In today’s newsletter, I’ll share a simple system you can use to book meetings when you’re too busy to prospect. If you can follow these steps, you’ll become less dependent on inbound leads and SDR-sourced opportunities, and you’ll set yourself for success in 2024 and beyond.

Here’s how, step-by-step:

Step 1: If you’re too busy to prospect, you’re doing something wrong

When I became a manager (I was also carrying my own quota), I thought I was done prospecting for good. It was a mistake. I ended up without pipeline and missed my personal targets 2 quarters in a row.

As prospects have more and more tools to protect them from spammy salespeople, it’s getting harder than ever to start conversations with them. You need more skills, more experience, and better systems to book meetings. And relying on SDRs who often have limited sales experience is a good way to loose control over your pipeline.

If you’re in sales and you don’t prospect, you’re doing something wrong.

Step 2: Block some time in your calendar, every day

Knowing that you need to prospect isn’t enough. You need a system.

The first step to building a prospecting system is to protect your time with a recurring prospecting block. It can be as short as 30 minutes per day, or as long as needed to reach your targets.

For example, I prospect from 08:30 AM to 09:00 AM every morning. No one can book me during this time, it’s my sacred prospecting ritual. Doing it daily helps me stay in touch with my market and keep conversations flowing without delay.

Step 3: Start with follow-ups

Let’s be honest. Prospecting is no fun. It’s the one thing I dread the most when waking up, yet it’s the best thing I can do for the health of my business.

A good way to get over the initial reluctance to prospect is to start with follow-ups. For example, I start my prospecting block by opening my prospecting tracker, finding prospects I need to follow-up with, and getting rid of the list of follow-up tasks I have for the day.

This helps create momentum, because it’s so much easier than looking for prospects, finding a good trigger, and crafting a solid outbound message.

Step 4: Find 5 prospects

With your follow-ups done, you are now warmed up to work on the most time-intensive part of the prospecting process. I personally go after 5 prospects, because I found that it is enough for me to book 2-3 outbound meetings a week, but you can calculate that number with my Sales Process Calculator.

There are countless ways of finding prospects. My favorite is using prospect’s LinkedIn activity as a trigger.

Step 5: Contact them

This part of the process is like filling up the tank of your car. By adding new prospects to your sequence daily, you make sure you have enough fuel to keep your prospecting engine running.

You need to make sure your first outbound message is creative, contextual, and personalized. Here’s a resource to help you do just that.

And these are 5 steps to booking meetings when you’re too busy to prospect. I’m currently working on a whole new prospecting course for 2024, and I’m going to build it in public. If you’re intrigued, go check it out and join the waitlist here.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Thibaut

In today’s newsletter, I’ll share 3 reasons why outbound prospecting will never be the same, and what you can do about it. If you can accept these changes, forget scale, and focus on starting quality conversations, then you’ll book more meetings, and create more opportunities as a result.

Let’s dive in:

Reason #1: Email Service Providers are cracking down on mass emails

If you opened LinkedIn in the last few days, you may have seen an email sent from Outreach to their customers. In short, it shared new limitations from Outreach to protect the deliverability of emails, imposed by restrictions from Google and Yahoo.

These new limitations mean that if more than 0.3% of your emails are marked as spam, then all emails sent from your domain will be blocked by Google and Yahoo.

This is excellent news. It will translate into less spam for prospects, and leave more space to good emails from salespeople who take the time to do their research, and focus on starting conversations.

What you can do about it:

• Rebuild your Outreach System with a focus on getting replies
• Focus on prospects’ problems and use them in your messages
• Double down on LinkedIn prospecting and cold calling (but stay focused on quality)

You can use my New Outreach System to do all that. It’s 50% off for Black Friday with code “B9YK8H7”.

