An efficient and effective outbound sales program is considered the holy grail by most organizations. B2B companies in particular invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales professionals, a sales tech stack, contact lists, and sales training programs in order to build a lean, mean revenue machine. Yet so few are able to do so successfully.
At FullFunnel, we’ve worked with hundreds of organizations to build sales programs from the ground up or partner with organizations to audit and augment their sales teams. Let’s break down some of the mistakes we’ve seen time and time again that will undoubtedly hamper your outbound sales strategy.
Mass Messaging
At FullFunnel, we’re big fans of sales and marketing automation tools as a means of increasing productivity and scaling effective programs. However, we see most outbound sales programs overuse these tools to achieve volume at the expense of quality and personalization. Especially since the onset of the pandemic, prospects are being flooded with emails every day. They know how to spot a dry, automated email from a mile away. Sending hundreds of mass messages every day simply isn’t going to cut it, and you’ll end up sacrificing your reply rates.
84% of consumers say being treated like a person, not a number, is very important to winning their business. Taking the time to personalize your messaging for your outbound sales emails can quickly boost your metrics and help hit those benchmarks. As the digital age continues to transform how businesses operate, sending an email that is customized to the specific pain point and needs of that persona is going to give you the advantage. That’s not to say you can’t use any automation, but make sure you’re creating different campaigns and tests for different audiences.
Email Length
A good sales representative knows the value of the product or service they are selling. That said, this often leads to lengthy emails. In 2018, the average time spent reading an email was over 13 seconds but has since dropped to only 10 seconds in 2021. It is important to remember that this is a sales email, NOT a marketing email, and as such you need to cut the fluff and focus on providing value with every sentence.
The ideal length for your outbound sales email is going to be between 50 and 125 words. Keeping your messaging personalized, clear, and concise has been shown to improve engagement rates. Make sure your call to action is short and action-driven, so your prospect doesn’t need to question what exactly you’re looking for.
Smiling and Dialing
All too often, organizations mistake productivity with activity. Most outbound sales programs consist of eager sales development representatives that have been given a list and a couple of talking points asked to generate cold emails for your business. Few organizations take a minute to plan, strategize, and understand the financial constraints of their sales cycle.
How much can you afford to spend on acquiring a customer? What does your sales funnel need to look like in order to make that work? Which channels are going to allow for the scale and targeting you require to hit your goals? Too often, outbound sales programs are conducted like a call center instead of a strategic test.
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Understanding these common outbound sales mistakes is critical to amending your approach and generating a more strategic, efficient plan.
As you consider outbound sales for the first time, schedule a free consultation with FullFunnel to learn more about our approach, and how we’ve built successful programs for hundreds of organizations.
