Know When to Reach Out

Learning Objectives 

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Identify the importance of good research.
  
• Explain the best ways to reach out to your prospects.
  

Reaching out to prospects can be more art than science. While you might have aggressive targets for the number of people you want to reach, it’s important that you get the timing right. 

Good research is incredibly helpful in making a successful connection. It lets you 1) understand the prospect’s business needs, and 2) identify “trigger events” to help facilitate the timing of communication.

Do Some Research

Buyers have little patience for a salesperson who contacts them with no understanding of their company. Taking the time to do some research before initiating contact is critical to making the right impression.

Your research can be as simple as viewing the prospect's company website to get an understanding of their products and services, and reading the social media profile of the person you plan to call. There isn’t enough time to do in-depth research on every prospect you contact. 

You should also put some research into looking for a "trigger event" to give weight to the timing of contact. You need to be able to answer the customer question, “What's in it for me?,” and quickly establish why you’re reaching out now. 

A trigger event can be a company’s new press announcement on their website. Or maybe the contact recently announced a promotion on their social media channels. Organizations and people always have a lot going on, and with the vast amount of information on social media, it shouldn’t be difficult to find a trigger event that helps you make that crucial connection.

Identifying what is in it for the prospect may depend on the products and services that you are looking to sell. One great approach is to map the challenges that the target companies and individuals face to stories of how your products and services have helped others. It’s important to add value from the start, so line up some ebooks or other resources on common challenges, and use them as part of the outreach.  

Now You’re Ready to Reach Out

Now that you’ve completed your sales strategy, messages, and research, and have identified potential trigger events, it’s time to start reaching out. There are a number of options, such as calling, emailing, texting, and even sending a physical letter in the mail. The key is finding a way to get the prospect’s attention with whichever channels work.  

You probably can’t reach out to every prospect with a high-touch approach. This is where your contact strategy segmentation comes in handy. It lets you tailor your approach based on how important that prospect is and how likely they are to ultimately buy. 

• High touch. Each time you call or email, try to say something different and add value right from the start. It also helps to schedule these to ensure you’re making the calls and sending the emails.
  
• Medium touch. This is a less aggressive outreach, but make sure that you don’t neglect them for too long. For every two emails you send, maybe make one call to the prospect.
  
• Low touch. These are clients who prefer to be contacted less frequently, and maybe only by email.
  

What’s Next?

So you've learned the basics about how to contact prospects for the best results. Now, it’s time to develop an in-depth Prospecting Contact Strategy and build a sales pipeline to support selling consistently.