Categories
Tactical Selling

Building an expansion sequence from scratch

Building an expansion sequence from scratch

Most sales reps fail to generate expansion opportunities. I personally failed to do it for years, for the following reasons:

  • I felt uncomfortable asking for more money when I had already closed a deal

  • I was only incentivized on new business

  • I didn’t know how to approach existing customers without sounding pushy

Sounds familiar? I have something for you.

Below are 5 steps you can follow to build an expansion sequence from scratch:

Step 1: Generate a list of existing and past customers

A good prospecting sequence always starts with prospects. In some cases, finding relevant prospects is challenging, but not there.

Start by listing all customers who are currently in contract with you. They will be your Tier 1.

Then go to all customers who are not in active collaboration with you, but who were in the past. They are your Tier 2.

Finally, list all the prospects who were in conversation with you (open opportunities), but didn’t do business with you. They are your Tier 3.

You should have an interesting list to reach out, with different triggers for contacting them.

Step 2: Build the structure of your sequence

Having an action plan for each Tier is critical. This will help you maximize your reply rate, and know when to stop if you don’t get a reply.

Using 3 touchpoints over email and LinkedIn is preferable because it helps you preserve your relationship, without being too pushy. Remember, you already had a conversation with all these prospects, so you don’t want to annoy them with an intense outbound sequence.

Here’s an sequence structure example I run:

Sequence example

Step 3: Write your messages

With Tier 1, your goal is to get internal and external referrals. With Tier 2 and 3, your goal is to restart a conversation.

In both cases, your messages should have the following elements:

  • be short (under 125 words)

  • give a valid reason for reaching out

  • tease curiosity

You can use the 3 following frameworks to do so:

First message:

  • Trigger: A mention of your relationship

  • Reason: The reason why you’re contacting them

  • Teaser: A short sentence to tease the curiosity of your prospect

Second message:

  • Trigger: A mention of your previous message

  • Question: A question related to a problem they had

  • Teaser: An intriguing piece of information

  • CTA: A simple ask

Third message:

Bump: A one or two words question

Here is the sequences I wrote for Tier 1:

Sequence with messages

Step 4: Set time blocks

You may be tempted to launch your sequence and contact as many prospects as possible, but it’s not the best idea.

If you reach out to too many prospects at once, you’ll quickly lose motivation. You will end up with too many follow-ups at once, which will most likely discourage you.

Instead, create daily time blocks to protect your time, and add a set number of prospects to your sequence daily. I personally contact 2 expansion prospects per day, as part of my 5 daily new prospects to contact.

This creates a steady input of prospects, which turns into a predictable output (replies and meetings).

Step 5: Execute

Your last step is to go through your list in an organized manner. With your time blocks and a clearly defined cruising altitude, you’ll quickly see results.

These expansion prospects already know you, so you’ll get more replies compared to cold outreach with net new prospects. If you can contact these expansion prospects daily, you’ll start more conversations, and get more opportunities as a result.

For example, I have contacted 22 expansion prospects, got 9 replies, booked 6 meetings, generated over €60.000 of pipeline, and closed one deal.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Thibaut

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you.
 
  1. Build your outbound prospecting system from scratch here (230+ students)
  2. Write cold messages that get a 38% reply rate and 27% meeting rate here (40+)
  3. Book me 1:1 or for your team here
  4. (NEW!) Sponsor my newsletter & get 3K+ eyeballs on your ad!

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Categories
Tactical Selling

How I use comparative logic to get replies

How I use comparative logic to get replies

In today’s newsletter, I’m going to share a 4-step process we developed with a customer to book meetings with comparative logic.

Outbound prospecting is about catching the attention of your prospects, and showing them what they are potentially missing is a great way to get replies.

Here’s how I do it, step-by-step:

Step 1: Define a quantifiable problem

The first step is to have clear idea of a problem your prospects are trying to solve. You may be tempted to pitch your offering, but focusing on problems will get you more replies.

Finding a quantifiable problem is important, as it is the basis of the comparison you’ll use.

Example: Missed sales because SDRs don’t prospect existing accounts.

(Note: You can use my Cold Message System if you need help finding the problems of your customers).

Step 2: Ask if they can quantify it

Now that you have a clear idea of a quantified problem, you need to mention it in your cold outreach. The whole idea is to create FOMO with your prospects, by asking how much of this problem they are having.

Example: “Do you know how much sales you’re leaving on the table because your SDRs don’t prospect existing accounts?”

