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Use Sales Insights to Send Emails Prospects Actually Read

Mar 2014/in /by

Much of the time, your first contact with a prospect will be through email. However, sending out shoddy messages that appear mass-produced and untailored to the specific business can wreak havoc on your sales productivity. You have to treat each email like it’s a conversation, because that’s how your prospect will be thinking about it. Sending out a generic template just won’t cut it.

For instance, a typical email may tout the company, talk about your services and end with a call-to-action. This could literally be sent out to anyone, and probably is. Instead, you need to do a better job of targeting it.

Sympathize With Your Prospect

In Inc., sales expert Geoffrey James notes that if you think about how your emails look from the customer’s perspective, it may start to make more sense as to why leads aren’t biting. Most likely, they’re asking, “what does this have to do with me?” They may be wondering why you are reaching out to them at all, and they may even be truly annoyed that you wasted their time with spam. In each case, you’ve all but lost your prospect before you’ve begun.

Prioritize Customer Research 

It may seem like a no-brainer, but you need to do some work figuring out who your prospect is before shooting off an email. Once again, a cursory look at their homepage probably won’t be enough. You want is to exceed their expectations, not barely meet them—so you need to dig deeper. Customer intelligence analytics allow you to not only see what your customer has been doing, but what’s going on in their marketplace.

How to Use Sales Insights to Write Messages

Generally, prospects are more likely to respond when a message is relevant to their interests. This means it’s best to contact someone who has been looking around your site. You should not only mention their presence on your page, but exactly what they looked at. However, intelligence gives you the details that can make a cold email work. For instance, it enables you to see trigger events that create new product needs. According to HubSpot, events like this can be an excellent way to open an email.

Now that you have a better idea of their industry, and what it takes to excel in this environment, you will have a much easier time getting into the client’s perspective and understanding what will compel them to respond to your email. Keep things simple. James suggests that you give examples, not just of businesses you’ve worked with, but what you’ve done for them. Even better, align this small pitch to their specific market niche.

Another tip HubSpot offers is that with the first email, you’re really looking for a response, not a sale. Try to establish yourself as a trustworthy source who cares about the outcome of their company rather than going after the pitch right away.

Other suggestions:

  • Start by saying something about them, not yourself. This will grab their attention. Now would be a good time to mention that big market event you learned about.
  • Leverage personal connections if you have them. These should also go near the top of your email. If a mutual colleague suggested you get in touch, absolutely mention this.
  • Keep it short. Prospects are busy people, and the best of us can be overwhelmed by an unbroken wall of text. Make it digestible, clear and direct.

When you take the time to understand your customers, you can write messages that they really respond to.

Time is money

3 Ways to Improve Sales Productivity

Mar 2014/in /by

Even the best sales people need some tips now and then. When it comes down to it, the problem could simply be one of time management—your reps may be spending too much time chasing down leads that will never convert. The sales funnel shouldn’t be a black hole; make sure salespeople know when to persevere and when to surrender in order to improve sales productivity.

1. Do More with Less

According to Geoffrey James for Salesforce blog, you may need to refocus your time to increase sales. While it may seem counterintuitive, sometimes you need to reduce the number of opportunities you go after in order to increase sales. The problem with chasing too many leads is that you may not be giving each one the time they deserve. Instead, choose the most qualified leads and prepare sufficiently for each pitch.

2. Know Your Customer

This point goes along with the first one. Going after the right leads means doing significant prep work. Utilizing sales intelligence and good, old-fashioned customer research are the best resources. Make sure you are having a sales conversation based on the needs of your potential client, suggests Selling Power. To be able to pitch a meaningful solution, you have to understand what drives their market. In the same regard, if you’ve done the research and it doesn’t seem like your product is the right fit for them, odds are the company’s buyers will come to the same conclusion. It will be more beneficial to focus your efforts elsewhere.

3. Work on Your Pitch

Once you’ve improved your time management and started focusing in on the sales you can actually make, it’s time to work on the most basic part of your strategy: the pitch. If you’re not effectively closing sales, the culprit could be the pitch itself. The problem could be that your pitch is too much of a hard sell, and not enough like a conversation. According to sales training group Fearless Selling, a canned pitch can really turn off your prospects. Once again, you need to respect your potential clients as individuals with specific needs—remember to pitch your solution to their pain points, not your product. Your product won’t work the same way for everyone, and neither will your pitch. Try ditching your notes and having a real talk instead of giving a presentation.

When you really think about how you’re working and try to perfect each element, the results can be surprising.

