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Introduction

Prospecting is hard work! Maybe that’s why I’d always compare salespeople to gold miners. While the former searches for nuggets in the mud, the latter sift through scores of leads to find the right prospect. And just like companies that use a complex extraction process, so have sales reps, who relied on some tips and tricks over the years. So here are some tricks to prospect like a pro. 

First step: What’s your objective to sales prospecting process?

To begin with, decide on the objective of your sales prospecting:

• Is it a callback?
• A demo request?
• Response to your email?

This will give you clarity on each of your prospects and also decide the right prospecting techniques that could help you get your desired response.

Now that you know what response you wish to get, let’s look at the different sales prospecting techniques sales reps use across various industries such as B2B, car sales, and real estate sectors to hit their quota. 

1. Master Sales Prospecting Emails

Crafting a good prospecting email is easier said than done as businesses are fighting for attention from prospects. No wonder almost 91% of sales emails go unopened. To overcome this issue, let’s look at the factors that make a good sales prospecting email:

• Top sales prospecting email subject lines – When it comes to writing an attention-grabbing email, a good subject line can make all the difference. Research by Yes Lifecycle Marketing found that emails that included personalization in their subject line significantly outperformed those that didn’t, with these emails generating 50% higher open rates, 58% higher click-through rates, and double the unique click rates. (source: Yesware)

A good personalized subject line is not a one-size-fits-all kind and differs from industry to industry, audience to audience, and so on. Using tools like Email subject line grader or Touchstone, you can run your own tests and modify the content of your subject line based on all the data you’ve already collected about the subscriber’s wants, interests, age, location, name and more.

If you are in the real estate business, consider personalizing your subject line based on their name, age, location, budget, gender, marital status, etc. E.g.: “Hi Liza, 1 and 2 Bedroom Apartments only 1/2 Block from the Beach”

For car sales, you can personalize based on name, car model, location, budget, etc. E.g.: “Mark, save up to $7500 on a Ford Escape near you!”

• Sales prospecting letter body – Once you’ve framed a kick-ass email subject line, the next step is connecting the beginning of your sales email to the subject line. Never disappoint your readers by not offering what you’ve stated in your subject line. With that goal in mind, make use of these key pointers to frame the opening for all your sales emails:

Give a context about who you are: Providing a context at the beginning of your sales email establishes credibility and instills confidence in you and your company. It also helps give quick references to the names of other companies using your product or service, or even highlight results similar companies have gotten from using your product. E.g.: We helped 100+ organizations such as {ABC} to 10x their monthly run rate. 

Address the pain point you’re solving in one simple sentence: This is where you differentiate yourself from your competitors. The goal here is to pitch a solution in response to the information you’ve gathered about them. E.g.: Is your monthly run rate a priority for you right now? If so, you’re in the right hands!

You can try Hippo Video’s video sales letter to specially attract the attention of your prospects by personalizing their experience all the way.

• Sales prospecting email closing – Let’s get one thing clear: if your sales email doesn’t end with a simple and direct Call-To-Action (CTA), then you’ve failed. The reason you’re sending a sales email is because you want them to take action, right? So unless you guide them into it, they’ll be left scratching their heads, wondering what to do next.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind while framing your CTA:

1. Have a clear CTA – Tell your prospects what next steps you want them to take, even if you think your email is clear enough. E.g.: Does next Monday at 11 am or Wednesday at 2 pm work for a 15-minutes call?”
2. Don’t use too many CTA’s – More CTA’s won’t increase your chances of them taking an action as they may feel overwhelmed.
3. Your CTA is confusing – If you want them to pick a time for a call, give them the date and time or include a tool like Calendly where they can put in their appropriate time slot. Overlooking this is not going to get you a reply as you are not being specific about the next action.

2.. Become Video Selling Expert

Unless you’ve been living under the rocks, videos have been a huge part of businesses and currently represent three-quarters of all internet traffic and are set to soar in the coming years. Also, with more companies adopting WFH (work-from-home) model, 2020 and the years to come will be all about remote selling. But to ace this, you’ll have to become an expert at video selling. 

In 2020, 92% of marketers said that video is an important part of their marketing strategy. This has grown from 78% in 2015, showing that the importance of video is only growing. – Wyzowl

• Video sales pitch – With today’s buyers being more knowledgeable than before, they demand solutions be delivered to them quickly. So how do you keep up with this trend? A video sales pitch is the answer!

“A video sales presentation is a powerful tool for proving your value to customers.”

So the next time you have to present a sales pitch, drop the traditional route of having to cite case studies, stats, or testimonials and make an explainer video to make your clients sit up and notice you. 

