5 SIMPLE ways to level up your outreach.

Introduction

"Andy we're just not booking the meetings we should be. What's going wrong?!"

This has been a common question I've received in the past few weeks.

I've had a large number of conversations with xDRs, AE's and Sales Leaders in the past few weeks.

Their consistent problem... a lack of prospect engagement.

There's nothing more demoralising and concerning than trying to engage prospect's at the top of the funnel with little to no success.

Assuming there's no issue with product-market fit, it's likely the lack of prospects responding is down to sh*t outreach...

A harsh reality, but a true one.

So how can you refine your messaging in order to bolster the chances of gaining the interest of your prospects?

1. Territory Selection & Management

Invariably I start by asking questions about their Ideal Customer Profile. A worrying number of reps and leaders didn't have clarity on the industries, company sizes, and revenue models that were buying their product/s or service/s.

So start by understanding the breakdown of your customer base and comparing it to what you have in your territory. Don't flood your patch with accounts that aren't buying your solution!

2. Value-Proposition by Account Type

Once you're confident in your territory, then challenge 'why' are these deals being won. What's the value your business is delivering those accounts so consistently to beat out competitors?

Think about speaking with the top-performing SDRs/AE's who are consistently sourcing and closing deals in these industries, company sizes, revenue models etc...

Ask them:

• What language are they using?
• What Use-cases are they referencing?
• How are they laying traps for competitors?

Understanding the answers to these questions is a great start to improving your outreach...

3. Value-Proposition by Persona

It's all well and good having a refined talk track for specific types of accounts, but the value that different personas will take from your product/s or service's for different.

Let me provide a hypothetical example:

CTO: Wants a product that will be easy to integrate and give his engineering team time back to focus on other projects

CMO: Wants a product that's going to provide deeper consumer insights and drive up customer lifetime value

Campaign Manager: Wants a product that can bring their creative ideas to life and buy back time on campaign build time.

See the difference that although you're selling the same product/s or service/s you'd position the benefits subtly differently?

Challenge whether you're doing this in your outreach as it stands today...

4. Using Personalisation

A consistent trend in the conversations I've had with folks is there Outreach is fully automated 'campaigns'.

In my mind, automated sequences aren't Sales Development, it's ABM marketing.

If you automating your outreach it means that:

a) You aren't taking into consideration the guidance above on specific industry and prospect value propositions

b) You aren't taking the time to reference anything specific about your prospect

So let me ask you this...

Why would a prospect be compelled to reply let alone take interest if you aren't even prepared to show them that you care? If you can't find the time to write them a genuine note, why would they care to respond?

You're priority number 17 on their list of 'to-dos'...

So how can you personalise?

I encourage reps to personalise in 1 of 3 ways. In order of preference and effectiveness these are:

• About the prospect themselves: congratulating a new role, promotion, tenure, award, quoting them from a speech, media piece, podcast, etc.
• About the company: C-Suite comments, funding, new product launch, quotes from Annual performance, etc.
• About the industry: major news, trends, thought-leadership content, data insights, etc.

Show that you've taken the time to read up on them and care about how you can make a difference!

5. Using Relevancy

Now personalising your content is one thing, but making sure it's relevant and applicable to the conversation is also pivotal.

Sure you can show you've done your research but if you're unable to tie it back to the specifics of the conversation you're aiming to kick off, you're going to struggle...

What does that look like in bad practice?

It's like referencing a prospect's passion for taking part in eco-friendly charitable activities but then trying to sell them legal tech - it's near impossible to stitch the 2 together...!

6. TLDR

• Choose & prioritise your territory with scrutiny
• Understand Account type value proposition
• Understand persona value proposition
• Research prospects, accounts & prospects in order to personalise your outreach
• Make sure your personalisation is relevant!

Whenever you're ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:

1. The SDR Playbook : Bring more structure to how you or your team operate. Book more meetings with less time and effort!
2. AE <> BDR eBook : Drive optimal results through the most important relationship you have in your working ecosystem!
3. ChatGPT eBook : Save time in your planning, strategy, and enablement through the use of pre-proven generative AI prompts.
4. SDR Job Board : If you're looking for an SDR role, or if you’re hiring SDRs whether it be your first or just a new job, add your details so I can try to help!