Shifting Sales Strategy for Outbound in Difficult Times

A few months ago, many of us were killing our monthly and quarterly quotas. We had a clear line of sight into what was coming next and how to get there.

Now, the majority of us have no idea what the future holds and what attainable quotas actually look like. 

The race is on to reposition and shift sales strategy to align with the rapid changes in our buyers’ needs and attitudes.

Sellers are struggling with sensitive messaging, moving outbound strategy to purely digital channels, and still being able to build relationships through these digital channels.

The webinar series “Outbound & Marketing in Difficult Times: What We Can Do Now to Thrive” covered all three of these challenges over three days.

1. Need help with how to craft sensitive messaging during sensitive times and to make yourself available without sounding overly pitchy? Check out day 1.
2. Having difficulty effectively prospecting and cultivating relationships with buyers purely online? Day 2 had great insights.
3. Looking to rebuild your outbound sales strategy and touchpoints outside of just messaging? Absolutely watch day 3.

Repositioning & Shifting Sales Strategy

Day 1: Outreach Messaging During Uncertain Times 

As sales teams push forward nearly a month into quarantine, we haven’t quite figured out the science to being sensitive and adjusting our messaging. We’ve applied, “I know times are crazy” to the beginning of every email and continued business as usual or pulled back on prospecting because we don’t want to sound overly pitchy.

Skaled CEO, Jake Dunlap, & senior consultant Brooke Baines cover how to shift your sales strategy to:

1. Pull out common threads in pain points and align them with sensitive messaging.
2. Meet buyers on the “level of their wherewithal.”
3. Cut messaging in half and double the value.

Day 2: Maintaining and Cultivating the Relationship after the Connection 

Organic relationships take time whether they’re in person or online, says Jake and our Director of Brand, Aly Ray Thompson. 

Top sellers and marketers have already been using LinkedIn as an online, 24/7 networking platform to develop and nurture almost purely digital relationships. 

Today, all sellers and marketers need to integrate LinkedIn as part of their sales strategy. However, we can’t just move the messaging and content we were putting out in Jan/Feb to LinkedIn and other social platforms and expect it to resonate.

Take the insights on sensitive messaging from Day 1 of shifting sales strategy and also:

1. Get off auto-pilot and stop being tone-deaf. You can’t cultivate a one-sided relationship.
2. Reassess absolutely everything you have scheduled over the next 2-3 months and spend time reworking messaging to speak to the attitudes of buyers now.
3. Take the concepts of the things that you do and solve and reposition them to the pain points of today.

Day 3: Outbound Strategy Adjustments 

At the start of Day 3, Matt Lopez and Jake talk about the #1 thing they see companies struggling: How to evolve beyond tone. Sympathizing with buyers isn’t the same as understanding them or how your product fits into their world.

Jake and Matt reflect that “buyer-centric” and “personalization” have been buzzwords around for years that are now table stakes.

But again, you won’t be able to evolve beyond just a soft, sympathetic tone if you don’t know (1) how your buyer makes money and (2) what they do in their role. 

Make sure you figure those two things out first and then focus your outbound strategy adjustments here:

1. Identify which bucket your buyers fall in: Your product fills an immediate need today, or it’s just a nice-to-have.
2. Develop truly personalized messaging outside of swapping out the name or day of the week: Personalized messaging that fills a need.
3. Adjust your strategy to include LinkedIn and video as well as traditional channels.

What Skaled Can Do to Help Shift Sales Strategy Now

As a B2B sales consultancy dedicated to helping organizations and the people that work there reach their full potential, we’re doing our best to help companies in conventional and unconventional ways during this time.

Skaled is offering 30-minutes of virtual consulting with our CEO, Jake Dunlap, or any of our Senior Consultants, to help companies reposition and shift their sales strategy and identify the niche markets that are still a good fit for their solution now.

Contact Jake directly at jake@skaled.com or send him a direct message via LinkedIn in/jakedunlap/.