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Optimizing Lead Generation for SMBs
Effective lead generation is the outcome of sales development strategies. For SMBs, to achieve this outcome, your sales development motion must include efforts to identify and engage potential customers in a cost-effective manner. In short:
1. Build a list of highly targeted prospects
2. Call the list
3. Follow up until you’ve talked to the prospect
4. Rinse and repeat. Here’ some ideas as to how to execute this motion with more specificity
Data-Driven Approaches
Sales and Revenue leaders at SMBs should leverage existing market research and analytics to identify and understand their target audience better. There are at least a thousand sales tech tools that can be used to help identify contacts by account, title and level of seniority.
By employing data-driven approaches, businesses can create more accurate buyer personas, tailor their messaging, and enhance the relevance of their outreach efforts. This precision not only improves lead quality but also minimizes wasted resources on irrelevant prospects. So in short, when you build your list with high value contacts you’re more likely to attain high value outcomes.
Multichannel Engagement
Despite being in a digitally connected world, your sales development team should advocate for diverse engagement channels. SMBs must leverage various platforms, SMS, social media, email marketing and cold phone outreach, to reach their audience effectively. By adopting a multichannel approach, businesses increase their visibility and engage prospects across different touchpoints, creating a comprehensive and memorable brand experience that resonates with potential customers.
The challenge with most digital channels today (email and social especially) is that there is so much noise that your message gets totally ignored (unless you’re someone like me who actually clicks on links). In addition, the FCC is cracking down on robo-spammers with its STIR/Shaken rules for phone outreach (we’re combating this every day) so using a parallel dialer becomes far more problematic in your phone outreach activities.
But you’ve got to connect with prospects in the place and time where they live. So a multi-channel approach is the most productive way (so far) to help you interrupt and grab their attention.
We have found that the phone is the highest converting channel, followed by SMS and then email. One of the biggest challenges with this approach is that you need to have personalized outreach and a time horizon that extends into months or years.
Personalized Outreach
Mass communication is no longer sufficient in the SMB sector. Sales, Marketing and Revenue leaders should stress the importance of personalized outreach to prospective and existing customers. This means that SMBs must tailor their messages to address the specific pain points and aspirations of individual prospects.
One of the easiest ways of understanding these pain points is by picking up the phone and talking to existing customers. Don’t have any? Pick up the phone and speak to prospective customers with the intent of understanding what they’re doing and why.
The Jobs to be Done framework fashioned by Clay Christensen from Harvard provides an exceptional recipe for how to execute these conversations. Armed with this insight you can make your communication more relevant and relatable, thereby establishing a genuine connection with potential customers, increasing the likelihood of conversion and long-term loyalty.
I know, I know what you’re going to say.. Personalization takes too long and we CAN’T do this at scale Well maybe you can or maybe you can’t but if you don’t try then all I can say is bull*h**t to you. There are plenty of AI enabled tools that can help you gather data from the great web and use in your outreach efforts on ANY communication channel. So if you don’t try, you won’t know.
One of my favorite authors and speakers in this space is Becc Holland. She continually shows us how to match personalization with technology. If you don’t follow her yet on her social channels go there right now.
Building Robust Sales Pipelines
A robust sales pipeline is crucial for consistent revenue growth. Investors, Boards and C-Suite managers understand the significance of a well-managed pipeline in ensuring a steady influx of revenue. And when there is a steady influx of predictable revenues then production, supply chain and product innovation can create efficiencies in the operations
Sales Stages
Despite what your latest CRM guru says, your prospect’s journey does not move in a linear fashion. While it is important that you define and refine distinct sales stages, ensuring clarity and efficiency throughout the customer journey, you should be prepared to have “breaks” or “reversals” during this process.
These defined stages should be based on actual activities discovered during the prospect journey. For example, if you’re speaking to an engineering technical buyer they’ll likely need, at some point of time in the journey, to bring in some colleagues to review your solution. Additionally they’ll most likely need to address the “big bosses” to get their enrollment in the change to a new technology.
By clearly delineating each stage, from initial contact to onboarding, you’ll be able to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and optimize their processes for maximum effectiveness. This transparency not only enhances internal coordination but also fosters trust with customers as they move through the buying journey.
Continuous Optimization
The sales landscape is dynamic, Sales and Revenue leaders should embrace a culture of continuous optimization. Regularly assessing and refining sales processes based on data-driven insights and customer feedback ensures that the pipeline remains adaptive and responsive to market changes. By fostering a mindset of continuous improvement, businesses position themselves for sustained success in the face of evolving market conditions.
Sales and Revenue leaders should act like professional coaches in that they’re constantly analyzing game film with and independent of the team so that they can explore strengths and weaknesses of their plays and approaches. These insights should be shared together and any modifications should be shared as a team.
Technology Integration
The role of technology in pipeline management cannot be overstated. It’s still shocking how many SMBs are still operating on paper and spreadsheets. You should advocate for the integration of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and various outreach and automation tools.
These technologies streamline processes, enhance data visibility, and facilitate more effective communication within the organization. By embracing technology, SMBs can ensure that their sales pipelines are not only robust but also agile in responding to the demands of a rapidly changing business landscape.
Bringing it All Together
When Investors, Boards and Leaders of SMBs work together, the result is a consistent and profitable sales revenue framework that creates long term stability and growth. Personalization to highly targeted prospective customers in a multi-channel approach with daily execution is key in the Sales Development function. Furthermore, this creates a culture of continuous innovation.
