Month: April 2022

Categories
Tactical Selling Uncategorized

Why prospecting tools aren’t your friends

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Why prospecting tools aren’t your friends

A common myth in our profession is that the latest, shiniest prospecting tools are critical to beat our competition and book more meetings.

If you’ve been in sales for a while, you know there are countless tools to help us do our job better. From CRMs to sequencers, to AI-driven lead research tools, there are thousands of options to help us start more conversations. I cannot think of another profession with more tools for each part of the job.

And this is wrong because it takes the focus away from doing what really matters.

Prospecting tools are just tools.

Most SDRs I work with have a hard time reaching their targets, even when they have the latest, most comprehensive sales enablement tech stack.

They come up to me and show their 16 touchpoint sequence, their automated follow ups, and their massive lead lists. They mention video prospecting tools they have access to, they play with personalized Gifs, or even think of launching a TikTok channel to create content on LinkedIn.

The problem?

They put all their energy on trying all the tools in their toolbox, and they forget to focus on what actually matters when prospecting.

Nail the basics instead.

The first thing you can do to reach your targets is to understand all the concrete actions that will lead you to booking a meeting.

First, understand who you’re going after, and what kind of problem your solution is solving for them. When it’s done, look for prospects where they hang out. LinkedIn is a great place to start.

When you’ve identified your leads, do some research to find a trigger and add relevance to your outreach.

Then, build a sequence with precise touchpoints, a set cadence, and exit criteria (prospect replied or didn’t reply after a set amount of touchpoints).

Finally, determine how many prospects you need to contact daily in order to reach your meeting targets, and execute every day.

Here are 3 tips and resources to help you do just that:

Tip #1: Break down your targets into daily activity. How many meetings do you need to book this month? What’s your meeting rate? What’s your reply rate? If you cannot answer these questions, go check my Sales Process Calculator.

Tip #2: Have a pre-defined prospecting sequence. Do you have a clear sequence with follow-ups and impactful messaging? Check my Ultimate LinkedIn Outreach Sequence.

Tip #3: Execute every day. How’s your prospecting routine looking like? Do you have a predictable system to generate meetings? Go check my New Outreach System.

Salespeople who believe their tech stack will make a difference end up missing their targets and losing confidence in their ability.

Master your craft first, add prospecting tools second.

 

Cheers,

Thibaut

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you.

 

→ Grab my 5-star course, The New Outreach System: How I use LinkedIn to get a 38% reply rate and an 11% meeting rate. Buy it here.

→Work 1:1 with me: If you need help booking more meetings, I can help you. We’ll go through your current situation and what’s not working. We’ll build an action plan to land you more meetings and more money in your pocket. Book me here.

→ Need training or coaching for your SDR or AE team? Let’s talk: If you’re managing a team but they are struggling to reach their targets, then I can help. Book an audit call with me and we’ll come up with a plan. Book your call here.

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Categories
Tactical Selling Uncategorized

How to book 1 meeting every 50 minute of prospecting

How to book 1 meeting every 50 minute of prospecting

I’m going to show you exactly how I book 1 meeting every 50 minute of prospecting.

Keeping a consistent output (regular meetings) is hands down the toughest part of the SDR job. But if you build a system, you’ll be able to predict how many prospects to contact to book one meeting. And then it’s just a matter of executing daily.

Unfortunately, most reps are so distracted by their day-to-day, that they never stop to examine how the can improve their performance.

Consistent output is the result of consistent input.

Here are the most common mistakes I see when training sales reps:

  • They don’t know how many prospects to contact to reach their targets.

  • They prospect like crazy for a few days, then stop everything.

  • They get lost in lengthy research trying to personalize their outreach.

  • They don’t have a well-structured, well-timed sequence.

If this sounds familiar, you’re in luck. I’m going to show you exactly how to avoid these mistakes.

Here’s my system, step by step:

Step 1: Start by defining your cruising altitude

Knowing how many prospects to contact is the first thing to find out when building a prospecting system.

Start with the target in your compensation plan. If you’re an SDR, you’re most likely compensated on meetings booked or opportunities generated.

Take this end number and find out the following number:

  • Reply rate (#prospects replying/#prospects contacted)

  • Meeting rate (#meetings booked/#prospects replying)

  • Opportunity rate (#opportunities generated/#meetings held)

When you have a clear idea of these numbers, you should be able to calculate how many prospects to contact to reach your targets.

For example, in the table below, we need to contact 23 prospects daily to reach a target of 80 opportunities generated per quarter.

Table

Step 2: Build a sequence

So many reps have the right activity level but they forget to build a follow-up sequence.

They send one message to their prospects, and then give up if they don’t receive a reply. A good follow-up sequence should include the following elements:

  • multiple channels (where you send the touchpoints)

  • multiple media (what’s the support you use for the touchpoint)

  • multiple problems (what’s the issue you’re solving for your prospect)

Here’s an example of a sequence structure I use every day:

Sequence example

Step 3: Block some time to prospect daily

This is the last, but most important step of booking meetings regularly.

Start by finding out a time in your workday when you’re the most productive and focused. Then put a recurring blocker in your calendar.

For me, it’s from 08:00 to 09:00.

I know I’m more motivated in the morning, and I like taking care of repetitive tasks (like prospecting) first.

This is a protected time when no one can book me, and it’s happening every day. Think of it as a daily gym or meditation routine.

And that’s it.

TL;DR

Step 1: Define your cruising altitude.

Step 2: Build a sequence.

Step 3: Block some time to prospect daily.

The New Outreach System

need help with your prospecting routine?

Learn the exact daily system I use to get a 38% reply rate and 11% meeting rate on LinkedIn.

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That’s all for this week. 1 simple prospecting tip.

And if you’re interested in diving deeper into this topic, I’m doing a free webinar with SuperOffice.

I’ve been invited to share the exact system I use to book 1 meeting every 50 minute of prospecting. It’s on Tuesday the 26th of 09:00 Berlin time.

Join for free here.

Cheers,

Thibaut

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you.

 

→ Grab my 5-star course, The New Outreach System: How I use LinkedIn to get a 38% reply rate and an 11% meeting rate. Buy it here.

→Work 1:1 with me: If you need help booking more meetings, I can help you. We’ll go through your current situation and what’s not working. We’ll build an action plan to land you more meetings and more money in your pocket. Book me here.

→ Grab my course, The T-shaped Sales Development Program: This is the most comprehensive course I have about sales development. You’ll learn everything from optimizing your LinkedIn profile for sales to finding hot prospects, and running discovery calls Buy it here.

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.