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12 Cold Calling Best Practices According To Experts

Cold calling best practices refer to the tried and tested tactics successful sales professionals use when reaching out to prospects. Cold calling is still the most effective way to reach out directly to prospects, but it can be tricky for many sales professionals.

That’s why you need to understand the best practices for cold calling to maximize your return on investment and ensure success for your cold calling efforts.

Let’s be frank; most of us are intimidated by cold calls. Each phone call is unique, making it simultaneously stimulating and petrifying. That’s precisely why we’ve collected 12 verified and effective cold calling best practices to assist you every step of the way. 

What Is Cold Calling?

Before delving into cold calling best practices, let’s brush up on the basics.

Cold calling is a sales technique requiring reps to call potential or unknown customers to sell them a product or service. We can all agree it’s no easy feat: attempting to quickly engage complete strangers and successfully pitch your product before they hang up on you. Not exactly fun stuff! It takes loads of determination and resilience to do this day after day without fail.

But if done right,  cold calling can be an incredibly powerful tool. Cold callers must remember that they are selling a service and not hard-selling potential leads into buying something from them.

Cold calling is about providing value to prospects, listening to their needs, and finding ways to help them meet their goals with your solution.

12 Cold Calling Best Practices That Work

12 Cold Calling Best Practices That Work

Below are  the cold calling best practices that every sales professional should apply to their outreach campaigns:

1. Research Your Prospects

Before any calls, it’s essential that you research your prospects. Even if the prospects who answer your calls are unfamiliar with you, taking time to learn about them and their organization helps you build a connection.

Explore their LinkedIn profiles, company websites, social media accounts, or your CRM for previous engagements to gain better insights into potential prospects.

Additionally, be prepared to explain how your product or service can alleviate their problems. Try to empathize with their circumstances and genuinely understand them, as this builds trust.

When you neglect to do your prep work, it will be quite obvious and can easily alienate the person on the other end of the call. Not having a real interest in their time shows that you don’t value them or their contribution – something that any company would want to avoid.

2. Create An Outline About What You Will Say

The main goal of a cold call isn’t to push sales immediately. You are simply attempting to secure a meeting with the person you’re calling at a future date.

So, it only makes sense to ensure that your cold call should address the following questions:

  • Who are you?
  • What makes your offering unique and beneficial for me?
  • Why should I grant you this favor or purchase what you’re selling?
  • And finally, what do you want from me in return?

Preparing a cold call script will ensure you know exactly what to say, allowing you to keep focused and succinct. Take a few moments to create a brief (30 seconds or less) cold call script that you can refer to on the phone.

This is not meant for memorization but rather as an aid in helping you communicate effectively and confidently. And spend at least 1-2 hours going through your call list to ensure you’re targeting the right prospects.

3. Practice Makes Perfect

Cold calling is a skill, and the only way to master it is through practice. Cold calling can be difficult during the first few rounds, but with every attempt, you’ll be getting better at it. Don’t let early failures discourage you.

The best way to practice is by first doing mock calls with your colleagues or friends before making real cold calls. This will help build up your confidence and improve the quality of your call.

Once you have a few successful cold calls under your belt, increase the number gradually until it becomes second nature.

4. Be Cautious With Cold Calling Hours

Timing is of the utmost importance when it comes to cold calling. Before making your calls, decide on the best time to call potential clients. Cold calling days and hours should be chosen accordingly.

For example, the best times to cold call are between 9 am – 4 pm, and 10 am to 2 pm are considered prime cold-calling times as they tend to have more favorable response rates.

Cold calling at lunch or in the early morning on Fridays is not recommended since people are usually occupied with other affairs during those hours.

5. Be Courteous & Don’t Waste Their Time

Cold callers should always remain polite and friendly when speaking with potential prospects. Cold calling can be seen as intrusive, so keeping a friendly and professional tone throughout the call is important.

Be sure to use people’s names, maintain a polite attitude, and always thank them for their time, even if they decline your offer. Cold calling should be seen as an opportunity to build relationships with potential clients rather than just selling something.

Always be mindful of people’s time. When making cold calls, ensure the conversation is concise and to the point so that it does not exceed a few minutes. Don’t let your enthusiasm lead you into talking too quickly or for too long – keep the dialogue succinct yet meaningful.

6. Determine The Number Of Calls Necessary To Reach Your Quota

Are you aware of how many cold calls you need to make to meet your sales goals this month? Cold calling is not a one-time event and requires consistent follow-ups to gauge the success of your campaign.

To ensure you achieve desired results, it’s important to set goals for how many cold calls you will be making daily and determine what kind of outcomes you’d like from those calls regarding securing meetings or making sales.

Doing so will help you figure out what’s working and what isn’t in your cold calling campaign, allowing you to make necessary adjustments as needed.

7. Craft An Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence

The first few seconds of a cold call are crucial. The opening line should be attention-grabbing and relevant to the customer. Studies show you’ve got a mere 10 seconds to demonstrate your value, so make yourself stand out from other callers.

Introduce yourself and then seize the opportunity to personalize your conversation by sharing with them the information you have gathered about their business.

For instance, you can appreciate some of their recent accomplishments in their personal or professional lives you came across when researching.

Some examples of good opening statements may be:

“I saw your post regarding _____,”

“Your management of ______ is impressive,”

“Congratulations on ______!”

“Fascinating insights on ______.”

8. Don’t Get Demotivated From Rejection

Cold calling is a long game; most people must make multiple calls before closing a sale. Cold calling is not for everyone, so it’s important to remain focused and motivated after each round of rejection.

Rejection can be a tough pill to swallow, and the psychological sting of it is often more excruciating than physical pain. 

That said, successful salespeople don’t wallow in their misfortunes but instead move on to the next call immediately. Cold calling is all about staying persistent and patient until you find success.

9. Reduce Distractions & Remain Focused During The Call

Having a clean and organized workspace is essential for successful cold calling. Cold calling requires intense focus and concentration, so it’s important that you minimize any potential distractions in the room or on your computer.

To get the most out of cold calling, turn off your phone and close your office door to avoid distractions from co-workers or social media notifications. Before diving in, have a cup of coffee to stay sharp throughout the process.

Participate actively, and ask questions as needed, yet stay focused on the main objective. Take notes to ensure that you are organized and remember your end goal throughout the conversation.

