There has been a ton of new sales technology in the last 5 years that has made prospecting easier and given reps the ability to be more creative with their outreach.
Platforms like LinkedIn, Salesloft and Vidyard have made it easier to incorporate social selling, customized emails at scale and video into a rep’s arsenal as they prospect.
Based on the testing I have done; it is clear that your prospecting strategy works best if you leverage all outreach methods in a cadence.
However, the phone is and will continue to be the most powerful weapon that a rep has and here is why.
- Instant Answer and Feedback
A live conversation is the quickest way to get to either the “yes” or “no” that every salesperson is striving for. It’s far more efficient to give somebody a call, have a conversation with them and determine on the spot if you should put any more resources into a prospect/account.
If you are reading this thinking “but nobody picks up the phone anymore, how is it more efficient?” read my last article that has tips on how to increase connect rates.
Once you get the connect, embrace the moment, intrigue the prospect and get an answer.
If it’s a no, who cares, move on…at least you know to stop wasting your time/effort.
A live conversation is also a great way to test different opening / pitches / closings and get instant reactions. This allows you to have a constant feedback loop and you have the opportunity to re-iterate and improve quickly. You don’t tend to get these types of authentic feedback loops with e-mail / social selling / video.
2. Gage Interest / Maintain Control
Having a live conversation with somebody allows you to detect interest directly from their tone of voice and allows you to address objections right away which (if done right) gives you control of where the conversation is going (meeting booked!).
The last thing you want to do is get into a long email thread trying to handle a list of questions / objections and prolonging the conversation. Take advantage that you have somebody engaged on a call with you at the very moment and capitalize.
Although E-mail, Social Selling and Video have higher reply / response rates, it takes a considerable amount of time to do and you shift control to the prospect.
Final Thoughts
Don’t get me wrong, I love using platforms like LinkedIn and Vidyard to be creative and captivate prospects. They have helped me increase my numbers significantly. However; through experience I have learned that if you need to get something done and want to crush quote you better pick up the phone, have real conversations with people and stop waiting around for people to give you an answer.
Go get it.
-Florin Tatulea-
Florin is currently an Account Executive at Loopio, a SaaS company that helps teams more quickly and accurately respond to RFPs / Security questionnaires. As a former top producing SDR and Team Lead, he’s gained a ton of knowledge in Sales Development and is passionate about sharing his knowledge with the community. Please reach out on LinkedIn if you have any questions, comments or feedback. He is always willing to learn!
Leave a Reply