toboth, like inside sales and
outside sales.
I think there's benefits toboth.
I think it's more of a strategy.
You need to look at more of likethe customers that you're
working with and that you'regoing after.
What's the best strategy forthem?
So there's definitely customersthat want an in-person
appointment where they want tosee the product, they wanna meet
(03:50):
the salespeople, they wanna havethose meetings.
That's very important for someof those customers.
Then there's some of thosecustomers, and a lot of the
times right now we're facingthat if you are a field rep
where they're like, I don't wantan appointment.
I don't have time to see you.
want you to come into my store.
I don't want you to come into mybusiness right now.
I just don't have time.
(04:11):
And so that's where more of aninside sales approach is better.
They still need your help andyour guidance and they still
need for you to tell them like,here's best sellers.
Here's maybe where the bestproducts are or services that we
need, but we wanna be able toshare that information with
them.
But it could be through phonecalls, it could be through
(04:32):
virtual meetings, it could bethrough sending emails with like
top sellers, things like that.
So it's using both of thoseapproaches for the right
customers.
And so that takes a littlestrategy.
'cause not right, everything isright for everyone, but it does
take some figuring out where youneed like those field reps,
where you need those insidesales.
(04:53):
And then even those field repsneed more of those skills to be
able to make the phone calls touse email appropriately.
Right?
Like all of those skills to kindof blend.
And that's kind of where thathybrid comes in, where you need
to blend both strategies toreally make a difference in your
territory or, your book ofcustomers that you work with.
(05:14):
That makes sense?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Linda Fanaras (05:16):
So you have a hybrid sales advantage that you
speak about quite a bit.
If you can break that down forme just so I can understand like
why it's so powerful with B2Bfirms in particular.
Dawn Grotters (05:29):
Yeah.
So it is taking what I hadlearned as a field sales rep,
adding the inside sales skillsto it.
So basically with that, what wedo is we teach in hybrid sales
advantage.
It's a training program.
We teach you how to use thephone, know how to call your
customers, what to say, whatquestions to ask.
(05:50):
You know what that approach is.
We have a four step phone callprocess that we make to help.
Keep engagement with thosecustomers that we're calling.
And so, we teach you that andthose inside sales skills so you
can leverage that, right?
Then our second step in thatprocess is we are looking at how
do you blend both of those, sowhich customers do you go visit?
(06:12):
We look at your list ofcustomers and we say, which
customers should I go visit?
Which customers can I call, andwhich customers do?
I maybe do both, where maybe Ionly visit them twice a year,
and then I do phone calls inbetween.
So we really look at how tostrategize with your list of
customers.
Who belongs in which bucket,basically you say, okay, which
(06:32):
bucket?
So then we know how to approacheach customer in the best way.
Linda Fanaras (06:36):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Dawn Grotters (06:37):
And then the third part of that process is
we're setting you up with a CRM.
If you're not using one now, youshould be.
And so how do you create thatCRM and customize that CRM to
fit your specific sales needs.
Who should be inside sales?
Who should be outside sales?
And then who should be in as ahybrid customer?
How do you set that up in yoursystem?
(06:58):
And then how do you leveragethat system with the customer
engagement data that happensthrough a CRM and knowing how to
set up follow up tasks, all ofthose things.
So you're using that system tothe best of your ability.
Linda Fanaras (07:11):
So when you're looking at different types of
prospective customers as anexample, how would you break
that up?
So, if you were to handleProspect A, certain way versus a
Prospect B, can you give someexamples to the audience on how
that list may get?
Split up, is it based on companysize?
Is it based on title?
Dawn Grotters (07:28):
If they have existing volume, that's a sure
tail sign.
It's a sure sign looking at thevolume.
So obviously your higher volumecustomers, you probably wanna
have more of that in-personappointments with them.
And then, some of the lowervolume customers.
That would be great to startwith phone calls.
If they came, if they said, Hey,we would love for you to come in
(07:50):
and set up appointment with us,great.
We can move them into adifferent bucket.
But, we start by looking atvolume.
We look at the number ofcustomers on your list, and then
we look at kind of location.
So if you are a field rep and acustomer's nine hours away from
you and they don't do quite asmuch volume, does it make sense
(08:11):
for you to put them in a outsidesales bucket where you wouldn't
be able to really, that's not agreat use of your time.
Maybe it's once or twice a yearyou go visit them, but not four
times a year.
So we look at some major factorsin that to say these are the
right places to go, but thenobviously it's communication
with those customers to see howthey want to be worked with and
(08:35):
if they, you could have a topvolume customer that doesn't
even want you to come into thestore.
True.
So we wanna find out, you know,that's where we start, is
looking at some of thosefactors, but then we obviously
work with the way the customerwants to work.
Linda Fanaras (08:47):
Got it.
Okay.
That makes sense.