Reason #2: AI is making salespeople exponentially efficient

AI (and specifically ChatGPT) have brought massive changes to the world of sales. Instead of replacing salespeople, AI allows them to become more efficient. For example, you can use AI to:

• Search for a specific trigger in a 10-K report
• Find personalization elements in a LinkedIn profile
• Build cold outreach messages from top-performing templates

These tasks are common for salespeople, and they often take hours to perform. With AI, salespeople are able to do this in a few minutes, so they can focus on tasks that require them to be creative, or interact with customers.

What you can do about it:

• Get familiar with common AI use-cases for prospecting
• Work AI into your daily prospecting system
• Find out what not to do with AI

You can use my AI Outreach System to do all that. It’s 50% off for Black Friday with code “B9YK8H7”.

Reason #3: Data is (almost always) freely available

This last point is the main reason outbound prospecting has changed forever. In the past, salespeople didn’t have access to much information about their prospects. They typically knew about their names, phones numbers, and emails.

Nowadays, you can find a ton of “digital footprint” online. You can go on LinkedIn, see what posts prospects reacted to, gather data on their companies, find out their company headcount, and countless other data points. You can then use this data as a triggers in your cold outreach.

Yet, most salespeople ignore these triggers and put prospects into cookie-cutter sequences. And this brought us to the situation we are in right now; prospects don’t reply anymore, and SDRs are being laid-off in droves.

What you can do about it:

• Get familiar with triggers you should use in your outreach
• Stop sending automated sequences
• Focus on starting conversations

I’m currently working on a course to help you book more meetings, and create opportunities from outbound in 2024. Join the waitlist if you want to learn more about it.

These are 3 reasons why outbound prospecting will never be the same. You can choose to ignore this and keep using the same old playbook, or you can adapt to the seismic shift we’re going through.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Thibaut

In today’s newsletter, I’ll share why I built a Prospecting Template Assistant, and I’ll show you how I use it to make any top-performing email, connection request, or cold call script my own. If you can replicate this process, you’ll be able to turn any cold message example into a message you can use to book your meetings.

Here’s how, step-by-step:

Step 1: Download my Swipe File

If your LinkedIn feed looks like mine, you should see a ton of brilliant examples of cold emails, cold call scripts, and connection requests you can use for outbound prospecting, on a daily basis. However, applying these examples to what you sell can be challenging.

That’s why I have created a Prospecting Template Swipe File. It’s a collection of top-performing emails, messages, and cold call script templates. I update it every week with the examples I find on LinkedIn.

In today’s newsletter, I’ll share the exact 3 steps I follow to turn ChatGPT into my personal sales assistant. If you follow this system, you’ll stop using ChatGPT for futile use-cases, gain efficiency, and focus on standing out in the mailbox of your prospects (which is hard in 2023).

Here’s how, step-by-step:

Step 1: Give ChatGPT custom instructions

A few months ago, ChatGPT introduced custom instructions. This feature is extremely useful for providing context to ChatGPT and training it to respond in a way that best suits you. By clicking on your name and selecting “Custom instructions,” you’ll access the following screen:

In today’s newsletter, I’ll share why you don’t need more than 7 fields in your CRM to get started with prospecting. A lot of salespeople I meet have analysis paralysis. They spend 80% of their effort evaluation tools, learning about new tactics, and mapping fields in their CRMs, and 20% of their effort on actually reaching out to prospects.

We have a problem with CRMs

CRMs were initially designed to help close deals. They allowed entire sales teams to work together, and capture data in one place (at least that was the goal).

However, selling is not as simple as it used to be. Between sales engagement tools, AI tools, and new prospecting channels emerging, sales teams have to rely on increasingly complex tech stacks that break all the time. Look at any sales organization and you will see:

• Reps wasting hours to keep CRMs up to date and organized
• Managers wasting hours telling reps to update them
• Executives wasting hours building reports

That’s why I recommend drastically simplifying CRMs, especially for beginners. If this resonates with you, here are the only seven fields you need to monitor in your CRM to get started:

Category 1: Information fields

These fields help you identify and contact prospects.