Step 3: Tease a calculator

If you did your research correctly, you should have the attention of your prospects. You may be tempted to directly pitch your offering, but you need to provide value so you maximize the chances of booking a meeting.

You can create value by sharing a simple calculator to help your prospects quantify the problem they are having.

Example: “If you’re interested, I can share a simple calculator to help you find that number?”

I took 10 minutes to create a simple problem calculator here. The idea is to help your prospect visualize a before/after situation and what they are missing by not doing anything.

Note that you don’t want to share the calculator before getting a reply. You just share it when they asked for it.

Step 4: Ask for interest

I don’t know about you, but if someone identified a problem I have and proposed to help me find the size of that problem, I’d be interested to know more.

Now if they start pitching their offering, I wouldn’t reply. That’s why you need to use a simple call-to-action to find out if your prospects are interested.

Example: “Should I send it over?”

Here’s how a cold outreach message could look like:

“Jack, noticed you recently got promoted to Head of Sales Development.

Do you know how much sales you’re leaving on the table because your SDRs don’t prospect existing accounts?

If you’re interested, I can share a simple calculator to help you find that number?

Should I send it over?”

And this is how you can create interest with your prospects using comparative logic.

TL;DR:

  • Step 1: Define a quantifiable problem

  • Step 2: Ask if they know about it

  • Step 3: Tease a calculator

  • Step 4: Ask for interest

Hope this helps!

Thibaut

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you.
 
  1. Build your outbound prospecting system from scratch here (230+ students)
  2. Write cold messages that get a 38% reply rate and 27% meeting rate here (40+)
  3. Book me 1:1 or for your team here
  4. (NEW!) Sponsor my newsletter & get 3K+ eyeballs on your ad!

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Categories
Tactical Selling

Why you can’t book outbound meetings

Why you can’t book outbound meetings

In today’s issue, I will break down the failure of many SDRs to book outbound meetings.

Booking outbound meetings is more challenging than ever, mostly because money isn’t flowing as it used to. Prospects are careful with their budgets, and they are reluctant to take calls with stressed out sales reps.

But if you’re in sales, you still need to book meetings and to generate pipeline.

So today, I’m going to break down the 3 most common mistakes I see sales reps making with outbound prospecting, and what I’d recommend they do instead.

Mistake #1: Writing essays

I’m writing this newsletter right after a training session I gave to 20 sales reps. We went through their cold emails and they were making the same mistake as 99% of people I train.

Their emails looked more like essays, with convoluted sentences, buzzwords, and way too many words.

Imagine receiving a cold outbound message and having to spend time deciphering it. You would do it once and ignore every email that remotely looks similar.

This is what prospects are doing, and the reason you can’t get replies.

Mistake #2: Being inconsistent

Consistency is 80% of your success in cold outbound. Most sales reps I train have no prospecting routine when I first meet them, and those who choose to create one see quick results after a few days.

Here’s a typical week of an inconsistent SDR:

  • Monday: Spend hours looking for 100+ new prospects

  • Tuesday: Send a first touchpoint to a part of their list

  • Wednesday: Send the remaining touchpoints to their list

  • Thursday: No replies, 100+ follow-ups

  • Friday: Still no replies, slowly becoming desperate

If this schedule looks familiar, then you’re doing something wrong.

Mistake #3: Not focusing on existing accounts

The last type of mistake I see all the time is the result of the “growth at all cost” model that was predominant in the tech industry until Q1 2022.

The last 5 years were exceptional in terms of funding, and the goal of most high-growth companies was to acquire new logos. If they could show that they were able to open new accounts, they’d get money. As a result, SDRs have been exclusively dedicated to opening new accounts.

However, things are different nowadays. If you can’t expand new accounts, you’ll have a hard time generating new opportunities, and you will miss your targets.

Instead, here’s what you can do:

The first thing you need to do is to reduce the size of your cold outbound messages. Write messages with 3 to 4 sentences that can be easily read on a smartphone without scrolling. For example:

Mary, saw you changed position around 5 months ago.

What are you doing to prevent your team from turning off prospects with pushy LinkedIn messages?

If you’re into it, I’d love to share a quick video on how your team can start genuine conversations with prospects on LinkedIn.

Should I send it over?

Second, build a prospecting routine. I wrote a detailed article on how to do that here.

Finally, review your strategy and start focusing on existing accounts. I started doing it a few weeks ago, and I have already booked 5 meetings and closed one deal with this strategy.

