Connect: Earning The Attention Of Today’s Empowered Buyer

Connect: Earning The Attention Of Today’s Empowered Buyer

VIDEO 1: WHAT IS THE CONNECT STAGE AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Welcome to the next class of the Inbound Sales Certification, “Connect: Earning the Attention of Today’s Empowered Buyer”. I am currently focused on helping HubSpot grow its inbound sales business.

Connect is the second stage of the Inbound Sales Methodology. In the last class, we covered how you “identify” leads within your target universe of strangers. In this session, we’ll discuss how you “connect” with these leads to determine which ones are qualified leads.

Okay. So, why is connecting in an inbound way actually important?

Well, when legacy salespeople are in the connect stage they focus their prospecting efforts on cold, uncustomized emails, and voicemails. These cold outreaches provide the same generic elevator pitch and entice the buyer with an offer to see a presentation. The response rate on these outreach attempts is usually in the low single digits as prospects often see these attempts just like they see spam. Plus, buyers are being bombarded by 100s of salespeople weekly and they’re already too busy with their jobs to respond to just a small fraction of them.

When legacy salespeople actually get buyers on the phone, most of the effort is spent qualifying buyers on the size of their budget and their authority to spend it. But, buyers are tired of being disqualified just so the legacy salesperson knows they’re spending their time wisely. They can get more insight by simply doing a search online than by taking a cold call from a legacy salesperson. Modern buyers are letting calls go into voicemail and deleting voicemail messages as soon as they realize it’s “just another salesperson”.

There is clearly a massive disconnect between the way traditional sellers are trying to connect and how, why and when buyers want to connect with sellers. Not surprisingly, The State of Inbound recently noted that 42% of surveyed salespeople said that prospecting is the most difficult part of the sales process. That’s because they’re doing it all wrong. The old playbook doesn’t work anymore. It’s time for connecting in an inbound way.

Let’s talk about what that means. in order for a salesperson to grab a modern buyer’s attention with an email, call, or social media outreach, they must carefully customize and personalize their message. Empowered buyers don’t use voicemails and emails from strangers to learn about products and services. This information is readily available online whenever buyers are interested. They’re not ready for a presentation during the awareness stage of their journey. Inbound sellers connect in a meaningful way by starting conversations around the buyer’s plans, goals and challenges.

Inbound salespeople reach out to buyers in a very different way than legacy salespeople. Inbound salespeople lead with a message personalized to the buyer’s context. This context could be the buyer’s industry, role, interests, common connections or what the buyer has done on the seller’s website or on social media websites.

In the opening outreach, inbound salespeople make an offer aligned with the awareness stage of the buying journey. For example, inbound salespeople may offer a free consultation or eBook about the challenge area the buyer is researching.

When inbound salespeople get a buyer on the phone, they don’t rush to qualify the buyer on budget and authority. Instead, they seek to understand the buyer’s interests and needs further. And, if appropriate, offer to help with those needs.

If the prospect has a need you can help with and they want your help, the “lead” becomes a “qualified lead”.

The next video will illustrate the details behind executing the Connect stage.

VIDEO 2: HOW DO INBOUND SALESPEOPLE EXECUTE THE CONNECT STAGE?

In this video we’re going to get really tactical on how to setup and execute an effective Connect strategy within your company.

There are three steps to setup your Connect strategy. First, you define your personas. Second, you define the sequences for each persona. And third, you define the outreach content for each sequence. Let’s dive into each one of these steps. Starting with defining personas.

Step #1: Define personas

In the last class, you defined your target universe of buyers, your Ideal Company Profile. The companies within your Ideal Company Profile and the people that work at these companies often have unique perspectives on buying your product. Sales and marketing teams refer to these unique perspectives as “personas”. Defining your personas is essential to personalizing the sales process for today’s empowered buyer.

When defining personas, first segment your target market by the types of companies and then, within those companies, the different types of people you target.

For example, you can segment the companies you target by industry, size, or geographic location. You can segment the people you target by role, title, function, or common behaviors.

Here’s an example to illustrate this step. Assume you’re a recruiting firm that focuses on hiring salespeople and you target small and medium-sized companies in both the technology and healthcare industries in the U.S.

The first question you should ask yourself is what are the different segments of companies you target? You want to organize the companies you target into similar buying behaviors. In this case, you sell to companies of similar size and location.

The logical way to segment the companies is by the two industries you target; technology and healthcare. The buying behavior of technology firms will likely be a bit different than healthcare companies.

The second question to ask is who in the company is involved in buying your services? In this case, the VP of Sales, Director of Recruiting, and CEO might be the main people engaging with a recruiting firm. Let’s assume these three roles are the primary people involved for both technology and healthcare companies. Therefore, you’re left with 6 personas:

  1. Persona A: VP of Sales at a technology company
  2. Persona B: Director of Recruiting at a technology company
  3. Persona C: CEO at a technology company
  4. Persona D: VP of Sales at a healthcare company
  5. Persona E: Director of Recruiting at a healthcare company
  6. Persona F: CEO at a healthcare company

When developing your personas, keep them simple at first. In practice, you might target small and large companies across 3 continents and across 6 different verticals. Within each company, there could be a dozen or more roles involved in the buying decision. If you immediately try to account for all of these scenarios, it will be too complicated for you and your salespeople. Start with one segmentation at the company level (like industry) and one segmentation at the individual level (like role). Focus only on the most common segments as opposed to trying to be all encompassing. Once you implement the first set of personas into your company, you can begin adding in more segments.

Once the persona structure is in place, add details about each persona. Focus on the perspectives of each persona at the “awareness” stage of the buyer’s journey, since most buyers you reach at the Connect stage are at the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey. The introduction to inbound sales class outlined questions to consider for buyers at the awareness stage. When you answer these questions, be sure to emphasize the unique perspective of the persona relative to the other personas in your list. This will help you deliver a highly personalized experience to the buyer.

