TL;DR I landed 11 interviews and 4 job offers in 30 days using a combination of LinkedIn, email, and a few past customer lists.
Last month, I got canned out of the blue, so I poured all of my pain & untapped sales energy into countless hours of optimizing this job hunt.
BREAKING IT DOWN:
Linkedin warm messages
- Send quick notes to previous coworkers and clients (no premium... 1st connections and anyone w/ open DMs)
- "Hey NAME, saw your company was hiring and I'm in the market for a sales role. Any chance you're on the lookout for a senior AE?"
- Be quickly responsive to any replies, and track everything in a CRM or notes doc (I use Streak CRM for Gmail which is 100% free)
Emails
- Emails are not a good primary communication method, but they can help you differentiate yourself and show off your skills.
- As soon as I sent a linkedin message, I'd follow up with a short email that was in the style of outbound cold outreach.
- Subject: still rocking the data world?
- Body: Hey Mike, hope you and the team are still rocking the data world @ [COMPANY]. I'm reaching out because I remember you mentioning the great team culture. I recently came into the market for a new sales role, and saw this position had opened up last week. Any chance you'd be able to refer me in or give me some tips for how to stand out?"
Customer Lists
- I found a list of my past customers, and reached out to 8 of them via email/Linkedin to get a referral to the CRO or VP of Sales.
- IT IS SO EASY to get a referral when you've already sold to someone successfully. It's a psychological sales job finding hack!
My INPUT:
- 0 jobs applied to on website or via linkedin
- Sent 52 warm Linkedin messages
- Followed up with 40 emails (12 couldn't find contact info)
- Emailed/DM'd 8 previous clients
My OUTPUT:
- 11 first round interviews in 30 days
- 7 2nd round interviews in 30 days
- 4 (expected) full-time offers in 30 days
I hope this helps anyone impacted by layoffs or needing extra motivation!!
DM me or comment with your own stories, I'd love to hear it.
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