Spring is about to blossom! This is the season when we traditionally clean, train, sow seeds, etc. Most sales and marketing organizations I encounter could also use a little nurturing this time of year. The year-end rush is over; New Year’s resolutions have come and gone, and now it’s time to get down to business before graduations, vacations, and all sorts of excuses crop up to delay any organized prospecting activities.
Please note that I don’t advocate making a “fresh start”. Most organizations have plenty of sales history that may or may not have been forgotten at this point, could be filed away, or perhaps even “hidden” in plain sight.
Sometimes when I meet a new contracting client or employer, I'm told that the CRM information and/or old files are worthless and that I should just start over. Of course, I do as I'm told but I’m always curious about what's happened before I arrive on the scene.
Frequently I find golden nuggets within “them thar” electronic hills! I know how salespeople think and act so I can decode otherwise cryptic notes, random bytes of information, even stray email addresses and phone numbers (I call them!).
Once upon a time, I found some interesting local contact information related to a gigantic multi-national bank based overseas buried deeply inside a CRM system. I was told in no uncertain terms that all the would-be target’s business was sourced offshore in a Caribbean tax haven assigned to our overseas office and that there weren’t any contacts of importance stateside (which would be my responsibility).
Nevertheless, I called the dusty old names from years gone by and ended up unearthing a multi-million-dollar opportunity in Jersey City, NJ in the good ole U.S. of A. It turned out that the buying influencers there were responsible for the technology related to an operations hub in Indonesia. The procurement office was indeed in the overseas headquarters, but they only rubber stamped the decisions made elsewhere.
So how can a sales organization avoid missing out on hidden opportunities or “buried treasure” as I am wont to say? The answer lies in the details of the pipeline building and prospecting process organization I endorse.
Every organization is fair game when an initial list of mutually agreed suspects is developed. Think outside the box and ignore judgments of the past at the outset, as suspect-specific plans of attack will be addressed later. This is now called account-based marketing.
An initial list may include between 50 and 300 names depending on the complexity of the product or services involved and that of the corresponding targets. We initially scour the landscape for the best possible ideal client fit based on interviews with the most experienced members of the staff – i.e., senior management; sales, marketing, and pre-sales personnel; professional services, leads, etc. Even if there was a failed deal in the past, it goes on the list if the ideal client characteristics match up.
Start immediately with the best possible prospects (aka BPPs); secondary prospects will be targeted in the second month of the 90-day attack; everything else falls in the third and final month. Most likely the staff interviews will impact the placement of the target organizations and past prospects may be either relegated or dismissed from their original grouping.
Sources proclaim that as much as 20% of all contact data is stale after about a year. Previous contacts may have left for a new position at perhaps a competitor and be eager to get a leg up on their former employer (and thusly created a great new prospect!). New firms may have been formed by departing contacts, or even better an unannounced merger or acquisition has perhaps come to light that may have been hidden in the past. All of these and other factors could trigger technology consolidations and reviews of new options.
Add in any other intel that can be gleaned from new salespeople’s networks, directories like ZoomInfo, LinkedIn, news sources, websites, and anything else that the imagination can dream up – i.e., the existing CRM and/or files. Mix it all together to create new angles or plans of attack that will suddenly become apparent. Things change rapidly these days and so can one’s prospecting.
A good sales operation individual or team is invaluable in this process. Effective leveraging of the CRM system to prepare for the outreaches is – proper loading and/or editing of all the contact information most crucially including names, titles, email addresses, phone numbers, etc. – is just the tip of the iceberg.
Sales “personas” can be developed with corresponding elevator pitches, email messaging, subject lines – all the way down to minutia such as the timing, type, and cadence of outreaches. The proper development and tracking of tasks and follow-ups are crucial as well. A myriad of lists can be created, limited only by the staff’s resources and imagination. New sales tools such as HubSpot and Salesloft can allow for sophisticated record-keeping, automation, and reporting. AI-based approaches are sure to follow soon!
While the research process progresses, a steady drumbeat of phone calls, email outreaches, and/or social media messaging can run side by side subject to an iterative process that feeds back results to suggest modifications to the original plan. More information including a sample project plan and handy sales operation flowchart is available for download at www.mtmnkamp.com, where a brief 15–20-minute chat can also be scheduled if further discussion is in order. Happy Hunting!
Comments