10. Practice Saying “Talking With,” Instead Of “Speaking To”

Successful cold callers know how to capture the attention of their prospects quickly, and one great way to do that is by using language that resonates with them.

Cold calling is all about having a conversation, so use phrases like “talking with” or “chatting with” instead of simply saying “speaking to.” 

“Speaking to” connotes a unilateral message; it implies that you will transmit your views regardless of whether or not the audience desires to hear them.

11. Put Your Audience First, Not Yourself

Cold calls are all about listening more and talking less. Said that Cold calling should be centered around the customer. After all, it is about forming connections and ensuring your prospects feel heard and in charge of the discussion.

You should provide your prospects with valuable information without trying to sell them anything hastily or forcefully.

When you put the spotlight on your prospect, it’s a win-win situation for both of you. They get to engage in conversations about themselves — their favorite subject — while simultaneously gaining your undivided attention, which is sure to be impactful.

If a prospect is asking questions, you can view that as a positive sign. It indicates their involvement and helps you comprehend what they’re looking for and whether your product or service suits their needs.

12. Leave A Voicemail

Finally, the last cold calling best practice we will discuss is voicemail. Don’t hesitate to leave a voicemail if you don’t receive an immediate response from your prospect.

With cold calls, it’s all about creating a lasting impression and introducing yourself in such as way that compels them to return your call. Ensure your message is brief (no more than 20-30 seconds) and clearly states who you are and what you’re offering.

Cold calling is not only a great way to make sales, but it also allows you to build relationships and connections. To ensure your message leaves a lasting impression in someone else’s inbox, always end your voicemail with genuine gratitude for their attention and enthusiasm while anticipating hearing from them soon.

Final Words

By adhering to these cold calling best practices, you will be able to maximize your return on investment and ensure success for your cold calling efforts. Share these cold calling strategies with your sales team and review them before continuing. Evaluate how these perform, and identify which works best for you. Discard those that don’t, and keep experimenting with new tactics to continually improve overall performance.

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Buying Intent Data Champions Cold Calling Customer Churn Customer Success Demand Generation Lead Generation Relationship Signals Sales Leadership Sales Pipeline Sales Process Sales Technology Signal Intelligence Total Addressable Market

Why Demand Generation Matters In Marketing

One of the major challenges for companies today is demand generation or interest for their products and services. The market is saturated with brands offering all kinds of products, so it’s essential to have an effective way to stand out and get noticed.

 

But don’t get confused by demand generation with lead generation. And, yes, demand generation isn’t also about false advertising or tricking people into buying what you are selling.

 

Demand generation is the process of creating interest in your products and services. It’s a comprehensive set of marketing activities designed to drive awareness and interest, capture prospects’ attention, sustain their engagement, qualify them for sales conversations and nurture them through the buyer’s journey.

 

It provides marketers with data that helps identify customer needs and wants, allowing you to deliver better experiences for leads and customers. Demand generation strategies target existing customers looking for new services or updates and potential buyers who may be unfamiliar with your brand.

 

By taking a holistic approach to demand generation, organizations can attain their desired goals faster and more efficiently than ever before by focusing on the right audience at the right time with relevant messaging. With demand generation, companies can establish a steady stream of customers eager to buy and keep returning for more.  

 

Why Demand Generation Isn’t The Same As Lead Generation

 

Why Demand Generation Isn't The Same As Lead Generation

 

Despite their common usage, the terms “demand generation” and “lead generation” are not synonymous. Therefore, it’s imperative for B2B and B2C marketing pros to understand the difference between the two.

 

Lead generation is focused on capturing leads through email campaigns, social media posts, webinars, and more. Lead generation is gathering contact info from potential customers to add them to your list of prospective buyers.

 

On the other hand, demand generation goes beyond lead capture by focusing on creating interest in your product or service.  It requires engaging potential buyers with educational content, compelling visuals, and relevant offers to motivate them to consider your offering.

 

Demand generation aims to create a steady flow of qualified leads for your sales team by targeting the audiences most likely to become customers. This helps you convert prospects into actual customers ready and willing to purchase from you.

 

Demand generation strategies may include content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), email campaigns, direct mail campaigns, lead nurturing initiatives, social media advertising, telemarketing activities, conferences/events, and webinars.

 

It also provides insights into customer behavior, preferences, and interests so that you can continuously improve and refine your offerings. In short, demand generation offers an effective way for companies to drive customer engagement long-term by creating meaningful connections with their target audiences.

 

The takeaway?

 

Demand generation is a much more comprehensive approach than lead generation. It’s not just about collecting a lead’s contact information—it’s about creating the desire to buy your product or use your service and guiding prospects on their journey from interest to purchase.

 

The Difference Between Demand Generation and Inbound Marketing

 

The Difference Between Demand Generation and Inbound Marketing

 

It’s fine if you can’t decipher the difference between demand generation and inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is similar to demand generation but takes a more customer-centric approach.

 

Inbound marketing is focused on creating custom experiences and engagement opportunities that help turn prospects into customers. This requires providing value throughout the buyer’s journey by offering content, resources, and other materials at each stage.

 

Inbound marketing can be a part of an overall demand generation strategy to provide valuable content such as blog posts, white papers, eBooks, webinars, and more. It can also be used with other tactics like email campaigns or social media advertising for maximum impact. Over time, a considerable percentage of this incoming traffic will convert into paying customers.

 

For example, if a company produces content that educates customers about their product or service, prospects will be more likely to purchase from them than competitors. This is because they have already developed a level of trust with the customer due to providing helpful and informative content.

 

The takeaway?

 

Inbound marketing and demand generation are similar because both strategies focus on creating interest and engaging potential leads throughout the customer journey. However, inbound marketing emphasizes delivering high-quality content to provide value at each stage of the buyer’s process.

 

By leveraging both demand generation and inbound marketing together, organizations can effectively drive customer engagement long-term while also increasing conversions along the way.

 

The Major Obstacle Between B2C And B2B Demand Generation

 

B2C companies require just the consent of an individual consumer to start the conversation. They focus on personalization and customer experience while taking advantage of digital channels like social media, video content, email campaigns, and more.

 

In contrast, creating a sustainable sales funnel for B2B companies is often arduous. B2B marketers must consider the many stakeholders involved in a purchase decision. This means they must tailor their demand generation efforts and messaging based on roles, job titles, and other criteria to ensure that specific individuals see their messages within target companies.

 

That’s why B2B businesses need to employ comprehensive tactics focusing on brand awareness and continued lead nurturing.

 

Why Content Marketing Is Essential For Demand Generation

 

Content marketing is a key part of any demand generation strategy. By creating content that educates and entertains your audience, you can build trust in your brand and establish yourself as an authority in the industry.

 

At its core, content marketing helps companies create relationships with customers without asking for anything in return. It provides valuable and relevant information to help customers make informed decisions about their purchase process. Additionally, it’s an effective way to stay top-of-mind with prospects even when they’re not actively looking to buy something from you.

 

Content marketing doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming; simple tactics like blogging regularly and writing informative emails can go a long way. It’s up to the company to decide what types of content will be most effective for them and their target audience, but in general, the more helpful and relevant information you can provide, the better.

 

We already mentioned the goal of demand generation isn’t about selling, but what if content marketing could also help you increase sales? The answer is yes—when done correctly, demand generation and content marketing work together to drive more conversions. By providing helpful and relevant information, customers are more likely to trust your brand, stay engaged with it, and eventually make a purchase.

 

What is B2B Demand Generation Content And Why Does it Matter?

 

Demand generation content is designed to engage and educate your audience. It should be customized to each customer or prospect’s unique needs and delivered at the right time along the buyer’s journey.

 

It can include everything from blog posts and white papers to video tutorials and webinars. The goal is to establish an ongoing dialogue with your customers that goes beyond just selling them a product or service. By providing valuable insight into their specific problems, you can help customers make more informed decisions about how best to solve their challenges.

 

Furthermore, demand generation content helps build trust in your brand by positioning it as an industry leader that knows how to solve customer problems through the products and services they offer. This helps create long-term relationships with your customers and helps build loyalty.

 

By investing in demand generation content, companies can reach new audiences, grow their customer base and generate more sales. It’s an essential component of any successful marketing strategy.

 

Why You Should Prioritize Creating Audiences For Demand Generation

 

No matter how stellar your product or service is, you won’t acquire the level of leads you desire if it’s not marketed to the proper people. Achieving successful marketing collateral begins with discerning who your target audience is and what motivates them to act.

 

Identifying and understanding your customers’ pain points is a vital initial step in defining who your target audience should be. Doing so lets you articulate how your business effectively solves their problems and delivers the best solutions.

 

To identify your target audience and those who don’t fit – create buyer personas or profiles.

 

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer and fulfills the need for a more concrete definition of who you’re creating content for. It should include demographic information such as age, occupation, location, etc., along with psychographic data that explores what motivates them to act (or not).

 

This is an effective way to learn the challenges and needs of real people you’re attempting to reach. With this knowledge, it will be easier for you to curate content that appeals precisely to their requirements.

 

Creating High-Quality Content Will Generate Demand

 

High-quality content creation is the cornerstone of demand generation. Quality content that resonates with your target audience will help you establish trust and nurture relationships, leading to more conversions.

 

Your content should be tailored to specific customer needs and preferences. By understanding who your customers are, what their problems are, and how they prefer to consume information (blogs, videos, podcasts, etc.), you can create relevant content that meets their needs.

 

Ensure all your content is helpful and provides value — avoid anything too promotional or salesy. You want readers to feel like they’re getting something out of it; otherwise, why would they keep reading?

 

Publishing original content helps to distinguish your business from competitors and improve your SEO performance. To ensure that your search engine optimization efforts are effective and successful, stay clear of overly-saturated keyword use or replicating existing content.

 

Instead, uncover the unique angles about your company — think niche interests or brand values— then share them via compelling stories that accurately represent you in an unmistakably authentic voice.

 

Final Words

 

Demand generation is essential for building quality leads, generating sales, and creating lasting relationships with customers. By creating content that speaks to your target audience’s needs, you can build trust in your brand as an industry leader and help drive conversions.

 

Remember that understanding your customer’s wants and needs is paramount for crafting meaningful content. Additionally, providing value through helpful resources will help you stand out from the competition and provide a more successful demand generation strategy.

Categories
Buying Intent Data Compelling Event Signals Sales Pipeline Sales Process Sales Technology Signal Intelligence

Empowering Your Sales Funnel with Social Signals and Sales Tech

Plenty of sales tech is out there, and no wonder your sales team can use every advantage. Nowadays, tech is trying to do more than just helping sales reps measure their performance on the hard metrics they’re used to, such as pipeline conversion ratio (or how many deals closed out from how many you’ve generated) or win percentage (sales success rate).

The future of sales technology is not only about sales volume but also about improving sales processes and developing relationships with customers who are ready to buy.

The Role of Signals in Social Media

The Role of Signals in Social Media 

The use of social media has exploded in recent years, with billions of people worldwide now using Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram each month. Moreover, the number of users on these platforms is expected to increase as they become more mainstream. As a result, companies need to adapt their sales strategies accordingly.

Social media can provide a wealth of information about the target audience and their buying preferences. Still, it’s essential not to overlook how this data can be used with other factors such as speech analytics. This approach allows you to create targeted campaigns that reflect your customers’ needs and interests rather than relying on generic information about your product or service that might not be relevant to everyone involved.

In the past, sales reps could input their conversations into a system and get real-time feedback on how they were doing. This allowed them to adjust their approach and improve their performance. But now, with the advent of social media and virtual assistants, we can move beyond these conversations and look at how people feel about us online.

This is where things get interesting: when we can track what people are saying about us online, we can finally truly understand what our customers want and need from us—and that’s something no other industry has been able to do!

Automation, CRMs, and Other Sales Tech

Automation, CRMs, and Other Sales Tech

B2B sales have changed.

As B2B sales professionals, we know how hard it is to keep up with all the latest trends in marketing automation, CRM tools, and other sales technology solutions.

These solutions allow businesses to automate marketing processes, create personalized content for their customers, and measure performance in real-time.

What does this mean for business owners? First, it means that the playing field is more level than before. You don’t need a vast budget or army of employees to keep up with your competitors. With these tools, you can manage your entire sales process from start to finish.