Here are the questions you should be answering:

  1. How do these personas describe the goals or challenges they encounter that align with your company’s offering?
  2. How do these personas educate themselves on their goal or challenge?
  3. What are the implications of inaction by each persona?
  4. Are there common misconceptions these personas have about addressing their goal or challenge?
  5. How do these personas decide whether the goal or challenge should be prioritized?

This example will illustrate how to add detail to a persona. Think back to the recruiting firm example and ask those questions for Persona A, the VP of Sales at a technology company. Details for this persona might be:

  1. The most common challenges Persona A is experiencing that we can help with are increasing the quality of newly hired salespeople, increasing the pace at which the sales team is growing, and re-focusing sales managers’ time from sourcing candidates toward coaching their team.
  2. Persona A looks to their industry peers, other senior leaders at their organization, and their board for advice on solving their recruiting challenges. They also look at recommendations in online forums in places like LinkedIn and Quora.
  3. If Persona A does not address their recruiting challenges, they risk missing their quota, de-stabilizing their company’s financial situation, and termination.
  4. Persona A believes using an outside recruiting firm is more expensive than their current approach to sourcing candidates. They also believe the quality of candidates will be lower than if they sourced the candidates internally because outside firms don’t completely understand their business.

If you were this recruiting firm and you had these persona details, do you think you’d have an idea on how to begin customizing your sales process?

Do your research and work with your colleagues to build out your personas. You won’t have just one persona, so be sure to use the same questions to define your other personas.

Step #2: Define Sequences for each persona

Now that you’ve defined your personas, the next step is to outline your outreach strategy – or define sequences for each persona.

Ask yourself:

  • Which mediums will you use to reach out to each persona? Phone? Email? In person? Social media?
  • When will you reach out? Before work? After work? During lunch?
  • If you don’t connect on the first outreach, when will you try again? How many times will you reach out before you give up?

We refer to these outreach strategies as your “sequences”.

Let’s build upon the recruiting firm example to illustrate sequence development and work on the sequence definition for Persona A – the VP of Sales at a technology company. You decide that you want to reach out to the VP of Sales 5 times over the course of two weeks. Response rates often rise with each subsequent outreach attempt. But, when you surpass five touchpoints, the law of diminishing returns comes into play. In other words, a seventh touchpoint is not much more effective than a sixth.

With each attempt, you will have a mix of phone calls, emails, and social media interactions. The sequence for this persona looks like:

  1. Attempt #1 – You place a call and follow up with an email. And if twitter handle exists, you follow and retweet a post.
  2. Attempt #2 (2 days later)
    • Call
    • Email
    • If blog exists, subscribe to and comment on blog
  3. Attempt #3 (3 days later)
    • Call
    • Email
    • If the VP of Sales responded over social (i.e. following back on twitter, RT, response to blog comment), then send LinkedIn connect request
  4. Attempt #4 (4 days later)
    • Call
    • Email
  5. Attempt #5 (5 days later)
    • Call
    • Email
    • If LinkedIn connection is made, send LinkedIn message

You will define a sequence like this for each persona.

Step #3: Define outreach content for each sequence

Now that you have your personas and sequences for each persona defined, the final step is to develop the outreach content for each attempt in the sequence. The most important consideration when you develop this content is to keep the second philosophy of Inbound Sales in mind: “personalize the entire sales experience to the buyer’s context”. The buyer’s context includes the type of organization the buyer is from, who the buyer is within that organization, and the stage the buyer is at in their buying journey. You set yourself up to succeed with this important step when you defined your personas in step 1.

Another important consideration as you develop the sequence content is to keep in mind your goal in the connect stage. As stated earlier, most of these buyers are in the “awareness” stage of their buying journey. Therefore, your goal is not to sell them on your product. Your goal is not to get them to see a demo of your product. Instead, your goal is to support them during their “awareness” journey. Your goal is to educate them on the goal or challenge they are exploring. Your goal is to build up your credibility with the buyer so that they trust your advice and they want to spend more time with you.

Here are a few additional best practices to consider when defining the content for each sequence.

  1. As you begin this stage, take an inventory of your existing content. Review any blog articles, ebooks, webinars, presentations, case studies, etc. that your company has developed. Also, check your “Sent Items” in your email. Typically you will find emails to prospects that will serve as excellent templates. Note any content that is particularly effective at addressing the unique perspectives of each persona that you documented during the persona definition stage. The gaps in the content you find serve as a content roadmap for you in the future. For example, you may find that you have lots of content for a particular type of challenge or industry or buyer role. However, there are other important segments you do not have content for. Or you might have a lot of content that is too generic; not specific enough to different personas. In the future, you can target your content development to fill those gaps.
  2. Keep your outreaches short. Voice mails should be less than 15 seconds. Emails should be less than 200 words.
  3. Be sure you reference the buyer at least 2x as much as you mention yourself. This feedback applies to company mentions, personal mentions, the word “I”, and the word “you”.
  4. End all emails with a question. The question should be short and a separate line. It should be focused on identifying a challenge or a goal. For example, if you mention you’ve heard great things about their sales team, you should ask, “How do you find such great salespeople?” If you are asking for time, be explicit about how much you are looking for. For example, “When do you have 15 minutes to speak?”
  5. Sound human. Sound helpful. Avoid sounding like a legacy salesperson.
  6. For emails specifically, the subject line is the most important element. Personalize the subject line to the persona’s perspective.
  7. The content you lay out are guidelines. Salespeople should have the autonomy to adapt the content to their style and to further personalize the content to the buyer’s context.

We will cover examples in the next video for this class.

