ML is on the frontlines of complex B2B sales, so we tend to get a first look at changing trends. We’ve spent the past several months adapting to what we see as a dramatic change in what it takes to develop a lead into a sales opportunity. To sell effectively, you need an intelligent outbound sales approach.
Last month, during our partner HubSpot’s Inbound 2023 conference, it was validating to hear CEO, Yamini Rangan says, “More has happened in the last nine months than other industries have experienced in the last nine years.”
And “The way customers buy is changing. How we connect needs to change.”
And the one that really hit home: “We are moving from the age of information to the age of intelligence.”
We’ve known for a while that engaging with a C-suite executive requires being highly intentional and relevant in your outreach.
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Earlier this year, the ML team started to notice a decline in reach rates when performing our strategic outbound services. At the same time, we started seeing a higher rate of conversion to an engaged conversation when we did reach someone, followed by a higher conversion from an engaged conversation to a booked sales appointment. In other words, while it got harder to reach a buyer, when we did reach the right person, they were far more likely to progress further into the funnel and convert to a sales opportunity. Through several months of analysis of this trend, we learned that while mass marketing efforts are having a diminishing return, a highly personalized approach resonates with buyers who are more likely to engage in meaningful dialogue and move forward in the sales funnel. When we included informative insights in our outbound messaging that resonated with the buyer, a connection was established that fueled a more successful sales journey.
In her keynote presentation, Rangan articulated exactly the trend I just described. She spoke about the speed of change, especially how Generative AI has moved us into the Age of Intelligence, and how we need to change with it. Tools like generative AI won’t help us sell better or faster, but they will help us form relationships and connect in a way that will.
From a sales and marketing perspective, this “deeper connection” is especially exciting, but you must be very focused and intentional. Done correctly, “hyper-personalization” will build trust faster and help you engage in a higher-quality sales opportunity.
“…we learned that while mass marketing efforts are having a diminishing return, a highly personalized approach resonates with buyers who are more likely to engage in meaningful dialogue and move forward in the sales funnel.”
As we have done many times in response to market changes, it was time for ML to pivot. Today, we focus more on quality than quantity and coach our clients to do the same. We are still very focused on ensuring we identify the audience in most need of our client’s offerings and implementing an omnichannel engagement program. But where we are being smarter is in anticipating our audience’s needs earlier and making sure our outreach is very targeted with relevant content and insights that address specific needs.
We have always performed proactive research as part of our lead generation and development services. In fact, it is the backbone of our strategic outbound approach. But our newest pivot takes us to the next level to understand our customers’ prospects even deeper and act on that knowledge more intentionally. We’ve shifted our program teams to allow for more research at the top of the funnel and are investigating how to leverage new technologies like AI. These changes will produce better results, helping our Sales Development team be more relevant and targeted in their outreach to executive buyers, and by doing so, increase engagement.
By now, I bet you are thinking, “This sounds a lot like ABM.” And that is true, but it’s also about a more strategic approach to ABM, specifically connecting it more to Account Based Selling. You will hear more from us in coming blogs about “Smarter ABS” and how it fuels “intelligent outbound.” At its core, Smarter ABS is about anticipating the needs of accounts that are your highest priority targets and represent the most revenue potential, and reaching out in a way that will form a stronger connection between both parties.
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At ML, we are undertaking a few new strategies to understand more deeply the accounts we focus on and the individuals we engage. We are investigating new methods and technologies to help and have a pilot program underway that I’ll report back on in a few months.
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“At its core, Smarter ABS is about anticipating the needs of accounts that are your highest priority targets and represent the most revenue potential and reaching out in a way that will form a stronger connection between both parties.”
For sales professionals, our recommendation is that you take some time to do some deep thinking as we move into the end of the year. Analyze your sales performance to date to identify ways you can be more intelligent about your approach to your most desired prospects.
That’s what ML did. We connected with our clients and listened even more closely to them. In our next blog we will share how we adjusted our service offerings to better meet their needs and offer tips on how you can do that too.
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And as always, we are here to help. Just send us an email or give us a call. We love to hear about what you are doing and share the outbound sales and marketing lessons we’ve learned over the years.
Thanks for listening!
Lara