• Name: This one is pretty straightforward. Can be Full Name or split into First Name and Last Name.
• Job title: The job title is important to help you build your prospecting messages. If you reach out to different types of buyers (Below The Line and Above The Line), this will help you adapt your messages based on their problems.
• Email: Important to get it right. There are tons of different tools out there, but you’ll need a combination of 2 or 3 to get almost all emails right.
• LinkedIn profile URL: This one is critical. I recommend using it as your Unique Identifier, as each LinkedIn profile is unique (and easy to find). It’s also a great source of data if you want to find triggers.
• Phone number: If you’re cold calling, this one is important too. I typically don’t track it as I’m not using cold calls to book meetings, but this can help if your prospects are not hanging much on LinkedIn.

These information fields are really basic and easy to find. With these fields, you can start prospecting, run multi-channel outreach sequences, and initiate conversations. You won’t need to spend much time filling in each field, allowing you to focus on prospecting rather than managing your CRM.

Category 2: Progress fields

These fields help you keep track of your activity on each prospect.

• Stage: This field allows you to monitor each prospect’s status. You can track both your prospecting and opportunity stages in the same field. Alternatively, you can separate them into two fields: Prospecting Stage and Opportunity Stage. Here’s how I structure mine:

In today’s newsletter, I will explain why scaling your outreach might not be the best strategy if you want to book meetings in 2023 and beyond. According to a research from Jeremey Donovan, it now takes 1,000 to 1,400 touches to generate an opportunity from cold outbound, compared to 200-400 five years ago.

In this context, scaling your outreach can lead to negative outcomes. Here’s why, and what you can do instead.

Reason #1: You need to understand human psychology

Before automation and AI, humans had limited options to scale their outreach. They relied on door-to-door or cold calling, and prospects weren’t overwhelmed with outbound messages or emails.

Today, sales reps can easily create fully-automated sequences and flood prospects with cold outbound messages. When you develop an automated sequence, you outsource your communication to a robot.

Instead, it is important to understand what motivates humans to respond to a message:

• Using a creative media
• Teasing prospects’ interest
• Writing an intriguing message

Reason #2: Automation and AI have a “smell”

There’s something odd about receiving an email that was written for an ICP and not for an individual. When you automate your outreach, prospects can detect it. The tone, the words used, the lack of personalization, all contribute to giving an automation ”smell” to your outbound.

When you send the same sequence to thousands of prospects, based on their job titles, you’re doing email marketing, and you get typical results of email marketing (reply rates under 5%, click rate under 2%).

Instead, ditch your automated sequences, look for personalization elements for each prospects, and use automation to help you create a prospecting system.

Reason #3: It’s the only thing you really control

Prospecting is one of these activities that you simply can’t skip if you want to be successful in sales. It also happens to be one of the only things you can control in sales, especially in 2023.

If you calculate your cruising altitude, build a prospecting routine, and tweak your messaging with new templates every week, then you’ll create more control over your results. Here are my stats for example:

• Cruising altitude: 5 new prospects added to my sequence daily
• Reply rate: 39.89%
• Meeting rate: 19.4%

I’m able to start conversations with almost 40% of people I contact, and get 20% of these people into a meeting, with a 3 to 5 touchpoint sequence. These results may differ based on what you’re selling, but the consistency comes from my prospecting system.

In my opinion, outsourcing your outbound sequences to a robot is too risky. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use tools or AI to help you with repetitive tasks. Just make sure they don’t define your craft and see them as what they are: tools.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Thibaut Souyris

In today’s newsletter, I will share the exact system I use to find emails and messages that get replies. I will also explain how to store them and turn them into templates that you can use for selling your products. By following these steps, you will continue to stand out in your prospect’s inbox and start more conversations.

Here’s how, step-by-step:

Step 1: Create a swipe file

If you spend time on LinkedIn, you will come across many people sharing sales tips, including myself. However, not all the tips and tactics you find on LinkedIn are helpful. Nevertheless, some of them are highly practical and use detailed example.

