Does Your B2B Sales Outreach Stink?

I get dozens?of emails, phone calls, texts, tweets, PM's, InMail, and every form of communication possible from sales reps each week trying to sell my company "stuff."?The vast majority of it is annoying, redundant, unoriginal, assumptive, gimmicky, and nothing we would be interested in.?This content?generally doesn't even explain what they are selling?in a way that makes sense, i.e. no?value message about what they?do, who they work with, and examples of results.

Recently?I received?an email with the subject line "You're dead to us."?It was just another subject line decoy?and the entire email had a mean tone to it questioning?why I haven't responded to their emails... it was apparently my "last chance to respond" at this stage.?Another was "Did I make you mad?" The opening line in the email reminds me I?haven't responded to their previous emails and now they are going to call me.?Who writes this horrible content???

What gimmick-based?content writers?miss is that it?isn't getting "opens" that count, it's engagement, value, substance,?and ultimately ROI that count....they miss the point that emails like that aren't drawing prospects in to engage, they are repelling?prospects from it. The open numbers are skewed if people look to see what the heck this thing is and then look and think "ugh....(delete.)"?

I presented at a LinkedIn Live event not long ago and I used one of the many poorly constructed InMails I receive via LinkedIn. One person in the audience considered it a success because I read it...I explained that using it as a bad example of what to not do in front of hundreds of people isn't success.

There is a silver lining to this:?I get enormous?exposure to what people are doing as well as the mindset of the people (and companies) that are doing it.?

I'll tell you exactly why this bad content exists....

It's?the same mindset applied to?content as is applied to?using phone-based lead gen by people that don't have a high opinion of?it.?It's the same lack of consideration?as telling the?person that calls to introduce themselves and the next question is?"are you the decision maker?"?It is being unaware of the negative impact bad content (and ball calls) actually inflict on progressing relationships with prospects.

It's?the same mindset?applied to?content?as is applied to?using phone-based lead gen by people that don't?have a high opinion of?it.

What About Your Current Customers?

Another type of?outreach to consider is?developing existing customers, which is where a significant level of revenue growth often resides. I have a provider I use (the only reason is it's a hassle to change) that has some sort of trigger that comes up if I am not active on the platform in 45 days. I get an email with the subject "Do you still want to work with us?" In the email, there are 3?options, "a) Yes please run a report, b) Yes but not now, or?c) No deactivate my account." It is so lazy it is unbelievable, and?a very lame?way to manage their customer base?with no thought put into it. In my case, they could say "You have worked with us for 10 years, we really appreciate that! We haven't heard from you in a while, just let us know if you have any feedback on what we can do better. Otherwise, we appreciate you and looking forward to seeing you soon."?I would very likely?spend more money with them if that was the tone of the communication I got, instead of "should we dump you now?"

A?newer?feature added to?asking for a meeting is for reps to?share a link to their calendar to book something. Shouldn't it be the other way around? You want to meet to present your solution/product and then you want me to do the work to make it happen? It is an unbelievably lazy way to engage and doesn't?show they?put a lot of value on their prospect.?

What To Consider With Your Outreach

A simple formula to follow with content is outlined below. Especially in enterprise B2B, it's important to leverage those few seconds of the moment you have with your prospects mind to achieve impact by:

1. Building?trust?and credibility?
2. Establishing value in their industry community
3. Sharing?something insightful about their business
4. Uncovering a situation/challenge they should explore within their environment

While it isn't always practical to cover all those points in every piece, prospects should leave with the experience that your content was worth their time to "consume." To really establish yourself as a valuable source?for prospects takes more work, it means you have to spend time to better understand their businesses, their issues, the broken work-arounds they might be doing that you can fix. When you do that and leave a takeaway that made a difference, that is effective outreach.

If you are creating content internally, ask yourself when?you tee up any new B2B sales outreach:

• Are my prospects?going to walk away with something they can use now? Is it provable? (stats, etc. post the reference to help them validate)
• Am I addressing unique challenges and articulating it in a way they will grasp??(Not using internal acronyms many don't know)
• Have I surfaced situations they might be unaware of or challenged with? Cite examples and sources.
• Am I exposing an information channel they need to plug into?
• Are my readers finding this a good use of their time, why? (see above)
• Have I created a reason to talk with us?

By putting thought into sales outreach the engagement is much more likely, and the numbers you see are real and not inflated by clicks to see what something means. Some content is shorter, some are longer and give you more real estate to work with messaging...but the important thing is to draw your prospects IN vs. annoy them to a point of avoiding your content.

I'll look forward to your comments

Mari Anne is CEO of?The Vanella Group, Inc., a tele-based sales development firm working exclusively with enterprise tech firms from all over the world. Working with organizations like CA, HP, SAP, and many others, her firm?has delivered?sustainable tele-based outbound programs that grow revenue using a unique and deliberate model that consistently delivers.?

She is also an?award-winning author of the Best Seller "42 Rules of Cold Calling Executives." Hitting #1 in the category in Telemarketing, it is a standard for sales engagement methods. She designed the?proprietary Telesales 2.0? methodology?which produces 5x above the DMA industry standard for tele-based lead generation in 2016.

The Vanella Group, Inc. is often featured on numerous industry channels such as Selling Power, Sales 2.0, The Sales Lead Management Association, and many others. Mari Anne has been a speaker at LinkedIn Live and several featured sessions at Dreamforce where her unique approach to?Social Selling?was showcased.

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