The world of B2B sales is always going to be about outreach, after all, you’re trying to build relationships with people. But it isn’t only about making new connections. So what does outreach mean?
In essence, it’s about trying to get a hold of both former and potential clients via messaging, over the phone, through emails, and using social media. As a business person, you want to reach out and engage them so that they can make a purchase further down the line.
One of the main challenges about outreach sales is finding the right people who have the right business for you. Another major challenge is being able to present an offer at the optimum time. The whole of sales outreach can be categorized into two different approaches, namely outbound sales and inbound. As take a look at them both.
The balance between outbound and inbound
If you want to get the most out of your outreach, you’ll need to be able to balance outbound and inbound sales methods. The main differences are related to where your leads came from.
When you’re working in an inbound scenario, this means that your leads came to you and got interested in the company on their own terms. They have reached the company to make inquiries. In an outbound environment, you’re the one who has to reach prospective customers that haven’t yet expressed any interest in your business. Outbound sales methods usually involve some emailing, cold calling, and other sales techniques.
- In: they’re reaching you to inquire into your company and its products or services.
- Out: you have to go out and find the leads yourself.
Source: analyticssteps.com
Tactics for sales outreach
Approach outreach the correct way, with your needs and strategies in place before you start communicating with anybody. Let’s look at some pointers to help shape a slick marketing strategy.
Know your best customers
Not every lead is going to be highly interested in what you’re doing. The most important thing is to understand who your number 1 ideal customer is. You should know exactly who the best prospective candidate is for purchasing your services or products. Having identified this customer, you can find out the different ways they play a part in their company. Once you get all of this information together, you’ll be able to devise a correspondence strategy and prioritize what the best leads are.
It’s also important to keep in mind who does what within a company. Is a prospective client a purchasing manager or the CEO? Both are important employees, and there are different ways to reach them. Whoever you’re going to speak to, make sure that the line of communication is tailored towards the person’s job.
Outreach and social media
It’s time to think about how you can reach your prospect. The most important thing to note is that your choice of communication is almost entirely dependent on what contact information you have. If you’ve noticed the lead is an active user on LinkedIn, you won’t want to start off with a sales outreach email or cold call – make your first interaction one through this platform.
Conversely, if you’ve found that the customer has already signed up to your email list and likes what your company is about, get to them directly through their inbox. Make use of social media because it is an indispensable channel for outreach, and if you’re going to post on it, keep things consistent in terms of tone and content quality.
Source: business2community.com
Outlining communication
If you’re not prepared to converse with your potential clients, then you won’t get very far in your outreach! Before embarking on your marketing strategy, identify the following:
- The person’s main responsibilities and projects that they’re working on
- How your company can help them out
- Their goals and “pain points”
- How your business can provide a solution to their problems
After this, you’ll be more equipped to draft out a plan for communicating. So let’s find out more about how to streamline your communication.
Make things personal
Starting with a personalized message is a great way to build trust quickly and easily. When you make things genuine, it goes a long way. Personalization makes your prospective client feel like you care and know what they’re looking for. It isn’t surprising that personalized emails generate leads at a rate of 18%.
When you’re going about developing an outreach strategy, ensure that you’re using customized messages with as much genuine data as you can. Nobody likes talking to a robot!
Tips on effective outreach
Now that you’ve given your sales outreach strategy consideration let’s look at the best tips to implement it.
Automate, organize and sequence
All interactions should be documented within a CRM or other tool to keep things organized. Suppose you can keep all of your outreach information contained within a single source of truth. In that case, you’ll be able to easily share it amongst team members, giving everyone access to the relevant data they need to fulfill the team’s goals. Together you can meet common objectives.
If you haven’t got access to good automation software, you will be spending a lot of time on your outreach. If there is anything that you can effectively automate, do so because it will lead to increases in productivity. Make use of call and email sequencing to create a consistent experience throughout the team – this will look more professional. Any sales rep should make use of such tools to personalize emails and create everything needed to be used to aid the buyer’s journey.
Targeting the right person
Everything starts out with online research, but not everyone that you find online will be the right person to target. One of the biggest mistakes that amateurs make is trying to contact every person that they can find. Not only does this lead to a lot of wasted time, but it will also increase the number of deals that never close. The overall outcome can be frustration and loss of productivity, so try and narrow down your leads. Make sure that you have a crystal clear vision of who your perfect lead is, targeting only prospects that fit this ideal vision or very similar prospects.
Stay engaged at all times
It can be quite an arduous process to engage in outreach sales. It certainly demands a lot of hours and energy, as well as a thick skin in order to take rejection on a daily basis. Some say that it’s a process that never ends; however, it is important to always stay on the ball and engage. Try and touch base with a new client, send follow-ups to those who don’t respond, and always be quick to respond to a client’s requests. Around 35 to 50% of all sales go towards the vendor that has the first response. In other words, you should always get in touch with every potential customer that you can.
Be nice
While it may sound somewhat obvious, people need to remember to be nice and not let any long days, impatience, and work stress get in the way. Unfortunately, not everyone is going to have time for you. However, by bearing this in mind and respecting people’s time, you can both decrease your stress and get your foot in the door. Try to be conscientious and warm about people’s schedules, offering to reschedule meetings at a prospect’s convenience. You should also return messages promptly and always have a friendly approach. Of course, there will come a time when you may need to stop following up, but never burn any potential bridges by expressing your frustration.
Value your time
When you’re engaging in your sales outreach strategy, you’ll know that not every lead who has decided to consider your offer will decide to pursue it and take it up. There are a lot of people who will simply not want to make a purchase. Therefore, know that you can’t follow up with people indefinitely till both of you are blue in the face. There will come a certain time when your sales technique will appear to be too cutthroat and pushy, and this will waste your time in the end. You might want to engage in the 777 strategy, sending a follow-up every week but no more than three weeks after. Other marketers claim that you need at least five follow-ups. There’s no exact science – decide based on your clientele, or allow for some trial and error to get an idea over time.
Wrap up
Every sales strategy needs to incorporate outreach. It can be difficult to get right; however, your company will be on top of its competitors when you do it correctly. An outreach strategy can bring deals, conversions, and added customer loyalty, so plan ahead and make sure that you get it right. Think about your sales goals, stay active and build up your customer profile. Good luck and all the best!
Image source: pixabay.com