A common question during this step is how to provide useful content to the buyer if your company does not have much content in the way of blogs, eBooks, webinars, etc. There are two approaches you can take in this case. First, useful content does not need to be from your company. There is probably a lot of content by thought leaders, authors, executives, and non-competitive firms in your space. If the content is of high quality and aligned with your buyer’s area of interest, you can share it with the buyer. Remember, buyers are likely new to the goal or challenge they are trying to solve. They do not have the depth of experience that you have for living in your space everyday. Helping buyers find high quality content to accelerate their education process is very valuable to them.

Second, a free consultation with you or another person at your company is a great way to personalize an offer directly to the buyer’s area of interest. If the buyer is interested in increasing the quality of new sales hires, offer a free consultation to share best practices from other companies that achieved this result. Offer to find out more about their current recruiting process and suggest gaps between their process and the best practices you see in the market. You do not need a stream of content to make a personalized offer like this.

Developing Outreach Content for other Lead Sources

The Tyre Recruiting example we covered earlier in this class illustrates how to connect with a passive buyer lead. Now let’s discuss how to connect with the other lead sources we defined in the Identify class: inbound leads, inbound companies, trigger events, and common connections. All of these lead sources are easier to connect with than the passive buyers. The outreach content suggested below should be leveraged first in the cadence designs for these types of leads.

Outreach Content for Inbound Leads

Let’s start with inbound leads. Inbound leads typically have the most context around the specific interests of the buyer. For example, you may know the buyer read specific blog articles or pages on your website. You may know that the buyer received 5 emails from your organization and opened two of them on a related topic. You may know the buyer re-tweeted certain types of content in social media. All of these actions are indications of the buyer’s specific interests. Accounting for the buyers’ interests in the connect outreach is the most important and most effective form of personalization.

In order to add buyer interests to the connect outreach, start by defining the categories of interests buyers may have that your company can help with. For example, in our recruiting firm example, buyers may have the following categories of interests:

  • Increase quality of new hires
  • Increase the pace of hiring
  • Decrease cost per hire
  • Reallocate time spent by hiring managers on sourcing to higher value activities

With the interest categories defined, you can now define outreach content related to each interest category.

Initially, it may be challenging to connect certain buyer actions to your interest categories. However, with time, this connection will become second nature as you gain experience with your buyers. When you observe buyer actions and connect these actions to interest categories, you can then add the interest-specific content to their connect sequence. Interest-specific content is so effective, we highly recommend leading with them in an outreach sequence.

Outreach for Content Inbound Companies

Inbound Companies are similar to Inbound Leads. The difference is you do not know who actually visited your website. You only know that someone from that company took that action. During the Identify class, we walked through how to identify the right person to reach out to. Address your message accordingly.

Outreach for Content Trigger Event Leads

As discussed in the Identify class, trigger events like social media mentions or news articles can also be leveraged to connect with a buyer. You should lead with the trigger event, relate the event to an area of potential interest of the buyer, and then personalize the outreach content to that interest.

Outreach for Content Common Connections

The final area of buyer context you can leverage during the Connect strategy is a common connection. Common connections can be detected organically through general networking or asking for referrals. There are also tools and online networks to help identify these connections. Regardless of how a common connection is identified, these connections can be leveraged effectively during the Connect strategy.

In order to leverage common connections, start by defining the various categories of common connections. For example:

  • One of your customers may refer a potential buyer
  • One of your fellow employees knows the potential buyer
  • An acquaintance outside of your organization knows the potential buyer

As you did with the interest connections, create outreach content for each category of common connections.

Common connections are very effective during the Connect phase of the Inbound Sales methodology. Like interest-specific content, you should lead with common connections in your outreach sequence.

Accounting for non-traditional mediums to connect

The rise of inbound marketing and social media has presented additional mediums beyond phone, email, and in-person to connect with potential buyers. Here are some examples of non-traditional mediums as well as ways you can leverage these mediums to connect with buyers.

  1. The buyer’s company has a blog
    • You can subscribe to the blog, post new articles on your social media account, and comment on blog articles.
    • You can mention articles written on the blog as part of your outreach to the potential buyer
  2. The buyer is active in social media
    • You can send an invitation to connect in LinkedIn, follow the buyer on Twitter, re-tweet posts by the buyer, etc.
    • If the buyer follows you back, you can choose to message the buyer as part of an outreach sequence.
  3. Buyer conducted a webinar
    • You can attend the webinar and send a follow up email to the buyer regarding the lessons you learned on the webinar
  4. The buyer hosts or speaks at an event
    • You can attend the event and introduce yourself after the speech with a contextual comment around points you found interesting

As you incorporate these non-traditional mediums into your connect sequences, be mindful of the appropriate timing for each type of outreach. For example, do not send an invitation to connect on social media until you have shared valuable content with the buyer. Make sure you have built up some trust and credibility with the buyer before attempting to strengthen the relationship.

What to do when the buyer and salesperson connect?

You now have a well-tuned framework on how to connect with a potential buyer. However, what do you do when you actually make a connection? What happens if the buyer answers the phone or calls you back? What happens if the buyer emails you back to take you up on the offer to help?

Obviously, you need a plan on how to handle these scenarios. Email responses from buyers are easier to handle. If you have setup your connect strategy correctly, the buyer is responding to an offer for help. The buyer’s response is an indication that you have developed enough credibility with the buyer that they believe you can help them with a priority goal or challenge. Your next step is to find a time to discuss. At that point, you have successfully navigated to the Explore step of the Inbound Sales process.

A more difficult situation to handle is when you call a buyer and the buyer picks up the phone. Unlike the email response, the buyer probably does not remember who you are or what you have to offer. The goal of the first 30 seconds of the conversation is simple: convince the buyer to not hang up the phone and give you a few minutes of their time. Unfortunately, decades of bad experiences with legacy salespeople have created a negative perception of sales outreach in the minds of buyers. This is your chance to change that perception. The best approach depends on the context of the outreach.

