How to Use Triggers for a Higher Response Rate in Your Outbound Cadence

I use ToutApp to schedule a sequence of prospecting emails (some of my friends use Yesware, Outreach.io or Cadence with impressive results).

I noticed that email sequences that start with a sales trigger event have a higher (30-40%+) overall response rate vs. those that are me-centric. Below I will show how to use sales trigger events, where to find them and how to integrate them into your prospecting email sequence.

First, let me explain about "me-centric" email.

You see, most emails and sequences I receive don't start with what I did, said, or what happened to me.

Usually, they start with a manipulative headfake: "hey, awesome LinkedIn profile, want to buy my stuff?", or with a coherent pitch that references something that happened to the sender - "hey, new feature, wanna buy?" or "hey, Joe signed up, you should too!".

I sometimes read them but rarely respond.

The tactic that seems to be performing markedly better is to start the first email in your sequence with an event that happened to your recipient. For example:

= Appointment or Promotion =

You can reference a recent appointment or promotion concerning your prospect.

You certainly know well by now that management change in itself is one of the strongest sales triggers: newly appointed execs are not beholden to previous vendors, their contact details are not yet in data.com and zoominfo, they are under pressure to deliver quick wins and are certainly looking for help.

= Speaking Engagement =

If they are speaking at an industry conference, you can use that as a reason to reach out.

There's a number of angles you can take: "I noticed your name on the agenda... the topic of your presentation resonated with me because... it connects with our value proposition".

Or - "we currently help other companies associated with the event - A, B, and C - to solve {major pain}.

= Industry Award =

Industry awards is an amazing excuse to reach out. You can say "congrats!" and start a conversation.

Celebrating victories of your prospects will get you substantially more points on the relationship board then lazy retweets or likes, as been attested by a number of our clients.

= Media Mention or Publication =

Was your prospect quoted in Wall Street Journal? Gave an extensive interview to CNBC? Penned an article for an industry publication? Published a book?

The opportunities to engage around that are endless: from using this as an excuse to reach out via email in your first message in a ToutApp sequence, to promoting the news via your own social media channels, to leaving detailed reviews and comments. Let your imagination run wild.

= Funding Event =

According to Craig Elias, the leading authority on sales triggers, recently funded companies are "8x more likely" to purchase services, tools, hardware, to hire staff, etc. to fulfill growth expectations of investors.

Put another way, recently funded companies MUST spend the money to power their growth trajectory. The only questions is: which part of this gravy train is yours?

* * *

The beauty of this method is that you don't need to do much work.  Take your existing email cadence and simply tag the "sales trigger" email as the first one in the sequence. You will see your open and response rate improve dramatically.

Here's how you can do it:

 1. Personalized subject line - e.g. {FirstName} / Congrats

2. Personalized first sentence that connects to your value proposition

For example:

{FirstName} / congrats

Hello {FirstName},

I noticed you were recently appointed as {Title} at {Company}. Congrats! We at {MyCompany} are excited about this new chapter in your career.

The news prompted me to reach out because we help other newly appointed {Title}s to {ValueProp}. We helped {Competitor1}, {Competitor2}, and {Competitor3} to achieve 10x of {Desired Outcome} in {RecordTime}.

I feel we can deliver similar results to your team. What's the best way to get 10min on your calendar next week to explore?

For other sales trigger events - speaking, awards, funding - simply swap the first sentence and find a smooth connection to your value proposition.

Here's where to find sales triggers:

a) Appointments - Google Alerts, https://chromoves.com/ and similar sites for your ICP, LinkedIn updates (though not a particularly big fan of user generated content), and "movers and shakers" sections of industry magazines.

b) Speaking Engagements - most industry associations have lists of conferences. Search for "Your ICP + Association" to generate a list of associations that aggregate your potential clients then find someone on Elance to find and scrape all events. (If you don't have time, use HRExecsOnTheMove)

c) Industry Awards - mostly awards are part of conferences and forums, so look for "Gala" or "Awards" sections on the event websites. Further, those industry associations are a primary source of that information, too.

d) Media Mentions - Google Alerts is tool of choice for a "poor SDR", for an enterprise solution you may want to look at Factiva and other news aggregators.

e) Funding Events - WhoGotFunded and Crunchbase are a good places to start. PE Wire is also a good resource.

You can easily build and outsource this process relatively in-expensively.

If you are pressed for time and are prospecting among HR Execs, CIOs/CTOs, CMOs or CFOs, consider ExecFile to get all these sales trigger events at scale (email me at [email protected]). For a better idea about what we do watch this video below: