For a sales person, the chances of reaching a prospect on the first attempt and having them readily agree to part with their cash, are extremely small. The questions then is how do maximise your inside sales performance to arrange as many meetings as possible?
Inside sales teams make hundreds of daily calls, a large proportion of these will go completely ignored. Statistics reveal that prospects require 5 contact attempts before engaging. But with 44% of sales representatives moving on after the first failed attempt that leaves a staggering amount of missed opportunities. What do these statistics tell us?
For pipeline growth you need a consistent and compelling process for prospect nurturing and sales follow-up. Voicemails and emails are key components of a well-established follow up process. In order to prove effective, they need to resonate, have a consistent cadence, and create value for the reader.
Create a compelling sales follow up process which is efficient but not generic by considering the following features:
The use of BASHO Emails
We have all encountered poor emails. The empty 'just checking in' or passive aggressive 'you didn't get back to me' emails are useless. Craft your emails around the value you can bring. Create sales email templates in the style of a BASHO style sequence with value at its core. This creates a readily available, quickly editable, follow up process that provides you an ability to demonstrate personalised messaging and value at scale.
Subject Line quality
Using BASHO emails are extremely powerful, but you need prospects to open your emails. Creating effective subject lines can be more art than a science but there are some rules to consider.
- Short & Sweet – A typical inbox will only reveal about 60 characters while smartphones display even less. If your subject line is too long, your message will be lost.
- Place compelling words at the beginning – You have limited space as it is, and you never know if an email will be viewed on a mobile. Place the important words at the start of your subject line.
- Keep it simple and focused – Make your subject line relatable to the content and focused on the core point of your email message.
Remember to perform ongoing A/B testing, analysis and evaluation. You can always be better.
The number and type of touch points in your follow up process.
Giving up after one failed attempt will generate zero leads, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that 5 attempts is the golden number.
Finding the exact number of touch points your prospects require before engaging will depend on a variety of factors. Experiment and analyse results until you find the optimal level of follow up required to generate leads and close sales. These follow up actions can be split across calls, emails and voicemails, and any other method of contact you have available to you.
Use previous data to understand what works best. This, coupled with your knowledge of a prospect and sales experience, will enable you to determine the optimal number and type of touch points required in each follow up process.
When you are attempting to follow up
Again, previous data will come in handy in determining over what time period you should spread your sales follow up processes. Longer sales cycles might require a longer follow up processes. But again, your knowledge of your individual prospects will enable you to tailor specific elements to generate maximum levels of engagement.
The timing of your outreach attempts also has an impact. Use knowledge of your buyer personas to understand which time of day they would be most receptacle to calls and emails.
Conclusion
The sales follow up process is a recognisable and essential component of a lead generation strategy. With email templates and processes, sales representatives can create efficient follow up processes which go beyond generic messages, and can compel prospects to further engage. Download our sales email template pack and start setting more meetings.