That is why I suggest creating a swipe file to collect all the valuable message templates you come across. You can download my Prospecting Template Swipe File to access my favorite templates and add your own.

In today’s newsletter, I will share the exact system I used to close a €10,000 side gig in 3 weeks. If you can replicate these steps, you will be on your way to stop working for bad bosses and start using your sales skills to build a more independent career.

Here’s how, step-by-step:

Step 1: Find your marketable skill

If you work in sales, you already have a marketable skill. The ability to schedule meetings, transform them into opportunities, and convert them into business is a highly desirable skill. There are various ways to sell this skill, but here are a few that come to mind:

• SDR as a service
• AE as a service
• Sales consultant
• Sales coach
• Fractional Executive
• Sales Advisor
• Etc.

Once you have finished listing the best way to sell your sales skills, you should determine what resonates with you the most. Personally, when I began working independently, I had little interest in scheduling meetings or closing deals on behalf of other businesses. Instead, I chose to help founders resolve sales process issues, which led me to offer a combination of consulting, training, and coaching services.

Step 2: Build a list of potential prospects

Once you have identified the perfect combination of your marketable skills and interest, you can begin contacting your network for introductions. I suggest starting with a list of close friends and colleagues.

These individuals can assist you in generating a list of potential prospects. Some of them may have a direct need for your services, while others may know individuals who need sales assistance (which is super common).

For example, I personally began reaching out to previous customers and asked if they were aware of anyone who could benefit from help with sales.

Step 3: Build a simple prospecting sequence

Now that you have a list of potential prospects, you can begin asking your acquaintances and friends for introductions. You can create two sequences: one to ask your friends for introductions and another to ask for referrals once an introduction has been made.

Here’s an example of a message I sent to my friend Pierre-Yves to ask if he knows anyone who may need assistance with sales:

Pierre-Yves, I’m looking for founders who are having an issue with their sales process. Do you know of anyone who could benefit from a quick conversation to see what’s wrong, and get a few ideas on how to solve these issues?

PS: If you want to get a sequence planner, a few more email templates, and the whole playbook I followed to close my first side gig, then go check my 7-day email course, Escape The Hamster Wheel.

Step 4: Run a first discovery call

If you execute your sequence correctly, you should have a few discovery calls scheduled. The advantage of not having a clear product to sell is that your discovery call can be completely focused on your prospects and their problems.

Here is a list of questions I asked to understand the problems my prospects were facing:

• Why are we meeting today?
• Tell me more about your sales process.
• Walk me through a deal you closed recently.
• Walk me through a deal you lost recently.
• Tell me more about your tech stack.
• What are your sales targets?
• Are you on the right trajectory to meet them?
• What’s your plan to reach your sales targets?

When you ask these questions, you can learn about your prospect’s business problems and goals. It’s not uncommon for the conversation to last longer than expected, and that’s actually a positive sign.

Step 5: Scope a project

After running a few discovery calls, you should be able to progress to the next step with at least one prospect. You can propose interviewing employees of your prospect to get a better understanding of their problems and present your findings in a scoping call.

For my first project, I interviewed one of the SDRs from my prospect and identified the following challenges they faced:

• No clear ICP
• SDR with no experience
• No structured outbound system
• Founder had no clue how to sell to people he didn’t know
• No time to build a sales organization because they were raising money

Next, we discussed how we could collaborate, defined the deliverables, and established the desired outcomes. Since this was my first consulting project, I opted to sell hours instead of specific outcomes. This approach allowed me to remain flexible and still provide value even if the scope of the project changed.

Step 6: Present an offer

During the scoping call, you may feel tempted to share your offer. However, I recommend against doing so. Estimating the workload properly may be challenging within the limited time of the call. It is better to build anticipation and keep the offer as a reward for the prospect’s patience.

As Skip Miller would say, your offer is not an educational document, but a validation document. It serves as a natural extension of your discovery call, individual interviews, and scoping call. There should be no major surprises for the prospect.