Managing the Connect Call with an Inbound Lead

If you are contacting a buyer through a follow up to an inbound lead, in the opening 30 seconds it is best to reference the context of their inbound activity and ask if they have particular questions on the area of interest.

For example:

[Buyer] “Mary Smith”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Hi Mary. This is Mike from Tyre Recruiting.”

[Buyer] “OK???”

[Inbound Salesperson] “You downloaded one of our eBooks earlier today on tips to recruit engineering talent.”

[Buyer] “Oh, yes, I remember.”

[Inbound Salesperson] “What were you looking for help with?

[Buyer] “Um. Well we are having trouble winning the top sales talent in the area because we do not sell expensive products and can’t afford to pay at the top of the scale.”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Ahh, yes. We just went through this issue with a client of ours in the northeast. They were a software company with financial software for small businesses. What have you tried so far?”

Continue to ask the buyer about their specific situation and provide help where you can. At some point, you will either naturally transition the conversation into the Explore stage or agree to set up an Exploratory call together.

Managing the Connect Call with an Inbound Company

Your approach toward a connection with an Inbound Company is similar but has some unique adjustments. For example:

[Buyer] “Mary Smith”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Hi Mary. This is Mike from Tyre Recruiting.”

[Buyer] “OK???”

[Inbound Salesperson] “We have received a few inquiries from people at your company for information on increasing hiring quality.”

[Buyer] “Really? From who?”

[Inbound Salesperson] “That’s what I was hoping you could help me with. They did not leave their name? Is there someone in your organization that might be focused on the issue? [Buyer] “Maybe Bob in recruiting.”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Do you know why he may be looking for information on sales hiring quality?”

[Buyer] “We’ve had some issues there”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Issues?”

Similar to the Inbound lead situation, continue to ask the buyer about their specific situation, provide help where you can, and transition to the Explore stage, either on this call or a follow on call.

Managing the Connect Call with a Trigger Event leads

Connect calls originating from a trigger event leads should focus on the trigger event first and then explore whether the trigger event implies a goal or challenge you can help with. For example:

[Buyer] “Mary Smith”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Hi Mary. This is Mike from Tyre Recruiting.”

[Buyer] “OK???”

[Inbound Salesperson] “I just read your new job posting on the Account Executive position”

[Buyer] “Yes. You need to submit your resume to Bob in recruiting. The email is on the job ad”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Actually I was not calling about applying to the job. I was calling we published a popular eBook amongst your peers on writing job ads that attract sales rock stars. Based on those best practices, I had a few suggestions on the ad.”

[Buyer] “OK. What do you think?”

Provide suggestions. Transition into why they are hiring now and what they are most worried about with the process. Help where you can. Transition to the Explore stage.

Managing the Connect Call with a Common Connection

If you are contacting a buyer through a common connection, in the opening 30 seconds it is best to mention the common connection and why the common connection thought it would be a good idea to talk.

[Buyer] “Mary Smith”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Hi Mary. This is Mike from Tyre Recruiting.”

[Buyer] “OK???”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Kevin Harris over at XYZ Partners suggested I reach out to you”

[Buyer] “He did. Why?”

[Inbound Salesperson] “I was speaking to him about some of the success we have seen companies achieve with recruiting salespeople. He mentioned you were struggling in the area the last time you spoke and suggested I reach out.”

[Buyer] “Ah right, I remember.”

[Inbound Salesperson] “How is recruiting salespeople progressing?”

[Buyer] “We are still struggling.”

[Inbound Salesperson] “On what aspect specifically?”

… and so on. Transition to the Explore stage.

Managing the Connect Call with a Passive lead

If you are contacting a passive buyer with no additional context, in the opening 30 seconds it is best to acknowledge the context of their company and role and offer assistance on an area that their persona is typically challenged with.

[Buyer] “Mary Smith”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Hi Mary. This is Mike from Tyre Recruiting.”

[Buyer] “OK???”

[Inbound Salesperson] “I know I am contacting you out of the blue. May I please take 15 seconds of your time to explain why I am calling and you can determine if it is worth continuing?”

[Buyer] “I guess”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Typically when I work with sales executives, I find they have a difficult time finding enough salespeople or keeping the quality high. Is this the case with you?”

[Buyer] “Probably more on quality.”

[Inbound Salesperson] “Ah. I just went through that issue with a client in your industry last quarter. How are you defining quality in this case?”

Get buy in for a longer call to explore the opportunity to work together.

Getting Buy-in for a Longer Exploratory Conversation

Regardless of the source of your lead, you probably noticed a few commonalities between these scripts. In each, it’s critical to establish why you are calling, then position a challenge you help people like them overcome. Once they validate that they are interested in discussing this with you, you must get buy-in for a longer exploratory conversation, which is the next step in the inbound selling process. Here’s what that might sound like.

[Prospect] We are struggling to attract enough quality sales candidates to meet our growth goals.

[Inbound Salesperson] I’ve heard that a few times. What have you tried so far?

[Prospect] Not sure I want to share our secrets, but some of the things we’ve done is asking for referrals from our current employees, sending messages via LinkedIn and offering a bonus to our current employees when they refer someone that we hire.

[Inbound Salesperson] But, that’s not getting you the quality and quantity you need?

[Prospect] It helped us increase the quantity, but not enough. Plus, the quality wasn’t really as high compared to when I do it myself. I’m not sure what to do next. I really don’t want to lower my quality bar, but I’m afraid that might be necessary given the lack of talent out there.

[Inbound Salesperson] Sounds like you’re running out of ideas and time to fix this. Is it a high priority at this point?

[Prospect] Yes. Very high. I need to make 10 hires this quarter and I am way behind where I should be.