Working with Social Signals and Sales Tech

Working with Social Signals and Sales Tech

The sales funnel is a powerful tool for companies. It’s a way to organize your workflow that helps you understand where the most critical points of contact are with your customers and how you can move them through the process from interest to sale.

When it works as intended, it helps companies entice more people into their sales process by doing what they’re good at — offering value and providing quality products or services.

But if something goes wrong during this process, it can be disastrous for a company.

You can’t afford to have a “broken” sales funnel for long in business. If you do, leads will hemorrhage quickly, and you’ll feel like you’re doing something wrong because people who showed interest in your product or service are now gone.

Getting the most out of your sales funnel requires a lot of planning and analysis. But if you don’t have a system in place, you can’t be sure if what you’re doing is working or not.

One way to ensure your sales funnel is working as it should is to look at the numbers. For example, if people sign up for your website but aren’t converting, something isn’t working. This could be because there are too many steps involved in the sales funnel or because there isn’t enough information about what happens next after signing up for a free trial or consultation.

The best way to ensure that your sales funnel is working properly is by using A/B testing software like Optimizely or Unbounce (or even Google Analytics). You can test different versions of landing pages, emails, videos, etc., to see what works best with the audience you are trying to reach.

The next frontier for sales leaders is shifting from sales intelligence to social intelligence.

Instead of focusing on hard data and metrics, we can use subtle social signals to build the intangible emotional bonds that guide most purchase decisions.

Conclusion

The way people buy has changed. As more purchasing decisions are made online, prospects are making the leap to purchase independently rather than through a sales rep.

But while the buying process has changed, the reasons behind it haven’t. Prospects still want to feel like they have a personal connection with the companies they buy from, and that’s where social intelligence comes in.

Social intelligence is the ability to see subtle (and often imperceptible) social signals that can guide an individual’s purchase decisions. It’s about understanding how people interact with each other on social media platforms and using that information to build intangible emotional bonds with prospects that will lead them down a path toward becoming customers.

Social intelligence is something that sales leaders need to understand if they want to build long-term relationships with their customers—and it’s something that can be incredibly effective when used correctly!

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Buying Intent Data Customer Churn Sales Pipeline Sales Process Sales Technology

Understanding Data Mining and How It Can Enhance Your Business

There is real treasure in your database. You know this. You’ve seen the vast sales boosts from upselling, remarketing, and other valuable data-driven campaigns. What about the data or Data Mining?

The problem is, they don’t know what to do with it. They’re not sure if they should use it for marketing or sales; they don’t know if they should use it to improve their product or service offerings, and they certainly don’t know how to take that data and apply it to improve their bottom line.

But here’s the thing: You have this data because customers are willing—even eager—to share it with you! And that means you can use it to grow your business in ways you never imagined possible.

What is Data Mining?

What is Data Mining?

Data mining is a process that allows companies to uncover patterns and make predictions about future behavior based on past actions. In other words, data mining will enable you to use your existing data to make better decisions about future activities.

The most common use case for data mining is predictive analytics, which uses past events to predict future outcomes. For example, we can use this information to recommend product B as an add-on option during checkout.

In addition to helping businesses increase revenue through more targeted marketing campaigns and sales offers, data mining also helps companies save money by reducing waste and avoiding unnecessary expenses on product returns or customer service calls.

How Does Data Mining Benefit Businesses?

How Does Data Mining Benefit Businesses?

Data mining helps businesses understand their customers better so they can improve their products and services accordingly. For example, suppose you’re a retailer who sells clothing online. In that case, you may use data mining to discover that most women between 18-30 prefer dresses with pockets over dresses without pockets. You can then use this information to adjust your product offerings accordingly.

How Has Data Mining Impacted Marketing?

How Has Data Mining Impacted Marketing?

Data mining has significantly impacted marketing because it allows marketers to make more accurate predictions about consumers’ behavior and preferences than ever before. This means that marketers can create more targeted messages that speak directly to their target audience’s needs and desires—and ultimately get them more excited about buying whatever product or service they’re selling!

The Role of Data Mining in Reducing Customer Churn

The Role of Data Mining in Reducing Customer Churn

Have you ever been shopping for a product and seen a competitor with a lower price? Then, even if you don’t buy the product, it’s likely that you will remember that lower price.

That’s why it’s so important to keep your customers happy. You need to ensure they’re getting the best value possible from your products and services, which is where data mining comes in. Data mining can help you identify patterns in customer behavior, allowing you to predict when customers are most likely to switch to another provider.

Marketing teams can use this information to convince customers that they’re getting a better deal than their competitors. You could also use this information to send targeted coupons and offers based on your knowledge of each customer’s purchasing history.

When mining your data, it can be easy to get caught up in the numbers—Lifetime Customer Value, retention rate, churn rate. But there’s more to data than just numbers.

By digging into your data and pulling some surveys and questionnaires, you can build a case on why customers are bailing. This will give you more insight into what changes need to happen for them to stick around longer.

You can do this by mining data and identifying where customers are falling off. Then you can use these findings as the basis for surveys or questionnaires that help you determine why they left in the first place.

The Role of Data Mining in Product Development

The Role of Data Mining in Product Development

There’s no doubt that data mining is a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal, but it’s essential to understand what it is and how it works before you start using it. Data mining is analyzing large amounts of data to find patterns and trends that can be used to make predictions about future behavior and events.

There’s no shortage of ideas and opportunities to consider when using data mining to create new products. But it’s important to remember that the best use of data mining is not just about creating a product that people want, but rather one that they didn’t even know they needed until they saw it!

Think about it: if you could predict exactly what someone wanted, they would already have it. So you might as well just give them that thing instead of creating something new and innovative!

Here’s a breakdown of how this works:

  1. Identify the features that make your product unique and different from other offerings in the space.
  2. Find out what customers want (or don’t want) in your industry by surveying them or talking one-on-one about their preferences and needs.
  3. Use this information to develop an idea for a new product, then build it!

Data mining allows you to see the most popular trends and tailor your product line accordingly. For example, if many people are not using a particular feature, you can remove it from future product versions or even stop offering it altogether. This ensures that only those who need that feature get it, while those who don’t will be happy with their less cluttered experience.

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Buying Intent Data Compelling Event Signals Sales Pipeline Sales Process Sales Technology Signal Intelligence

Why You Need Data To Keep Luck In Your Corner

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. 

I’m pretty sure plenty of successful people will agree. Luck helps, but it’s not enough for the modern-day marketer—especially one who is passionate about growing sales in their business. And that’s why I started using modern technologies and data to boost my luck-o-meter, to help me grow my own business. I know that being lucky is in your hands. You can’t rely on good fortune alone anymore.

The sales profession has been subjected to scrutiny over the years. With the rise of digital technologies, it’s now easier to get a pulse on how customers feel about your company and your products.

The data shows that buyers have lower trust in salespeople than in other professions. It also indicates that buyers are wary of salespeople plying them with unwanted information or trying to upsell them on products they don’t need.

One reason for this distrust may be that many salespeople come across as pushy and insincere due to their boilerplate messaging. But there’s another factor contributing to this phenomenon: Your prospects don’t know who you are.

The HubSpot Sales Enablement 2021 Report tells us that 50% of prospects think salespeople are pushy and only 3% trust them. Yet, according to another study by Forrester, only 22% of salespeople are very effective at personalizing content for every buyer interaction — which could explain why so many prospects feel so poorly about the profession overall.

Upgrading Sales Teams and Increasing Their Luck With Big Data, Predictive Analytics, and Customer Journey Mapping

While there is no silver bullet that will guarantee success for every salesperson, some tools can help you get more leads, convert them into customers, and close deals faster.

Here are four ways to use technology to boost your sales:

Create a CRM System for Better Lead Tracking

#1: Create a CRM System for Better Lead Tracking

A customer relationship management (CRM) system is essential for any sales professional. It allows you to keep track of all potential clients and their needs by storing their contact information in one place. You can then manage all data from one central location instead of scattering it across various documents and emails. This makes it easier to follow up on leads and manage client communications over time.

The best CRMs also integrate with other applications such as email marketing automation tools or lead generation software so that you’re able to automate certain activities like sending out newsletters or tracking how many people opened your email newsletter campaign last week compared with how many opened it last month.

Work Smarter with Signal Intelligence

#2: Work Smarter with Signal Intelligence

The best time to reach out to your prospects is when they’re in the market for your product. Sounds obvious, but this is a crucial mistake we see companies make.

When you reach out to a prospect based on a Signal, timing is on your side. You have all the information you need to reach out to companies likely to be looking for your product.

Think about your buying process: When do you start researching? When do you decide what company or product you’re going to buy from? When do you make a final decision?

These three stages are also known as “the buying funnel.” The point of the buying funnel is that it helps us understand where our customers are at in their journey so that we can communicate with them appropriately at each stage of their decision-making process.

When you have a lot of data in your CRM, it’s easy to get lost in the noise. You may have hundreds of companies in your CRM, but Signals help you sort out the ones you should prioritize right now.

Signals are based on specific events that happen to your contacts. For example, if a connection sends you an email about a proposal, you’ll be notified immediately to respond quickly. If a prospect closes a deal with another company, you’ll be notified so that you don’t waste time with them anymore. Signal Intelligence helps ensure that the most important information gets to the right people at the right time.

Leverage Data into Sales Pitches

#3: Leverage Data into Sales Pitches

You can make your pitch more relevant by tailoring it to the prospect’s current situation. You’ll always have a good reason to reach out, so you don’t need to question whether or not to get in touch.

So… How to pitch a prospect?

You can tailor your pitch based on the prospect’s current situation. You’ll always have an apparent reason to be in contact, so there’s no doubt whether you should reach out right now.

Here are some tips:

  1. Find out everything you can about the prospect’s business. What do they want to solve? What are they struggling with? What needs do they have that you can meet? Research their website and social media accounts. Look at their competitors’ sites as well — what do they do well and poorly? How does your company compare?
  2. Consider what stage of development your product is at and whether or not it will benefit them right now. If possible, ask for feedback on what would help solve their problem(s).
  3. Ask yourself if this is someone you’d like to work with long-term — not just because they have money, but because they’re smart, driven, enthusiastic about what they do, and generally pleasant to be around (and hopefully vice versa!). You don’t want to burn bridges by pitching poorly or being pushy; however, if you’re genuinely interested in working together long-term, it will show through!
Be the Early Bird

#4: Be the Early Bird

When you are selling a product or service, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and forget about everything else. However, you can never underestimate the importance of your customers’ needs.

When you’re selling, your goal is to make a sale. But, if you are not thinking about what your customer wants and needs, you will not be able to do that.

One way to ensure that you do not fall into this trap is by anticipating your customers’ needs. This is particularly important if they have not yet expressed them verbally or with their behavior.

By anticipating the buyer’s needs and reaching out before they begin researching, you can increase your chances of landing the sale.

Categories
Buying Intent Data Sales Pipeline Sales Process Signal Intelligence

Predictive Lead Generation: MQLs vs. Intent Data

We live in a world where everything is available on demand. Use Intent Data to keep up with your clients’ changing expectations and interact with them more effectively as a seller. Accounts are now – or should be – at the heart of everything we do in the revenue-generating function. As a result, to provide our prospects with a customer-centric experience, the tools and technology we employ must educate and support all areas of the sales process.

Modern clients have access to more information than ever before. As a result, they’re performing more research behind the scenes, with more than 70% of purchasers specifying their own requirements before speaking with a salesperson.

In sales, our ability to inspire and engage prospects throughout their journey is critical to closing the transaction. However, with marketing qualified leads (MQLs), you can only deliver value to your clients once they’ve established contact with you.

On the other hand, modern sellers may leverage intent data to engage relevant leads at the right time and deliver value in whichever phase they are in their buying journey.

intent data

Taking advantage of intent data

One of the most challenging tasks for sellers in the past has been determining exactly what our prospects desire. Before entering into a meeting, we typically depend on MQLs to give us a broad notion of who the lead is and what their desires are.

However, those MQLs frequently leave us with general information that maps back to our ideal customer profile rather than the detailed insights into each prospect that we want to build a tailored experience.

According to a survey, despite the fact that over half of account-driven firms focus their strategy on indicators like MQLs, 80% of companies failed to meet revenue targets in 2019.

MQLs are more convenient than accurate: they collect data through obsolete strategies like form fills and cold outreach, enabling business development representatives to make decisions based on restricted, static data. MQLs aren’t enough in the Age of the Customer, when prospects want customized and precise interaction from a sales team.

For far too long, sales teams have regarded MQLs as a guiding light for buyer engagement. They don’t provide us with the real-time data we require to add value to our prospects’ journeys. This is where intent data comes in handy.

When to use intent data

In contrast to MQLs, intent data allows you to see the buyer’s activities before meeting with a seller. It’s a combination of all the anonymous research and training throughout the internet, showing behavior and buying signals you wouldn’t have known about until a buyer made themselves known. It’s hard to determine what your prospects are looking for in a solution without intent data.

Intent data helps you better understand what matters to your prospects as they progress through the phases of the purchase process.

This information is crucial for sellers. As I previously stated, contemporary sellers must deliver value to their prospects, or they may flee to your competition because time is critical to sales. 

the Age of the Customer

Profit quickly

The ultimate purpose of go-to-market teams is to increase revenue. In the Age of the Customer, the best approach to getting the desired outcomes is to give your customers a tailored experience. You’ll need real-time information on who they are, what they value, and where they are in the purchasing process.

You can prioritize your leads wherever they are in their buying journey and provide value using intent data rather than MQLs.

Takeaway

There are no shortcuts to success available. You can either buy opt-ins and spend money marketing them to turn them into leads or undertake the complex, continuing job of outbound sales and digital marketing to generate them yourself.

Intent data can be pretty beneficial. Sales intelligence, particularly in complicated purchasing teams, can help reduce sales cycles and increase closing rates.

Just be mindful that at the junction of MQLs and intent data, there’s a lot of snake oil being offered. Make sure you do your homework. You should be aware of what you’re purchasing. Also, be honest with yourself about how it will help you achieve your personal, career, departmental, and business objectives.

Categories
Account Monitoring Buying Intent Data Sales Process Signal Intelligence

5 Reasons Why You Should Use Account-Based Marketing to Grow Your Biggest Accounts

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategy that offers much promise to businesses. Instead of funneling leads into the sales pipeline, ABM employs one-to-one marketing to target high-value accounts. These days, many companies develop their ABM teams, including members from both marketing and sales, to determine what constitutes a high-value client and how to target and convert it.

To ensure that B2B ABM works for you, your sales and marketing teams must be on the same page. You’ll also need to spend time and money with your ABM providers to thoroughly plan and strategize your approach, which includes developing materials that adapt to what your target clients want to see.

An ABM marketing plan must change over time. If you keep utilizing the same strategies repeatedly, you’ll eventually start noticing diminishing returns. Simply said, when you—and even your competitors—continue to employ the same system, clients become tired of it and respond less effectively.

Another advantage is that ABM allows for a more creative marketing approach. Digital marketing, in addition to email or phone-based marketing, may reach potential leads in different accounts and link them.

Why is ABM the best modern marketing strategy?

Using Account-Based Marketing

Personalized communications

ABM tailors all communications to the specific needs of high-value target accounts. Each client appreciates how thoroughly your company investigated their requirements and positioned itself to offer answers to their challenges.

The use of marketing resources is done systematically.

Instead of casting a wide net to capture as many leads as possible, ABM allows you to adopt a more systematic marketing approach. Your marketing team may devote more time and money to generating high-value account profiles and thinking about tailoring the marketing campaign. Because your marketing and sales teams will be working together on each account, the resources will be better integrated and tracked.

ROI is calculated.

Instead of a generic  Return on Investment (ROI) at the end of the marketing funnel, ABM measures it by the value of each account transaction.

Excellent follow-up is ensured.

ABM focuses marketing and sales efforts on specific accounts. Each account is followed from one step to the next, from strategy through conversion, so you can know precisely where it is and how much ROI it has. Because each account approach is unique, building solid connections with each account is essential. This is a more effective tracking method than simply verifying who falls out along the route. You can see how one account provides far more than the other.

It allows you to develop effective sales and marketing strategies.

With ABM, you can easily see the efficacy of your sales and marketing initiatives, and you can see what works and what doesn’t. You can see what works at every level since your sales and marketing are connected for each account.

ABM strategies that work

Account-Based Marketing Strategies

Here are ten of the most effective ABM strategies we’ve seen in operation over the last few years. We’ve included a bunch of them so you may mix and match to construct a dynamic B2B ABM plan for your sales efforts.

Create a strong target account list.

ABM has a more significant ROI than other marketing strategies that require a target account list to focus your efforts on. To begin with, the benefit of ABM is that it allows you to focus on clients that are a perfect fit for your goods and solutions. You may create a B2B target account list based on businesses with whom you’ve done business or who are clearly in need of what you’re offering.

It’s a good idea to get assistance from a reputable B2B data service supplier. They may supply look-alike lists that match the qualities of your desired audience, in addition to fleshing out critical facts on your target list.

When it comes to successfully exploiting account lists to boost sales efforts, accuracy is critical since mistakes may be costly in terms of time and money. After all, you want to be talking to the appropriate decision-makers in the companies you’re reaching out to.

Warm-up leads with content syndication.

Many individuals begin ABM initiatives assuming that they must start from scratch. While this is a viable alternative, the outcomes are likely mixed. One thing you can do is use content syndication to warm up your prospects before your sales staff engages them. The goal is to put your most valuable and relevant information in front of your ideal prospects.

This material may be distributed in various ways, including through a dedicated platform, email, phone calls, and even social media. 

Find in-market buyers using intent data.

Only a tiny percentage of B2B companies now use compelling event signals to filter their lead list to those most likely to buy. At its most basic level, these trigger signals are the signs and behaviors that indicate a person’s interest in a particular product. The amount of information collected influences how near (or distant) that individual is to complete a purchase. Whatever degree of intent data you have, compelling event signals will help you filter down a list of leads to those who can be successfully targeted with ABM.

Quality trigger signals may be found in a variety of places. Your website traffic is the most easily accessible. The number of times a visitor visits your site, the pages they look at, and how long they remain are all solid indications of interest that you can use. Additional sources include search engine terms, content interaction, and even a person’s digital footprints across several websites.

Intent-based advertising should be used.

One of the best things about trigger signals is that it allows you to adapt your advertising to fit your ABM needs. For one thing, you can target the proper individuals using built-in technologies like Google’s own Custom Intent Audiences. For another, and this is crucial, you can tailor the content of your ads to effectively respond to the pain points that drove your target audience to seek solutions in the first place.

Conclusion

If you’ve heard about ABM for a while, it might be time to take advantage of it. You may start with a single account and examine how it works compared to the marketing funnel and numerous lead-generating options. How do you think an ABM approach might affect your marketing and sales teams? What do you believe would need to alter the most in your company to switch to ABM?

ABM does not need to be complicated. By integrating the strategies above and technologies for your marketing and sales teams to utilize simultaneously, you’ll be able to find essential accounts more quickly, minimize friction in your flywheel, and expand more effectively.

Categories
Buying Intent Data Compelling Event Signals Signal Intelligence

Signals vs. Data vs. Database

Is there a difference?

B2B sales professionals are familiar with the terms signals, data, and databases, but their distinctions may be confusing. Part of the reason for this is because different CRM and marketing automation vendors use the terminology differently.

That is why we believe it is necessary to clarify the differences, particularly between signals and data, and their functions in the sales process. Below, we’ll look at the significant differences between these data-driven B2B sales techniques.

Signals vs. Data vs. Database sales efforts

What are data, databases, and signals?

In today’s climate, the B2B selling process might be more complex than before. Sure, your company has a lot of data, but making sense of it and utilizing it at the right moment requires a strategy. You must establish client profiles, do market research, generate relevant and current content, and meet buyers where they are in the B2B sales process, at the very least.

Data is about buying signals, events, or behaviors that statistically indicate a transaction will occur shortly.

They’re particular to a buyer’s desire to act during the purchasing process, which means they can give out signs about what they’re keen on and when they’re most likely to purchase.

When you know who’s ready to purchase, it’s a lot easier to focus your sales efforts.

This data may be obtained in a variety of formats and from a variety of sources. First-party data sources include CRM software, websites, and conversational marketing platforms. Then, there is third-party data, which originates from outside sources and is frequently bought by B2B marketers. This information is often used to serve targeted advertisements or produce tailored content.

For the most part, though, data is unstructured, unfiltered code. That is where signals and signal intelligence come in. 

Gathering signal intelligence on accounts that are part of your total addressable market is something that cannot be downplayed. At PipelineSignals, we focus on the category of compelling events specifically.

This is accomplished by using signals, which are occurrences that signify an opportunity for you to contact a prospect as a salesman. Signals allow you to predict when a company will want your product or service, allowing you to focus on the accounts that are most likely to convert into paying accounts right now.

ideal client profile

Signals that suggest a great opportunity for you vary depending on your company’s offer, the companies you target, and your sales approach, just as there is no standard ideal client profile. You’ll have to make some effort on your end to figure out what signals to watch for, such as an increase in the likelihood of buying.

Looking carefully at your existing accounts is a good place to start when determining what signals to watch for. It’s the same way you’d go about creating an ideal client profile. Before they became consumers, what happened in their organizations? You may already know the answer if you know your market well, but even if that’s the case, make sure to back up your gut instinct with signal intelligence before following certain hunches.

Signals

You should base your prospecting on this information if you can recognize an actionable pipeline lead by one or a set of signals. You’ll uncover a significant number of warm, actionable leads after you find a link between a pleased new client and a signal.

Sellers may find it challenging to discover B2B signals and much more difficult to transform those signals into actionable information. Companies at various phases of the B2B buying process send continuous messages to vendors, whether we realize it or not. The challenge for organizations is to recognize and comprehend the signals produced and sent forth across global B2B networks.

Some signals are stronger than others, and not every indication shows buying intent. The fundamental objective of predictive marketing is to understand what those B2B signals are, how to successfully interpret them, and put measures in place to take advantage of them. This results in more informed – and successful – marketing and sales teams.

Compelling event signals

Different Compelling Event Signals

Competitive compelling events are divided into three categories.

Relationship Roadmaps

A relationship roadmap can help you evaluate your present connections and plan for future ones within the same account. It provides answers to important queries such as: 

  • Who do you presently know at the account?
  • Who do you wish to find out about?
  • What must you do to receive an introduction?

It also allows you to organize yourself into three degrees of outreach: high, broad, and deep, which will help you enhance your impact inside your accounts.

Time and Maturity

A buyer’s path isn’t always straightforward, and interaction, whether once or numerous times, isn’t always enough to determine intent. To ensure that a prospect is ready to do a transaction, your sellers must add more and more factors to their qualifying criteria. Innovative solutions for isolating and connecting with narrower groups of prospects are required.

Signals may also help you prioritize accounts and determine whether it is appropriate to connect with a prospect.  

buyer interaction

Competitive Intelligence

Simply put, competitive intelligence enables you to make better and more informed decisions by collecting and analyzing data about your competition and the surrounding business environment. Competitive intelligence allows businesses to see market trends or undiscovered opportunities and predict their competitors’ next move.

Because of the vast quantity of data available in today’s digital environment, you may capitalize on the efforts of others and build on their achievements. In the end, you’ll save time and money since you’ll be able to avoid the mistakes they’ve already made.

competitive intelligence

How to recognize and interpret buying signals

As they go through the buyer journey, prospective accounts send out various trigger signals. The first step in the buyer’s journey is to conduct research. The majority of the time, this research begins with a visit to a website. Website visits may be a significant intent indicator, yet most of the time, website visitors stay anonymous.

These prospective accounts are actively and progressively visiting websites and consuming different types of B2B content online throughout the research stage of the buying process. Internet visits, newspaper articles, webinars, e-books, social networking sites, and other online information tools enable prospective buyers to inform themselves extensively while keeping sellers away until they are prepared to discuss.

On the surface, it appears like potential clients have gained an advantage by effectively avoiding direct contact with a salesman. Until now, that is. Predictive marketing and selling utilizing signal intelligence have given revenue teams a means to see what’s going on behind the scenes in terms of research and content consumption.

Each of these online behaviors produces a consumption event that indicates where a prospect is in the buyer journey, as well as their potential intent. Businesses are supporting the rise of predictive marketing using signal intelligence by gathering, organizing, and converting billions of daily consumption events into compelling event signals that can be connected to, say, an anonymous website visitor identity.

Signals can allow companies to prioritize their time and resources to move more qualified demand down the funnel. This is the pinnacle of predictive marketing.