TL;DR

  • Don’t write essays

  • Don’t be inconsistent

  • Don’t ignore existing accounts

  • Do write short messages

  • Do prospect every day

  • Do focus on upsells and cross-sells

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Thibaut

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you.
 
  1. Build your outbound prospecting system from scratch here (230+ students)
  2. Write cold messages that get a 38% reply rate and 27% meeting rate here (40+)
  3. Book me 1:1 or for your team here
  4. (NEW!) Sponsor my newsletter & get 3K+ eyeballs on your ad!

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.

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Categories
Tactical Selling

3 steps to creating upsell opportunities

3 steps to creating upsell opportunities

In today’s issue, I’m going to share a simple, 3-steps play I recently used to get a 60% reply rate, and a 67% meeting rate.

If you can replicate this play, you’ll be able to start key conversations with existing customers, and identify upsell opportunities.

Unfortunately, most SDRs focus on generating net new business, and they forget that easy opportunities can easily be found (and closed) with existing customers.

In 2023, upsells and cross-sells will help you reach your targets.

But without a solid expansion prospecting play, two challenges arise:

Challenge #1: You focus on booking tough meetings: you’re only trying to start conversations with prospects who never heard about you.

Challenge #2: You miss on easy opportunities: you’re not able to get valuable conversations with customers who already know about you.

You can overcome these challenges by creating upsell opportunities.

Here is a simple play I tried last week, and I got 3 replies and 2 meetings booked out of it:

Step 1: Identified 5 customers I worked with

In 2022, I’ve been selling all kinds of training and coaching to various types of buyers. A lot of them have purchased an online course, or a coaching session for their reps.

I’ve compiled a list of buyers, with the service they purchased, and the values of different products they bought.

If they bought more than one product, they are at the top of my list. I’ve also included the customers who had great outcomes.

It took me around 30 minutes to come up with a solid list, and I ended up selecting the top 5.

Step 2: Sent them a thank you email

Now that I knew who I wanted to reach out to, I started crafting a thank you email. I focused on the training they purchased, and the outcome they got out of it.

Here’s an example:

“John, how are you doing?

2 things:

1. I’ve been reviewing people I worked with in 2022 and I wanted to say thank you for having your reps join the program! Mary mentioned she cut her demo calls in half and managed to qualify opportunities faster.”

Step 3: Searched for problems

In the second part of the email, I asked if my customer knew about people who were struggling to reach their targets. I also teased a potential resource to help them with this specific issue.

Here’s an example:

“2. I’d be curious to know if you know of people who are having challenges reaching their targets. I may have something for them.

Thanks again for working with me!”

The results

After sending 5 emails, 3 customers replied (60% reply rate), and 2 booked a meeting with me (67% meeting rate). I was able to generate one opportunity, and I’m in conversations with the last customer who replied to book a meeting.

It’s also interesting to note that two customers asked for help with their business (upsell and cross-sell), but another one introduced me to people he knew with similar problems as them. That’s why I didn’t ask for introductions, but asked for problems.

And these are my 3 steps to creating upsell opportunities.

TL;DR:

  • Step 1: Identify 5 customers you work with

  • Step 2: Send them a thank you email

  • Step 3: Search for problems

Cheers,

Thibaut

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you.
 
  1. Build your outbound prospecting system from scratch here (230+ students)
  2. Write cold messages that get a 38% reply rate and 27% meeting rate here (40+)
  3. Book me 1:1 or for your team here
  4. (NEW!) Sponsor my newsletter & get 3K+ eyeballs on your ad!

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.

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Categories
Tactical Selling

4 steps to fixing a customer’s outbound strategy

4 steps to fixing a customer’s outbound strategy

I just wrapped a 3 sessions consulting workshop with one of my customers.

They run a tech startup, and they are looking to find their product-market fit. They are already prospecting, but they are having difficulties speaking to the right type of prospects.

Here’s how their outbound motion is structured:

  • Step 1: Build key account list for one month

  • Step 2: Get account list approved by founder

  • Step 3: Distribute approved account list to team members

  • Step 4: Identify 1 decision-maker per account

  • Step 5: Find data on the prospect (email, LinkedIn profile)

  • Step 6: Enrol prospect into sequence

  • Step 7: Send 3 to 4 LinkedIn messages and Emails before stopping the sequence

After running with this process for a few months, they asked me to run an assessment of their outbound process, and 3 major challenges emerged.

