Four More Examples of 50% Success with “Targeted” Cold B2B

Below, you’ll find four (4) real world examples of creating reliable 30-50% response rates.

-?????????For Sales, consider how cold contact typically produces a 1-3% response rate.

-?????????For Marketing, consider how targeted ads only produce a 3-12% click through.

-?????????Then, what percent __% of those leads convert directly to six-figure wins?

Outreach is Different Now

One million sales reps, who previously drove cars every day, are now stuck with phone and email. This is jamming up our lines.

With many Managers receiving 500, 1000, even 2000 notifications per day, it’s nearly-impossible to even “see” a few sales messages or banner ads in there.

As a culture, this caused us to become numb to phone rings, social beeps, email dings, and everything in between. Frankly, we are desperately trying to avoid our phones.

Breaking Through **Noise** Requires Being Seen (0.0)

Think about yourself, your SVP, or Chief. Do either of you get excited to sift through LinkedIn Ads looking for a surprise golden vendor? Do you sort through your inbox excitedly to find that 10th email of a sales rep “just following up”?

Odds are 90% of the most ideal “target” audience will ignore us by default. Those who are loyal and who pay high margins, are NOT those who respond to banner ads or traditional sales contact. Hang with me there a second, because that’s big.

Let’s see if I can draw that out... does this help?

So, how do we create 50% response rates (instead of 30% open rates)?

That’s easy. We go old school.

Rolling out the Red Carpet is a Lost Art in the USA

This is a great opportunity for us to bring our American business community together, by remembering how to roll out the red carpet for each other. This is customer-centricity.

First, recall that our messaging or content CANNOT talk about our own company. That’s because people don’t engage with brand advertising, but we do engage with fun & learning.

Take this article as an example. You’re likely reading because it’s educational insight, and maybe a laugh. It gets my name out there, but with zero “advertising” of my brand.

That’s how our messages, ads, and websites have to sound, too. If it's about the brand, then it is NOT about the customer.

Four (4) Examples of Red Carpet Roll-outs

As compared with traditional brand marketing and SPIN selling, let’s review multiple Logistics, Forwarder, Carrier, and TMS sales reps who achieve 30-50% response rates:

1.??????A 3PL CEO hand-selected a major national retailer to pursue

This business was entirely cold, and showed no prior interest in new vendors

a.??????Marketing assembled a case study based on these instructions

b.?????Marketing assembled tailored Lead Gen messaging from the same instructions

c.??????Sales contacted not only Logistics, but also Sales, Customer Service, and Finance

d.?????Both Phone and Email messages shared “gaps & impacts,” not “features & benefits”

RESULT: Within 72 hours, two (2) messages to fifteen (15) contacts gained …

i.?????5 connections on LinkedIn

ii.?????3 live responses

iii.?????1 confirmed appointment

LESSON: If we remove brand marketing, one email and one phone call is all it takes. But we must treat the account as a family, not as “one” individual decision maker.

2.??????A Sales Rep spent over a year in attempt to contact a global Broadcast supplier

She wasn’t seeing traction yet, despite having successfully carried their business years ago

a.??????Marketing began with the same case study instructions

b.?????Marketing and Sales assembled messaging from those instructions

c.??????Red carpet personal contact rolled-out to VPs and Directors of ALL departments

d.?????Both LinkedIn and Email messages shared “gaps & impacts,” not “features & benefits”

RESULT: Within 1 week, two (2) messages to twenty-five (25) contacts gained…

i.?????Their Sr Director reached back to the Management Team

ii.?????He immediately disclosed & expressed concerns with suppliers

iii.?????He engaged the logistics department to explore TL and LTL opportunities

LESSON: People listen to co-workers, not sales reps. Get in to a DIFFERENT department, show value, and have THEM forward your message for traction.

3.??????A national Outside team of 20+ year sales veterans groaned about lead gen

They had never called Customer Service instead of Logistics, or name dropped VP's

a.??????Most had not made progress in lead generation for 60 days

b.?????Their messaging was about their own brand, instead of about their customers

c.??????Until marketing provided the same messaging and case study instructions, and

d.??????Asked them to make a one single phone call

RESULT: Within 3 days, one (1) phone call to only (1) person gained…

i.?????Over 50% of the team got an answer, because they didn’t call logistics

ii.?????Over 50% of the team got a pain point confirmed, and/or

iii.?????Over 50% of the team got a referral to a 2nd decision influencer

LESSON: Removing brand marketing and SPIN selling enables 50% success with “targeted” clients instead of 5% response rates from “random" inbound leads.

4.??????A national Inside Sales team of freshmen-to-veterans wanted more TMS upsells

Since they offered multiple platforms, narrowing conversations became a challenge

a.??????Until marketing began with the same case study instructions

b.?????Marketing created template messaging with the same instructions

c.??????Sales set up an email campaign and tracking tool program

d.?????Let the messages fly, and awaited the inbound traffic

RESULT: Within 3 weeks, (4) messages to only (1) department gained…

i.?????A full open rate of 100% (one hundred percent)

ii.?????A starting point 17% reply rate

iii.?????Immediate New Clients and Premium Upsells

LESSON: Talking about the customer instead of our brand allows not only 2x the open and response rates, but also 40 to 70% close rates, and 10 to 50% margin growth.

Driving 50% Response Rates to enable Predictable Closes and Margin Growth

Please note the examples above applied only one to four (1-4) touches. From one call to four emails is all it takes to break into a conversation with the ideal client who wasn't even open.

More importantly, the same reps produced 15% margin growth, $8MM closes, expansion of final- into full-mile bids, and secured CEO relationships, all in less than 5 call sales cycles.

It is the collaboration between leadership, marketing, and sales which enables evolution into customer-centric marketing.

How do you like to roll out your Red Carpet?

Many Chiefs, VPs and Directors have developed their own strong approach to customer centricity. If you have, I'd love to learn.

Many also share how it’s challenging to break old habits, or to learn what to say instead of what not to. If you’d like a 1 minute review of which customer-centric keywords to add to your outreach, please let me know in a quick connect.