As a Sales Manager, one of my largest goals is to help generate more leads for our sales team. Like most SaaS companies today, we have a team of representatives dedicated to outbound prospecting for enterprise sales reps. During my time leading this team I have learned 8 important lessons to pass along to anyone focused on lead gen and looking to ramp up their lead flow.
1. It Takes Multiple Touches to Get Conversions
There are a lot of stats out there around this. Rarely are you going to get a conversion from your first or third touch to a prospect. At DialogTech we stick to an 8-touch approach, blending emails and phone calls. These multiple touches also occur over a period of 10 days to stay at the top of our prospects’ mind.
2. Emails Matter
Mobile optimization is becoming increasingly more important for most businesses. After all, 64% of American adults now own a smartphone of some kind; and even more, people using smartphones are 30% more likely visit a retailer website, 39% more likely to call a business, and 51% more likely to make a purchase. Due to the increase of smartphone and tablet use, prospects are constantly connected to their email. A clear and concise email can catch a prospect’s attention at any time of the day and merit a response.
3. It’s All About Personalization
Due to the increasing use of emails for prospecting, qualified prospects are getting several emails a day. I’ve learned that personalizing your email and making it unique can capture the attention of the recipient. Another tip: make this personalization relevant and tie it back to your value statement, i.e. “I saw your great blog post on paid ad campaigns. DialogTech works with marketers in your position who now see full attribution for paid campaigns by adding in offline conversions to their paid ad analytics.
4. Short and Sweet
Prospects don’t want to read an essay on why your product can add value to their organization. In order to grab attention immediately, make sure your email is short and sweet while providing value. At DialogTech we stick to the “why you, why me” call-to-action technique. Emails start with personalization and transition into how their role or content is relevant to a product. After the connection is made, our reps relay a strong value statement, one clear and direct sentence. Finally, our emails end with a specific call-to-action; i.e., “When do you have time to talk this week?” or, “What works better, Monday at 1 pm or Tuesday at 10 am?”
5. It’s Not Rocket Science—Be Strategic Without Overthinking
Don’t overthink emails and calls you’re making. As long as you have a strong value statement for your audience you will be able to grab attention and convert opportunities.
6. Automate to Save Time
Invest in automation software to templatize your outreach. Create a cadence so that prospectors have a set plan every day. Find a great value statement and stick with it—don’t change the “why you” for every outreach. Automation will refine your process while increasing activity.
7. Beta-test
Automation software will also give you the ability to track open and reply success rates. Save your successful templates and test out what subject lines are getting the most opens and responses. Also track phone activity—what times of the day convert to the most pick-ups?
8. Content and context
Deliver relevant content to prospects. Put a call to action like a phone number or web form in that content to drive conversions. Tracking conversions using marketing automation or call tracking software will give you additional insight into lead engagement—allowing you to identify your “hot” leads.