nomdeguerre

Account executive

How do you prospect?

Hey fellow sales savages.

I have a quick question for you, and it might seem kinda silly, but honestly it is a serious question. How do you prospect?

I mean, it is clearly getting harder and harder to get someone to pick up the phone I think.

Email is not great, 20% open rate most of which is meaningless because it is the spam filter opening your email half the time, and even if it is a person they might open it in the view window but that doesn't mean they actually paid attention to it. Click rates are what 1-2%.

LinkedIn used to be good, but it seems like it is becoming less and less useful.

So I'm just curious, what prospecting methods have you found to work?

🔎 Prospecting

84 comments

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paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

The good old fashion "pick up the phone and start dialing" is still relevant as ever imo.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Interesting, do you find that you are able to get relevant decision makers on the phone?

I'm asking because my experience is that most people don't pick up the phone if they don't know the person calling.

CreateNSell

Good Citizen

Business Developer

Conversion rate is very low when you cold call someone. I see that as a "growth strategy" where you make small experiments, small actions to get a result.
Be consistent, call a specific number of people everyday or week and you'll get a meeting.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Make sense, thanks

JuicyKlay

Celebrated Contributor

I'm a big fan of Sam Nelson's Agoge method. cadencebuilder.com is another great resource to develop an outbound prospecting cadence from scratch.

GrindingSales

Politicker

Account Executive

This was great! Can’t wait to start implementing this!

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

Perfect Strategy

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Cool, thanks. I will check that out.

JuicyKlay

Celebrated Contributor

Happy hunting!

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Thanks, building it out now. We will probably adjust it a little bit, seems like a lot of touches in a very short time frame. What do you think?

AssistantToTheRegional

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Most research shows you either hook them in 10 days or you don't. Why you see a lot of front-loaded cadences.

JuicyKlay

Celebrated Contributor

You need to space the steps out depending on industry and persona! Ex - a manager might get 15 touches in 60 days where as someone in the C suite might get 15 touches over 120 days.

JuicyKlay

Celebrated Contributor

Also very true!

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Make sense. At the same time, I don't want to annoy someone, and I think I would find double-digit touches in two weeks pretty annoying.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Makes sense.

cw95

Politicker

Sales Development Lead

After Two years of sporadic email / call activity I have finally figured out a structure with my CEO to try and answers these exact questions as well as what day of the week and time of day works best.

Everyday I find 20 new, fresh contacts. I send a cold email on day one, wait two days and send a cold follow up, even if they have opened and clicked the first one. Then if they don't reply after the follow up email, I then call.

My success rate of replies of interest and people answering after trying this for just two weeks has been higher than the two years of sporadic activity at my company.

I also include when to add people on Linkedin, from what I see, they are more likely to accept your linkedin if they recognise your name from an email - if they accept, then you could take that as some interest but that's just my opinion.

authello

Contributor

Head of Partnerships

cw95, this sounds effective. How is your cold follow up email different / similar to your initial cold email?

cw95

Politicker

Sales Development Lead

Hello, sorry, I've just seen this.

My Cold email roughly goes as follows -

' Hey X

I was just wondering what you thought of my previous email? If you can't recall and it's somewhere lost in your inbox you can see what we do here (add hyperlink).

Do please let me know your thoughts either way!

Cheers.

cw95

Politicker

Sales Development Lead

To add to what I replied, I vaguely explain what we do with a few links in the initial then as replied, just 'prod the bear'.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

That's great, happy you found something that works for you.

Do you have additional steps in your sequence following the initial call, email and follow up email?

cw95

Politicker

Sales Development Lead

So my way round is Cold email, two days, cold follow up, then call. If I can't find email addresses for a certain company then I do the way you said - Call, Email, follow up, call.

If you have time, try and do an A/B test on two different types of emails to see which approach is getting the replies, opens and clicks and the one that is, keep, then change the one that isn't to see if the original is still going strong.

If they accept my linkedin request I tend to also 'like' every other post they do generally early in the morning or late after work so my name appears without lots of others!

Other than that, I also tend to use a websites 'live chat' to get directed to the right people...the person on the other end don't expect a question like that and generally you'll get some details!

It may just be me but Live chat or phone, I always find making the question vague leads to more details as they get put out of their comfort zone and tend to pass you onto someone else who is usually the right person haha!

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Thanks, appreciate the feedback.

I really like the idea of the live chat to get info... I'm assuming you just ask "hey I'm trying to figure out who is responsible for xyz at your company". Have you tried asking for contact details too? I would assume they are reluctant to share that kind of info.

cw95

Politicker

Sales Development Lead

My Approach is 'Hey X (normally it will say who you are speaking to) this is not the usual type of question you get on this but I was hoping you could set me on the right path to speaking with the person that deals with X'

Half the time they will say 'Email info@ or sales@' but that doesn't matter as you can then just ring whenever as you know they won't give details. However, I find that due to the randomness and the vague question they will say 'That would be X in this department' you can then send an email to info@ etc to the attention of and say 'I have just spoke to 'Laura' on your live chat and she said...'

