Tag: sales outreach

How to build an impeccable sales outreach strategy

Posted on by vishal arora

The sales profession requires you to reach out and engage your potential buyers consistently.  With altered buyer perceptions and a dynamic economy, it bodes well for you to update your sales outreach plans constantly. This blog will outline a step-by-step process to creating a winning sales outreach strategy.

But first, let’s understand what exactly sales outreach is.

What is sales outreach?

Sales outreach is a systematized and ongoing process of reaching out to your potential or existing customers to generate business. It includes all forms of communication – from the initial conversation with your ICP to the follow-ups that lead to closure. Sales outreach also refers to your engagement with current clients to generate a steady revenue stream. 

The term ‘sales outreach’ may strike you as an outgoing method, but it’s not always the case. An ideal sales outreach strategy is an amalgamation of carefully executed inbound and outbound approaches that can be carried out through multiple channels. 

Two types of sales outreach methods

In Inbound sales outreach, the potential buyer turns to you for a particular need or to address specific pain points. Hence, getting their requirements and delivering customized solutions becomes much more straightforward. Inbound sales outreach programs are usually the result of brand promotion driven by activities like SEO optimization, content marketing, etc. 

Outbound sales outreach illustrates your efforts as a seller to gain your target’s business. In this case, your prospect is not yet interested or aware of your business.

Sales outreach channels

Automation and digitization have led to the evolution of multiple channels that you can use effectively in your sales outreach program. Let’s look at some of these practical tools.

Phone

Salespeople often dread cold calls due to the negative press associated with them. However, of all outreach methods, the phone is usually the fastest way to get your message across if you can get hold of your prospect. Here are some stats that will reaffirm your faith in the merits of cold calling.

cold calling stats
Source

Bonus tip: Check out our blog- Analyzing the efficacy of cold calling in 2022

Email

That’s right, the humble email is still the most preferred method for sales outreach. It’s less intrusive than a cold call and, if done right, is a proven tactic to deliver the highest lead rates. As illustrated below, a study conducted by sales engagement platform Sopro indicates that email is the top revenue driver for marketers.

Sopro study
Source

Chatbots

AI-powered live chats have become an essential asset for companies to engage their online visitors. You can utilize chatbots to assist buyers during various stages of their journey by offering additional information or helping with their queries. 61% of buyers claim they are more likely to buy after interacting with a live chat. So it has become an effective tool to nudge buyers into making decisions.

Social selling

The onset of the global pandemic compelled sales to go digital, so your ability to sell online became crucial. Social selling is the art of leveraging your social media platforms to connect with and nurture your ICP. Though it’s a relatively slower channel than cold calls or emails, its effects get compounded over the long term.

Want to know how to use social selling to boost sales? Read our blog: The “whats”, “whys”, and “hows” of social selling

Why is sales outreach important?

Outperforms conventional prospecting methods

Banking solely on traditional lead generation strategies, like cold calling and email blasts, will not suffice to survive the digital revolution. The modern buyer is well-informed and technically savvy. You will need an intelligent approach to get their attention amidst a sea of unread emails and ignored voicemails. 

An ideal sales outreach strategy allows you to utilize various digital channels/mediums like video, live chats, and social media along with tried and tested assets like cold calling and emails to convert your targets into paying customers.

Helps explore untapped markets

Instead of waiting for the right customer to reach you or focusing on an exhausted market with limited potential, a sales outreach strategy offers you a multipronged approach for hitting your quota. You can boost sales by utilizing the proper outreach tools in your arsenal and offering solutions your customers never knew they required.

Tips for creating a stellar sales outreach strategy

sales outreach tips

The availability of multiple channels and mediums has made getting your message across to your target audience even more challenging. To cut through the constant noise and engage your ICP at the right time, you need a customizable sale outreach program that is regularly refreshed. Following are some techniques to develop or boost your sales outreach strategy.