Here are the challenges, and how we worked on fixing them together:

Challenge 1: Their Ideal Customer Profile wasn’t clear

Like many other early-stage startups, my customers were trying to find their product-market fit. They knew what type of customers they would like to serve, but they didn’t have a clear idea of the type of companies, and job titles they should be approaching.

Each person in the organization had a different understanding of the type of prospect they had to go after.

Solution 1: Build an ICP Matrix

We sat down with the founders and started working on an Ideal Customer Profile matrix. It’s a simple document where we defined 3 types of Ideal Customer Companies, and 3 types of Ideal Customer Titles.

I won’t show you their ICP matrix, but here’s an example of what it looks like:

ICP matrix

Challenge 2: Their messaging was too product-centric

After reviewing the sequences sent by my customer, I noticed they were focused on their solution, and not on the problems of the prospects.

I reviewed their prospecting emails and LinkedIn messages and I found out that the SDRs were trying to convince prospects to book a meeting so they could find out about my customer’s offering.

Solution 2: Build a Problem Canva

After finishing the ICP Matrix, we started working on the problems my customers were solving for their own customers. It was a long process, and getting the team to change their mindset from convincing prospects to finding problems was tough.

As a result, we managed to complete a Problem Canva, which is another matrix looking like that:

Challenge 3: Targets weren’t broken down into outbound activities

Now that I knew who to go after, and what kind of problem to lead with, I focused on understanding the activity level of my customer.

They knew how many deals they wanted to close, but they had no clue how to get there. They were contacting a random number of prospects every week, without a clear quota to achieve.

Solution 3: Define a cruising altitude

Defining a cruising altitude means finding out the exact number of prospects to add to your sequence in order to reach your target, when your pipeline is empty.

We used a simple tool to convert the targets of my customers into daily prospecting activities, using their reply rates, meeting rates, and opportunity rates. It was a good exercise to understand what needed to be improved for my customer to reach their goals.

Challenge 4: The team was prospecting irregularly

Finally, I turned my attention to the outbound efforts of the SDR team. I noticed that some weeks were heavy on prospecting, while others barely included any prospecting activities.

As a result, the output of the SDR team was extremely inconsistent, and the management team didn’t feel like they could rely on them to produce pipeline in a predictable way.

Solution 4: Build a prospecting routine

This last challenge was the easiest to fix. We worked with the team on blocking slots every day at the same time so they could protect their schedule and prospect every day.

We also worked on creating a structure for these prospecting blocks, with the following order:

  • Start with follow-ups

  • Find x new prospects to contact daily and find triggers

  • Add x new prospects to the sequence

At the conclusion of our 3 consulting sessions, my customers had a clear Ideal Customer Profile, a good understanding of their problems, a clear activity target, and a healthy prospecting routine.

I hope this helps you as much as it helped them.

Cheers,

Thibaut

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you.
 
  1. Build your outbound prospecting system from scratch here (230+ students)
  2. Write cold messages that get a 38% reply rate and 27% meeting rate here (40+)
  3. Book me 1:1 or for your team here
  4. (NEW!) Sponsor my newsletter & get 3K+ eyeballs on your ad!

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

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Categories
Tactical Selling

How I navigate conversations to book a meeting

How I navigate conversations to book a meeting

In today’s newsletter, I’m going to share my 5-step process to navigate conversations to book a meeting.

Human beings are constantly making decisions, and they use mental shortcuts to avoid wasting brainpower in doing so.

One of them is called the reciprocity bias. When you accept a gift or help from someone, you’re more likely to reciprocate. Think about the last time someone offered help, and how you’d answer if they’d ask for a service in return.

Here’s how I use this psychological bias to book meetings:

Step 1: Use a problem question

Before reaching out to a prospect, you should always ask yourself what kind of problem they are trying to solve. For example, I’m selling to VPs of Sales or Heads of Sales Development, and they are typically trying to solve problems like:

  • gaps between forecasting and actual revenues

  • SDRs turning prospects off with pushy cold outreach

I can use these problems in my outreach to get their attention, and show my understanding of their business reality.

You can use the formula: “How do you avoid/prevent {problem}?”.

Example: “How do you prevent your team from turning off prospects with pushy cold outreach?”

Step 2: Tease a reciprocity resource

If your prospects are currently facing the problem you mentioned, they may be interested in a resource to solve it.

You can use a reciprocity resource to help them. It can be any marketing material from your company, partners, or even competitors.

For example:

  • Whitepapers

  • eBooks

  • Podcasts

  • Webinar recordings

I recommend downloading the resource, hosting it in Google Drive, and recording a short video on why it is valuable.

