If you have a marketing team, then I bet you’re missing out on opportunities to use their content to start outbound conversations and book meetings.
In “traditional” tech businesses, marketing departments are responsible for Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs). They come in the form of webinar leads, eBook downloads, or demo requests.
And these webinars, eBooks, podcasts, blog posts can be turned into killer outbound prospecting assets. Here’s how:
Look for the resources page on your website. If your company is serious, you’ll have tons of long-form blog posts, some webinar recordings (often gated), and downloadable content.
For example, if you go to my website, you’ll find a blog, some videos, some downloadable content, and my podcast.
I recently did a podcast interview with a founder who books outbound meetings using user research as an excuse. That’s a great piece of content for VPs/Heads of Sales Development, who happen to be my prospects.
One of the main issues I see with cold outreach sequences is the focus on features/USPs instead of problems.
Now that you have a good piece of content, your job is to flip it so it focuses on problems instead of solutions.
In sales, we hunt for problems, and leading with one is a great way to catch someone’s attention and start a conversation.
In the example above, the podcast title is “How to use user research as a prospecting tactic”. The problem it solves is “building a prospecting sequence when you don’t have a clear product-market fit, with Jack Lancaster”.
The podcast with Jack is packed with nuggets of value, but it’s 35 minutes long. No one has time to listen to it.
So instead of sending it as is in my prospecting sequence, I’ll record a quick Tolstoy video where I talk about the problem and list the key points of the podcast.
Here are the 4 key points in my user research sequence example:
I’m simply curating a long resource and making it more accessible to my prospects.
Now that the video is ready, add a call-to-action leading to the resource you just summarized, and a call-to-action to your calendar link.
This will help intrigued prospects explore the resource in details and/or book a call with you.
Some prospects won’t watch the video, and this is fine. Some will be interested and will listen to the podcast. Some will even reply to the video or book a meeting.
Now don’t include this video in your prospecting sequence. Most reps are adding links to their email/LinkedIn texts, thinking prospects will stop everything they do to click on them.
In most people’s minds, a link in an unsolicited message equals a cyber threat, or someone trying to sell them something.
Use your copy to tease the resource instead. I recommend using a problem-centric question, followed by a teaser.
For example:
“Mary, curious to know how you’re preventing your reps from turning people off with pushy cold outreach. If you’re into it, I have a quick resource on how they can use user research to get a 38% reply rate.”
And don’t forget one thing:
Outbound prospecting is about starting conversations, and leading with problems is the shortest path to meetings.
And if you need a simple framework to create outbound prospecting sequences that get a 38% reply rate and an 11% meeting rate on LinkedIn, go check the New Outreach System. It’s been purchased by more than 100 salespeople, and I’m bumping the price to €149 in 24 hours.
I’m working on a levels concept to help you create the V1 of your prospecting system, and then upgrade it as you get more familiar with your prospects’ problems. We’ll cover emails, video prospecting, advanced prospecting routines, and much more.
And you can access all of it for €79 instead of €149 in the next 24 hours.
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