Prospecting is something that every salesperson does. There are many ways to get inbound leads but for a salesperson, reaching out to strangers and building a reputation in the industry is a key to success! So, instead of running away from it, why don't we learn it and turn this practice into a successful sales strategy.

Let’s get to the basics first! The entire sales and marketing strategy depends on a famous principle called AIDA. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action! In the first interaction, you try to draw attention. This is the key step to making someone listen to you for the first time. Once you successfully draw someone’s attention, you generate interest by sharing more information about your product or services. Then comes the desire that makes a stranger ask for more information. In the end, it’s the action i.e., making a sale! These are the key steps for converting a prospect into a customer.

‍

Outbound campaigns are tricky but if you really understand how this works, it gives you a great conversion rate. Every new deal starts with reaching out. This is usually either through an email or a phone conversation. By mastering the art of conversion, you’ll have the ability to broaden the funnel for your company. This is THE utmost priority for any company to increase their topline. If you want to read about the essential qualities of a top salesperson, read this blog for a detailed overview.

To understand the process of prospecting we need to start with the foundation. Once those are working well then you will be able to assign specific actions to each foundational principle.

‍

First think about THEM - Why you should be connecting with them?

‍

Before you start prospecting it’s important to have the right mindset. The approach is that it’s not about you winning more business, but you genuinely looking to help whoever you are reaching out to with your product or service. Due to this, your attitude should be that it’s all about them and not about you. You, therefore, need to get inside their world. What is your prospect thinking at any point in time? What are their company goals? What problems do they need to solve?

Get to know your prospects buying persona. Look at sources such as news articles or annual reports. Sometimes Twitter or LinkedIn announcements provide insights about your prospect’s priorities. This will provide a direction and how your product/service can help them with their pain points.

‍

When you start with a statement that is currently on your prospect’s mind, it literally clicks with them and they’ll want to read your email right away. Let’s take an example:

‍

Email sent to prospective client

‍

Hi Heather,

‍

I just read about your company announcement on a recent fundraise and that you’re planning to expand your sales and marketing teams.

‍

Our platform helps high growth companies onboard and train their sales reps within 15 days as opposed to traditional training that typically takes 2-3 months.

‍

Who do you recommend I contact to walk through our platform?

‍

Best regards,

Mark Spencer

Director, Flyte

‍

Response received from the prospect

‍

Mark,

‍

Thanks for reaching out. Daniel manages our sales team and is currently looking at a similar solution. I have copied him on this email so you can directly connect.

‍

Heather

‍

Then think about YOU - It’s about the approach.

‍

As we briefly touched on before, the approach is not about selling. It’s about offering something of value to your prospects. Using kind words and flattery goes a long way, but stay genuine. There is a subtle distinction between how you choose words that bring emotions vs where it starts sounding superficial. Too many nice words and you’ll most likely come across as being fake.

Another tip is to be direct. This may differ depending on a country or culture. What’s considered direct in Singapore might be the way things are normally communicated in Vancouver. Have a clear reason for the email and stick to it. This is not an opportunity to go into a sales pitch. It’s simply an introduction, so keep it simple. Especially if you are targeting busy people, who don’t have much spare time and you interrupting their day, regardless of how great your product/service is, you’re already on a negative with them. To quickly turn that around, don’t waste their time. You can always reach out again.

This takes us nicely into the follow-up. If they seemed interested, do a follow-up. Track open rates, click rates and response rates. Try to separate each email prospecting campaign by industry, demography, location, seniority etc. and looks for the trends. As soon as you achieve the 300-400 email range, you will start seeing the pattern. If someone seemed partially interested, connect with them on LinkedIn without being too invasive. It’s all about building networks and relationships!

‍

‍

Close with a QUESTION - Ask a question that you want to be answered!

‍

To end your email, you’ll need a strong finish to get your prospect thinking. There are three main points we like to focus on:

• Ask a question about something they want or a problem that they need to fix
• Ask an open-ended question to get them thinking about how your product/service can change their current situation.
• Ask a question that is reasonable, i.e. ask for a call not a whole afternoon out of the office for example.

Getting to know your prospects is the best way to increase your cold outreach success rate. This comes with practice and understanding clients' emotions over a certain topic. Sometimes insights about an industry or client’s pain points help writing a compelling prospecting email. There are many AI powered platforms that offer call insights and competitive intelligence through conversational AI. Flyte captures such nuances from your conversations and helps you analyze why a deal was a success or a failure.

So, are you looking to beat the competition and be an expert at prospecting? Book a demo today here and get access to Flyte.

‍

Keywords: buyer persona, customer pain-points  decision maker, sales pipeline, sales targets, conversation, AI software, revenue intelligence, conversational AI