Discover your ICP

Following a sales outreach plan without knowing your ideal customer profile is like shooting in the dark. Review your existing clients and won deal cases to determine your target persona. This may be time-consuming but will help you achieve long-term gains. Some of the factors to consider while ideating your ICP are –

  • Company revenue (Can they afford you/your solution?)
  • Employee count/team structure (Do they have enough employees to need your service?)
  • Product or services they offer (Do they need what you offer?)
  • Decision maker/Influencer (Are you speaking to the person who makes decisions or will use your product/service)

Chose the ideal outreach channels

sales outreach channels

Although having access to multiple outreach channels can be advantageous, you need to be cautious while choosing the right one. Here are a few ground rules to consider.

  • While choosing your outreach channel, remember your objective. For instance, getting your prospect on the phone is always to fastest way to generate a response. So if you think cold calling is dead, think again! 
  • Tailored emails are still the best way for reaching out to your prospects. According to HubSpot, 80% of buyers prefer to be contacted by email. Also, 31% of sellers have found that sending 1-to-1 customized emails based on detailed research is highly effective.
  • Observe where your prospects are most active. If your target is a frequent LinkedIn user (comments, shares, or posts on the platform regularly), send a connection request with a personalized note. Your odds of getting a response are higher this way than by bombarding them with generic cold emails. On the other hand, if your prospect regularly engages with your email content, it clearly indicates they prefer email.
  • The channels that work best for you also depend on your industry. For instance, LinkedIn is your go-to platform to engage the B2B audience, followed by Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, 82% of buyers research vendors on LinkedIn before responding to their sales outreach efforts.

Nail your 4Ps (Proactiveness, Planning, Personalization, and Persistence)

Take a proactive approach

Outbound sales outreach requires you to make the first move. But you do not have to take the backseat with inbound sales outreach. By understanding your ICP based on the information provided earlier, you can tailor your branding efforts to attract the right prospects through your inbound strategy.

Have a plan of action

When it comes to your sales outreach efforts, just winging it will not do. Have a sales cadence to structure your channels and plan when and how you will use them. A Sales cadence enables a smooth flow of touchpoints leading to an engagement with your potential buyer.  

Make it personal

In a customer-centric economy, personalizing your sales outreach strategy is paramount for sales success. Moreover, your prospects are already bombarded with a massive influx of emails every day. So how do you stand out?

The image below illustrates some personalization ideas that can help you land more meetings.

sale outreach content
Source

Be persistent with follow-ups

Resilience is a crucial skill required of salespeople. Your prospects are generally busy, and it might take more than one attempt to capture their attention.  However, avoid being pushy by sending multiple rounds of generic emails. Try to find the sweet spot for the ideal number of follow-ups you can send a prospect.

 Here’s a study that indicates the success rates of structured follow-ups and clarifies how many rounds of emails can be too many.

Sopro study on email prospecting
Source

Sales engagement platform Sopro reviewed 40,000 prospecting emails, including a series of follow-ups. The results were as follows.

  • Follow up emails generated 77% responses from prospecting email campaigns.
  • The response rate increased significantly with the first and second round of chaser emails.
  • The rates started to decline after the third round.

Use personalized videos

According to leading animated explainer video company Wyzowl’s latest State of Video Marketing Report, 81% of marketers feel that video directly impacts sales and significantly improves their company’s bottom line. Short, customized, and witty videos are an effective way to deliver your pitch to prospects. They can also be used as visual customer testimonials to highlight your success stories.  Thus, you can leverage videos throughout the sales cycle to boost your outreach efforts.

Demonstrate empathy

Empathy is an essential sales skill and can help humanize your sales outreach. Today’s B2B buyers are knowledgeable; hence, conservative hard sells might not cut it anymore. Here are a few things you can do to approach your sales outreach strategy empathetically.

  • Demonstrate your brand mission through storytelling. It will help your prospects connect with your brand at a human level. 
  • Avoid getting disappointed with radio silences or irritated with numerous queries from your prospect. Your buyers are busy people, and their time matters. Show that you respect their time and demonstrate patience in addressing their concerns. 
  • Also, know when it’s the right time to step back and let them go. However, do it with grace without burning bridges. Handling such cases elegantly will help build better relationships and enhance your market reputation.