You can tease this resource in your initial outreach message, just like this: “If you’re interested, I made a 5-step sequence that typically gets a 38% reply rate.”

Step 3: Ask for feedback

If your prospect replies, share the resource (either directly, or with a short video), and give them a few days.

You can then ask for feedback on the resource, to find out if it was useful. For example: “What do you think of the resource? Was it useful for your team?”

In most cases, your prospects will feel obliged to reply (because of the reciprocity bias), and you’ll be able to see if the problem you’re solving is important enough for them.

Step 4: Use a negative-reversing question

If the problem is important enough, you should be able to ask a few other questions, and even get some from your prospects.

A good way to ask for the meeting is to use a negative formulation. Instead of writing: “Should we book a meeting?”, you can use the following formula “Would it be a bad idea to…”

Example: “Would it be a bad idea to hop on a quick call so I can give you a few tips on how your team can use this sequence?”

Step 5: Drop a meeting link

If your prospect agree to the meeting, immediately drop a meeting link or ask them to share some availabilities.

Example: “Good, here’s a link to book a quick chat. You can also share your availabilities if you prefer.”

A meeting link is a productivity tool. It helps your prospects align with your schedule. However, some people may not like using meetings link. They would rather share their availability, and have you send an invitation.

And this is how I get around 27% of people who reply to my outreach to book a meeting with me.

And if you’re interested in grabbing the system I use to get a 38% reply rate, and between 11% and 27% of people who reply to book a meeting with me, then check The New Outreach System.

TL;DR:

  • Step 1: Use a problem question

  • Step 2: Tease a reciprocity resource

  • Step 3: Ask for feedback

  • Step 4: Use a negative-reversing question

  • Step 5: Drop a meeting link

Hope this helps!

Thibaut

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you.
 
  1. Build your outbound prospecting system from scratch here (230+ students)
  2. Write cold messages that get a 38% reply rate and 27% meeting rate here (40+)
  3. Book me 1:1 or for your team here
  4. (NEW!) Sponsor my newsletter & get 3K+ eyeballs on your ad!

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.

Categories
Tactical Selling

3 cold message sins (and how to stop doing them)

3 cold message sins (and how to stop doing them)

In today’s issue, I’m going to share 3 cold message sins I see when training SDRs, and how to stop doing them.

These sins are almost always the results of new reps using poorly crafted templates.

And in most cases, SDR leaders and sales enablement never had to prospect, or did it too long ago to stay relevant.

Here are the top 3 sins I see when I meet SDRs:

Sin #1: Not being concise enough

Writing a cold email or a cold LinkedIn message is about two things; stopping prospects in their tracks, and getting them to read what you wrote.

Unfortunately, most SDRs I meet confuse cold outbound with essay writing. They write long emails, filled with value propositions, features, and filler words.

When prospects receive an email or a LinkedIn message, they quickly scan them to decide if they should keep on reading or ignore. And when your message is too long, they simply ignore it.

What to do instead?

I alway recommend writing short messages, maximum 125 words. Your prospect should be able to read the message on their smartphone, without scrolling. Use short sentences and jump lines between each sentence.

Look at the two emails below. Which one are you more likely to reply to?

Long email
Short email

Sin #2: Focusing on your offering only

When you start a new job as an SDR or as an AE, you’re trained on your offering, its features, benefits, USPs, why it’s better than your competition, and so on.

You’re almost never trained on the problems your offering is solving for your customers, however. And this is the explanation behind all the crappy cold outreach prospects receive.

When you focus on your product or solution, you bore prospects out and they end up ignoring you.

Your prospects have been hired to do a job, and there’s almost always a gap between their goals and reality. Reducing this gap is what they care about. They couldn’t care less about what you are selling, but they’ll care about solving their problems.

What to do instead?

Leading with the problems your prospects may be facing is how you improve your reply rate.

Think about how infomercials are focusing on problems before proposing a solution. There’s always a black and white part where the narrator focuses on how the current product leads to terrible results.

Your goal is to create the same effect by leading with typical problems your prospects may be facing. Google “{Prospect} problems 2022” to find typical issues your prospects are trying to solve.

(Note: You can also check The Cold Message System if you want to discover the messages that get me a 38% reply rate and a 27% meeting rate.)

Sin #3: Inserting a meeting link too early

Finally, a cardinal sin I see too often is the premature use of meeting links in cold outreach.