Here are some of our essential tips for making a good video sales pitch that will help your sales team close the deal:

• The 15-second rule – This piece of advice I came across solidifies this point: “If you can’t tell me what you do in 15 seconds, I’m not buying, I’m not investing, and I’m not interested,” says author and Forbes contributor, Carmine Gallo. Speed is essential in your sales video pitch. Don’t create flashy introductions; instead, come straight to the point and tell them what you do in under 15 seconds before your prospect mentally checks out. E.g.: “Hi, I’m Jeff! You know how challenging it can be to navigate the first time home buying process, right? Well, I simplify the whole home buying process for first time home buyers.”
• Begin with a question – “Tired of roadblocks that lead to missing client deadlines and losing your company money?” Your introduction needs to either attack or address buyer expectations and then build upon it. This is the key to a successful sales pitch video as it addresses their pain point.
• Personalize your videos – Most sales reps refrain from making videos as they feel it adds to their daily tasks. Surprise! You don’t need to create a new video for every prospect. This is where personalized videos come into play. A powerful tool in your sales outreach, it is the secret to being heard in an overcrowded marketplace. So how do you personalize your videos? It’s simple! Capture the attention of your prospects by adding their name, company name, logo, etc to create attractive and engaging videos. This way, you can convert a 1:1 video made for a single person to a 1:many video, thus making them feel special as their details are inserted within the video.

E,g.: In a sector like real estate, prospects are putting a lot on the line- so it’s critical to build trust. Here’s an example of real estate video personalization that uses the prospect’s name, image, and geographic location to build a connection with them. 

Here’s another example for a B2B personalized video: In the thumbnail, use < Your Name> or Hey John, looking to…

• Send videos in email – Including video in email is a tactic that is known to drive email engagement and increase click-rates. But successfully attaching a video into your email requires planning as there are compatibility issues, file size issues, and more that needs to be taken into consideration. Here are a few tips that will help you.

1. Create an engaging thumbnail – Your prospects are less likely to click on your video if you paste just the URL link in the email, right? Using a video thumbnail will solve this issue. You can also use Canva or Picmaker to make a friendly play button on top of your thumbnail to make it enticing.
2. Don’t attach the whole video – Many email clients such as Gmail, Outlook, etc. don’t support video attachment within their emails as it makes the email heavy, thus ending as spam. The solution to avoid any glitch is to host your video through a video marketing platform.

Here’s an example of a video email from a B2B business:

• Video email subject line – According to experts, an average person receives 121 business emails, therefore a compelling subject line is crucial in getting increased open rates. To achieve this, adding the word ‘video’ in your subject email is found to boost your open rates by 19% and click-through rates by 65%.

Here are a few examples you can use:

1. 1. Nike, your sea-facing apartment is waiting for you! <video Inside>
   2. <video Inside> How to grow your business in 15 minutes?
   3. These cars…. for THOSE prices? No way! <video Inside>

3. Participate in social media with prospects

With 3.02 Billion of the world population using social media by 2021, it is the best place to find the right prospects, build trusted relationships, and ultimately achieve your sales goals. 

Top sales reps use a few tactics to reach the right audience at the right time. Here are a few tips:

• Place ads on social media forums like Facebook to get prospects to notice you. E.g. According to Digital Air Strike, 75% of car buyers said social media was a helpful medium when selecting a car dealership.
• Use keyword targeting on Twitter by using tools like Brandwatch Analytics or Brandwatch Audiences to identify prospects who ask questions or discuss your industry. The key is to be in the right place at the right time. Engage with them by joining in their conversation and providing solutions to their queries. However, don’t sell immediately – at this stage, you want to help; not sell.
• There are tons of Facebook and LinkedIn groups you can join in to connect with people of similar interests. This will help you gain access to a new consumer base and offer your advice and expertise without selling.

4. Offer to educate prospects

Trying to sell to prospects online like the guy at a baseball game yelling ‘hot dogs’ over and over again will only drive your prospects into the digital arms on your competitors; and a good sales rep knows this. Instead of taking a straight selling approach, educate your prospects with the information he or she needs to say ‘yes’ to your offer. 

Here are a couple of ways  you can educate your prospects:

1. Start out by taking notes of the topics which concern your sales prospect the most as answering these will help them gain the support of his or her organization in purchasing your product. In this case, send them ebooks, blogs, pdfs, etc which will answer all their questions.
2. If you’re in the car sales industry, send them blogs and videos comparing vehicles based on different criteria such as price range, car mileage, etc.
3. In the real estate industry, you can educate them about the locality, real estate jargon, legal documents, etc by providing them with educational blogs, videos, customer testimonials, etc.

Wrap up!

A good sales rep is not born in a day, instead it takes years of hard work and a better understanding of their prospects that help them hit their quota. Back this up with the use of powerful prospecting mediums such as videos, emails, and social media – it will yield you more precise results and build the foundation of a highly functioning sales process. Follow these sales prospecting techniques then instead of searching for gold at the wrong stream, you’ll be in the right place. The vein of gold is near!