Affiliate with the marketing team

Most of your sales outreach activities align with that of the marketing team. Hence, collaborating with them can only strengthen your outreach agenda. Make it a point to level your messaging with marketing. Regular review sessions can break down silos and offer added insights for better client engagement. Moreover, when you share prospect queries and interactions with the marketing team, they can enhance their own outreach efforts.

Automate your approach with sales outreach tools

Majority of your sales outreach activities, though important, can be time-consuming. Let’s face it, as a busy salesperson, you hardly have the time to gather prospect insights manually and draft tailored emails for each potential buyer. Sales outreach tools can automate such tasks, so you have more time for what matters, i.e., selling! It also makes you more productive and reduces overall stress levels.

Here are some ways you can automate your sales outreach.

  • Use AI-powered CRMs to manage prospect data, track your interactions and sales activities and set up standardized workflows to connect with more buyers.
  • Utilize email automation/sequencing tools to craft compelling messages based on prospect behavior like emails opened, content engaged with, web visits, buying decisions, etc. You can also tailor these campaigns based on industry, the product sold, buyer persona, etc.
  • VOIP diallers can auto-dial the right prospect at the right time in addition to logging call data.
  • You can automate your social engagement activities using intelligent outreach platforms.
  • Connect with LinkedIn prospects found via sales navigator by using a chrome extension.
  • Automation tools are capable of lead scoring, scheduling meetings, tracking buyer behavior, and notifying you to take specific actions.
  • Track your outreach results, like engagement rates, CTA’s impact, etc.

However, be wary not to lose your personal touch while automating sales outreach. The ideal way is to balance personalization and automation, reducing the additional burden of repetitive tasks.

Now that you know how automation can enhance your sales outreach efforts, let’s look at some sales outreach platforms.

Here are some top-rated sales outreach platforms in no particular order.

Statflo – A one-to-one business messaging platform that delivers personalized sales outreach and two-way text conversations. It can be integrated with your CRM and helps you engage, retain, and expand your client base.

SalesBlink – It is an end-to-end full-stack cold outreach platform. It features solutions like LinkedIn email extractor, Email finder, B2B website data enrichment, Cold email sequencing, and much more.

GMass – A Gmail plugin for email marketing and automation campaigns. It offers auto email personalization, bulk email scheduling, email list building, automated follow-ups and creates detailed analytics reports.

Mailshake – It’s a popular tool for multi-channel outreach campaigns. It offers prospect search, campaign planning, personalized automated emails, and also tracks bounce rates, clickthroughs, open rates, and responses.

Salesgear – A multi-channel sales outreach platform that works well with popular CRMs like Hubspot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Zoho. It creates outreach sequences across email, phone, LinkedIn, and text messages.

Outreach.io – It is a sales outreach tool along with a sales engagement feature. It helps you personalize your outreach campaigns and includes an AI-enabled Always-On-Assistant for smart follow-ups.

Reply.io – Schedules emails and follow-up sequences and also detects certified emails on professional networking sites (like LinkedIn) through its chrome extension. It helps monitor your activities through its dashboard and track campaigns on multiple outreach channels.

Salesloft – Enables you to set a cadence of communications that help you close deals. It offers real-time email tracking, an integrated sales dialler, and social communications platform.

AutoKlose –  Email outreach tool with an easy-to-use interface. It gives you access to a vast database of verified leads along with the added feature of customized email sequences.

Snov.io – It’s an all-in-one sales outreach tool that saves time and increases sales productivity. It offers prospecting, email messaging, and campaign analytics tools.

Key takeaways

Salespeople have been harnessing the power of sales outreach channels like cold calling, direct mail, and emails for decades. However, the digital revolution dramatically increased the efficacy of these existing channels and also gave you more intelligent options.  Choose a balance of inbound and outbound sales outreach methods for a strategy that delivers consistent results. Also, ensure your automated outreach tools do not take away the human touch from sales outreach, which is key to attracting and retaining customers.