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Keep training consistent to create sales superheroes

Jan 2014/in /by

Training your salespeople is vital to the continuing success of any business. Even if they can’t turn back time by flying around the world in reverse, sales superheros can turn a bad pitch into a closed deal. In a rapidly changing world, it’s a mistake to assume that your best sales reps don’t need any more training. Whether your salespeople are veterans or just entering the world of sales, it’s necessary to provide them with the training they need to best represent your company. Training sales reps is important for:

  • Improving knowledge of your company: You want your reps to be evangelists for your business, but they’ll be duds without background information that gives them a good story to tell.


  • Clarifying responsibilities: Increase the efficiency of your team by ensuring they understand how their day-to-day activities affect the company as a whole.


  • Increasing product knowledge: Give reps a reason to get excited about the products they’re selling. Not to mention there’s nothing more off-putting to potential buyers than a sales rep who doesn’t know everything about the products they’re touting.


  • Knowing your customers: Part of sales training should be devoted not just to your own products, but your customer base. Use big data analytics to plug yourself into your customer’s world.


  • Enhancing skills: This the No. 1 reason for training. It’s vital to be 100 percent confident in your products and your market, but if you lack the skills to wow your prospect, none of that information is worthwhile.

Here are some ideas for training your sales people:

Hire a trainer

Most businesses can benefit from hiring a trainer. However, be careful that you hire the right person, according to Geoffrey James for Salesforce. Different professionals have different areas of expertise. If they don’t have what you need, the investment won’t be worthwhile.

Train consistently

Make development of sales staff a part of every sales meeting. Try to set a goal for how much time you’ll spend on it. According to Caron Beesley on the government’s Small Business Administration website, one training session is rarely sufficient. Make sure your reps are up-to-date on the state of the market and even new research that would be beneficial in sales tactics.

Remember competitors


An often overlooked way to increase the success of your sales team is to make sure they know your competitors as well as they know your company. As Beesley says, it’s a good idea to encourage role playing exercises that involve competitive selling techniques.

Make training part of your routine

Have sales reps incorporate training into their day by encouraging them to share information via social media or over group lunches.

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4 questions that provoke the ire of prospects

Dec 2013/in /by

By Ryan Warren, Vice President of Market Development

The cardinal rule of sales should be: Don’t irritate your prospects! It doesn’t matter whether a potential buyer could use your services or not. If they cultivate a strong dislike for you during the pitch, they’re unlikely to go with the company you represent. Sometimes when you’re under pressure to close, you might phrase questions inappropriately, leading to the disdain of the people you’re trying to impress. Avoid ruining the outcome of the sale before you’ve even begun. To start out, here are a few questions you should avoid asking:

  1. “Are you the decision-maker?”
    You want to make sure you’re not wasting your time with someone who doesn’t impact the purchasing decision. But the truth is, even if the final decision isn’t theirs, they can be a good bridge to someone who will make the final choice. Use this question and your prospect will see right through you. As Geoffrey James puts it in the Salesforce blog, when you ask this question you’re implying your contact is “some flunky gatekeeper who needs to be schmoozed.”Instead, you may want to dispense with the term “decision maker” altogether. James suggests asking instead, “who are the stakeholders?” Without bluntly questioning where the prospect falls in the chain of command, you can get an idea of who else you should talk to before closing the deal. Another idea, according to the Sales Excellence blog, is to ask “Once you make your decision, what are the next steps?” This will also give you a better understanding of the buying process.
  2. “Would you agree that…?”
    This is a leading question that could immediately cause your prospect to bristle. The idea is to make them say yes to something small so they will be more likely to say yes to buying. Unfortunately, your contact has probably heard this ancient selling technique hundreds of times, so it will only put them on the defensive. Instead, try a more open question like “what are your priorities around…?” Ask questions that lead to a legitimate discussion. Let go of the seller-buyer dichotomy and you’re more likely to influence your potential client.
  3. “If we could save you money, would you be interested?”
    Once again, you’re using a manipulative tactic and dangling the carrot in front of the horse. You’re obviously hoping to hook the prospect into a longer conversation, but this question is actually extremely vague, and needs to be more targeted to the prospective company in order to be useful. According to Colleen Stanley for Customer Think blog, it may be better to say, “let’s you and I crunch some numbers together to see if the cost savings add up to enough dollars to even consider making a move.” This way, you’re communicating to the prospect that you understand they have individual needs and offering a one-size-fits-all solution may not benefit them.
  4. Any question you should already know the answer to
    While making this kind of blunder may not send up a red flag as quickly as the first three, lack of research won’t get you ahead. To establish yourself as not just a salesperson, but a valuable informational resource, you’ll want to know as much as possible about your potential buyer’s market. Customer analytics can provide an in depth background on where your buyer is coming from. It can help you anticipate their needs, which will help you ask the right questions. Knowing your customers before engaging in the sales pitch is the smartest thing a salesperson can do.

Do your research, avoid provoking clients, and encourage conversation rather than being pushy, and you’re likely to win the confidence of your prospective buyers.

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