As well as that, as I hunt down eCommerce managers/directors, for smaller companies, the live chat is generally sent their way for 'technical' problems so more often than not the person you need to speak to is in the office, sat with the live chat open haha!

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Ha, that's pretty cool!

cw95

Politicker

Sales Development Lead

Good Luck!

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Thanks!

Chep

WR Officer

Bitcoin Adoption Specialist

Sometimes attending webinars about what your solution solves is a great way to find prospects who have an interest in the product you're selling. Once you've agreed to attend the webinar you get access to all the other LinkedIn profiles that are attending

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Did not know this 🤔

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

That is great idea if it works. Do you find that the organizers of these webinars will share the list of the attendees?

I often find that most companies will not share the list of participant and will often hide the participants in the webinar tool - unless the organizer is your own company of course or if you have sponsored the webinar.

Chep

WR Officer

Bitcoin Adoption Specialist

Everyone I've attended I was able to see the list of attendees, but maybe I got lucky because I didn't know the organizer could hide the list. Worth trying, but if they choose to hide the list you might be S.O.L for that particular webinar.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Gotcha, thanks

TheDragon

Good Citizen

CVO

The google…. Handy tip, use google maps and pinpoint a target area vs just “googling”. Your search’s will be much more precise and you won’t get as many keyword specific misinformation

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

But I don't even use The Googles... ;-)

Seriously, you are right its amazing how much information you can find out there.

StonedColdCloser

Opinionated

Business Development Manager

When I think prospecting, I think about ways to cast large nets to rake in as many prospects as possible to then reach out to. While LinkedIn is becoming the Biden Administration of Social Media, there is still a TON of valuable data that can be gathered from there. I join and post in tons of groups created for my ICP.

From there, its all about data enrichment... finding as many numbers & emails to reach each prospect at. I have used quite a few tools, but the new Zoom/DiscoveryOrg tool is far and away the best for Direct Dials, HQ #s, & Mobiles. (Also a fantastic tool for gathering prospects.)

Once those steps are taken it is time to pick up the phone separate the men from the boys.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Makes a lot of sense, thanks

SalesPharaoh

Big Shot

Senior Account Executive

Things are going towards social selling unfortunately it's not my strong suit but it's something im working on right now. However, LinkedIn inmail can be useful unless your experience tells you otherwise. I sometimes go into Facebook groups of the target audience where I think I can my prospects and comment, or slide in their dms it worked with me, but i don't know about your culture.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

That very helpful, thanks.

How do you go about structuring the messaging in your outreach on LI?

I receive a lot of messages on LI myself, and most of them are basically structured the same way, where they will connect with me and the very first message I receive after that are very often a pitch. The pitch usually goes into how great they are and how they have helped a bunch of other people similar to me often followed by three point of example of benefits others have experienced. Then they ask for a 15 minute call. All of which is not very compelling.

I would much rather get into a dialog with the prospect about them and their needs and priorities, but often it is hard to get into that kind of conversation, so I'm just wondering what you have found work well for that.

JuicyKlay

Celebrated Contributor

Blank connection requests then a 50 second personalized intro video through the LI mobile app within 24 hours of them connecting.

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

@JuicyKlay Whats included in your personalized intro? Is it more 'personal' or full on who I am what I do elevator pitch... somewhere in between?

JuicyKlay

Celebrated Contributor

It's more personal - trying to find something in common and making sure they don't get weirded out. Could be as simple as "Hey first name, you came up as suggest connections on LinkedIn and I saw we're both friends with Sally at Amazon - I work with a lot of other "job titles" in the x space and blah blah blah" Another key here is just being yourself and not sounding scripted or trying to make it overly professional. I like to pretend like they're already a friend.

JuicyKlay

Celebrated Contributor

@MrsTechSales Morgan Ingram dropped some really good videos and post about this technique on LinkedIn last year

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Great tips, thanks

Tres

Politicker

Account Executive

Cold email hardly works, same with cold calling. I try to get warm connections from LinkedIn and then use video messages to make it more of a warm email/call and that helps.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

I agree with you, cold email and calls rarely work these days.

I like the idea of trying to get warm introductions, so I'm curious, what approach to you use for that? Do you try to get intros from your existing customers or do you seek out people that might already work with the prospect or someone who might have sold complementary products?

Thanks

Tres

Politicker

Account Executive

Yes to any and everything. Intros from customers, or stalking their 2nd degree connections on LinkedIn, or tapping into partners and complimentary players in our industry to use their contacts.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Awesome, thanks

countingmyinterest

Politicker

Account Executive

Email, linkedin, and phone baby.

On occasion, I'll text prospects and it's resulted in a meeting or two.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Cool, thanks.

marginmagnate

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Depends on what you're selling, when I was brand new in Sales, I started in my phone's contact list, we all have a million acquantinces in there we haven't talked to in awhile - "where does this person work, where does this person work" etc. Start with a drink invite and info gathering session on their company if you think it fits your business --> leading to warm introductions. Slower but effective and I had alot of success this way!

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Great idea. Always good if you have an existing connection.

TheFemaleWolf

Opinionated

Director of Sales

Old School meets New School.