Sales prospecting: Definition, techniques, process & tools

Posted on by Pranav Dalal

A recent survey by the RAIN Group shows that many sales reps engage in sales prospecting without research. As a result, their success rate drops, including their motivation. But the good news of the study is that 82% of customers accept meetings if sales reps reach out to them.

In this guide, you’ll learn sales prospecting techniques to up your game and close more deals. Read on.

What is sales prospecting?

First things first, let’s look at the sales prospecting definition. Sales prospecting is finding and reaching out to potential customers or buyers for your product or service. Your primary goal is to guide your prospect through the sales funnel and convert them into a buyer.

What is prospecting in sales?

Prospecting in sales means that you should research to identify new prospects. Once you’re clear about your customer(s), you need to start a conversation to understand their pain points. And the last thing is to offer them solutions (product/service) to solve their problems.

You’ll have achieved your sales goal if your customer ends up buying your product or service. But is there any difference between a sales lead and a sales prospect

What is the difference between a sales lead and a sales prospect?

You may think a sales lead and a sales prospect mean the same thing. That’s not the case; you can’t use them as synonyms.

sales lead vs prospect

You can also split your prospects into two groups. They include cold prospects and warm prospects.

cold and warm prospects

At this stage, it’s also critical that you understand the importance of sales prospecting. Let’s dive in.

Why is prospecting important?

Sales prospecting boosts your productivity

A team of sales professionals can increase your productivity. Sales leaders can use CRM to get first-hand info about their team’s field activities. They’ll know what’s working or not going according to plan.

Sales managers can also:

  • Remedy any problem or issue affecting their sales reps’ performance at an early stage
  • Create ways of measuring results, for example, a spreadsheet
  • Get sales opportunities from their team to achieve a good ROI

Prospecting in sales makes you a trusted expert for your company

Through sales prospecting, you can represent your business interests, brand, and reputation. The more you interact with different people about your company’s products, the more you become an authority.

Prospecting benefits your business in that it:

  • Encourages your team to find the best ways to represent your brand
  • Improves customer service that leads to brand loyalty
  • Improves relationship between your company and your clients

Sales prospecting ensures your pipeline is full

As gas is to your car, so is prospecting sales to your business. Without gas, your automobile can’t move. Likewise, without sales prospecting, your pipeline will be empty. As a result, there won’t be any business to talk about.

Your pipeline is vital because it:

  • Shows you what goals you achieved, your sales process, and your target audience
  • Makes every sales rep or team accountable for sales forecasts
  • Motivates you to document your processes and targets to measure KPIs

Your business can snoop on your competitors

Another pro about sales prospecting is that you can gain competitor insights. Conversations with your prospects can give you an insider’s knowledge about what your rivals are offering.

The insights help you:

  • Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your competitor’s products/services
  • Sharpen your sales techniques to position your brand to your prospects
  • Create effective marketing campaigns

But note, avoid saying negative things about your rivals to your prospects

The next juicy part about prospecting efforts is the sales prospecting techniques. Before that, let’s jump into the challenges of sales prospecting.

Let’s face it. Sales prospecting isn’t a stroll in the park. It’s hard.

Sales prospecting challenges

Mike Shultz, the president of RAIN Group, presents the below issues as challenges facing sales reps.

challenges faced by sales reps by RAIN group

The group’s research reveals the following:

  • Prospecting motivation is very low-66% of respondents lack motivation
  • Weak targeting-48% reported that they don’t know how to work with gatekeepers; 41% don’t reach out to the right audience
  • Limited outreach and abandoning sale prospecting too early-51%; 49% use limited media to prospect
  • No research and customization-42% prospect without research; 41% avoid personalizing messages for each buyer

The survey also concludes that only 17% of businesses have reached the Top Performing status. And the good news out of the RAIN Group study is that 82% of customers accept sales meetings with reps.

What does it mean for your sales prospecting? You need to up your game with the following sales prospecting process.

How to prospect

sales prospecting process

1. First things first, research your prospect.

Here is the thing.