[Inbound Salesperson] Based on what you’re doing, I believe we may be able to help you. Would it be good use of your time to talk through some additional ways you could catch up and then hit that target without sacrificing quality?

[Prospect] Yes. If you can do that, it would definitely be worth my time.

[Inbound Salesperson] Ok. I have some available tomorrow. What time works for you?

[Prospect] How about 11AM or 4PM?

[Inbound Salesperson] 11 won’t work for me. But, I can do 4PM. Should I call you on this number?

[Prospect] That’d be great. Look forward to talking to you.

Leveraging technology in the Connect phase

Advanced technology is not required to execute a high quality Connect process. As you can imagine, most of the process above can be executed with Word documents, spreadsheets, etc. However, the right technology can be quite helpful in executing the Connect phase. Here are some technology use cases to seek out.

  • An email template tool to develop your persona templates in. Ideally, the folders in the email template tool can be organized around the various personas. It is also advantageous if the templates are accessible wherever the salesperson is, such as in email, on the web, or in their CRM. People like this type of technology because it can drastically speed up the amount of time that prospecting takes, and allows sales teams to get detailed analytics on what is working and what is not.
  • A CRM or other solution that illustrates buyer activity to the salesperson as the salesperson prepares for the outreach. Easy access to buyer activity accelerates the process for the salesperson to uncover buyer interests or additional mediums to connect with the buyer.
  • An email tool that allows salespeople to setup a sequence and automate some of its execution. When salespeople decide which persona a particular lead falls into, they save a lot of time if they can set up the entire sequence at that moment. The tool should prompt salespeople when an outreach is due or may even automate the next outreach for the salesperson if appropriate.
  • A CRM or other solution that automatically logs salesperson outreach, especially voicemails and emails. Auto logging of the outreach allows salespeople to focus on helping buyers rather than being bogged down on administrative work. Furthermore, auto logging of outreach allows salespeople to be more organized with their sequences.

Be careful with the following technology.

  • Mail merge: Mail merge enables salespeople to email dozens or hundreds of prospects in a single click. Salespeople really like this feature because it is a quick way to surface one or two potential buyers in order to save a month or quarter. However, mail merge enables minimal personalization. Most recipients can recognize the impersonal outreach and immediately delete the message. Users of mail merge fail to account for the negative experience the buyer has with this tactic and the effects it has on the company’s brand.
  • Auto-dialers: Auto dialers rapidly call prospect lists and surface connections to the salesperson when a buyer picks up the phone. The issue here is the salesperson has no time to review the buyer’s context before they speak with the buyer. The salesperson must revert to a generic, impersonal pitch with the buyer which rarely leads to success. If you use an auto-dialer, make sure it allows for time to prepare for the call.

Inbound sales execution in the connect stage

Once the connect strategy is developed, your role as the salesperson is straightforward. The Identify class taught how to find high quality buyers to reach out to. The Connect class teaches you how to reach out. Once you identify a buyer to target:

  1. Determine which persona the buyer falls into
  2. Identify any interest, common connection, or non-traditional mediums for the buyer.
  3. Using the results of steps 1 and 2 above, assemble the sequence plan for the buyer using the recommended template for the respective persona.
  4. Using the results of steps 1 and 2 above, assemble the content for each sequence attempt using the recommended content templates.
  5. Start executing the sequence.

In summary, legacy salespeople have been leaving the same generic voicemails and sending the same generic emails to their prospects for decades. Don’t fall into this trap. It may be convenient for you. However, it is not helpful to buyers and will not work.

Instead, personalize your connect strategy to the buyer’s context. Use these three steps:

  1. Define your personas
  2. Define your sequences
  3. Define the outreach content for each step in the sequences

In the next video, we’ll welcome back Mark Roberge to show you can example.

VIDEO 3: EXAMPLE COMPANY #1

Welcome back everyone. Let’s put everything together from the connect class into an example. We have been working on our Tyre Recruiting example throughout the class. Let’s look at their Connect strategy in full.

First, Tyre Recruiting defines their personas. Remember, we recommend one dimension at the company level and one dimension at the individual level. As a result, Tyre Recruiting has 6 personas:

  1. Persona A: VP of Sales at a technology company
  2. Persona B: Director of Recruiting at a technology company
  3. Persona C: CEO at a technology company
  4. Persona D: VP of Sales at a healthcare company
  5. Persona E: Director of Recruiting at a healthcare company
  6. Persona F: CEO at a healthcare company

Second, Tyre Recruiting defines the sequence for each persona. Here is an example of the Tyre Recruiting sequence table for Persona A, the VP of Sales at a technology company. The first column in the sequence table illustrates the Attempt number. The second column illustrate the medium through which the outreach will occur. The third column references the content that should be used or the action that should be taken. The final column shows the amount of days until the next attempt.

Sequence Table for Persona A: VP of Sales at a technology company

Here is what the sequence table looks like when using technology to send the sequence.

One important note to remember. The sequence table is for a passive lead. If the buyer identified through an inbound lead, inbound company, trigger event, or common connection, the salesperson should over-ride the first attempt and replace it with the content recommendation for the respective lead type.

The final step for Tyre Recruiting to complete their connect strategy is to define the various outreach content templates. A number of outreach content examples for Persona A, the VP of Sales at a technology company, are as follows. Here’s how the call would go:

Passive Call #1 – Persona A

“Hi Lindsay. This is Mark from Tyre Recruiting. When I work with VP of Sales in the tech sector like yourself, they typically are struggling with meeting their hiring targets or maintaining quality with new hires. Given the growth of your company, you are probably worried about both. Therefore, I am emailing you an eBook that we published about how technology executives are accelerating the pace of hiring while maintaining quality. Let me know if you’d like to take 15 minutes with me to walk through these and other best practices. My phone number is 123-456-7890.” As you can see, the email would be very similar.

