Mastering Warm(er) Outreach
Using Familiarity and Intros for Prospects
Credit: TechSalesGuy
Outreach is changing. I’m seeing it on a day to day basis within my role. You might be seeing similar challenges.
What is getting attention?
Familiarity and warm introductions.
We’re forced to do three things:
Get better, faster and more efficient on doing research on prospects.
Sticking to tried and true frameworks
Creativity in connecting with target prospects
Getting better, faster, and more efficient on Prospect Research
I’ve covered how to do research on prospect accounts by leveraging ChatGPT here. You can also do a deeper dive on better understanding both financial reports and GTM strategy of a prospect’s business here.
If you want a great breakdown on how to be more efficient with AI in your day to day, check out BowTiedDingo’s latest article on AI. It has resources, templates, and products, including salescript.ai (no affiliate link).
One of the more interesting use cases is leveraging AI for thought leadership content:
Credit: BowTiedDingo
LI content generation for inbound leads
AI is no magic bullet, but it does give you precious hours back in the day to do what sales people do best - understanding on prospects on a deeper level, moving buyers who want/need to buying, and providing value through connecting dots socially.
Sticking to Tried and True Frameworks
I recently finished reading The Sales Qualified Leader by John McMahon. I’m now halfway through reading Mega Deal Secrets by Jamal Reimer (once again, no affiliate links).
They’re both great resources.
Even if you decide not to read, both of these books talk about two things relevant for today. They cover overarching frameworks that TechSalesGuy calls out. Here’s a quick glimpse into tactics I’m taking in my overall outreach strategy.
The first is climbing the tree - ie getting higher, faster within accounts.
The second is leveraging your common investors/network to make introductions to those high level contacts (off of what TechSalesGuy said)
Creativity in Connecting with Prospects
Climbing up the tree
Intent is Key
Socializing in Accounts
Climbing up the Tree
Executives don’t want to do discovery with reps - they want insight on what *you* can show them to make their business better. Far easier to land a meeting equipped with an intro via your champion. See How to Gain a Prospect’s Trust.
But what if you’re stuck?
The next best thing you can offer them is connection with high level customer, leader, or investor. This shows you’re an insider or someone of social status. It’s a principle that works in any *people* scenario. Being the *connector* is never a bad thing.
At one of my accounts I have both investors and high profile customers who I’ve been tee’ing up with intros to C-level contacts to discuss how our offering can help based on research I’ve been doing. Outside of signals showing intent, change in leadership, or executive initiatives through word of mouth/research - all serve the purpose of relevance and familiarity.
I use the following messaging but think of it as a general messaging framework, not a full blown template.
With Full Insight
“My team is working with xyz team on xyz initiatives. I’d love to share insights from my learnings on the challenges that we can help with around xyz initiatives.”
With Some Insight
“My team is working with xyz team. Through xyz research I’ve seen that the org is working on xyz iniative. (High profile customer/Common investor + LI Profile Link) had a similar vision/similar initiative.
Thought it’d be worthwhile to connect the two of you if you’re up for it and share how they were able to (accomplish vision/overcome challenge). If anything, there’s value in two high level executives connecting and expanding your respective networks.”
Intent is Key
If there’s fear in doing this, it’s worth noting that it’s always about what the intent is. Keeping an executive in the loop on a POC or project. Sharing valuable insight on challenges you can help overcome that can have a larger impact on an organization or initiative.
It can even be, connecting two high level execs helps to expand their respective network. Connect with another leader facing a similar challenge helps to talk with someone who has been there and done it before.
I recently was told to stop reaching out to higher level executives at an account. So I flipped the script and mentioned that it wasn’t just me who reached out, it was my president. It signals two things:
a) this is coming from above me from someone and
b) from an executive and thought leader in the space who regularly speaks with C level stakeholders at customer accounts
Now, obviously there is context, research, some discovery and my president won’t be running an outreach cadence. But when you offer a proposal like this - it makes the person telling you “no” think twice.
It’s not you reaching out above anyone - it’s YOU helping THEM broker that connection. Worse comes to worse, if you have blockers everywhere - you now have NOTHING to lose.
Socializing in Accounts
I recently was speaking with a customer and had been keeping them up to date on conversations that I’ve been having with other teams. This contact is the glue that holds all the budgets and teams together. He’s certainly not the only stakeholder, nor budget holder - but a powerful influencer and ally.
When I was keeping him up to date on conversations and projects - he THANKED me. It dawned on me that he’s stretched thin, doesn’t have time to connect the dots across all the teams AND do his day job. I’m now more valuable because I’m taking extra work off his plate and sharing intel on his behalf.
Champions on your side will appreciate you for it. If they don’t you can rinse and repeat until you find a true champion and the worst case scenario? You now have nothing to lose.
Hopefully this gives you some ideas on how to refine outreach to be warmer, more familiar, and of course providing value by being a connector.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.
As always, thank you for reading and see you all next week.
-Andrew K