The most important activity in sales prospecting is researching your prospects. Here’s why

  • It lets you know if the prospect is worth pursuing.
  • It allows you to qualify and prioritize your prospects.
  • You can uncover sales opportunities, initiate conversations and build win-win relationships with your sales prospects

2. Classify your prospects according to their ability to turn into a customer.

The next step is grouping your prospects according to their potential of being buyers. It allows you to zero in your time, effort, and resources on the right target audience. You avoid wasting time on prospects who don’t fit your buyer persona.

You also boost your chances of hitting your goals. To make the process easy, you can opt for lead management software for successful sales prospecting.

3. Create a customized pitch for each of your prospects.

For this step, you need to gather information about your prospect to understand them. The details will help you create a razor-sharp and personalized pitch. You’ll tailor your outreach to specific promising clients.

To learn more about your potential customer, do the following:

  • Check their website for blogs to have an idea of what topics interests them.
  • Sift through their social media profiles to check for their newest blog posts.
  • Read the “About Us” page on the prospect’s website.

After these steps, find ways of connecting with your prospect. Think about reasons that can help you strike a conversation. For example, it’s easy to initiate a dialogue if you’ve got a mutual connection, say on LinkedIn.

4. Make a memorable first impression by crafting a killer pitch.

Now it’s time for the perfect pitch. Note that your main goal is to show the prospect that you want to help solve their problem. Because of this, consider the ideas below.

To learn more about your potential customer, do the following:

  • Make it personal. Point out the prospect’s particular problems. Also, include your product/service as the solution without being salesy.
  • Offer a relevant solution. Your solution should address the present needs of your potential customer.
  • Connect through emotions. Your outreach needs to connect with the prospect emotionally. Say something positive about their product or company.
  • Be a helper. At first, you want to establish a relationship. So, it may be unwise to start by selling your product/service. Instead, offer some help without expecting anything in return.
  • Keep the pitch friendly. Keep in mind that sales prospecting isn’t selling. Your chief goal is to decide if the prospect and yourself can have a win-win relationship.

5. Take a moment to assess your engagement with your prospect.

Sales prospecting is a process that you can improve. As a result, you should review how you engaged with each prospect. Here are some issues you may consider.

To learn more about your potential customer, do the following:

  • Challenges arising from your interaction
  • Whether or not your goals were SMART
  • The prospect’s buying ability
  • How well you were guiding your potential customer in decision-making
  • Any opportunities for achieving your targets

How do I make sales prospecting the right way? There are various sales prospecting techniques you can use to boost your chances of success. Check them out below.

8 Sales prospecting techniques

1. Schedule your sales prospecting time

Well, you might have heard the expression time is money. It’s a vital principle that you can apply in sales prospecting. To make the most of your sales outreach, you should block out time each day to focus on your prospecting.

Setting aside specific time for sales prospecting ensures that you put all your energy into one activity at a time. As a result, you’re likely to clinch more deals.

Here’s an example.

sales prospecting schedule

Brooker Harper, who works in Sales at Tenfold, says:

Make a list of activities that you need to perform for the day. I recommend assigning specific time for each activity to keep yourself on track and to make sure that you do your tasks in a timely manner. Also, highlight the ones that are critical versus those that don’t require too much of your attention. In time-lining your tasks, make sure to perform them when your prospects/clients are most likely available.

2. Establish a sales prospecting cadence

A sales prospecting sequence is several communications leading to a meeting. You may kickstart with a cold call, followed by a voice message, an email, a text message, and a connection on a social media site.

Your sequence can use any channel of communication. The pro side of this is that it helps you grab a prospect’s attention faster. You also look professional.

3. Make sure your proposition has value

Your potential customer can agree to a meeting if they see value in your proposal. First, try to understand what their objections could be. And then offer something valuable in exchange for the meeting.

4. Use your existing network as your feeder

Your existing network offers you plenty of sales prospecting opportunities. You can strike gold if you ask for referrals from your customer. Their colleagues, relatives, friends, and many others are potential customers.

Research says that referral customers are highly likely to buy your product/service.

5. Maximize events to prospect

Event marketing can also be handy in your sales prospecting. It works better for B2B sales. Its greatest pro is providing your sales reps with a large pool of likely customers or buyers.