Passive Email #1 – Persona A

[Subject] Question about sales hiring
[Buyer Name]
In working with other VP of Sales, one of the key issues they’re struggling with is sales hiring quality and quantity. This past year we helped numerous companies to find high caliber salespeople fast, resulting in accelerated revenue growth. We have aggregated the sales hiring best practices into the attached eBook. Let me know if you would like to walk through these and other sales hiring best practices Here’s my calendar link if you’d like to schedule a call.
Best,
[Signature]

As for call #2, it could sound something like this…

Passive Call #2 – Persona A

“Hi Lindsay. I thought you would like a blog article our CEO wrote about balancing sales manager time between hiring new talent and coaching existing staff. I am going to email you the blog now. I am available to discuss how your managers are navigating this balance at your company. My phone number is 123-456-7890.”

Passive Email #2 – Persona A

[Subject] Balancing Hiring and Coaching – For Sales Managers [Blog Article]
[Buyer Name]
The attached blog article by our CEO made me think of you and [Buyer Company Name]. The article outlines best practices for sales manager time to balance hiring new talent and coaching existing staff. I am available to help you and your managers navigate this balance at [Buyer Company Name]. Is this a priority for you right now?
Best,
[Signature]

Passive Call #3 – Persona A

“Hi [Buyer Name]. Over the past year, I have worked with over 20 tech VPs of Sales from companies such as [Company A] and [Company B] to help them accelerate sales hiring without sacrificing quality. Would you be interested in benchmarking your hiring approach at [Buyer Company Name] against these other best in class companies? My phone number is 123-456-7890 if this is a priority for you.”

Passive Email #3 – Persona A

[Subject] [Buyer Company Name] vs. [Company A] vs. [Company B]
[Buyer Name]
Over the past year, I have worked with over 20 tech VPs of Sales from companies such as [Company A] and [Company B] to help them accelerate sales hiring without sacrificing quality. Would you be interested in benchmarking your hiring approach at [Buyer Company Name] against these other best in class companies? I have blocked off ten :30 minute blocks of time for sales VPs over the next two weeks. Would you like one of these slots?
Best,
[Signature]

Inbound Lead Call – Persona A

“Hi [Buyer Name]. Earlier today, you downloaded our eBook on increasing quality for new sales hires. Based on this area of interest, I thought you may also enjoy [Blog Article A] and [Blog Article B]. I took a look at your company and sales hiring profile and I have a few suggestions on improving hiring quality. Feel free to indicate when you have time to discuss. My phone number is 123-456-7890.”

Inbound Lead Email – Persona A

[Subject] Best practices to increase new hire quality for salespeople for [Buyer Company Name]
[Buyer Name]
Earlier today, you downloaded our eBook on increasing quality for new sales hires. Based on this area of interest, I thought you may also enjoy [Blog Article A] and [Blog Article B]. I took a look at your company and sales hiring profile and I have a few suggestions on improving hiring quality. Are you interested in reviewing?
Best,
[Signature]

Inbound Company Call – Persona A

“Hi [Buyer Name]. Various people within your organization have been reviewing our content on increasing the quality of sales hires. Based on this area of interest, I thought you and the members of your team may also enjoy [Blog Article A] and [Blog Article B]. I took a look at your company and sales hiring profile and I have a few suggestions on improving hiring quality. Feel free to indicate when you have time to discuss. My phone number is 123-456-7890.”

Inbound Company Email – Persona A

[Subject] Best practices to increase new hire quality for salespeople for [Buyer Company Name]
[Buyer Name]
Various people within your organization have been reviewing our content on increasing the quality of sales hires. Based on this area of interest, I thought you and your team may also enjoy [Blog Article A] and [Blog Article B]. I took a look at your company and sales hiring profile and I have a few suggestions on improving hiring quality. Are you interested in reviewing?
Best,
[Signature]

Job Posting Trigger Event Call – Persona A

“Hi [Buyer Name]. I noticed your recent job posting on the Account Executive position at [Company Name]. I thought you would appreciate the popular eBook we wrote titled “10 Tips to Write Sales Job Ads that Attract A Players” and will send it to you now. We have similar best practices on sourcing, interviewing, and other elements of the hiring process. Let me know if there are particular aspects of the hiring process you are most interested in. My phone number is 123-456-7890.”

Job Posting Trigger Event Email – Persona A

[Subject] Information on [Company Name] Account Executive Job Posting
[Buyer Name]
I noticed your recent job posting on the Account Executive position at [Company Name]. I thought you would appreciate the popular eBook we wrote titled “10 Tips to Write Sales Job Ads that Attract A Players” and have attached it below. We have similar best practices on sourcing, interviewing, and other elements of the hiring process that I can share. Which area is top of mind for you?
Best,
[Signature]

Common Connection Call – Persona A

“Hi [Buyer Name]. [Common Connection First and Last Name] suggested I reach out to you. We were discussing best practices our firm Tyre Recruiting recently uncovered for increasing sales hiring while maintaining quality. [Common Connection First Name] thought you would be interested in the results. Is this of interest to you? If so, I am happy to walk you through them. My phone number is 123-456-7890.”

Common Connection Email – Persona A

[Subject] Per [Common Connection First and Last Name]
[Buyer Name]
“Hi [Buyer Name]. [Common Connection First and Last Name] suggested I reach out to you. We were discussing best practices our firm Tyre Recruiting recently uncovered on increasing sales hiring while maintaining quality. [Common Connection First Name] thought you would be interested in the results. I can walk you through them, if this is timely for you? ”
Best,
[Signature]

VIDEO 4: EXAMPLE COMPANY #2

Hi folks. I’m Dan Tyre Sales Director at HubSpot. Let’s dive into how CoGrow Marketing uses the Connect process to initiate dialog with professional service firms.

