Anyone can send emails and post on LinkedIn. In this article, Matt Mayfield discusses some great Outbound Techniques –
Outside of BizXpand, I am personally consulting several US companies with their own internal SDR (Sales Development Reps) focused on US customers. For these companies, the value of single lead can be $10,000 or more. That also means other competitors are also willing to spend big money to get the attention of the same person.
At BizXpand, we don’t do lead generation campaigns targeting US prospects. It’s just too different there (Luckily that also means that great systems don’t translate to Europe with a simple language translation– so we are still a great match for US companies wanting to enter Europe)
I want to describe a few fantastic techniques I see used in the US that work great.
Proof of Work
Technical decision makers are especially good at recognizing database mail-merged into a nice template. The technique we use is to have credible people send the message and to use conversational (rather than marketing optimized or approved) language. Most of my US colleges use a different approach I call “proof of work”. Just today I got this message:
Hi Matt,Couldn’t help but notice you’re a fellow Hokie alum and that you’re also based in Slovenia! I’m actually attending a wedding in Izola next month with some friends from Virginia Tech. Any recommendations for places to check out?While I didn’t reach out solely for recommendations, I also noticed that XXXXX is hiring for an events manager, stating that events are one of the most important ways that you grow and connect with your target audience.I’m not sure how much you know about YYYYY, but our Event Operating System manages events of any size or format from a single platform, while giving you and your selling team all the attendee data you need.I’d love to speak with the person who’s currently in charge of events at Code Climate. Any chance you can put me in touch?Best,Sam
Sam went through the trouble of realizing that we went to the same university and takes advantage that my residence is unique. Does he really have a wedding nearby? Did he even go to Virginia Tech. I would guess yes to both, the the technique would still work if he was bluffing (so long as he passes the lead quickly to a colleague).
Just like crypto proof-of-work, lack of work is an easy filter. I get 4 of these each day. This is the first I answered in the last months. Other great subjects for proof of work are knowing about employee numbers (LinkedIn), information about the prospects boss (eg. she might have gone to Cal Tech or be from Spain), interacting the the prospects post on social media, former employment (LinkedIn), etc.
Dialling For Dollars
In the 2000’s my partner Martin was the king of cold calling senior technical executives and getting meetings. We spent a fortune trying to get him assistants and protégés to do this for him — none worked. However, by 2014, calling stopped working here in Europe. (It had long stopped working in the US). Fortunately for us, Martin is a master in discovering new channels and tools.
My colleagues in the US, however, are actually getting people to answer the phone. Perhaps this is a post-covid effect, but a small number of prospects will answer the phone and an even smaller number will let you talk past the first two sentences, but it works– for very senior people it works. Your people on the phone better know their product, prospect, and sales skills well. See Cold calling works well if your CTO does it
Also, the people calling (and the brand they are calling on behalf of) better have “thick skin” (ability to handle anger and criticism) because dislike of a cold call interruption is still by far the norm. On the positive side, tools and data sources have never been better. What’s old is new again.
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Just Hard Work
At BizXpand, our latest recipes use 7 touches over 2 channels during 33 days. My American colleagues are using 15 touches over 3+ channels during 15 days! This means LinkedIn, phone, email , Twitter. Some prospects just decide that it is easier to respond than to avoid you.
I see this technique used by the inexperienced and desperate, but there is a second group of successful high aggression SDRs. The general rule is that additional touch points (eg email) have rapidly diminishing returns but increasing negative feelings from the prospect.
However, there are a number of successful SDRs that have found a higher aggression mode. How it works and why is actually a bit of a mystery to me, but I have looks through activity logs and see how very senior decision makers occasional react positive. My metric driven, high integrity, conflict avoiding brain struggles with how you even discover such a cadence works.
But I can confirm it does… sometimes.