So there must be some real keyfoundational pieces that have to
be in place before you decide,okay, we're gonna add reps,
we're gonna use an outside firm.
What are like some of thedifferent items or pieces that
need to be in place before youstart making those calls or
doing outreach or emailmarketing or whatever the
(09:08):
strategy may be?
Dawn Grotters (09:09):
Yeah, so you definitely wanna be ready for
it.
You don't wanna just start andnot have resources and assets in
place.
So if you have either digital ora hard copy catalogs.
Those are important for fieldand inside sales reps.
Making sure you have, pricelists if that's what you need if
it we're talking product here.
(09:30):
But if you have price lists, ifyou have, bestseller lists, if
you have, other like starterpacks.
You know, so sometimes like astarter pack or a bestseller
pack, those are great things tohave.
You wanna have all of those kindof assets ready.
Okay.
Whether that it's for field orwhether it's for inside sales,
because they're gonna both needthose.
(09:51):
So you wanna start with that?
And then again, it's looking atthe customer and if there's
anything else that they need.
And then also making sure yourCRM is set up correctly too,
because you wanna keep track ofall of that information with the
customers as well.
Linda Fanaras (10:08):
So if you were to look, if you were to compare
field sales to inside sales, canyou give me a couple examples or
maybe a few steps that ouraudience should actually take to
get each one set up properly?
Dawn Grotters (10:19):
Yeah.
So if you look at field sales,if you are a product based
company And you haven't ever hadsales reps.
Starting small is always thebest policy.
Maybe you find a coupleindependent reps in channels
that your customer, you know,you would have great customers.
So maybe it's spas if you have awonderful beauty care line and
(10:42):
you start with spas, maybe youlook for some independent reps
that sell into.
Linda Fanaras (10:47):
Okay.
Dawn Grotters (10:47):
Get that, get their feedback on what's
working, what's not working,what kind of displays you need
to have, all of those kind ofthings.
So start small with a coupleindependent reps and make sure
you have the inventory tosupport whatever they're going
to sell.
So I would say that's where youwould start with.
Field reps Okay.
For inside sales reps.
(11:08):
Again, you wanna have all ofyour things, all of your
resources available to thoseinside sales reps, but they're
gonna be making phone calls, sowhat are the questions that you
want answered?
So you would know the rightproducts to direct to them?
Because on a phone call youdon't have a lot of time, so
what are those few questionsthat you need to know?
You know, if it's, let's takespas again.
(11:29):
I'm calling into spas.
I would wanna know, like, do youhave a go-to face care line that
you already work with.
And then you would wanna say,well, does it include an
exfoliator?
Do you have moisturizing?
Do you have sunscreen to go inthat line?
And then based on thosequestions, you can say, okay,
well maybe you don't have amakeup line to go with that.
Right.
(11:49):
This would be a great makeupline to introduce to them.
And then having a couple keyselling points for them to
share.
Like, did you know this isgluten-free?
I didn't know that was such abig thing, but it is, we don't
test on animals, so what are thethree things that you would want
to portray to a customer on thatphone call?
So again, having thatinformation ready for whether
(12:12):
it's field or inside sales isgonna be very important.
Whatever direction you decide togo.
Linda Fanaras (12:18):
Yeah, that makes sense.
At least getting some of thoseinitial steps in place.
I think for the audience tostart small with maybe these
one-off ideas, I think it's agreat opportunity for them to
take advantage of that.
Yeah.
So I'm sure a lot of businessesmake sense.
They drop the ball, you startout all excited.
I know companies will bring inthese CRM systems, get them
(12:39):
started, then they fall by thewayside and depends who's there
and who's not.
And everybody has their productsthat they like or dislike.
So where do you see companiesreally dropping the ball?
Dawn Grotters (12:52):
I would say what with the, like a CRM or anything
that they're doing, it's thefollow up.
That's where I think the ballgets dropped a lot.
Maybe they call a customer ifthey're gonna do inside sales
and they have it in their CRM,they call them three times and
they're like.
Right.
They're not answering.
They're not responding and thenthey just let it go.
Well, typically it takes likesix to eight phone calls to be
(13:15):
able to get a customer to beengaged.
Right.
And so you have to push pastthat.
You have to follow up, you know,more.
I'm not saying follow up everyother day.
That's not a great cadence, but.
Right.
What, like you would continuallykeep that customer in your
funnel and follow up with themuntil you did get a no, and then
maybe you would wait a littlebit longer after that.
(13:37):
Right.
So I would say the follow up,whether it's emails, whether
it's phone calls, whether it'sfollow up to a meeting that you
had and you didn't, the followup that happens.
That's where the ball getsdropped the most, and the CRM
can help you with that if youschedule the tasks and then you
complete them.
That's a big part.
Completing those tasks.
Linda Fanaras (13:56):
That makes sense.