First, as an agency completely fluent in Inbound marketing and sales, CoGrow Marketing has thoroughly defined their buyer personas. For CoGrow, they have fewer personas than our other examples. They’ve chosen to define just two main personas: a partner and an associate. Associates are often their first point of contact as they are assigned the responsibility of figuring out “online marketing”, but partners often make the decision.

  1. Persona A: Senior partner at a professional services firm
  2. Persona B: Associate (or marketing manager) at a professional services firm

Remember, they sell to all kinds of professional services firms from specialized consulting firms to law and accounting firms. So, for their marketing efforts they have some sub-personas. But, most of these firms, especially when they are midsized, are structured in the same way: senior team members who are thinking about retirement and college bills, and associates who are earlier in their career trying to earn partner status. So, most of their selling efforts revolve around these broader personas.

Second, CoGrow defines their connect sequence for each persona. But, they reach out to both associates and partners at the same time in the same sequence. Here is an example of the CoGrow sequence table for Persona A & B, the partners and the associates in the firm, respectively. The first column in the sequence table illustrates the Attempt number. The second column illustrates the medium through which the outreach will occur. The third column references the content that should be used or the action that should be taken. The final column shows the amount of days until the next attempt. Different notes for principals vs associates are included in the same sequences, as CoGrow has had lots of success when they attempt to connect to the entire account all at once.

Sequence Table for Persona A & B: Partners and Associates at a professional services firm

Remember that CoGrow Marketing generates 350 inbound sales leads per month through their website and they just hired their 2nd salesperson. Most of their leads find them through a google search, a link from a social site, guest posts they contribute to HubSpot and other blogs, as well as word of mouth. CoGrow follows the full inbound marketing methodology too, which helps them convert a large percentage of their visitors into leads and a good volume of their leads into marketing qualified leads.

But, part of the reason they generate that flow of leads is because they proactively reach out and initially connect with prospective buyers on social media and through their buyer’s blogs. Some of those buyers eventually visit CoGrow’s website and complete a form to download an ebook or other offer. This gives CoGrow the ability to nurture the prospects via automated marketing emails and by displaying personalized content when they visit their site again. As shared in the Identify phase, they’ve built a database of about 8,000 opt-in contacts since they’ve opened the agency. You’ll also remember that about 50 of those those contacts request a conversation each month, turning into marketing qualified leads.

The sequence table is for a lead that found them as a result of CoGrow’s new business person’s initial attempt to connect. If the buyer is an inbound lead, CoGrow will skip to later in the sequence. If the buyer is a marketing qualified lead who requested a consultation, the CoGrow salesperson will, of course, skip this entire process and go right to scheduling a consultation.

CoGrow Marketing has also created content templates that they can customize during their outreach. Let’s walk through the templates in the sample sequence we provided in the sequence table we just went through.

1a. Subscribe to Buyer’s Company Blog and Social Feed

First step is to find the company’s blog and social feeds and follow them in feedly.

To illustrate the process, I’m going to use a real accounting firm as an example.

First, they follow them on Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blumshapiro
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlumShapiroCo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlumShapiro/

1b. Leave a Comment, Share article

Occasionally, CoGrow new business people will comment and share the article l Comment: http://blog.blumshapiro.com/blog/2016/02/14/i-like-pie-but-i-hate-piecharts/
Tweet Article: https://twitter.com/pc4media/status/703278056845271040

Then connect by sending a note and referencing the comment. The comment might sound something like this…

1c. Send note via social, reference comment

“Hi Julien. You article on “topic a” was excellent. I left a comment and shared it on my own social profiles. I left a question in the comments that I’m anxious to hear your perspective on. Look forward to reading your response. ” The next part of the sequence will be inviting the prospect to participate in market research. Here’s an example email…

2a. Email – Persona A

[Subject] market research on marketing practices of successful law firms [Survey].

[Buyer Name]

Great post last week. As I mentioned, I shared it on Linkedin and it received quite a few comments there.

Would you be willing to answer a few questions about how you’re marketing and selling your b2b legal services? For the 3rd year in a row, we’re studying the major challenges professional services firms encounter in acquiring new clients. All respondents will receive access to the results, so you can benchmark your firm. The survey covers common issues like:

  1. Losing clients to new upstart firms
  2. Senior partners who are struggling to find time to market the firm
  3. The challenges of building and maintaining websites that reflect the scope, quality and impact of your work.
  4. The confusing new ways that mid-sized professional services firms are getting found and hired by clients.

If you’d like to complete the survey over the phone, you can schedule a call here. Or if you’re willing to do it, here is the link .

If I can ever help with anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Best,
[Signature]

We also send this email to Persona B. The only change is how we start the email. Something like “Your senior partner posted a great post last week. I see that you’re pretty active on social media for the purposes of marketing your firm. As an associate at the firm, would you be interested in participating in some market research on how fast growing mid-sized law firms are marketing and selling their services these days?

And the that example email could be followed by a call determining the interest in market research…

2b. Call – Persona A

“Hi [Buyer Name]. Really enjoyed your article from last week. It stirred up a good conversation on my linkedin profile. Let me know if you didn’t see it. Separately, I’m wondering if you’d be interested in being involved in some market research about how mid-sized law firms are approaching marketing and selling these days. I will email you too, so you can respond there if that’s easier. But if you’d like to call me right back, my phone number is 123-456-7890.”

Again, CoGrow New Business salespeople leave a message for associates in the firm as well. “I also left a message for your senior partner about this. I shared his article on linkedin. Then, invited him to participate in some market research about how mid-sized law firms are marketing themselves. Then, I realized there are probably a few other people involved with marketing at your firm. If this market research might be interesting to you, give me a call at 123-456-7890. I’ll also email you so you can respond more easily there.”

