Have you been here?
You pay a ton of cash to a sales prospecting service…
And wait…. Rather optimistically for money to roll in.
But after a month or so, you don’t even see 1 qualified lead, or worse – no leads at all.
The agency might blame your product, or perhaps the copywriting… Or maybe they even suggest spending more money for better campaigns.
Cue the intense frustration and a couple of #$%!@ words.
At Salesbread, we have worked with many founders who have found themselves in these disastrous situations.
Unfortunately, some sales prospecting services are using outdated methods that might have worked in 2018 but are just not working today.
If you find yourself stuck in bed with a lead gen company that does not do the following, it’s time to do the “walk of shame” so to speak, and sneak out the door.
Rather partner up with a company that can get you those qualified leads that will help you close deals.
(When you partner up with our b2b sales prospecting service, you can expect 1 qualified sales leads per day. If this sounds good let’s chat. Hop of a free 15-minute strategy with Salesbread.)
5 Reasons Why Some Sales Prospecting Services Fail
- Bad data
- No personalization
- Only 1 outreach channel
- Poor copywriting
- A bad strategy
Below we will discuss some different types of services and the above-mentioned points.
Sales Prospecting Service 1: Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing isn’t a sales prospecting service exactly, but many marketing teams make use of inbound methods to gain “organic” leads.
The sales opportunities come to you, instead of you looking for them.
This might be done by using:
- SEO
- Content marketing
- Making use of a great landing page that explains your exact services.
- Or social media marketing, like having an Instagram or Facebook page for your business.
- PPC
- Linkedin Ads
The good news is that many times inbound marketing does work.
EVENTUALLY…
It’s not an overnight thing.
If you choose to use inbound marketing, you are going to have to be patient. Studies have shown that it could take up to 6-9 months before your website is placed on the first page of Google.
And in some cases even 12 months.
Some new businesses might need immediate high-quality leads, and this is why they also make use of an outbound approach in their sales prospecting process.
Note though, that in order for outbound to work, you need a fail-proof strategy. This includes an ultra-refined list of target accounts and excellent personalized messages.
Sales Prospecting Service 2: Cold Calling
Many people might think that cold calling is dead, but this is not necessarily the case.
It might be harder to find leads on the phone.
Mainly because people are busy, so if they get called on at the wrong time, then the SDRs/sales teams are setting themselves up for a lot of “no’s”.
Also, if the sales prospecting service that you have chosen is going after the wrong customer profile, then this can also lead to a bad return on investment.
Lead Feeder mentions the following:
If research isn’t being done, and random people are being targeted via a phone call, the chances of your campaign succeeding will be low.
If this is the case, paying a cold call agency might not be the best option for you unless you can ensure that they are targeting the right audience.
If their list of potential customers is ultra-refined, then the chances of higher conversions will be better.
Sales Prospecting Service 3: Cold Emailing
Email outreach can either be a great success or a flop.
Once again, the success of your outbound sales depends mainly on:
- Good data (Make sure to build an obsessive list of your ideal customer profile.)
- High-quality personalization
- The amount of outreach channels being used
- Well-written copy
- The right strategy.
If you are using a sales prospecting company that does not consider the above, then you’re going to waste a lot of money and not get those potential buyers.
The salespeople within the company of your choice, need to build a targeted prospect list.
If thousands of template-type emails are being sent to the wrong decision-makers, then cold emailing will not work.
You won’t get those leads in your sales pipeline.
Even worse, you might be viewed as a spammer.
You might have a personalized list of leads, but if your sales strategy isn’t right, you won’t get too many B2B sales.
For example, you might be sending too many follow-ups in one day, or even in one week.
You might not be sending enough follow-ups, or following up too late.
Your strategy might include being quite a hard salesperson; Pushing the sale but not considering your ideal customers‘ pain points. Thus, leading to more “no thank you’s”.
If you are running your own sales prospecting campaigns, or you are using a company that just uses automation, you will need to make a change in order to see a good ROI.
(Which we will discuss further on in the article.)
Sales Prospecting Service 4: Social Selling
Social selling is a form of prospecting that uses social media platforms such as LinkedIn to find new business.
The great news is that people might be more willing to chat via LinkedIn messages, or Facebook messaging for example.
The problem comes in, once again, if you have bad data and are targeting the wrong people.
To get more leads in your sales funnel, you also have to use expert personalization for your outreach messages.
Why?
Because if you are sending the same connection request or the same follow-up message to 500 people, they are going to know that it’s just a generic message.
Most likely they will just ignore it because in their minds it’s just a boring sales pitch.
The trick is to do tons of research beforehand on EACH prospect so that you can send them a personalized message that will catch their attention.
Think about it… If you received a message on Linkedin that said:
“Hey, I really enjoyed the article that you wrote on XYZ.” –
Wouldn’t you be more inclined to reply?
Or if someone said:
“Hi, I see we have some common connections, and you’re interested in XYZ. I could always introduce you to the head of my department to discuss your ideas. Let’s connect.”
