The Hitchhikers Guide to a sales lead

Hope this helps You in Your daily work!

There are thousands of articles about sales and lead generation, and quite honestly, I’m unable to tell You why this one could be anything special. But I guess that hearing about it from an ongoing practitioner rather than a copywriter will make it a bit different. A little rough around the edges, but up to date and proven in combat.

In this article you’ll read about:

-?????????The basics of generating leads with writing

-?????????Why “A” is nothing to be shamed with

-?????????That there is no “I” in a sales lead ( cliche I know )

-?????????How you can be a Spartan and make a sale with 300 characters

-?????????Why it’s important to smile while You write.

-?????????How do I succeed less than 5% of the time and not go crazy?

Before I start allow me to explain the title of this article. Are You familiar with a book by Doug Adams: “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”? If You are… remember the Golgafrincham Ark Fleet Ship B and its story? If not, I recommend it, a cool read for the coming long autumn evenings. In it You will find, that Golgafrinchams are a race that has a “thing” against almost a third of its population. They see them as useless parts of society. Needless to say, consultants and salespeople are a big part of this group. Long story short:

The ship was programmed to crash onto its designated planet - Earth. The captain remembers that he was told a good reason for this, but had forgotten it, although the reason was later revealed to be because the Ark Ship B Golgafrinchans were a 'bunch of useless idiots.

https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/

This is what society thinks of sales representatives, a necessary evil at best. But I’m not here to fight with that image. I only need You to understand that this is how You will be perceived...unless You do it right.

?

BACK TO BASICS

Leads don’t grow on trees…ok they do, those are called recommendations ?? But if you start from scratch, first You need to plant the seed so that a tree can grow. Here are a few rules that I follow when trying to generate leads via Linked In or Email.

1.??????Avoid the “I”

A good ratio for a “sales message” narrative is 80% - you and 20% I messages. Make the conversation about Your prospect, not You or Your company.

“Would You like to connect” is much better than “I want to connect”( tested first hand )

2.??????Don’t beg.

If the message feels desperate the recipient will most likely ignore it. You and Your prospect should function on the same level. Believe in the product or service You are offering.

You are not for everyone!

3.??????Ditch the rambling, cliches, hype, and buzzwords

"Hi Y! I hope your company is doing well during these crazy times.” – the mother of all inauthentic messages during COVID.

"Hey Z - I know you're super busy, so I'll keep this brief." – If so, why write this fluffy sentence?

“Problem solver”, “value-added”, “end to end”, “fast pacing environment”

“You can grow 50mln% with these simple steps…” etc.

4.??????Good message wrong person

The same problem has a different effect on different people. So the decision-makers will be viewing it from different perspectives.

5.??????Make the message personal and specific

Try to understand the prospect and find a connection.

“Adam, saw you’re scaling your SD team…”

"Arthur, Your post about defusing common sales objections was spot on."

"Alex – I just read have a fleet of 23,500 in the EU and a goal of reaching zero-emission by 2025."

“Anton, I'm familiar with … because we’re working with ... “

6.??????The mental NO

Don’t ask questions to which the prospects might answer NO inside their heads.

7.??????AIDA

Attention -> Interest -> Desire -> Action

Before sending a message ask Yourself whether it is, attracting attention, interesting, and sparking a desire to take action.

There are much more principles that we could take under consideration when writing a good sales message, but trying to adapt all of them is impossible. Consider those 7 principles stated above as the ones I’m utilizing (or at least trying to) daily in each of my messages.

THE SCARLET LETTER

This is the last piece of the copywriting puzzle. You can write great messages, only having one letter in your mind, and what a letter it is. Not only it’s the first letter of our alphabet, but it’s also always the best plan. It was the reason behind one of literature's best masterpieces and a calling sign of the best action heroes that ever appeared on Television. In this passage alone it was used more than 20 times!