Your job is to start conversations, not to book meetings at all cost. A meeting link (think Calendly, Chili Piper), is a productivity tool. Something you use to facilitate the process of booking a meeting when both parties agreed to it.

When you use a meeting link as a call-to-action, you’re asking too much from your prospects too early. It kills your chances of starting a conversation.

What to do instead?

Ditch the meeting link in your cold outreach messages. You can use the following framework to:

  1. Explain why you’re reaching out

  2. Show prospects you understand their problems

  3. Tease a potential resource

  4. Ask to reply to access the resource

When you get a reply, navigate the conversation with a reciprocity resource and only share your meeting link when the prospect agreed to a meeting.

In conclusion

Getting replies from cold outbound messaging is harder than ever. You need to optimize the content of your messages, as well as the format. It’s all about your prospects and their problems, and never about your offering.

So keep in mind:

  • Write short messages

  • Focus on prospects problems

  • Ditch the meeting link

I hope this helps!

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 5 ways I can help you.
 
  1. Build your outbound prospecting system from scratch here (230+ students)
  2. Write cold messages that get a 38% reply rate and 27% meeting rate here (40+)
  3. Book me 1:1 or for your team here
  4. (NEW!) Sponsor my newsletter & get 3K+ eyeballs on your ad!

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.

Categories
Tactical Selling

How I structure my daily prospecting block

How I structure my daily prospecting block

There are two things I look forward the least in a typical work day. My 10 minute workout, and prospecting.

Yet, I know these two activities keep me healthy and wealthy.

In consequence, I have created a system to tackle these unpleasant tasks.

In today’s newsletter, I’ll share how I structure my daily prospecting block (I won’t share the workout routine though 😂 ).

Step 1: Start with follow-ups

Most replies I get come from follow-ups. And I found that starting with them is a good way to prime the prospecting pump and finish my prospecting block faster.

I start by opening my prospecting tracker, where I store all the prospects I contact, as well as the status of my outreach.

As I use a pre-defined sequence, I don’t need to find a new trigger when doing follow up, I just focus on sending the message, based on the sequence I have built.

Outbound sequence example

This first step allows me to create momentum as each follow-up is done quickly, which gets me motivated (I love having the feeling of achieving something).

Daily effort: 5 minutes

(Quick hack: I love drinking coffee in the morning, so I created a habit of preparing one, putting it on the next to my computer, and drinking it only when my follow-ups are done. As I like my coffee hot, I’m extra motivated to get this task out of the way!)

Step 2: Find 5 new prospects

Now that all my follow-ups are done, I’m ready to find new prospects to contact.

I have calculated that contacting 5 new prospects per day would allow me to book 2 outbound meetings a week, which is what I need to reach my targets.

I start by finding prospects who fit with my ICP in the people who visited my profile, my recent followers, or people who commented/reacted on my posts.

It’s sometimes enough, but in most cases, I cannot find 5 people. When that happens, I look for influential people who speak to my ICP, and I locate interesting prospects in the comments/reaction section of their posts.

I did a detailed article about this tactic a few weeks ago.

Daily effort: 10 minutes

Step 3: Add them to my sequence

Now that I have a list of potential prospects, I add them to my sequence.

Adding them means sending a first touchpoint, based on our connection level on LinkedIn (1st or 2nd), and using a trigger to justify my outreach.

If we aren’t connected, I’ll drop a connection request mentioning why I’m reaching out. If we are connected, I’ll drop a prospecting video or a LinkedIn voice note.

In terms of message content, I typically use the following structure:

  • Trigger: A problem-oriented piece of information – John, noticed you also liked Charlotte’s post about boring hybrid events.

  • Question: A question related to the trigger – What do you think of the solution she proposed?

Daily effort: 10 minutes

And these are the 3 steps I used to structure my daily prospecting block. I’ve been running it for almost 2 years, and I get a consistent, 38% reply rate and 11% to 27% meeting rate (it varies based on the time of the year).

 

TL;DR:

  • Step 1: Start with follow-ups

  • Step 2: Find 5 new prospects

  • Step 3: Add them to my sequence

Hope this helps!

Thibaut

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 5 ways I can help you.
 
  1. Build your outbound prospecting system from scratch here (230+ students)
  2. Write cold messages that get a 38% reply rate and 27% meeting rate here (40+)
  3. Book me 1:1 or for your team here
  4. (NEW!) Sponsor my newsletter & get 3K+ eyeballs on your ad!