Here is an example of what mine looked like:

In today’s newsletter, I will share a tactic I used to book 12 meetings with a simple LinkedIn connection request. By replicating this tactic, you can increase your chances of receiving more replies, scheduling more meetings, and ultimately earning more money.

Personally, I was able to convert 10 of these meetings into sponsorships (note that win rates may vary depending on the product or service you sell).

Here’s how it works:

Part 1: First framework

A LinkedIn connection request has to be short, relevant, and optimized to get an answer. That’s why I use the following framework:

• Trigger: The reason for reaching out
• Idea: An intriguing idea
• CTA: A simple call-to-action

Examples:

• Trigger: Mary, had a great time building content with Aisha.

• Idea: I have a few additional ideas on how to get you some additional exposure to my audience.

• CTA: Worth chatting about?

• Trigger: Mary, saw you had plans to hire over 50 reps in H1 2024.

• Idea: I have a 7-step checklist to help you bring a screening call from 30 min to 10 min, so you don’t end up wasting days with bad candidates.

• CTA: Want to learn more?

This framework is effective because it begins with a personalized element (the trigger), piques the curiosity of the prospect by presenting an opportunity to solve a problem, and encourages a response if the prospect is interested.

Part 2: Framework variation

I have also been using a small variation of this framework, where the Idea and the CTA are combined:

• Trigger: The reason for reaching out
• Idea: An intriguing idea + question

Examples:

• Trigger: Oren, I’ve been invited as a guest on The Epic Show and saw you were a sponsor.

• Idea: Opposed to putting Worthy in front of my 40K+ audience too?

• Trigger: Oren, saw you liked Owen’s post about cascading lead enrichment being the future.

• Idea: Opposed to grabbing my 5-step playbook to using cascading lead enrichment?

This variation is powerful because it’s short, direct, and it uses negative psychology (opposed to) to get more replies.

Part 3: Results

With these two frameworks, I managed to get over 18 replies, like the ones below:

In today’s newsletter, I will share why I think the traditional SDR model is no longer effective and suggest ways to future-proof your sales development career. By adapting to the changing sales landscape in 2023 and beyond and making well-informed choices, you can save time, earn more money, and have the freedom to live life on your own terms.

Let’s dive in:

Observation #1: SDRs are being fired in droves

2023 was a challenging year for salespeople. According to Layoffs.fyi, 236,835 employees were laid off in the tech sector alone. That’s an average of over 794 people fired per day, and new layoffs continue to occur daily.

These layoffs typically occur when businesses are seeking to achieve profitability or extend their runway. As a result, they let go of employees who are considered non-essential for the operation of the business. When SDR teams underperform, they are among the first to be laid off.

Observation #2: Throwing bodies at growth goals does not work anymore

A few years ago, increasing the number of salespeople in a territory was an effective strategy to acquire new customers and create the impression of growth for investors. It was simple to schedule meetings, generate opportunities, and close deals that ultimately resulted in churn after 12 months.

However, in 2023, CFOs carefully examine every expense, and hiring costly full-time employees is no longer their preferred choice.

Observation #3: Tools and AI make SDRs more efficient = less SDRs needed

Since the beginning of 2023, the sales industry has been greatly impacted by AI and ChatGPT. Initially, there was a belief that AI would replace all salespeople. However, after a few months, it became clear that AI would instead empower salespeople who were able to quickly learn how to use it.

As a result, we are seeing a significant increase in productivity among SDRs, and there is a rapid growth of SDRs as a service agencies and individuals. For businesses aiming to minimize risks, collaborating with an agency is less risky compared to hiring, onboarding, and training a full-time SDR.

These three observations indicate that the traditional model of hiring in-house, full-time SDRs and promoting them to AE within six months is no longer valid.

However, it’s a great opportunity for those who can adapt and find solutions:

Solution #1: Learn the basics of human psychology

If you ask ChatGPT to write a cold email for you, this is what you get: