How Orum sales reps use our own product to connect with more prospects

Orum, as a platform, is designed to help salespeople connect with more prospects and greatly increase pipeline. Orum, as an organization, is a group of salespeople dedicated to doing the same. So it makes sense that our sales reps would use our own platform to prospect, increase our own cold call conversation rates, and evangelize the power of AI-powered tools for sales teams across every industry.

Recently, I sat down with Nick DeSimone, an Orum Sales Development Manager, to learn the ins and outs of how our reps use our platform every day. Here’s what Nick had to say.

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How Orum uses Orum

Orum’ sales reps use our live conversation platform to make thousands of calls per week, generating hundreds of conversations with prospects. These calls aren’t randomly generated, however. The process starts with Orum’s direct integration with Outreach. Reps have different sequences they reference within Outreach depending on who they’re trying to reach during that day’s activity. This integration with Outreach enables automation of aspects of the calling process and the sending of emails during prospect sequences as well as voicemails which reps can send automatically within Orum.

Orum follows a strategic ABM process - reps do deep research into accounts and prospects, making sure this information is filled in for Orum to digest. Then Orum SDR's write a personalized email as they are sequenced in Outreach.

Once a cold contact has been converted into a qualified account and enriched with data, they are plugged into a customized sequence in Outreach. The sequences begin to send touchpoints to contacts, automatically updating Orum’s platform when the next task is a call. Reps then know who to call and which steps they’re currently at in the sales sequence.

When it’s time to perform call tasks, Orum’s sales reps have a few best practices they use to drive strong connection rates. First, they assure all dialing options are connected including mobile, work, other, etc. but what matters most for this aspect of the process is the order of the options. 

They always start with mobile as it tends to be the most effective in getting through to prospects. They can also select options to make multiple calls at once, reducing idle time spent waiting for someone to pick up.

Once the rep is ready, Orum’s platform then begins the dialing process. If prospects don’t answer, voicemails can be left and both the call disposition and sequences are updated at scale in the CRM so reps don’t have to manually perform these actions. These automations Orum offers and CRM integration allows reps to be better prepared when they connect with a prospect. Reps are ready with openers and pitches that align Orum’s value proposition with the actual needs of the prospect’s organization, increasing their odds of landing a meeting. However, even if that initial call doesn’t lead to a scheduled demo that doesn’t mean it wasn’t successful.

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How Orum uses call dispositions

Call dispositions are simply defined as the outcome of a call. Regardless if the result was positive or negative, that data needs to be tracked for the purposes of understanding the next step for that prospect. This information is also vital for managers to understand how their reps are performing and which dispositions they are experiencing most often.

This is why it’s so important for Orum’s sales reps (and every organization using the Orum platform) to have detailed dispositions defined and built out. Orum’s team, for example, doesn’t simply state whether a call resulted in a connection, rejection, or objection. We have dispositions for things like if the prospect asked to have info sent their way or whether or not the prospect specified if they have a calling culture.

Orum has built dispositions that highlight if our solution might not be a priority at this time and others that highlight if a prospect gave the rep a referral to the proper decision maker. None of these dispositions result in a meeting being scheduled, but each of them offers quality information for the reps for future follow-up.

Sales management tools in Orum

In Orum’s analytical dashboard, managers can look at the dispositions of calls over time for their reps and see the most frequent outcomes of their calls. This data provides insight into whether reps are having their hooks rejected frequently, where objections are arising, and how they’re handling them. The better the disposition specifics are, the better advice managers can give on how to improve rep approaches. But Orum’s sales managers do more than just look at dispositions, thanks to Salesfloor, they can also listen to calls as they happen or on-demand.

A key feature that Nick and the other sales managers utilize on Orum’s platform is the ability to look back at the call history for each rep by specific time periods and call dispositions. These filters let them review results for both teams and specific reps over time to track improvements for dispositions and objection handling.

One of the metrics they look at often is the bridge from call connections to conversations. What this data point shows is how frequently reps are able to go from their opener into an actual pitch. Understanding this shows the reps’ ability to keep prospects on the phone, enabling them to build a value proposition.

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Using Salesfloor for cold call coaching

Orum’s Salesfloor is a virtual space where reps can see teammate accomplishments and cheer each other on. It’s also a tool that enables sales managers to Live Listen to calls in real time as call blitzes are taking place. The user experience enables managers to instantly click between any reps that are currently dialing so they can listen in and see how calls are going. They can also go back later and listen to calls on-demand.

Orum’s Live Listen feature lets managers offer instant coaching advice during/after calls or they can dedicate time during the day to go over multiple calls from each rep to understand if patterns are forming in their objection handling, openers, or pitching. Orum’s Salesfloor and Live Listen capabilities create customized coaching opportunities for each rep to truly help them improve their needed skills instead of offering generic suggestions that might not apply to them.

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The best time to cold call

Orum’s sales team uses the analytics available to them through the platform’s Outreach integration to determine the best times for reaching prospects based on the highest connection rates. For our reps, this means calling between the hours of 3pm and 6pm. While reps will perform additional one off call tasks outside of these hours, this is when call blitzes happen most frequently for our team.

Even though Orum is a fully remote company, using Salesfloor each day during peak connection hours lets reps and managers be together virtually and feel the buzz of an in-person calling experience. Reps support each other and see progress happen in real time while managers are able to pitch in when needed.

A key component to the success of the Orum sales team is the number of ways managers are able to help the reps improve their phone skills through call reviews. Managers frequently have one on one meetings with reps where they go over generalized feedback. Reps will also send managers specific calls they would like reviewed.

The team hosts longform workshops weekly where each rep brings a recent call they want to review. These workshops build psychologically safe spaces for reps to share experiences while also getting feedback from peers.

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The ROI of Orum

The instant value proposition of Orum’s AI-powered live conversation platform is that it enables organizations to see dramatic increases in their call activity from day one. The continued value of the platform is that, as sales reps continue to use it to make calls everyday, Orum becomes a tool for increasing the number of prospects you reach and the quality of the conversations your salespeople have. Additionally, Orum’s call coaching features help your entire sales team convert conversations to meetings at a higher rate.

As with any tool, the more your team buys into it the more they’ll get out. It may seem obvious to say that Orum’s sales reps believe in the platform, but it goes beyond just anecdotal praise. Each week, our team makes thousands of connections that generate hundreds of prospect meetings through the combination of Orum’s AI-powered tools and its deep integration with the rest of our sales tech stack. Orum enables sales managers to become better coaches while empowering reps to take their prospecting and calling further than ever before.