You received a reply to your email! Someone picked up the phone and is willing to listen to what you have to say!
Those are the moments you are working towards in your initial stages of sales outreach. Successful sales outreach begins with preparation and proper research about who you are selling to and how you can help them. When a buyer is researching a new provider, the majority of their time (45%) is spent researching independently and only 17% of their time is spent meeting with potential suppliers, according to a Gartner study.
As a seller, you need to make sure you are maximizing the brief period of time you will have with a potential buyer. Here are three steps to help you do that:
1) Know who you are talking to: Most B2B purchase decisions involve a buying committee. For complex solutions, the buying group typically involves 6 to 10 people. So when you are compiling your lists of who to reach out to, make sure you know what role they play in the buying process. Are they a decision-maker, influencer, gatekeeper? Each person will have different types of questions for you depending on their role on the team.
2) Get their attention: When you know who you are talking to, the next step is coming up with a hook that will get their attention. Oftentimes, that needs to be done in 6 to 7 words, the optimal email subject line length. This is where you need to find a topic that will provide value to the person you are selling to. A subject line that mentions your brand or asks for a phone call won't entice a potential buyer to engage as much as providing some tips for improving their job or intel on successes their competitors have had.
3) Explain how you can help: This next step is the most critical part to the beginning of the sales process. For those moments when a prospect is all ears, wanting to hear more about your company, be prepared to succinctly explain what your company offers in a way that leads with the solution you are providing. Your potential buyer needs help with something. In a couple sentences, how can your product/service help them better than your competitors? Buyers spend a lot of their time comparison shopping. You should do the same. Make sure you know what your competitors are saying, by at least reviewing their websites regularly, so that your pitch stands-out.
B2B buyers are busy and they do their research when they are in the market for purchasing a complex product/service. Therefore, as a sales person trying to get their attention, you also need to do your research, be thoughtful, and prepared about how to pitch your solution.
