Although I have been in sales for over 11 years, cold outreach (calls, emails and LinkedIn messages) has never been something I have spent a large portion of my time on.
Why? Because as an Account Executive (AE), there are many other sales initiatives and activities that are a) more enjoyable and b) more efficient in making sales. It baffles me when sales reps tell me they spend 40% of their time on cold outreach and at the same time are sitting on a 20% conversion rate for qualified leads. You don’t need more leads in the top of the funnel if you aren’t converting them.
As an AE, my focus is providing the best buying experience for my clients, resulting in a conversion rate north of 80%, which means it’s less important to fill the funnel through cold outreach (I also focus on more effective outreach such as planning in-person events and client referrals).
Cold outreach is also one of the areas in sales that too few do well. Messages are most often annoying, irrelevant and do not seek to add or provide value to the person on the receiving end. They turn sales into a numbers game… “If I send x messages, then x will reply, converting to x leads.”
Here are a few examples of poor cold outreach tactics:
- Blasting a ton of potential customers with the same template email
- Calling someone at a time that works for you (in your time zone) without looking up what time it is for them
- Not researching your prospect or their company first to make sure your solution might be of interest
- Getting the prospects name wrong in your outreach
- Sending a lengthy, wordy email
- Putting a meeting on someone’s calendar cold without them first agreeing to meet with you
- And generally any other outreach activities that are not relevant or potentially of interest to the specific person you are reaching out to
If any of these fall under your cold outreach strategies – please stop. For the sake of the name of sales. Sales is not about numbers, it’s about people, and you can’t form genuine connections with people using the strategies above.
All that being said, I do understand that cold outreach is not something that can be avoided. It is a requirement of many sales roles, and does result in new relationships and sales that may never have happened otherwise. There are even some roles (Sales Development Representatives) who’s entire job description is generating leads through these channels.
Therefore, “never cold call a potential customer” should be followed by… “if you aren’t going to do it well“.
So what does a “good” cold outreach strategy look like?
#1 Create a Specific, Targeted List
If a company has asked you to cold call/email, you’ve probably also been given a list of contacts to reach out to. Unfortunately, this entire list is often uploaded into some automated marketing platform with the same email template and call script for every contact. Please, do not do this.
Take a look at your list and see if there are any natural categories that you can use to break that list down into smaller lists. Industry, location, role, etc.
An example would be, you know that one of your solutions sells very well in Public Sector accounts, so refine your list to only that industry. This will help ensure that your messaging can be more tailored and relevant to those receiving it.
#2 Do Your Research
Take a look at current customers to help you understand what value you will be delivering through this sale to this group. Which product or service do you think resonated best with this list? Why do you think so?
Then do your research. If your list is small, research each and every one of those potential customers so that you know them better. There is a ton of information online that can help you – LinkedIN posts, annual reports, even Glassdoor. Get to know who you are reaching out to, not just the company but the individual.
#3 Write a Personalized, Targeted Message
This step is the most important. If possible, your outreach should be specifically written for each individual client you are reaching out to. No mass mailers, sales is not a numbers game. It’s about finding and building relationships, and you can’t start a relationship by getting someone’s name wrong or suggesting a product to someone that is completely irrelevant. It’s just not helpful to you or to them.
Your outreach should show your potential client that you understand them and their business and have a solution that you think is relevant and beneficial to them. It should be short, to the point, and end with a request for a call or a call back.
#4 Follow Up
Polite persistence is key. People are busy, so even if your email was relevant and your product or service could absolutely benefit them, it still might be deleted by your prospects simply due to the volume of tasks they have to get through that day. So, reach out on various channels just in case they do have a preferred one, but space out your outreach so that you aren’t spamming them and just adding more to their inbox than they have time for.
#5 Disqualify Quickly
Your role is not to convince everyone they need your product or service. Your role is to find the people that can benefit from and are interested. Therefore, instead of trying to convert everyone, make sure the client is a good fit. To my SDRs, don’t pass along leads to your sales team for the sake of passing on a lead – make sure it’s a lead that can actually benefit from your solution. Disqualifying leads that are not a good fit quickly is good, it saves a lot of time and effort from everyone.
#6 Don’t Forget the Next Step
Once you’ve found a qualified lead, the next step in the sales process is not to sell. It’s ASK. Remember, EDUCATE. ASK. INFORM. NURTURE. (See my previous blog with explanations). Once you have an interested potential client, now the work really begins to dig into their business and their needs to truly know if and how to proceed to the INFORM stage.
I truly believe that no one should attempt outbound cold calls/emails unless they are going to do them very very well (and unfortunately most salespeople do not). If executed improperly sloppy cold calls/emails can not only kill your chances at a sale and hurt the relationship but also tarnish your brand and your company’s brand.
On the other hand, tailored, relevant targeted outreach can be effective and can find potential clients that can benefit greatly from your product and or service who otherwise may not have found you. So please, if you are going to cold outreach, do it thoughtfully.
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