Prospecting

With countless businesses launching their ‘perfect products and solutions’, consumer skepticism is at an all-time high! Naturally, the all-accepting, gullible consumers have evolved into critical and self-aware buyers.

You may think your relentless prospecting approach is working wonders but, there’s a night-and-day difference between what sales reps and customers think.

There is research that delves into the disparity between sales reps’ perceptions of their performance and customers’ actual experiences. One notable study is the “Salesforce State of Sales Report.” This report often highlights the gap between sales reps’ self-assessment and customer feedback. Here’s a summary of my relevant findings:

Salesforce State of Sales Report: 

• Sales Reps’ Perceptions: Many sales reps believe they provide a positive and engaging experience. For instance, a significant percentage of sales reps rate their customer interactions as highly effective. Soutrce here
• Customer Feedback: However, customers often have a different view. The report found that a considerable number of customers feel their interactions with sales reps are not as positive or beneficial as the reps believe. Specifically, customers may feel that the sales reps don’t fully understand their needs or fail to provide personalized, relevant information.(You can access more detailed findings and insights from the full Salesforce “State of Sales” report salesforce-state-of-sales-4th-ed (1) . This report provides comprehensive data and analysis on various aspects of sales performance and customer interactions.)

HubSpot Research:

• Sales Reps’ Perceptions: According to HubSpot, 69% of salespeople believe they are providing a value-added customer experience.
• Customer Feedback: In contrast, only 34% of customers feel that salespeople understand their needs and challenges. This indicates a significant disconnect between the perceived effectiveness of the sales reps and the actual customer experience. Source here

Gartner Research:

• Sales Reps’ Perceptions: Gartner’s research highlights that a majority of sales reps believe they deliver a high-quality sales experience.
• Customer Feedback: However, Gartner’s studies often reveal that customers are less satisfied with their sales experiences. Customers frequently report that sales interactions are not personalized and that sales reps do not adequately address their specific problems or needs. Source here

Key Takeaways:

• Empathy and Understanding: There is often a significant gap between sales reps’ perceptions and customers’ realities. This discrepancy usually stems from a lack of understanding and empathy on the part of the sales reps.
• Personalization and Relevance: Customers expect personalized and relevant information. Sales reps who fail to tailor their approach and provide generic pitches are more likely to leave customers dissatisfied.
• Active Listening: Effective sales reps prioritize active listening and genuinely understanding the customer’s needs and pain points. This approach helps bridge the gap between perception and reality, and asking the right questions.

These studies underscore the importance of continuous improvement and feedback mechanisms in sales processes to ensure that sales reps align their perceptions with the actual needs and experiences of their customers.

Does this sound like your situation?

Then this article is for you. I am about to pinpoint some of the best ways to improve your sales prospecting skills. But before that, a little bit about prospecting and how to do it the right way.

Prospecting:  The right way

Sales prospecting in reality is all about professional, value-based outreach.

Simply put, when you reach out to prospects, it is not only about pitching how beautifully the product was built, how awesome its features and amazing its functionalities are. It is also about highlighting the true value this product would add to them, about who your most successful users are, what value they’re getting out of it, and how they perceive it

In other words, it is finding out how your product can be a solution to the problems your prospective clients are facing and pitching that.

Prospecting is usually done via cold calling, cold emailing, and social media. And following are some of the most important skills that SDRs should have to be able to optimize their prospecting efforts: Here is a sample unique value proposition or conversational guide with questions, rebuttals handling any objection that prospects (c-level) can throw at you. What follows is all compiled in the ICP and then the conversational guide

1. Research

The quality of leads I got and my closing them depended on my research skills. If I don’t know what the prospect’s pain points are, I will not be able to tell them how I can help them. In the conversation Guide, these pain points are addressed.

2. Communication

Excellent communication skills are the bedrock of my successful cold emailing, cold calls, and social media prospecting. I must have good verbal and written communication skills to be able to articulate my ideas and solutions and answer questions effectively. This means using succinct, to-the-point language without any fillers.

3. Active Listening

Listening to my sales prospects is a vital skill. Many Sales Representatives (SDR, BDR, Account Managers, Account Executives, xDR’s) do not actively listen to their prospects. They tend to look at a qualification checklist to see if the prospect qualifies for a product or service. However, the more you listen to your prospects, the easier it will be to dig deeper and find out exactly what they are looking for.

5 Tips to Refine Your Outbound Prospecting Game

1. Set Outreach Sales Sequences

As I scale the business, I want to be able to reach prospects at scale without losing that personal touch from my first message to the close. This is where setting outreach sales sequences comes into play.

On Salesforce I can:

a. Set up automated outreach across multiple channels like SMS, email, LinkedIn, etc. so I don’t miss crucial touchpoints and nurture them well

b. Use triggers to automatically move my prospects from one sequence to another. I can add tags to each prospect to stay updated on where they stand, and personalize my outreach accordingly.

c. A/B test my sequences to optimize your pitch and boost your conversions.

d. Automate your SMS and emails and send these in a timely fashion. You can choose which prospects to reach out to, the desired date and time, and appropriate templates for the same.

2. Track & Analyze Your Sales Metrics

Analytics are everything. It is vital to know and understand different metrics like open rates, click rates, and analytics for cold calling and cold emailing. It is vital to have a good understanding of sales metrics because it determines how well your organization is doing and to what extent it is aligned with its goals.

You will be able to:

a. Track open rates, click rates, and meetings

b. Track the performance of the sales team in different departments like cold emailing, cold calling, etc.

3. Follow Up With Your Prospects

Think of how many potential clients you’ve lost because you failed to follow up with them enough or in a timely fashion. Set a cadence to follow up with your prospects. To set the right cadence, you will need to know where your prospect stands.

a. Follow up and take action as soon as your prospect shows interest.

b. Notify you every time your prospect opens your email or clicks on a link you’ve sent them.

c. Detect replies almost immediately, helping you follow up with them on time.

d. Find out if your prospect visits your website and which web pages they’ve visited. You can use this information to personalize your interactions and hold conversations with them on your website using the Magic Outbound Chat feature.

4. Build Your Authority On Social Media

If you are on platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, etc., be sure to cement yourself as a thought leader and build credibility online. Content creation is generally associated with attracting inbound leads. But, it can also help you stand out to your prospects when you reach out to them. They will be more likely to take you up on your offer if you have some credibility online.

Also, if you plan on reaching out to prospects on LinkedIn (which you should), use LinkedIn Sales Navigator or Zoominfo.

5. Don’t Neglect Referrals

With all the different kinds of marketing methods we have today, word-of-mouth still stands tall! After all, people are very likely to take action if they hear good things about you through family and friends. According to Saasquatch, people are 4 times more likely to buy when referred by a friend.

Two effective ways to use word-of-mouth marketing are:

a. Encouraging User Generated Content (UGC). UGC refers to content created and shared by consumers. You can create a specific hashtag that your audience can use when they create and share content. You can also give them incentives like discounts, giveaways, etc., to get them to post more content.

b. Share customer reviews and testimonials. Social proof is everything these days. According to G2, “92% of B2B buyers are more likely to purchase after reading a trusted review”.

A parting note
If you want to improve your prospecting for sales, there are tons of tips and techniques. Check out our blog page for quick, easy-to-implement sales tips. However, the five mentioned tips in this article will help you optimize your efforts in all three sales prospecting methods – cold calling, cold emailing, and social media outreach.