Yeah.
And I think that's probably thehard part is really using that
system in a way that isconsistent because companies, or
if it's a B2B, other companiesmay not buy exactly when you
wanna sell.
But six months from now, if youhave those reminders set.
That might be the time whereyou're actually, making a
connection or they're ready tomake a change, and that, that
(14:18):
takes time.
It just takes time.
And then it's all about timingand need.
Yes, absolutely.
Awesome.
So, as far as marketing andsales working together and sort
of the speed of brief strategy,how do you see them best working
together?
Dawn Grotters (14:33):
Yeah, so marketing I think is really
important for providing thoseresources, right?
The catalogs, the digital assetsthat they would need best
sellers.
Marketing is really important inthat, but then even if they're
sending out like marketingemails to customers.
When we send those out as abrand, you can send those out
and then you get feedback.
(14:54):
Who's opened?
Who's clicked on that?
Well, a lot of times.
Companies don't do anything withthat, right?
They're like, oh, I had a 20%click rate.
Well, that's a great click rate,but if you don't do anything
with that, then it doesn'tmatter.
Right?
Right.
And so using that, to be able tosay, Hey, maybe I should call
this customer that had clickedon that, and this would maybe be
(15:14):
a great place to start, thatthese customers have all clicked
on it.
They've, shown, expressed somekind of interest.
Maybe I should call them and seewhat they were interested in.
You know, we sent out thisemail, maybe it was some top
selling products.
Hey, what, caught your eye withthat email?
and then getting some feedbackfrom them.
And you could actually turn thatinto a sale just by using that
marketing information.
(15:36):
And then following up with thosecustomers and generating sales
from that.
Linda Fanaras (15:41):
Yeah.
That makes complete sense.
Are there any other strategiesor insights that you'd like to
share with the audience today?
Dawn Grotters (15:47):
Yeah, I really think that, it's really
important to take what you have.
Whether the products and allthat you have and continually
just work with your sales teamand your customers to figure out
what is the best direction.
Right.
I think right now in the waythings are, in the economy and
stuff, we really have to levelup on what we're good at.
(16:08):
Yeah.
And so what are those customerssaying that they're like, I want
more of?
We've been working with a clientand we've been calling some of
their customers for them, andthe customers were telling us
that, we purchased this more inthe fourth quarter, more in the
fourth quarter.
So then that, client went to atrade show and they said, they
(16:28):
were hearing from the customers.
We purchase your line more inthe fourth quarter.
Okay.
We'll take that information thenand say, if you don't wanna just
be purchased in the fourthquarter, what kind of products
can we innovate and create thatwould be purchased, in other
times of the year, not just thefourth quarter.
Right?
So taking that information fromthose customers and leveling up
(16:49):
on it to really expand your lineor grow your line or be
innovative in your line tofigure out the best way to do
that.
Linda Fanaras (16:57):
Yeah.
And I think there's a lot ofstrategies like that, that are
out there that companies don'treally take advantage of.
Dawn Grotters (17:02):
Yeah.
Linda Fanaras (17:03):
And this is that opportunity.
Whether it's partnerships orlike you said, tactics that
maybe they just haven't reallylooked at.
Yeah.
I think it's a good opportunityespecially to reach out and
really get insight.
Yeah.
No, that's great.
Any other things that you'd loveto share or.
Dawn Grotters (17:18):
Yeah, no, I, would love to work, I love
working with B2B companies andso if anybody's interested in
learning more about hybrid salesor hybrid sales advantage, or
how we do inside sales, you canalways book a connect call with
me, and I'm happy to talkthrough where you're at and if
we would be a good fit for you.
Linda Fanaras (17:36):
Great.
Yeah, if you could let theaudience know how they can get
in touch with you specifically,that would be fantastic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So,
Dawn Grotters (17:43):
you can go to my website, BrokenVesselSales.com
and then, there you can connectwith me and then we can schedule
that call and kind of talkthrough.
I do like phone calls, so it's agood time for me to learn more
about you and you can learn alittle bit more about me, and
then figure out the best footforward.
So definitely there.
And then I'm also on LinkedIn,Dawn Grotters there and then
(18:04):
also on Instagram atDawn_Grotters.
Linda Fanaras (18:08):
That's, fantastic.
Awesome.
Well, thank you Dawn for comingin today and joining us for the
B2B Brand 180 Podcast.
And, it's great to have yourinsights around sales and
marketing and really some stepsto get the process going in a
systematic way to help companiesgrow.
So for our audience, I justwanna thank you for joining me
(18:30):
today and listening in.
If you need to get in touch withDawn, you can go to
BrokenVesselSales.com.
If you'd like to reach medirectly, feel free to connect
with me on LinkedIn or visitLindaFanaras.com.
Thanks so much and have a greatday.
Thank you.
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