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Categories
Tactical Selling

5 steps to building your Q4 pipeline

5 steps to building your Q4 pipeline

In today’s issue, I’m going to share 5 steps to building your pipeline for Q4 and beyond.

If you can replicate this system, you will have a clear idea of what needs to be done to reach your target, and how realistic they really are.

Unfortunately, most SDRs don’t do this exercise, and they end up missing their targets, or they prospect without predictable results.

Building your pipeline is how you take control of your career.

Without a solid prospecting system, a few challenges arise:

Challenge #1: You have no control: you’re at the mercy of your marketing team, the economy, or seasonality.

Challenge #2: You have no visibility: you’re not able to gauge how close or far you are from reaching your targets.

Challenge #3: You become anxious: as you have no way of course correcting, you start worrying about reaching your goals.

You can overcome all of these challenges by building your pipeline early.

Here are 5 steps you can follow do to just that:

Step 1: Find your real target

Knowing your real target is a lot harder than it seems.

In some sales organizations, you may have multiple targets to reach, which makes it harder to understand what’s expected from you.

My advice; find the number that has the biggest impact on your commission and focus on it. You’ll often find it in your compensation plan.

If you’re an AE, you may be compensated on the MRR, ARR or bookings you bring in. If you’re an SDR, you’re often compensated on the meetings you book, meetings held, or opportunities generated.

Go find the number that stands out and focus on it. This is your real target.

Step 2: Convert it into a number of prospects

Now that you know exactly where you want to go, you need to understand the effort required to reach your target.

I recommend focusing on a number of prospects to contact.

In the example below, I have to perform 124 discovery calls per quarter. With 20% of no-shows, I need to book 155 calls. With a 33% meeting rate, and a 55% reply rate, I need to contact 855 different prospects in order to reach my target.

Conversion table

(Note: If you’re interested in running these numbers, go check my Sales Process Calculator).

Step 3: Divide it by the number of days remaining to work

Having a clear activity target is good, but knowing exactly how many prospects to contact daily is better.

The third step is quite simple; find out how many working days remain in the quarter and divide the number in step 2 by that number. Make sure to deduct days off and public holidays.

For example, at the time of writing, there are 58 working days remaining. I have planned 3 weeks of holiday until the end of the year (including Christmas), which gives me 43 working days in Q4 (58 – 15). With the example in step 2, I would need to contact 20 prospects every day (855/43 = 19,9).

Step 4: Protect your schedule

Dedicating some time to prospecting can be challenging. Between internal meetings, customer calls, and incessant notifications, you waste a ton of time and energy on secondary tasks.

I recommend protecting your schedule with time blocks. Find the time of the day when you’re the most productive, and put a 30 – 60 min blocker. Make sure this blocker is at the same time every day so your colleagues and manager know you won’t reply during that time.

Ideally, your blocker should be at the beginning of your work day, around lunch time, or towards the end of the day.

Here’s an example:

Time block example

Step 5: Execute

Without this last step, nothing you did before will be of any use.

Executing means showing up every day, following up, finding new prospects, and contacting them.

That’s what I call a prospecting routine, and it’s the number 1 reason SDRs succeed or fail. Without building a daily prospecting habit, you’ll find yourself with varying levels of motivations, and your results with be inconsistent.

Here’s how you can execute daily:

  • Time block

  • Mute all your notifications

  • Focus on your follow-ups first

  • Find new prospects

  • Contact them

And these are my 5 steps to building your pipeline for Q4 and beyond.

TL;DR:

  • Step 1: Find your real target

  • Step 2: Convert it into a number of prospect

  • Step 3: Divide it by the number of days remaining to work

  • Step 4: Protect your schedule

  • Step 5: Execute

Cheers,

Thibaut

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 5 ways I can help you.
 
  1. Build your outbound prospecting system from scratch here (230+ students)
  2. Write cold messages that get a 38% reply rate and 27% meeting rate here (40+)
  3. Book me 1:1 or for your team here
  4. (NEW!) Sponsor my newsletter & get 3K+ eyeballs on your ad!

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.

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Categories
Tactical Selling

5 traits of successful SDRs in 2023 and beyond

5 traits of successful SDRs in 2023 and beyond

In today’s issue, I’m going to share the 5 traits of successful SDRs in 2023 and beyond.

I thought about writing this guide after taking part in the Sales Performance Growth Summit. I joined a session about the biggest challenges facing sales leaders in 2023, and these 5 traits stuck.

