The Outbound Revolution Driving Modern B2B Sales Strategy

In 2021, setting meetings was the number one challenge for sales teams. The ability to keep prospects engaged throughout the sales process was a close second.

The shift from in-person lead sales to virtual to now hybrid, coupled with changing technology, has made it challenging for sales teams to hit their outbound goals. 

By the end of the year, in October of 2021, 82% of sales professionals from an 800+ survey said they weren’t hitting their outbound targets. This challenge was felt by both senior leadership and frontline sellers when we broke down the results as well as across the revenue organization (Sales and Marketing).

The bottom line? Sales teams are struggling with outbound and need new solutions to create more impactful digital selling experiences. 

I’m going to say it. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” And yet, old sales strategies are one of the top four reasons teams weren’t hitting their numbers.

If you want to revolutionize your B2B sales strategy in 2022 and set more meetings by delivering an experience buyers want, you have to take a modern outbound approach by avoiding these four common mistakes.

1. 1. Your messaging is too generic
   2. Your focusing on quantity over quality
   3. Your tech stack doesn’t support a hybrid environment
   4. Your sales plays are old and boring

To help navigate those issues, we’re highlighting key solutions that are sure to pull frontline sellers out of that dreaded 82%.

Related Content: Modern Outbound Playbook & The Modern Outbound Tech Stack

Generic Messages Get Deleted, Personalized Messages Get Responses

It’s no shock that generic messages were the top reason why teams aren’t reaching their outbound numbers. Nothing is more impersonal to a prospect than a canned email or LinkedIn DM. Generic messages make it harder to forge a connection and easier to lose the interest of your prospects.

Decision-makers are smart. They can identify a canned subject line and opener with just a glance. Today’s B2B buyers are looking for personalized messages, ones that address their specific pain points and give them the answers they’re searching for with relevant content. 

Buyers are busy and selfish. They don’t want to feel like another lead on the list, and they especially don’t care if you need to sell them something. 

They want to feel like sellers are paying attention to them, so they aren’t just another lead on a list.

The key is to create messaging that balances automation with the human touch for ultimate personalization. By focusing on quality conversations and engagements, each prospect receives individualized attention.

The result? Prospects who engage with you and your outbound messages are more likely to take a meeting with you. They’re also more likely to purchase from you down the line. You just need to do the homework. Take the time to understand and address their unique pain points, acknowledge their challenges, and provide them with the right solution. 

Related Content: The Best B2B Sales Strategies for Tanking Opportunities in 2022

Quantity Over Quality Has No Place in Modern Sales

For decades, the emphasis has always been on quantity — the number of activities, meetings you can set, and opportunities you can close. Unfortunately, that mentality is a big contributor to the abundance of generic messages.

The need to meet your numbers means less time personalizing your message. And, the less personal the message, the less likely you are to have an engaged lead. Both leave you with a no-win situation.

Trust us: focusing on quality instead of quantity will make your outbound strategy more effective. It’s all about setting the right KPIs that empower sellers to garner more substantial, engaging touchpoints.

If you start tracking the quality of your outreach and conversations, you’ll know how effective your outbound is and if your messages are well-targeted. And, with the proper tool in place, you can gather insights around the quality of your content to determine if it’s resonating with your leads.

(Quick Tip: We recommend using Outreach’s Buyer Sentiment analysis and Sequence Insights features to measure engagement and response tone.)

Hitting numbers is essential, but it’s better to have fewer high-value leads with better probability than a lot of low-value leads with little chance of closing. The better quality your leads, the more ROI you’ll see — be that in larger sales, repeat loyalty, and referrals.

Modern buyers want quality and it’s the seller’s job to give it to them.

More Tech Does Not Mean More Automation

Few market researchers are seeing a decline in the demand for innovative sales tech. According to Gartner, many sales leaders and CSOs are reporting an annual 5% uptick in their sales tech budget.

As the pool of sales tech options grows larger — especially those for outbound activities — it’s important to identify the tools that will emanate impact. And true impact doesn’t come from fully-automated outbound.

The key to traversing today’s sales tech landscape is finding the balance between automation and human touch that allows for personalization at scale. To do that, your stack needs to have these four components:

1. 1. A database for accurate buyer information
   2. A way to track your sequences and sales plays
   3. Tools to thread creativity into those sequences
   4. A system that tracks and compiles data for better decision-making

To help you pinpoint the tools that do those things best, we have a few recommendations for industry-leading platforms for sales engagement, creative prospecting, and data enrichment.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

You can’t personalize if you don’t know the person, right? With LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can streamline prospect researching while enjoying the benefits of a digital selling channel. Advanced searches, list building and sharing, post updates, and give you quick access to prospects and their interests.

Outreach for Sales Engagement

Outreach is the #1 platform on the market right now for sequence execution. Their cache of time-saving integrations and in-depth reporting simplify engagement tracking while providing actionable insight. 

Vidyard for Video Prospecting

Text-only emails and LinkedIn DMs are a staple of outbound plays, but video puts the person in personalization. Vidyard helps sellers show their personality by easily recording and sending videos in just a few clicks.

Sendoso for Direct Sending

Direct sending adds another layer of personalization while making sales reps stand out from competitors. Sendoso is one of the leading sending platforms with a variety of direct mail, personalization, and eGift options as well as popular app integrations and analytics. When the good old gift card isn’t booking meetings, you can pursue the hundreds of customizable gifts from Sendoso.

SalesIntel for Contact Data & Enrichment

There’s nothing more disappointing than going to send an email or make a call than finding out you have the wrong contact data. The best solution to that is a 95% human-verified database with 90-day reverification and custom research requests from SalesIntel.

The modern sales tech stack is all about prospecting smarter. By using the tools above, you can set a foundation for effective outbound without the hassle in 2022.

Related Content: B2B Sales Tech to Eliminate Constraints and Influence Growth

No One Cares for Your Outdated Sales Plays

It’s 2022, so why are we still using the same sales plays from 5, 10, 15, or 20 years ago? Between changing technologies to an increase in the tools available, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be iterating on sales plays frequently and using a multi-channel approach.

The biggest problem with today’s sales plays and sequences is that they don’t allow for creativity. Plays that senior leaders found successful 5 years ago don’t work for today’s sellers or resonate with today’s buyers. Sometimes it’s the language, sometimes it’s the steps.

There are dozens of new channels for communication, and when you’re not on the right platform, your efforts fall flat. 

Standing out means trying out those different channels. We’re not saying to go off the rails and upheave the entire playbook, we’re just suggesting increasing the margins of creativity in your current plays. 

Innovative sellers know that something that sounds unconventional at first, can sometimes become the new norm, and aren’t afraid to try something new. And for many of them, it pays off and leaves a lasting impression. 

It’s Not Too Late to Change Your B2B Sales Strategy & Sequences

There are a lot of challenges facing salespeople in fully digital environments. However, the implementation of modern sales tech in tandem with buyer-centric engagement allows sellers to move past the congested airwaves of old sales strategies. And right now is the best time to move toward better outbound and sales excellence.

The new edition of Skaled’s Modern Outbound Playbook can help you start that journey. In addition to extensive research on the current state of outbound and the tech realigning sales teams to hit their goals, you’ll find five of our latest plays to generate more meetings.