Why is A so important? Because It’s the only letter you need to remember to write good messages. If You ever struggle to write good copy focus on the ‘A’s

Attention – try to grab the focus of your audience

Appeal – establish the reason to keep reading

Acknowledge – join the conversation

Arouse – play with emotions, but do it wisely

Angst – get them wanting to hear more

Aspire – make a promise for a better future with you on their side

Attitude – make the conversation a positive one

Authority – be trustworthy

Ambiguity – don’t leave your audience a reason for second thoughts

Ascension – guide your readers

Affirmation – be sure of your positive traits

Associate – connect yourself with positive familiarity

Aggravate – aggravate and address their fears

Animate – give life to your writing

Act – present them an offer they can’t refuse

WRITING WITHOUT THE EGO

Writing always comes from the EGO. Even when You are paid to write articles or are writing for an academic study, there are always moments when You stop focusing on facts or information and start writing opinions. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad with having an opinion, but they are always a subject for discussion, wrong or they become an element for Your prospect to disagree with. And we make business with people we like.

Even now my Ego is the driving force behind this article. Knowing this doesn’t change anything. That’s why You need to be constantly focused on reminding Yourself to write with Your reader in the center of the story. It was already mentioned before. But if there is one element that You will remember about this article is to forget what You want and focus on your reader.

Write in the second-person narrative. Of course, there will be times when the first person must have its say, but limit it to necessities:

Hello Dave, I noticed that …,

Hi Gary, I was in a similar situation as the one You mentioned…

Hi Meggie, I found Your article insightful …

This is how we solved a similar difficulty for our client…

There is one more HUGE benefit from writing in the second person: You won’t sound like a salesman and You can always tell when someone is trying to sell You something. It feels intrusive and aggressive.

The auto-response is to delete the email, hang up the phone or ghost the message. Whenever prospects feel like they’re being talked into buying, they want out. So do you. So does everyone.

When you write in the second person, you create an environment where people feel comfortable opening up because they don't feel sold or manipulated. Think of Your activity as You would be sorting rather than pitching. Your sorting people out that don’t have a problem rather than assuming everyone does. Be open to the possibility that people can make progress without you. The approach allows step into your prospect’s world rather than pitching your product.

Go where the prospect takes you rather than where you want to take the prospect.

THIS!!! IS!!! Spa… LINKEDIN!!!

King Leonidas almost defeated the entire Persian army, and what can You do with 300 characters ??? One year ago if You would have told me, that You can make a thriving business via LinkedIn I wouldn’t hesitate to say: of course! A year of ongoing limitations and You can put a price tag on every person You try to contact. But just as in sports, the conditions are the same for everyone. So Your competition also doesn’t have it easier.

We learn to adapt to the limitations and react accordingly, but LinkedIn hacks is a different topic. The working conditions demand that we do a better, more precise job with prospecting and pitching. This is how I try to start a business relationship with only 300 characters at my disposal:

1.??????Ditch the pitch. People think that the connection message is like an elevator pitch. This couldn’t be more wrong. (BTW, there is no single perfect pitch that makes Your prospects fall in love with You just like in the ending chapters of “Perfume” by Suskind)

Remember it’s called a ‘connection” for a reason. Try to be genuinely interested in the person You are writing to. Acknowledge their skills, input or insight, but don’t brown nose anyone, flattery won’t get You anywhere.

2.??????Find Your narrative. Find the style that suits You best, a bit funny, a bit smart or straight to the point. You choose. Writing with Your style will prevent You from sounding like a robot.

3.??????Remember Your limits. Look for shorter synonyms and avoid unnecessary punctuation marks. But Don’t try to compress and don’t be afraid to use paragraphs. The message needs to be easy to read.

4.??????Call to action, links and social proof. Here is where my strategy differs from the majority. I believe that people are getting addicted to clicking. There is a joke among polish students:

“ Two University students are walking to class.

They see a piece of paper laying on the ground.

What is that? – one asks

I dunno, but let's copy it!”

I think that’s the case with clicking atm. We see a link and automatically want to open it. But how to do it and not seem like clickbait?

a.??????At the very end, after a complimentary close, I leave a shortened link that leads to a webpage with success stories or recommendations from my clients. No explanations, zero information – just a link. If You are fishing for a job…this link could be Your resume.

b.??????I write targeted articles and post them on LinkedIn. I find people that might be interested in reading them and ask them for their opinion.

