Mastering Outbound: A Simple and Effective 5 Steps Process.
Outbound sales can be tough.
With millions of articles and gurus out there, there's no shortage of advice available, which is a good thing.
Salespeople who spend all day on outbound calls can benefit from the guidance and support provided by the sales community.
So, why outbound is so popular?
It's important to realise that there isn't a single company out there that has earned the "right" to avoid outbound efforts.
The days of endless inbound leads generated by marketing are gone.
In the past five years, there has been a significant shift, and increased competition and current market conditions are reducing the chances of enabling inbound-led sales organisations day by day.
The issue with outbound sales is that it is difficult, really difficult.
If we are very good with our system, we may end up with only a 1-2% interest rate (from a cold lead to a discovery call) compared to 15-20% of inbound sales. However, outbound sales typically have a higher win rate on average.
For example, if you win 3 out of 10 qualified leads who received a demo or pricing with inbound sales, you may win 4-5 even 6 out of 10 with a properly executed outbound sales cycle.
Why is that? Because with outbound sales, you can choose the leads you are going after, the ones that hit your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
In contrast, with inbound sales, it is the lead who is searching for you, so disqualification is higher.
Today I want to talk about my system, the system that has generated millions of pipelines and thousands of closed won deals.
Firstly, we will go through Outbound for Tier 2 and 3 leads, not for Tier 1 or Enterprise accounts.
The latter is a different animal and perhaps will be discussed in another issue of this newsletter.
We will be focusing on the run-rate and standard process of mid-market or SMB accounts that most SDRs or AEs in B2B usually work on every day.
Over the years, I have developed a process that consists of five clear steps.
These are:
Targeting
Prospecting
Outreach
Evaluate
Refine
1. Targeting:
The most important part is defining your Ideal Customer Profile. Sit down with your team and co-founders for 1-2 hours and brainstorm the following:
The roles and companies that are currently or potentially interested in buying your product/solution.
What are their pain points?
How can your product/software address their needs?
What unique advantage do you have compared to your competitors?
Create a list of companies and their decision-makers, ranging from two to five depending on the structure of your sales cycle.
2. Prospecting
Build your lists in advance. Include each person’s name, surname, phone number, email, and recent job changes or behaviours.
Tools like Apollo or Sales Navigator can help you build these lists, which you can then upload into your CRM.
Alternatively, you can use Apollo to run outbound campaigns and move only the interested prospects.
In addition, prepare your sales scripts and the necessary materials for each ICP.
3. Outreach
Use a combination of sequences, emails, calls, LinkedIn, and videos to engage with potential leads.
Develop an 8-10 step sequence that spans 30 days, ensuring that calls are not skipped. Create a unique sequence for each role, language, and industry. Automate a sequence for low-score leads and develop a manual sequence for high-score leads.
4. Evaluate
Always analyse your efforts. Monitor if the response rate improves and if you start booking more meetings. Check your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) daily.
Here are some KPIs to keep in mind:
Open rate of over 40%
Reply rate of over 20%, with an interested rate of 1.5-2%
Bounce rate of less than 5% (it’s crucial to keep it low to avoid harming your domain).
5. Refine
Outbound strategies require constant refinement. Review your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), your lists, and your sequences every month or so, and make improvements as needed.
Ensure that you continually adjust and improve your approach.
By building an outbound sales machine, you can take control of your sales destiny.
In Summary
Outbound is here to stay and we must face it sooner or later. Doing it wrongly can harm your brand, your team, and your revenue.
To prevent this, you need a well-oiled system that can consistently produce 60-70% of your monthly revenue without burning through too much cash.
Most importantly the process has to be consistent, tracked and refined.
This Week's Action Step
Review your outbound campaign. Are you getting a 1.5-2% interest rate from cold leads? If not, it may be worth reviewing your entire process and building it based on the above.
Hope this helps. We are in this together. See you next week! Ciao!