In the rest of the example messages, we’ll feature only the messages meant for the partners of the prospect’s firms.

Next, CoGrow can share their expertise by providing the content they already have. In this case they share one of their blog posts. They email the prospect this message…

3a. Email – Persona A

[Subject] issue with your blog
[Buyer Name]
I’ve been reading your blog for some time now. After clicking through to leave a comment on your latest article on xyz topic, I realized that you don’t have any calls to action on your articles. Here’s a link to an article on our website with an example of what I mean. If you were to implement this, it would help you generate more leads from your blogging activity.
Have you ever considered doing something like this?
Best,
[Signature]

They can also deliver this corresponding call…

3b. Call- Persona A

“Hi [Buyer Name]. I was reading your post on topic xyz yesterday. Then, realized you were missing out an opportunity to convert more of your blog readers into clients. I’ve sent you an email about it, but figured I’d call too. If it’s a priority for you to acquire new clients right now, you can reach me at phone number is 123-456- 7890. This is Dan Tyre from CoGrow.”

If CoGrow hasn’t received a response from the lead, they can reach out and send a note recapping what they’ve previously said – mentioning market research and the blog posts.

3c. Note via social

Hey [Buyer Name]. I’ve left you a few voicemails and sent you two emails about a few different things. One was just a compliment on your post. I really liked it. After reading your articles for awhile, I also realized you might benefit from participating in our market research panel covering marketing best practices for mid-sized law firms. Then, I also realized there was an opportunity for you to generate more leads from your blogging activity. There are probably other ways we could help each other. Let me know if you’re interested in connecting at some point. Often times, after they connect proactively via social or via an email or call, their prospects visit their website. Many of them complete a form and become an inbound lead. They also generate many inbound leads from their marketing activities as we’ve discussed before. So, what do they do if a lead fills out a form for an ebook download? How would CoGrow connect? Here’s a sample email…

4a. Email – Persona A

[Subject] ebook on website best practices for mid-sized professional service firms
[Buyer Name]
You downloaded our ebook yesterday on website best practices for mid-sized professional service firms. Usually, that’s a sign that you’re not happy with yours? I’m available to help you think through how to get more value from your site. I can also help you benchmark your firm’s website and marketing activities against the fastest growing mid-sized professional service firms in the Northeast. Here’s my calendar link if you’d like to book :30 minutes.
Best,
[Signature]

..and what could be said by phone.

4b. Call – Persona A

“Hi [Buyer Name]. Earlier today, you downloaded our eBook on website best practices for mid-sized law firms like yours. Although assumptions make a “you know what” out of you and me, usually that means you’re not happy with your website.

I took a look at yours and do see some areas for improvement. If you’d like to benchmark yourself against other fast growing firms, I can walk you through the obvious areas of improvement and we can talk about what these other firms do that you’re not doing. I’ll try you back in an hour as I won’t have time in the next day or so. But if you want to call me, my phone number is 123-456-7890.”

Often times, due to the calls to action on their site and their automated nurturing, leads become marketing qualified leads (called MQLs) by requesting a consultation. In this case, they responding to the consultation request like so…

5a. Email – Persona A

[Subject] scheduling the call you requested
[Buyer Name]
Earlier today, you requested a consultation with an expert at CoGrow Marketing. You might have seen an automated message to help you schedule that. But, I’m guessing you missed it?
So, do you have a time in mind for our call? Also, it’d be great if could connect for a few minutes first, so I can ask a few basic questions. This way, I can be more prepared for our scheduled call.
I’ve already looked at your site and your online presence and see a few areas of opportunity. But, it’s usually best to learn a bit about your firm and goals before I start making suggestions.
Best,
[Signature]

5b. Call – Persona A

“Hi [Buyer Name]. You requested a consultation with CoGrow Marketing yesterday. I’m calling to discuss your interest and schedule that call if it still makes sense. I’ve also looked at your online presence and have a few suggestions already. But, I find that it’s best to connect first so I can understand a bit about your goals. My phone number is 123-456-7890.”

Since MQLs convert to clients at a very high rate, CoGrow’s new business team pulls out all of the stops to try and connect with them. If they don’t hear back in a day or two after the request, they look for common connections and call their common connection to find out what they know about the lead. Here’s an example call and email they might use after verifying that their common connection knows the contact.

6a. Call – Persona A

“Hi [Buyer Name]. I’ve made a few attempts to connect with you. I saw we had a common connection with [Common Connection First and Last Name] who is a client of mine. I asked him if he knew you and if he thought I could help you with anything. He suggested I share the results his firm has had with their website and online marketing efforts. He’s also willing to take a call if you’d like some guidance from a peer. Let me know if this is still a priority for you since you requested a call a few weeks ago. My phone number is 123-456-7890.”

6b. Email – Persona A

[Subject] Per [Common Connection First and Last Name]
[Buyer Name]
“Hi [Buyer Name]. I’ve made a few attempts to connect with you after you downloaded an ebook of ours, visited our site a few times and requested a call a few weeks ago.
Yesterday, I saw we had a common connection with [Common Connection First and Last Name] who is a client of mine. When I asked him if he knew you and if I thought I could help you with anything, [Common Connection First Name] suggested I share the results they’ve had after we helped them launch their website and reboot their marketing and sales plan. He’s also willing to speak with you if you’d like advice from a peer.
Is this still a priority for you?”
Best,
[Signature]

That closes the end of an example of one of CoGrow’s sequences. In reality, they’ve created 100s of templates that they use on regular basis. This way, they always have a new reason to reach out to their contacts. Not only do they have different sequences for each of their personas, they also have different campaigns they can execute at different times of the year and different campaigns they can use based on the interests of a prospect. We’ll cover how CoGrow would conduct the exploratory phase in the next class.