About now You might start to think: “all good, but I’m not here to make friends”, fair enough. Allow me to show You an example on how I do it:

Personalized:

Target Audience: Mr. H. – Let’s call Him Harold

End goal: Signing a staff augmentation contract with a Fintech that Harold is the CTO of.

Before You even begin to think about writing – research the prospect and the company he is working for until You find a connection.

With Harold, the connection was on two levels. Personal – the banner photo made it safe to assume that he is a sailor, and to that, I can relate. Important notice! – do not bend the truth, if You never been on a golf course, don’t pretend to be a golfer. It’s very easy to spot a lie.

Professional – the company is a Fintech working with crypto, and I already had a team working for a crypto fintech before. There is a big chance that my past client should be attending the same event as Harold. A very comfortable situation for me indeed.

Good Morning Harorld

(I had characters to spare, so let’s assume I’m sending the message in the morning)

No skipper likes to turn on the engine while on open seas. But sometimes wanting to move forward, You have to. The good thing about it is, that You can turn it off any time.

It’s the same with outbound teams.

(A sailing analogy between deciding on team outsourcing and sailing on the engine while on open seas)

Does <project name> have an engine?

(Here Harold might have a No answer, but if he does, let’s hope that the message planted a seed of curiosity in his thoughts)

Kind regards

Clutch Link

Automated:

Yes! I also send automated messages. Just because I find personalized ones better, it doesn’t mean that automated ones are useless. They are one of Your tools of the trade, You need to utilize them as well.

Target audience – delivery heads/heads of operations/HR of computer software companies bigger than 200 employees.

My end goal – placing our software engineers within Big tech structures

Hi <NAME>?

( Hi < Hello < Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening – I believe that adding a more time precise greeting ads to the personification of Your message. But I Get it, 300 characters is not a lot and You should be saving)

XXX just released a study stating that 70% of engineers, on average leave large tech. comp. within the first 15 months. That’s quite a loss! (there actually was a study like that this year, I just can’t remember who published it)

(a Hook utilizing the principle of loss aversion)

If that is a factor (I avoid the word problem) in <COMPANY NAME> we could prove a useful addition to internal HR and change the stats.

(explanation and a promise)

Connect and let me know.

(call to action)

Kind Regards

<LINK TO CLUTCH PROFILE>

(social proof)

I can’t say which messaging style is better. Both have their perks. When searching for a specific client in a narrow target group I always try to use personalized messages. But this takes much more time than the automated ones. So if You are short on time, use automated ones. But use them wisely, the better job You make the better the statistics.

STAY POSITIVE

Another cliché, I know.

Although nothing connects people more than a common enemy. We also do not like dawdlers and complaining. So keep your messages positive. It is said that we are 30% more cognitively capable when in a positive frame of mind.

Remember this quote by Maya Angelou:

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

This is why I always ask myself when writing: “Is that funny, or cheeky at least?”. There are thousands of people like You that are trying to reach the same prospects and a big chunk of them are better writers than You or have a better product. The only way to make yourself memorable and raise the probability of actually having Your message read is to stand out and what better way to do it than through a smile on Your prospect's face.

But that doesn’t mean You are to write jokes! Let me show You how I did it (or at least tried) in one of my recent automated mailing campaigns and got a very high open-rate.

Are PIEROGI the best dumpling in the World? What has that to do with Software?

A cliffhanger as a subject line is the best way to get a 40%+ open rate. What is a cliffhanger? It’s an audacious, bizarre, badass question that drills into the mind of Your audience. A question with no obvious answer. In my case…It’s always a question that leaves the audience asking - WTF?

I’ve also emphasized the word PIEROGI, because I believe that 99% of the population never received an email regarding pierogi before. So I want to be remembered as the pierogi guy. Why it’s important? Because people have no idea who Blazej Dziuk is, but they will remember the “pierogi guy”.

In my opinion, they are!

They also come from the country of some of the best software engineers in the World - Poland!

(If You want to get to the point, get to it fast and smooth. Don’t write: “I know You’re busy, allow me to get to the point” just get to it!)

Hi <First Name>

Yes, this e-mail is a bit SPAMy and I apologize for that.

(defuse the obvious negative...or at least I thought. I wouldn't use that sentence now, but I wanted to keep it just so that You know that You don't have to be perfect.)

But maybe You are facing software engineering staff-related difficulties and could use our assistance .

(Tell Your audience why it should keep on reading. The HR departments have a huge problem with software engineers. Good ones keep coming and going like through a revolving door. So this “maybe” is in fact “I know You are”)

- This year we gathered more than 600 resumes with at least a mid lvl seniority.

- We have an outstanding backend team that gained their skills in logistics and telecommunication, with code operating at more than 80k ops per second.

- There is more than 100 years of IT experience between our leaders.

?

(Show off a bit, this is a sales email in the end. Make a promise and allow the audience to start making a positive image of what You have to offer)

<Clutch LINK>

(because we love to click things)

Even if right now You are all set and the projects are going smoothly (and I wish they are), it's good to have a helping hand and a reason to visit Poland from time to time.

(“It’s ok if You don’t like me…” statement)

Think of Us, when You will struggle to order takeaway next time ??

(…but You won’t forget me”. If You ever been in a relationship, You know the struggle of deciding upon a dinner choice, and during the “so-called” pandemic it’s takeaway that was booming. I wonder if people ordered pierogi because of this e-mail ??)

Kindest regards

Is this email perfect? Of course not, but no email is. Is it funny? I hope so. Did it work? It did for me. How do I know that it works in retrospect with the quality of the emailing (or “in mailing”) list? I suppose it’s safe to assume that if you get responses like the one below, You did a good job.

“Hi. We will not be needing your services at this time.

But I wanted to let You know that it’s a really cool campaign idea”

It takes about two hours to set up a campaign like that, the rest is automated, so make time every week to set up campaigns like that. The biggest problem after a while will be to find new email addresses, so be smart and utilize the same lists with a different campaign.

Use the same principles when personalizing Your emails. In the following example, Harold that we met before, accepted the connection request and made our job easy. Scrolling through his feed, I encountered a post about his engineering staff needs atm.

With a post like that, The Prospect is giving you a green flag to message him. But this is not the only thing he is telling You. From his tone of voice, you can straight away tell that he is

-?????????Experienced in the field

-?????????Open but straightforward

-?????????Knows exactly what he wants

If You can mirror those traits with Your message and have the right resources, You will make a sale 100%.

SUBJECT TO BURNOUTS

Salespeople are extremely prone to anxiety. Mine led me to the most beautiful adventure in my life because to get out of it I had to travel Europe for 3 years with only a backpack. But burnouts are dangerous, and I consider myself very lucky.

Looking back I know that some things I might have done better. So here are a few guidelines to keep in mind if You don’t want to go crazy while doing your job.

-?????????Detach from the outcome. If you think that your goal is to make a sale You are attaching yourself to matters outside of your control. You can’t control the time when people are ready to make a decision. A salesperson is very often considered a pusher, but You can’t push anyone into a decision and sustain a relationship. Focus on the process rather than the outcome. Think of establishing a connection, gaining a conversation partner, building your network and You will succeed daily.

-?????????There is no other motivation than success. Period. That is why You need to succeed daily to keep on working. Establish smaller goals that lead to bigger ones and bigger ones. Raise the bar too high, and you will never reach your maximum. Raise the bar gradually and eventually, you’ll get there.

-?????????Be open to the possibility that you are not the right fit. Sometimes it’s not you or your offer that stops the prospect from accepting your service or product. There are a lot of factors in the air. But never close the door before future conversations. Unless Your prospects say a hard “no” and ask You not to contact them again, don’t scratch them from Your list. It might be that the “who” and “what” is ok, it’s only the “when” that is off.

-?????????Organize Your work! Schedule how long do You want to prospect each day and what tools do you plan to use. Turning Your work into a process allows you to monitor the outcomes and test different possibilities and systems of work.

Sincerely hope this article helped You in Your daily struggles.

If You made it this far – Thanks ??