However, it’s not every event that can lead to a good ROI. Take note of the below issues to maximize event marketing benefits.

To learn more about your potential customer, do the following:

  • Consider events with a large group of people with a high potential to become your prospects.
  • Identify relevant meet-ups and sessions that you’ll attend.
  • Decide how you’ll market yourself. Will you use a booth, for example?
  • Think about how you’ll make yourself different from the rest.

6. Sign up for your prospect’s blog

Another proven way of sales prospecting is subscribing to your prospect’s blogs. Choose companies’ blogs you think will yield five-star prospects. And do the following to improve your outreach.

To learn more about your potential customer, do the following:

  • Identify a relevant post and open it in a new tab.
  • Go through each post quickly to get its gist.
  • Read posts that meet your interests.
  • Choose the final list of posts that you like. Look for the prospect’s pain points in each post.

7. Cash in on social media prospecting

Twitter is one of the social media sites that can give you brilliant results in sales prospecting. You can set up a list of potential prospects that you can keep tabs on. As you follow their chats, you’ll discover their interests and trigger points.

8. Follow a tried and tested sales script

Once you’ve identified prospects that align with your buyer persona, you should use a proven sales script. If something works, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.


The RAIN Group Chief Marketing Officer, Erica Shultz, gives one example of a proven cold calling script.

cold calling script example

Sales prospecting email templates

First sales contact email

sales prospecting template

Cold call sales email

sales prospecting template

Keeping in touch sales email

sales prospecting template

Source: Wil Schroter, CEO & Founder of Startups.com.

Sales prospecting tools can supercharge your performance. Here are some examples that can come in handy.

Sales prospecting tools

sales prospecting tools

Let’s start with tools to build your prospect list.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn is the behemoth site for professional social networks. Salespeople can use it to find prospects. Its LinkedIn Sales Navigator has InMail credit, advanced search filters and offers more info about each prospect. It also saves and suggests leads.

Leadfeeder

Leadfeeder helps you uncover potential leads and prospects from businesses that have visited your site. One pro about this tool is that you can follow the prospects even if they don’t fill out a form or make any contact. You’ll need to install the Leadfeeder Tracker Script and link your Google Analytics account.

You also need a prospecting tool to find contact details.

Voila Norbert

With Voila Norbert, you can find your prospect’s contact details by entering their name and company. In no time, it’ll provide you with the email address. The tool has a Gmail plugin to let you schedule emails, automate your follow-up messages, and create reminders or notes.

Tools for qualifying prospects are crucial.

Zoominfo

The tool has a huge database providing sales reps with plenty of info to qualify prospects. Zoominfo offers you a company’s general info and its employees’ contact details.

CrystalKnows

CrystalKnows is a perfect tool in sales prospecting that lets you understand a person’s behavior. It examines public data and then creates a profile of an individual using its advanced algorithms. You can use the info to create a customized sales pitch. The tool has a Gmail plugin to update you about the individual’s commutation style.

Tools for meetings are also necessary for prospecting.

Calendly

Scheduling calls, demos, and meetings become easy for you and your prospects with Calendly. You can sync the tool with your Google Calendar to set up appointments according to available times. Calendly also has a Gmail plugin to let you set up ad-hoc meetings.

Here are some tools for engaging your prospect.

Bananatag

Bananatag is a perfect sales prospecting tool to schedule emails. You can integrate the tool with Outlook, Gmail, and Android devices. The app lets you see if your prospect or customer has opened your email. Also, it shows you all the clicked attachments or links.

HubSpot Sales

HubSpot Sales is HubSpot’s email tracking and management tool. You can use the tool to set up email sequences and check for clicked and opened emails. HubSpot Sales also allows you to create automated regular sales activities, such as repetitive leads.

The sales prospecting tool makes it possible to find prospects and start conversations with them through its live chat.

Final Thoughts

Your sales pipeline is the lifeblood of your business. The only proven way of ensuring that it’s full is to go for broke in your sales prospecting. As oxygen is to your body, so is sales prospecting to your marketing strategy and goals. Sales prospecting methods and marketing automation can set you up for success.