When I started working in sales, being an SDR was just an entry-level job, and the ambition of most of them was to become an AE. Nowadays, being an SDR is an opportunity to create skills that can be used for a lifetime, document them, and open a sea of opportunities for financial, and personal development.

Here are 5 traits of successful SDRs in 2023 and beyond:

Trait #1: They protect their time

Being a successful SDR is 80% activity, and 20% creativity. Which means most of your time should be spent prospecting. Unfortunately, in most sales organizations, a big part of your day is be wasted in meetings, chatters with colleagues, or breaks.

Successful SDRs know they won’t reach their targets if they don’t create a system to protect their time.

A good way to do so is creating time blocks. You can do it by identifying when you’re the most productive, and add a blocker into your calendar. I recommend adding 1 to 3 blocks of 60 minutes minimum per day. Ideally, your blocks should be at the same time every day, so your colleagues can predict when you’re available and when you’re not.

Here’s an example of a time-blocked schedule:

Time block example

Trait #2: They prospect every day

Prospecting isn’t super glamorous. It’s a lot of repetitive tasks, yet it’s the lifeblood of every sales organization. If you can’t create enough activities, you won’t book meetings, and you’ll lose motivation.

Filling your time blocks with a constant flow of prospecting activities is how you avoid that problem. I recommend dividing your monthly goals into daily activity to get more control over your outcomes.

For example, if you’ve identified that you need to create 600 touchpoints (calls, emails, LinkedIn messages, etc.) per month, you need to divide it by the number of working days (in general 20 per month). In our example, you’ll need to create 30 (600/20) activities per day.

It’s a lot simpler to deliver 30 touchpoints per day every day than skipping days and having to play catch up.

Trait #3: They focus on the basics

There are a few basics when it comes to prospecting; knowing your Ideal Customer Profile, understanding their problems, and using them in your messaging.

A lot of SDRs I meet have no clue who their ICP are, what problems they are trying to solve, and how to communicate them properly. They end up pitching about their solutions, focusing on features, and getting no responses.

I recommend SDRs to build and ICP matrix (the type of company, and the job title), list problems and symptoms for each type of prospect, and use them heavily in their messaging.

Open your prospecting sequences and check if there’s any mention of what your solution does. If it’s the case, you’re most likely focusing on features, and killing your reply rates as a result.

(Note: Go check The Cold Message System if you need to create messages with 38% reply rates).

Trait #4: They document their journey

For a few years now, more and more SDRs have been documenting their journeys on LinkedIn. Sales leaders are realizing that employing reps with an audience is a great way to build brand awareness, start more conversations with prospects, and book more meetings.

Think about 5 sales influencers you’ve recently heard of. Chances are most of them are/were SDRs. I’ve interviewed many of them and they all attributed building a personal brand as the key to their success.

Documenting your journey as an SDR is great way to build an audience. Quite simply, it helps people who are a few months behind in their careers, and they engage with your content. As a result, it gives more visibility to your profile, and gets decision-makers familiar with you.

As an example, my brother has been working as an SDR for 3 months, documenting his journey every day, and he’s already receiving requests to coach SDRs by people who follow him.

Trait #5: They keep experimenting new tactics

Finally, successful SDRs understand that the tactics that work now, likely won’t work in the future. As they get discovered, they quickly get adopted, and prospects become numb to them.

A good way to avoid losing your edge is to create an experimentation system for your sequences. I recommend following this structure:

  • Define the scope of your experiment
  • Define one metric that you want to influence with your experiment (e.g. connection request acceptance rate)
  • Define your assumptions for the experiment
  • Define success thresholds
  • Run your experiment in 2 weeks sprints

Here’s an example of my Prospecting Experiment Canva:

Prospecting Experiment Canva

It’s important to note that experimentation shouldn’t prevent you from focusing on the basics. Experimenting is often more interesting than repeating the same tasks over and over, but without enough activities, the best tactics won’t get you to your targets.

And these are the 5 traits of successful SDRs in 2023 and beyond.

TL;DR:

  1. They protect their time
  2. They prospect every day
  3. They focus on the basics
  4. They document their journey
  5. They keep experimenting new tactics

Hope this helps.

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 5 ways I can help you.
 
  1. Build your outbound prospecting system from scratch here (230+ students)
  2. Write cold messages that get a 38% reply rate and 27% meeting rate here (40+)
  3. Book me 1:1 or for your team here
  4. (NEW!) Sponsor my newsletter & get 3K+ eyeballs on your ad!

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.