Tips For a Successful Outbound Sales Strategy

The traditional frameworks of B2B lead generation and conversion have fundamentally changed. Merely investing in inbound marketing with an automated-marketing approach won’t be effective. What businesses need is a balanced inbound and outbound sales acceleration approach with an account nurture strategy at its center.

Why are the conventional methods becoming less effective? Because you are dealing with empowered buyers who research and evaluate all their options before making a decision. The same old sales tactics won’t work anymore with the vast amount of information at your buyer's fingertips. For sales acceleration, you need to focus on not only individual leads but a holistic account nurturing strategy.

What is an account nurture strategy?

Everyone has heard about account-based marketing, account nurture strategy focuses on converting ABM demand generation into qualified pipeline by making sure your team is focused on the most engaged accounts. Ultimately helping to build broader and deeper relationships with prospects and customers. It focuses on engaging with the buying group in an ideal organization; a buying group is a set of individuals who would have a greater influence on the purchase of a product or service. As a sales acceleration solution, it maximizes sales and revenue generation opportunities.

Unlike demand generation activities, the account nurture strategy is based on personalization. Instead of generic messages, an account nurture strategy uses content that is catered to the person it's being sent to.

EXAMPLE: Hey , I saw your recent LinkedIn post about where you talked about , it really resonated with me. I am curious to learn more about your perspective on , would you be open to exchanging our best practices? 

Using Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) and customized content to provide value, account nurturing builds brand awareness for your organization and keeps the buying group engaged when they are in the sales funnel. The objective is to encourage prospects to choose your product when it’s time to buy.

6 tips to create a successful account nurture strategy

Implementing account nurture strategies can give you a significant advantage over your competitors. From the many tactics out there, these are six of the most effective that you can roll out for sales acceleration irrespective of the category you operate in.

1. Use multi-channel lead nurturing tactics

Relying on a single channel for lead generation will be ineffective. No matter how well engaged your e-mail audience is, for example, you have to incorporate other channels into the mix.

Digital marketers have to look beyond email and develop a combination of paid retargeting, direct sales outreach, social media, blogs, and dynamic website content. Marketing and sales teams will have to realign their approaches and work in sync to make this effective.

TIP: B2B Marketing tactics are changing constantly so be sure to experiment with channels and try new things but also remember to never dismiss a channel completely. Coming back to channels that might not have worked in the past could be fruitful for you in the future.

2. Concentrate on multiple touches

Studies have suggested that it takes 10+ marketing touches for marketers to convert prospects into customers. This holds true for buyer journeys across categories. What it shows is that businesses will have to be aware of the buyer journeys in detail.

Knowing what the prospects want at each stage of the buyer journey will help address common queries. This would also aid in the creation of relevant and multi-media content. Tailored to the specific needs of each stage of the buyer journey, this content can include blog posts, case studies, white papers, social posts, infographics, and direct mail.

TIP: Mapping your buyer personas and what their ideal customer journey might be can help when you are developing brand touchpoints.

3. Systematically follow up with leads

It may seem obvious that sales teams should make quick and timely follow-up calls but not everyone does it. Using an AI platform you may be able to automate lead generation but it’s pointless if there is no follow-up phone call or email.

Inbound leads would need persuasion and customized explanations for them to be converted into qualified sales. When you contact leads immediately after either they respond to your email or show interest through your website, the chances of conversion are high.

TIP: Document your processes between marketing, business development, and sales with an SLA that clearly defines how and when leads progress from one team to another.

4. Personalize your Outreach

Email is one of the most effective ways to build relationships, share multi-media content, and eventually, covert users, provided you do it well. The number one reason most email marketing fails to hit the target is due to a lack of personalization.

The way to customize outreach is by sending emails or LinkedIn InMail when a user completes an action. This could be when they click on a link in the email or download content from your website or show a higher degree of engagement. LinkedIn is also a great way to personalize your outreach. You can see who you are already connected to in your network to help make a warm introduction.

Another great way to personalize your outreach is by tracking the account and being the first to reach out when something happens. That means keeping track of key promotions, leadership new hires, financial reporting, acquisitions, mergers, and other market-moving news.

TIP: Leverage AI augmentation tools like ModuleQ to not only help you personalize your outreach but help you be the first to know about breaking account news and lead activities. 

5. Implement lead scoring tactics

Lead scoring is a Marketing Operations process enabled through marketing automation. Scoring is set up based on lead behavior and lead demographics and gives “points” to a lead based on their actions, account information, job title, or other firmographic factors. This process helps prioritize leads and accounts that are most engaged, helping your team focus on accounts that are more likely to convert.

TIP: With lead scoring, you would know the leads that you will have to follow up directly and which one would need more nurturing. Make sure to think about not only the leads as they warm up but also what happens to leads as they cool off, re-engaging can sometimes be just as important.

6. Align your sales and marketing strategies

For any sales acceleration solution to be fruitful, sales and marketing strategies will have to be aligned. Both the teams should use the same framework and know the content push that’s needed for each stage of the buyer journey.

Sales and marketing teams should work together to identify and act on triggers like conversion events and workflow enrollment. Importantly, there should be a constant lateral flow of information between key individuals in sales and marketing. This will improve your overall customer intelligence and the timing of your outreach efforts.

In short

Put together, these tips form a reliable sales acceleration solution. Irrespective of your category or the size of your business, these tactics will improve both your sales and revenue acceleration.