Say what you will about face to face prospecting but... that method is hands down the most impactful. When used along with phones / technology to reach people directly / and access to information it's a deadly combo.

I'm pretty progressive when it comes to prospecting methods BUT there is nothing to replace your 5 senses when it comes to prospecting opportunities and making human connection in person.

Dislcaimer: Yes, we are COVID aware and wear masks now / practice normal social distancing in the field. Almost 95% of our business is back to in person meetings though and it's pretty amazing to see.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Definitely great to be able to make a direct in person connection. Do you simple go to your target company's office and ask for the person you are trying to meet with?

TheFemaleWolf

Opinionated

Director of Sales

100% - Say you are here to speak with the Owner and/or Director of (insert department you need).

The best way is to approach this is to make it clear that your intention is to get time on their schedule, not to run a meeting right there and then. That's usually the main reason people push off sales calls. They don't want to sit down and be "sold" on the spot.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Cool, thanks

Krevele

Enterprise Account Executive

How many touches? On average it takes about 8 touchpoints to reach a prospect. When are you doing your outreach? HubSpot and a few other software providers released research the best time to prospect is Wednesday and Thursdays. The last thing I would add is what's your communication look like? Is it relevant to each prospect or is it generic?

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

The Agoge sequence that I have been looking at has 16 touches (combined email, LinkedIn and phone over 24 days) which definitely seems like a lot to me.

I have seen that a lot of people are recommending Wednesday and Thursdays as the best days, but it seems like everybody has been following that for a while, so it might be better to try different days. In fact I saw someone who had really good results on Fridays now... of course I'm sure it depends on your message. I'm thinking you should probably keep it casual in your Friday message.

I agree with you the content clearly is super important. What I liked about the Agoge sequence is that only a couple of the messages needs to be personalized and the rest piggyback off of that personalization, so you can balance personalization with automation.

What type of messaging have you found to be successful?

swizard

Celebrated Contributor

Sales Evangelist

research. research. research via LI & Industry platforms

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

That makes sense and for high value target clearly you can afford to spend a lot of time, but at the same time I'm also trying to balance research/personalization with volume/automation.

DonDraper

Politicker

National Sales Manager

LinkedIN Sales Nav - Set up searches for your industry, look for people moving roles etc. Decision makers will be there too

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Great idea, thanks

goose

Politicker

Sales Executive

The only way to prospect is to hit up "friends of friends". Otherwise you are basically throwing darts. It's tough to build a camp of connected people that can refer you but it's necessary for a long, successful career in sales.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Ok thanks, appreciate the perspective. So are you basically saying that the traditional BD/SDR activities are wasted efforts?

goose

Politicker

Sales Executive

Wasted? No.

Ineffective? Maybe.

Inefficient? Definitely.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Cool, make sense. Thanks!

thegrinch

Politicker

SDR

'Prospects prospect me' - Chuck Norris

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

LOL

ninjaturtle

Executive

Business Development

Josh Braun on LinkedIn has some great tips.

To improve your open rate, sometimes it’s great to be a bit more direct or personal in the subject line. “ Company X Intro Meeting”

Phone is always great as well.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Thanks, will check out Josh Braun

Wolfe

Politicker

BDR

LinkedIn, Email, Phone and occasionally text (mostly if the voicemail says so)

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Cool, thanks

Wolfe

Politicker

BDR

Omni-Channel is the way to be imo, you can have a strong hold on one channel but you should work all channels.

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Makes nothing but sense.

breezyboiii

Politicker

Sales Boiii

i'm sure many won't think this is a great way.
but
cold calls

Jpnelson09

Executive

Senior Account Executive

Email conversions are terrible. Social sell via link, if possible to like/comment on the prospects activity today build that social relationship. It’s a long-term play but pays dividends and puts a face to name when you do call/email.

Sales is a numbers game, more you put in. The more you get out!

if you haven’t heard of John Barrows - he’s focused on top of the funnel. Like the methodology

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Thanks, appreciate the input. I'll check out John Barrows

Camm

Video prospecting- but not the generic kind. 1min personalised vid on how you can help them. With a call out in the email “I know you get these emails all the time, with a supposed value prop- so I want to show you just a few ways I believe we can assist”

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Cool, I appreciate the input. Have you seen good result with this method.

Camm

Yup, really high response rate and meeting acceptance rate. Works much better than any other method I’ve tried.

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

I'm a big fan of Sam Nelson's Agoge method. cadencebuilder.com is another great resource to develop an outbound prospecting cadence from scratch.

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

Sometimes attending webinars about what your solution solves is a great way to find prospects who have an interest in the product you're selling.

Annonny

Big Shot

Account Executive

Google, and a few business sites!

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Not sure I understand

sellingsellssold

Politicker

SDR

I have had the most success on the phones just calling people. I always hit three people three times with the phone, email, and linkedin message.

Error32

Politicker

ISR

I’ve found that a combo of both in my day to day seems to be the right mix, as some of Sandler’s strategies can help you during tough cycles. MEDDIC will ensure you’ve done the research.

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nomdeguerre

How do you prospect?

84 comments

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