The ability to identify and start conversations with your “Next Best Customer” is critical.
One of the best ways to find your ideal customer is through outbound marketing – which typically includes channels such as email, cold calling, social media outreach, and mailers.
In this post, we’ll help you understand specific strategies, tools, and best practices to implement in order to have a winning outbound sales program.
The number one reason outbound programs fail is because of wasted time. You waste too much time on the wrong accounts. Or waste time with bad data or poor processes. Follow these steps to make sure you are as efficient as possible in your outbound program.
1. Segmenting Accounts
You shouldn’t be running the exact same type of campaigns at every prospect. Some prospects are more important that others. As an organization you need to define the best accounts to go after. One way to do this is by segmenting accounts into A, B, and C accounts. The A, B, C method of segmenting accounts gives you clarity when deciding who you’ll prospect and ultimately how you’ll prospect them.
- “A” accounts represent the most valuable products and/or customers that you currently have or are looking to prospect. “A” accounts generally contribute a large amount of revenue to the company, and typically buy your type of service (whether it’s from you or another competitor). In other words, A accounts are reserved for the highest revenue companies most likely to buy.
- “B” accounts are your “middle-of-the-road” products/services or customers. From a customer perspective, “B” accounts certainly buy, but they aren’t as likely to buy from you as an A account.
- “C” accounts consist of companies that could buy your product or service but for whatever reason, aren’t as likely as A or B accounts. It could be their industry, location, technologies they use, etc..
2. Data
Data drives how your sales team operates on a day-to-day basis. Imagine trying to navigate a new city without directions, GPS, or at the very least a map– having bad data would leave you just as lost in your outbound strategy.
It wastes time, gets your domain in trouble, and most importantly, it reduces your ability to get in front of the right people, which in turn reduces your ability to bring on new customers.
At TalentView, we see a 2-3% turnover rate in our database every single month. In order to hit your target(s), having the best data you can possibly have is the most important factor in the success of your outreach. Bad data equates to wasted time. Wasted time is the number one reason outbound programs fail.
3. Processes
The best outbound teams have extremely buttoned-up processes.
What do you do when someone clicks on an email? How do follow-up? What’s involved in the follow-up process? What tech is involved in your outbound process? Does your current tech make sense in your outbound process?
These are questions you have to answer in order to build a sound outbound process. Processes should be automatic and predictable, and your entire team should be on the same page. With the right processes in place, you can ensure that your team spends more time doing outreach instead of jumping between technology or missing follow-ups.
4. Technology
What tech do you currently have in place and does it positively affect your outbound process?
In order to put your salespeople in a position to succeed, you’ll need the right technology. These tools allow your sales/marketing teams to be more effecient.
Sequence Tools for Sales – Software like Outreach and Salesloft help your sales team manage their outreach process via email, LinkedIn, and phone.
Data Platform – Somewhere for your team to get contact information in bulk. Tools like TalentView will give your sales/marketing team one place to find qualified leads and get them into outbound programs.
Email Marketing Platforms – Software like Hubspot or Eloquoa have features that allow your marketing team to design campaigns that can increase inbound leads and manage your internal outreach.
Dialers – If your outbound process includes cold-calling at scale, it’s nearly impossible to not have a dialer. Furthermore, having a reliable dialer ensures you’re getting feedback data on your cold-calling efforts.
CRM – You need somewhere to keep track of conversations and deals over time.
These technologies are all critical if you’re building a winning outbound program.
5. Outbound Management
No matter how good your processes are or how great your lists and tech are, your team still needs guidance. Management comes in many different forms and practices, but at the end of the day, great management almost always reaps great results for the collective. I’ll spare you a lecture on management styles– simply put, you need: someone who listens to calls and gives feedback, someone who can coach reps, someone to share what’s working across the entire team.
Many companies fail in outbound because they hire great salespeople and don’t hire management infrastructure to make the whole process work. Most CROs and Heads of Sales don’t understand outbound and you typically need some layer of management to keep campaigns on track.
6. Messaging
Messaging matters a lot. The adjustment of one or two words in an email or cold call pitch can make a very big difference.
“A common misconception in modern-day intrinsic behavior of the champions of organizations…”
“The biggest mistake sales leaders make today are…”
See the difference? When prospecting, cold-emailing, writing copy, etc.– people tend to make the mistake of trying to sound “smart” or “eloquent.”
In reality, the most effective way to write is to write how you talk, don’t use jargon or “fancy” words. Write at a 3rd to 5th grade level– we often use the Hemingway app to proofread and grade our writing level. Write for mobile– meaning you aren’t writing long paragraphs, it’s easy to read, and use plain language.
The language that was taught in school is not the same language you should be using in your sales/marketing outreach.
Closing
Having a well-defined outbound sales program in place can take your organization to the next level. Investing time and resources into developing provides scalable and predictable revenue that will set you apart from your competitors and a footprint in the marketplace. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about outbound marketing strategy specifically for HR. Our data and our team of experts can help in almost any outbound situation.
