Your prospecting skills can make or break your career
as a sales development representative (SDR). With more and more tools
available to automate the sales pipeline, building an initial prospect list has
become one of the most important aspects of an SDR's job. Here are five
steps to prospect like a pro by finding your target customers,
crafting the perfect pitch and researching effectively.
1. Build prospect lists based on your current customers
Customers provide the perfect template for prospects.
Were your last two customers in related industries? Did they have roughly the
same number of employees, or were they founded around the same
time? Create a target profile using factors like headcount, stage,
and industry, and from there, look for companies that fit the mold.
Here are some examples of what a prospect prototype might
look like:
- Chicago area-based early-stage companies that just made their first marketing hire
- Small retail companies that heavily use social media
- B2B startups that just closed a funding round
The more closely you can identify your target customer, the
better. Those parameters will help you similar companies along the right
metrics. And as an added bonus, you may be able to reuse a
previously written script for similar prospects.
2. Prioritize like your job depends on it
The best SDRs don't doggedly pursue every lead to the ends
of the earth - they're strategic with their time, deciding which leads are
worth extra effort and which are unlikely to convert no matter what you
do. There are a number of available options for lead scoring, but aside from
basic factors like industry quality, available budget and role
within the company, you can (and should) also include time-sensitive
qualities like:
- A recently raised funding round
- A new hire or job posting
- An expansion or newly opened office
By prioritizing based on both the quality of the lead and
the timeliness of your pitch, you can tailor your efforts to the
right people.
3. Leverage all available information
With the wealth of information available today,
prospects expect you to know everything about them: where they
worked previously, what their current responsibilities are, and whether
your coworker went to college with their spouse. To craft the perfect
pitch in the least amount of time, find dedicated sources of information
to find supplementary information like work history and education, company
milestones like recent hires or funding rounds, and even which
conferences your prospect will be attending. Before you pick up the phone,
or send an email, make sure you have a robust profile that includes more than
just a job title.
4. Find the perfect reason to call
Of course, explaining why you're a good fit for the customer
in general is only half the equation. You'll also have to make sure
that you're reaching out at just the right time - and articulate that to the
customer. Build out a list of possible sales triggers, from a recent
promotion to an acquisition to receiving an award to writing an article.
Great cold-emails don't begin with "just
reaching out." They include specific information like:
- "Congratulations on your new role at..."
- "I loved your article in..."
- "I saw you're going to be at..."
Finding good sales triggers is an important part of how
to prospect effectively.
5. Be efficient
Prioritizing, getting background information and
monitoring channels for sales triggers takes a great deal of time - time that
isn't spent selling. Invest time in developing an efficient system of
information-gathering, whether it's becoming a Google master or using web
scraping tools, to minimize the research time spent on each call. The
number of deals you close is a function of your close rates and the number
of calls you make; becoming better at prepping for calls has just as much
of an impact as perfecting your pitch when it comes to hitting your quota.
No comments:
Post a Comment