Article

Four Ways to Set More Meetings Like A Top Performer

18 November 2021

Ricky Cookson

The activity-focused approach to outbound sales has met its maker. As you read this, the old modes of selling — counting calls, emails, and meetings set — are shuttering away, and top performing sales teams across products and verticals are realigning to what the buyer wants: value.

For years we’ve been so focused on the number of activities while the quality of our outbound activities has quickly degraded. And, a lack of quality in high quantities is rarely a medium for value, if not the opposite.

So, how do we fix it?

We reinvigorate the victims of the age of automation with a sales strategy invoked by intentional selling, personalized outreach, and constant optimization.

Let’s dive in.

#1 Automated emails get automatically archived

The introduction of sales engagement platforms and email automation came into the sales world like a bolt of lightning. Sales teams quickly traded their intentional messaging for automated emails, SMS messaging, and even LinkedIn messaging. The entire communication process has been handed off to systems like Outreach, Salesloft, Groove, and Koncert, but modern customers can recognize automation.

The fix? Stop automating every single touchpoint.

According to McKinsey, more than 30% of sales-related activities like lead management and qualification can be automated. It’s one thing when we’re talking about operational tasks — mundane data entries and updates can be a huge time killer — but automating all things outbound is quickly digging a grave for the success of cold emailing and calling.

Quota-crushing sales teams don’t hand over the sanctity of their outbound to robots (or at least not all of it). According to Hinge Research, companies that incorporate high-level automation into their sales process generate around 16% more leads compared to those that incorporate low-level or no automation.

What does “high-level automation” look like for sales teams? It means automating what needs to be automated and keeping the personalization/strategy in the hands of an actual human. Instead of automating every point of outreach, start automating the operational aspects like data and tag entry, triggers, task reminders, etc. Think about the processes that need to be automated versus the ones that need manual care and consideration.

There’s a level of creativity needed to enrich emails that get responses. Whether it’s the most exciting/interesting subject line in their inbox, having unique videos to send prospects, or getting real about personalization, that creativity has a huge impact. That’s how effective sales teams are creating more valuable points of contact with their target accounts.

They’re flipping automation on its head by consciously constructing emails, rethinking the messaging, and leaving ops tasks to the machine.

#2 Hey {{First Name}}, Merge Tags Are Not Personal

The problem with personalization intermingles with the issues coming from the above automation. The ultimate reason sellers aren’t spending the right amount of time personalizing outreach is that sending automated emails with merge tags is so easy… It’s also lazy. And, it gets about as much engagement as you’d expect it to get.

True personalization, the kind born out of significant research, high-level messaging, and genuine outreach, is how top-performing sales teams consistently motivate their buyers to choose their solution. They take the time to research and understand not just their first point of contact, but the field of decision-makers, the encompassing needs of the organization, their problems, their accolades, and anything else they need to lead them to real solutions.

That’s what great sellers do; they don’t allow technology to be the main source of a relationship. They let it be a medium. When we spoke with sales leaders for Sales Buyer Trends, they emphasized that if you can find it online within 60 seconds, it’s not personalization. It’s public information.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the modern seller’s best friend. Instead of, “Hey, we both went to OSU,” you can open a conversation with, “I saw that you posted about XYZ last week, and I was wondering if it was an issue of ABC?” You can apply context to the conversation and ignite a conversation before there’s even a meeting booked. (You don’t have to go overboard, though – 20% personalization is the sweet spot.)

To learn more about using LinkedIn Sales Navigator in your sales strategy, check out these resources:

(Note: if personalization hasn’t made its way into your sales strategy yet, here’s a priming introduction to acclimate yourself to the best practices and execution for modern outbound that closes.)

#3 Email ✅ Phone Call ✅ Now it’s time to introduce some new channels

There is nothing wrong with using email or cold calling in your outbound sales strategy. They’re the bread and butter for most sellers. But today’s quota-crushers have adapted to their customer’s thirst for more engaging and diverse modes of contact. Cold outbound alone is no longer the trick of the trade. Rather, it works best when a few other touchpoints accompany it.

Video: There is so much power in video. From a first introduction to hard pitches, video can greatly impact the way your prospects view you (because they’re actually viewing you). In outbound sales, the biggest impact is that buyers are more likely to pause and listen to your message (and probably click around) too. Crazy, right?

Research shows that including a video can have a 96% higher click-through rate and prep you for down the funnel by increasing close rate by 37%.

Sending videos as the initial introduction can tear down many of the trust barriers that buyers have with cold outreach.

Direct Sending: True story: while introducing new channels to their sales team, one of our clients opted to send their prospects a book between stages. Not just any book though, this book was centered around the manufacturing industry and allowed businesses to gain a considerable understanding of changes. To no surprise, their customers loved it, and they were able to increase meetings booked and reduce no-shows.

The statistics share a similar story: sales teams that have opted to leverage direct sending in their outbound have secured an ROI that rivals social media campaigns. Ultimately, it’s all about knowing your customer and sending something that can impact their lives. If you send a generic coffee gift card for $5, do they have something to solve their business problems? Not really. But if you send them a book that adds value, yours is a call they won’t ignore.

Those are two of the big ones. If you’re looking for more tactical ways to imbibe your outbound with Video, Direct Sending, Voice Messages on LinkedIn, or sending SMS messages, you can find the answers here.

#4 If You Don’t Remember the Last Time You Optimized, It’s Time to Optimize

Subject lines, messaging, value propositions, video demos – all of these things you should be reviewing regularly. And, if it’s been longer than four weeks since you’ve assessed their efficacy, then it’s about time to do so.

One of the biggest things separating decent sellers from incredible sellers is how often they address what they’re doing and try to make it better. Sending the same email for months at a time isn’t something top sellers do. They have calendar events marked for recrafting their subject lines, reports for how many of their prospects are watching their video all the way through, and if they aren’t hitting their mark, they change it.

Consistent optimization is the key to modern outbound. Everything we’ve covered in this article boils down to addressing when something isn’t working and then acting on it to make it better.

Great sellers optimize – they recognize when their messaging is striking a tone with buyers and when it’s not. They know when email isn’t the right mode of communication, so they send video messages on LinkedIn instead. Fluidity and consistent improvement are the keys that allow great salespeople to connect with their buyers in unique ways.

Here’s Your Sign to Challenge Your Outbound

The measure of an excellent B2B salesperson is based on the effort and consideration they put into their outbound.

Every seller can stop leaning on automation and start creating more genuine touchpoints. Every seller can get on LinkedIn, and they can learn about their buyers and their business. They can send a few video messages or voice messages or gifts to engage prospects in a way that matters.

Outbound is all about communicating the impact you are trying to make on someone’s role, department, or business. So challenge yourself to make an impression and convey a need with every touchpoint.