#2 - What is Outreach prospecting ?
What is Outreach ? My vision.
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Summary :
Trigger
Misconception
Definition
Competences needed
What do you think
Trigger
This weekend I talked with friends about my job, and it turned out that they don’t know what I’m doing.
When you are a doctor, nurse, or teacher, it’s clear to everybody, but when you say that your specialty is Outreach prospecting, how could you explain this concept with one single word?
I’ve written this article to expose my vision.
Let’s go.
Misconception
“Oh yes, Arnaud, I see.
You are this annoying sales guy picking up the phone and trying to sell something to someone with no interest.”
Back in 2017, as a junior SDR, my mission was to close as many pharma clients as possible with one weapon - my phone.
No marketing department, no sales organization, no idea about copywriting, only me and my phone to go through the entire sales cycle.
But today, the paradigm has changed.
According to Hubspot1, the internet has changed the relationship between buyers and sellers.
Besides, 90 percent of the data in the world was generated over the last two years. 2
In this context, buyers can search for a new product or solution on the internet without a sales rep pitching their solution.
To me, outreach prospecting is about validating that a prospect has a problem you can solve.
Once you have that confirmed, engage in a conversation, build trust and add value for your prospect.
It’s all about creating value and engagement.
Thank you for confirming this vision, Hubspot.3
Definition
According to Snov.io Outbound prospecting is a proactive sales approach where companies initiate contact with targeted leads yet to express interest.
It’s the process in which sales representatives research, identify, and reach out to prospects to convert them into customers.4
The chances are that your lead is not ready to buy yet because his need was not expressed.
I like this visual from Chet Holmes.
Keep that in mind.
No, it’s not about pushing for a demo.
80% of research, identification, and target comprehension
20% of outreach
On the internet, you will often see Outbound marketing (reaching out proactively to targeted prospects) compared to Inbound marketing (creating content that drives engagement).
Outreach and outbound share the same goal, but the way it is distributed between Marketing and Sales depends on the company's maturity and organization.
Steve Patrizi is sharing an interesting view on the topic.
Competences to master
In this changing environment where a lot of searches need to be done to attract a prospect's interest, I genuinely believe that the skillset is a balance of the following categories :
Strategy: Understand the market (segmentation, targeting) specificities and competition.
Data: Collect valuable data about the prospects to segment the audience.
Enrich your data and detect triggers.
Automation: Cup repetitive tasks to focus on what matters.
Email set-up: Don’t land in spam.
Copywriting: Use the right words.
Buyer psychology: Understand what is not being said.
What do you think?
This post was conceptual, but I think it’s an excellent first step to setting up a reasonable basis.
Please, share your thoughts.
https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/biggest-ways-technology-has-transformed-sales
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/21/how-much-data-do-we-create-every-day-the-mind-blowing-stats-everyone-should-read/?sh=1c92640b60ba
https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/hubspot-sales-strategy-report
https://snov.io/blog/outbound-prospecting/