You will most probably be more likely to reply.
These personalized messages are the kind of thing that will bring in new leads.
But if personalization isn’t being used, then it’s not going to happen.
Is it even worth it to use a sales prospecting service?
The answer is yes.
Sales prospecting services can make a huge difference to your business
BUT it has to be done correctly.
At Salesbread we have developed a strategy for LinkedIn and cold email that works.
We promise our clients 1 qualified sales lead per day, and that is what they get.
Read this case study for a company called RegAlytics.
With the above campaign, we managed to generate 118 QUALIFIED leads in 8 weeks.
Here’s a breakdown of the sales process we use:
1. We built an ultra-targeted list of prospects
We built a list of the RIGHT buyer persona.
This means that our DATA was correct.
List building takes time and research, but it’s worth it.
If you have a list of the right sales leads, the chances of people saying “yes” to your product/service will be much higher.
We actually take an entire week to perfect our client’s lists.
And the most important part is analyzing data from their current BUYING customers and build look-a-like lists.
It’s important to find patterns between buyers because this will help you know exactly who to target.
For example:
Are all your buyers:
- Using the same CRM tool? Like Hubspot or Salesforce?
- Are all your buyers part of a specific industry? Such as Saas or Health and wellness?
- Which job titles are buying from you? Is it the founder or the marketing manager?
- Do they have a specific amount of website visitors per month? Less than 6000? Or more than 20,000?
- What are your buyer’s demographics?
- Are enterprise companies buying or is it small businesses?
Once you find patterns it’s easier to build prospect lists of look-alike buyers.
Below is a video example of how we would analyze data for list building.
2. Then we filtered the list through our client’s second-degree network on LinkedIn and by recently posted
The next thing that we did was filter the list through our client’s second-degree network on LinkedIn. This helps us find the right people to reach out to at these target accounts.
This advanced search through LinkedIn Sales Navigator, helps us narrow down our list even more, making it ultra-refined.
(Be sure to check out some of these sales prospecting tools if you’re interested in trying out this strategy yourself.)
We also make sure we filter the list by recently posted. The reason for this is that it helps us send messages to prospects who are active on LinkedIn.
If a prospect isn’t active on LinkedIn, we will add them to an email campaign or send them an SMS.
3. We then send personalized connection requests
We then connected with the right people via LinkedIn and Email (2 outreach channels as opposed to just 1.) and wrote each person a PERSONALIZED message.
Because of this, on average, we are seeing 39% POSITIVE reply rates on LinkedIn.
And personalization is so much more than adding a first name. At Salesbread we actually research each potential lead and use the CCQ method to write something very specific just for that individual.
For example, we might say:
“Ben, loved your article on the effects of screen time on toddlers. I found (x) very insightful. Would like to connect with you here.”
LinkedIn prospecting is all about starting conversations. So cut the sleazy sales pitch, and just try to get your foot in the door to further the conversation.
4. We followed up with prospects between 3 and 5 times
We then ensured lead nurturing by following up, with the prospects between 3 and 5 times.
(These follow-ups are NOT automated by using some sales prospecting software, instead, we reply in real-time to each person.)
In these follow-up messages, our sales reps asked for a meeting.
The results?
This led then to 118 qualified leads over 8 weeks.
All our client had to do was close the sale.
Recap
- We had a targeted list – Good data
- We wrote personalized messages for each prospect – Personalization
- We used more than one outreach channel – Linkedin, Cold email, and SMS
- We made use of good copywriting. (Short messages, good spelling, friendly)
If you do the 4 above things, your prospecting efforts will be successful. This approach is really one of the best sales strategies that we have used over the past decade.
Before hiring a lead generation agency, ask these 10 questions.
Our top prospecting tips
- Have the best data by doing extensive research and make sure that you have the right list. You can also invest in prospecting tools that help with data enrichment. At Salesbread we use Apollo.io, Crunchbase, LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Bombora. Maybe you’re targeting a specific company size, location, or person within a company. Make sure your list is perfect before you begin with your campaign, and triple-check the data before sending a personalized message.
- Write personalized messages just for the prospect. Yes, this takes time but it will be worth it.
- When qualifying your prospects remember lead nurturing. Follow-up 3 times without using an automated tool, but rather in person. This shows the prospect that you are really interested in their pain points and how you can make a difference to them.
- Be sure that your copywriting is on point. This could be by having great spelling, as well as not sending long messages that take up too much time to read.
- Remember your strategy and if it needs adjusting, don’t be afraid to change it to get results.
Want 1 qualified sales lead per day? Let’s chat.
Our sales prospecting techniques have given our clients new leads time and time again.
Book a free 15-minute strategy call below, and let’s see how we can help your business generate more qualified sales leads each day.
(If you would like a more in-depth article on our process read this:
Why We Set Out to Build The Best Done-For-You Lead Generation Service)