{"id":477,"date":"2017-08-29T05:59:10","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T10:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.kmbrian.com\/?p=477"},"modified":"2020-12-04T12:40:32","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T18:40:32","slug":"outbound-sales-on-automation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/outbound-sales-on-automation\/","title":{"rendered":"Outbound Sales On Autopilot: How To Get From Lead to Deal with Maximum Automation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s kick this off with a question:<\/span><\/p>\n

How are your sales reps spending their time and energy?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

You shouldn\u2019t have to think about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

You should have said <\/span>selling<\/span><\/i> before I even finished the question. Instinctively.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, think again. What does selling actually mean?<\/span><\/p>\n

In my book, it means talking to prospects and building relations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffc Reaching out, asking questions, listening, telling a story, balancing needs, fine-tuning value, negotiating terms and closing deals<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a perfect world, sales reps are doing only that and none of the mindless admin work: entering data, researching leads and writing emails.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every minute a sales rep is not talking, he\/she is leaving money on the table.<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news is that technology is getting us closer and closer to that perfect world. Apps and workflows are enabling sales people to put tedious work on autopilot and focus on building meaningful relations at scale \ud83e\udd16.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bad news is that I still see more people working for technology than the other way around. Automation is hot, not just in sales, but a lot people end up slaves of apps in their pursue of machine-like efficiency.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The point of sales automation is to take sales people away from devices and into conversations. Mailshake wants to give you the power to send highly personalised emails at scale, while at Salesflare we\u2019re building a CRM that frees you from data input.<\/span><\/p>\n

Different stages of the sales process<\/a> but the same goal:<\/span><\/p>\n

We want you to be human and talk to as many people as possible.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll show you how to use tactics and tools to build a sales machine that enables you to do just that. All the way from lead to deal. As automatic as it can get.<\/span><\/p>\n

First up, I\u2019ll hit you up with automated lead generation<\/a> techniques that should get you a steady influx of qualified prospects<\/a> to fuel your sales machine. We\u2019ll be covering LinkedIn and Twitter automation tactics combined with email finding hacks and data scraping.<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea is always the same: start from a pool of qualified leads and figure out a way to get to their LinkedIn profiles, work email addresses for cold email and personal email addresses for Facebook Ads.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, we\u2019ll go into targeting with a prime focus on cold email and the automation thereof. Automatic influx of newly found leads into your cold email campaign without you having to look at it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the setup of CRM flows so you don\u2019t drown into your spectacularly deepened pool of leads. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our goal is to automate as much as possible, from the initial lead gathering up to the point where real talking is needed. The point where you can\u2019t be replaced by a robot anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dive in! \ud83d\udc0b<\/span><\/p>\n

1. You\u2019d be surprised by what you can turn into leads.<\/b><\/h2>\n

No machine can run by itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

You need to fuel it and in sales that fuel is made up of leads.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are about 3,5 billion people on the Internet. If you\u2019re not finding leads, you\u2019re either building a product nobody needs or you\u2019re looking in the wrong place.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or it\u2019s right in front of you but you don\u2019t realize it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"gif\"<\/p>\n

Not all leads were made equal. Not all leads are obvious.<\/span><\/p>\n

Depending on your preferred targeting option, there are tons of ways to enrich a piece of data straight up to the point where you can reach out. <\/span><\/p>\n

The data is out there. All you have to do is crunch it to your advantage and use it as oil for your sales machine. Automated, of course.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yes, I\u2019m talking about qualified leads \u2014 people that fall within your target market and are supposedly in need of your product.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you know who your targets and where they\u2019re hanging out, you\u2019re already halfway there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, I\u2019ll show you a few ways to automagically source leads.<\/span><\/p>\n

My goal is not so much to show you these tactics, but to get you acquainted with the mindset you need to come up with these tactics yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the last year, I\u2019ve developed powerful strategies to get leads<\/a> from different social platforms, as well as through data scraping and enrichment<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll get you a glimpse at the best stuff right here.<\/span><\/p>\n

#1. LinkedIn Automation<\/b><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re ever going to talk on the internet, do it on LinkedIn.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nowhere else do you have so many relevant people in the same place.<\/span><\/p>\n

Automation will help you to get more leads by building network faster. You\u2019ll get to talk to more people by scaling your reach and build meaningful relations on the fly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether you make sales on LinkedIn itself or just warm up the lead to opt-in on your email and Facebook ad: time spent on LinkedIn is time well spent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Especially if you can have a bot do the dirty work for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

