Technology has become so easily accessible and so widely used that it is essentially an extension of ourselves as human beings. The sales marketing tools we use within our workplace help us create efficiencies to save time, provide insight into key data trends, encourage alignment within companies, and communicate quicker than ever before. Unfortunately, there's also a downside to it.
Let's rewind for a second...
Traditional Marketing and Sales Automation
Traditionally, marketing and sales had one purpose: get a company's products or services in front of as many people as possible in order to generate sales from a fraction of them. This old-school mantra gave rise to the dreaded cold call. Lead qualification fell solely on sales reps, resulting in longer sales cycles.
As technology made its way into the workplace, consumers fell victim to the same blanket marketing and sales tactics used in the past – the cold calls of yesteryear have become the automated emails (spams) today.
Modern Marketing and Sales Automation
Forward-thinking business owners understand that the old-school ways of marketing and sales simply don’t work with most modern consumers. Nowadays, people want to buy into an experience and a brand they can identify with to their very core; and they're willing to do the research to find it.
This consumer behavior is the tenet behind the inbound marketing methodology and the implementation of sales enablement. Creating content that your target audience is already looking for starts the lead qualification process, resulting in better quality leads for sales. What does this really mean?
First, it means you’re on your way to shortening your sales cycle. Since leads are “prequalified,” sales reps are given a unique opportunity to connect with leads with the RIGHT follow-up content at the RIGHT time.
Second, it means sales reps need to get more personal in their outreach in order to accommodate the experience consumers seek during the buyer's journey.
Using Sales Automation, The RIGHT Way
Cold email outreach automation can be a double-edged sword. Because it makes it so easy to send multiple sales emails to as many contacts as you want, you can easily fall into the trap of getting marked as “Spam”. Don't risk losing personalization and alienating your prospects by sending the same blanket emails.
Since your leads are taking the time to research their options, sales reps need to take a little time to research their leads. Conducting a few minutes of research on a lead can provide valuable insight for a rep, and help warm up that cold outreach. Simply adding a couple of personal touches can do wonders for making a lead more receptive to your approach. Just don’t be creepy – it’s probably not a wise idea to ask how the person’s daughter’s softball game went. When in doubt, stick to the basics!
Optimize your efforts by honing in on the outreach sequences that perform the best. A/B testing for subject lines, preview text, and email copy produce more effective outreach emails.
Looking to automate your sales process? Tobe Agency can help you do it the right way. Contact us today!
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