Conclusion

Both data and signals will assist you in determining where your prospect is in the sales cycle, but you have to know how to utilize them correctly. You’ll be on the right track for success if you pay attention to these indications the next time you communicate with potential new clients.

PipelineSignals partners with several companies all over the globe, helping mine sales intelligence from their total addressable market and all important accounts inside that TAM. We provide you with sales intelligence daily, weekly, or monthly basis so that your sellers can respond swiftly to generate faster and more successful possibilities or reduce risks in their accounts.

Categories
Buying Intent Data Compelling Event Signals

Compelling Events Signals vs Buying Intent Data

What Are Compelling Events Signals?

Compelling Events Signals are an invaluable tool for sales teams to determine areas of opportunity and risk. Selling with Signals on your side lets your sellers spend more time on contacts and activities that are most likely to convert into real sales conversations.

Blind selling is no longer an option for the modern seller. Through smart prioritization of target accounts and contacts, sellers have a better chance of getting responses, improving their winning opportunities. You can’t force someone to buy unless they’re ready to buy. This is true.

However, there are “compelling events” that can give you insight into which accounts are more likely to buy than others. We call these compelling event signals, trigger signals, or simply, Signals.

Doing this can revolutionize not just the way your sellers prospect and meet quota from net new sales. It can also change the way your customer success managers (CSMs) keep tabs on customers signaling potential for cross-sell or upsell, or risks of customer churn. 

Of course, there isn’t one right way for pipeline creation and growth. But understanding how to identify and chase after opportunities can significantly improve your numbers.

Here’s our CEO, Jamie Shanks, giving us an overview on Compelling Events Signals compared to Buying Intent Data:

https://youtu.be/-6HURSV2KI8

Buying Intent Data

Before we talk about Compelling Events Signals, also commonly known as Trigger Signals, let’s delve into Buying Intent Data.

Intent data, sometimes called buyer/buying data or purchasing intent, refers to the level of inclination that a customer has to buy a product or service in a given period of time.

Marketers and sellers assess buying intent using different tools, such as predictive modeling. They do this to narrow down the chances of future results based on the data they’ve gathered. This gives them the essentials: demographics, website activity, past purchases, behavior towards marketing, and others.

Assessing Intent

Evaluating buying intent involves data gathering through different sources to hone down on which factors have the most actionable impact. The data helps sellers drive their strategies in terms of communications, sales, and marketing.

Intent data gathered by these tools include target accounts’ or contact’s online activity. These interests can be obtained through their online footprint or caches. Understanding their buyer’s journey can make a contact’s buying intent signal stand out from others with moderate activity. For example, someone downloading case studies and ebooks might be further along the buyer’s journey compared to someone who visited a few of your blogs. 

This is why sellers believe it’s the most accurate way to foretell who is in the market for their products. Buying intent can help a sales team’s account-based sales and marketing strategies perform better.

Intent Data for Marketing

The goal of assessing intent is to have a better understanding of how effective their marketing campaigns are. Is the money they’re putting into their marketing activities resulting in a practical ROI? Assessing buying intent is done to primarily analyze data, allowing teams to put out the correct type of messaging to their target audience.

Intent Data for Sales

In addition, teams can also learn when a customer is most inclined to buy from vendors. Lead generation and nurture campaigns, as well as account-based marketing, fall in this category. Applying these strategies properly can improve a company’s conversions, sales, and a stronger link between their sales and marketing departments.

Compelling Events Signals:

Here at PipelineSignals, we specialize in Compelling Event Signals instead of Buying Intent Data. We are the first and only company to do so, and we are beyond confident that understanding Signals and actioning on them can give your sales team significant advantage over your competitors.

Here are the three categories of Compelling Events Signals:

1. Time Signals

Time is a constant. And with it, so is change. These two things happen every second in almost every organization. It is inevitable for people to join and leave companies. Company X just hired a new VP of Sales. Is his vision for the company the same or significantly different than the previous person in the role? As changes like this happen, an organization’s priorities can also change. 

These movements are called Time Signals. They allow you to have a clearer, more accurate picture of a target account’s current status. As a result, your sales team can start, modify, or stop sales strategies ahead of time.

2. Relationship Signals

Relationships that you have with your current accounts and contacts are something you should never overlook. Competitors come and go, copying your sales processes and products all the time. Through relationship signals, you can step up and protect your deals or renewals. 

Not only that – you can also ensure that your sellers can constantly open up doors and windows for new opportunities and connections within your network.

There are different ways to go about this. Relationship signals exist within your network: alumni connections, key stakeholders from current accounts that are either leaving to join other (prospect) accounts, and more.

These opportunities can be leveraged to be ahead of the game, making it virtually impossible for competitors to catch up to you. More importantly, they can grow your pipeline exponentially. You can use these connections to learn more about where contacts are headed. And if you’ve forged a pleasant relationship with them, you can find yourself in front of windows of opportunities. As such, these signals must be treated with the utmost urgency.

3. Competitive Signals

As the name implies, these Signals help monitor your competitors. Are they present in the same target market that you’re working with? Do they currently have any influence on your prospect accounts? Are your current customers actively talking to your competitors?

Having this data can aid in making better decisions about your sales team’s resource management, prioritization of accounts, and risk assessment.

Putting Compelling Events Signals to Work

Using Trigger Signals as the focus of developing your target account lists includes thinking of your customer successes, relationships, and time events within your total addressable market (TAM). It is a strategic manner that goes outside the usual customer-centric core. More often than not, sellers use subjective biases, like focusing too much on acquiring popular logos, or getting too attached to accounts they are working on.

Changing a sales team’s mindset to find these three critical Signals gives them and the entire organization a competitive advantage — something competitors simply can’t replicate or compete against. 

Here’s a simplified example: if you’ve got family working in a name corporation (which incidentally makes for an excellent account for your sales team), wouldn’t you use this connection as an advantage to make your way towards that target account? 

In the same way, think of this mindset on a bigger scale. How can you identify connections such as this to use as leverage points? Start by identifying client successes. Past or present customers who are already satisfied with your product or service, as well as the people in these happy customers’ networks — these are among the first things you should start thinking about.

This kind of thinking can open up a vast universe of sales possibilities. Plus, it’ll keep expanding as you add more happy clients to your portfolio.