1\ufe0f\u20e3 Auto-visit and scrape LinkedIn profiles with Dux-Soup<\/b><\/p>\n

My all-time favorite growth hacking tool is <\/span>Dux-Soup<\/span><\/a> \ud83e\udd86.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dux-Soup is a Chrome extension you can auto-visit LinkedIn profiles with.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you let this thing loose on a list of LinkedIn profiles, it will auto-visit all of the profiles and scrape their data: names, roles, companies, domains plus social media profiles and emails if made public by the user (usually not). Exportable as a .CSV file.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of these people will get a notification of you visiting them and a lot of them will visit you back. Make sure your profile hints at the value you have to offer and you\u2019ll be getting new connections, introductions and leads without lifting a finger.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a search query in LinkedIn Sales Navigator for founders, co-founders, and CEOs of Internet startups in Berlin. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"search<\/p>\n

These are typically tech-savvy, entrepreneurial decision-makers likely interested in automated solutions for sales pipeline management. Textbook Salesflare customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019ll get a notification of me visiting them and see my tagline:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gilles<\/p>\n

If they click through, they\u2019ll find out all about Salesflare and the benefits it can bring them.<\/span><\/p>\n

It usually takes more to get a prospect to bite, but this is just the beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n

At this point, they\u2019ll have seen Salesflare\u2019s name twice and are warmer than they were before. Now that know who you are, you can start putting the moves on them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dux-Soup works with free LinkedIn accounts but if you have some cash to spare you might want to consider upgrading to <\/span>Sales Navigator<\/span><\/a>. It enables you to auto-visit more profiles before being blocked and the more powerful filters will get you better leads.<\/span><\/p>\n

2\ufe0f\u20e3 Gather email addresses with Dux-Soup<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u2019s more to Dux-Soup than meets the eye \ud83d\udc40. <\/span><\/p>\n

Upon unleashing it on a list of profiles, it will ask you if you want it to get email addresses for each profile.<\/span><\/p>\n

One email address is worth one Dux-Soup point.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can buy these points or\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gather<\/p>\n

(This is where it gets sneaky)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

You can trade in the email addresses of your LinkedIn connections for free Dux-Soup points.<\/span><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffc This is their way of sourcing emails. A pretty effective one for that matter: I found the return rate to be around 90% (\ud83d\udca5).<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s more: these are often <\/span>personal <\/span><\/i>emails. Back when LinkedIn was taking its first steps, most people signed up with their personal email and never bothered to change their primary email addresses to their work email.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, what\u2019s the first thing that pops into your mind when you read <\/span>personal emails? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude0f Facebook Ads. Yes, sir!<\/span><\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t feel comfortable trading in your connections\u2019 email addresses, you can take the scraped data and run a .CSV with first name, last name, and domain through an email finder tool like<\/span> VoilaNorbert<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

3\ufe0f\u20e3 Auto-connect with 2nd-degree connections<\/b><\/p>\n

The Dux has one more trick up its feathers.<\/span><\/p>\n

While auto-visiting profiles, you can have Dux-Soup send automated connection requests to 2nd-degree connections. Plus a personalized note using variables for name, company, and role.<\/span><\/p>\n

Behold the connection invite I\u2019ve been sending hundreds of prospects last week \ud83d\udc47\ud83c\udffc.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"connection<\/p>\n

About 1 in 5 accept.<\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019re now in my network \u2014 I can talk to them, I can help them, I can delight them with content and I have their email address.<\/span><\/p>\n

Automate to scale reach, be human to build relationships<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking to get leads out of LinkedIn, you\u2019ll have to go beyond hitting connect and invest in building real human relations.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is where you start talking.<\/span><\/p>\n

But how do you talk to all of those automated connections?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffc Simple: you automate more.<\/span><\/p>\n

With<\/span> GPZ LinkedIn Tools<\/span><\/a> you can mass-message your LinkedIn connections.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Another option would be <\/span>LinkedInHelper<\/span><\/a>. Whatever floats your boat)<\/span><\/p>\n

I know, I know \u2014 first I get all dramatic about how you have to talk to people and then I tell you to automate your conversation starters, <\/span>but\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"bear<\/p>\n

Think about this:<\/span><\/p>\n