Author: kapil

Any business that’s in it is for the sake of making money. Plain and simple. That’s more or less the reason why they sell. While this is as obvious as the morning sun, understanding how that money is earned, recorded, categorized, and analyzed isn’t.

There are many different metrics, variables, and calculations involved in trying to make sense of the money that a business earns. Sales revenue appears at the top of the line of those metrics and is what gives an indication of how healthy the organization is.

Did you know that over one trillion dollars are spent every year on sales forces? If you were to ever watch Shark Tank, there’s one question you would always hear, “How much have you done in sales?” The first thing that investors are interested in and will always want to understand is if you have any revenue model in place for your business idea.

Sales bring in revenue, and revenue pays expenses. A business’s capability to pay its expenses is what creates stable opportunities for growth. An organization heavily depends on its salesforce to be able to do anything. In fact, nearly 13% of all jobs in the U.S.A are full-time sales jobs. Without sales revenue, a business will often struggle to attract suited professionals and grow its business.

There are two variants of sales revenue – net revenue and gross revenue. While both are reported on the income statement, they are very different from each other in the manner that they are calculated and the business implications they have.

For a business, returns are the money it loses to products that are returned. Whenever a customer comes across as defective or a bad product and returns it, the company’s net revenue takes a dip.

Many companies take away allowances to account for the defective products when selling them at a reduced price point. If a consumer is disposed to accept an inferior good for a lower amount, allowances make up for the difference.

Gross Revenue vs. Net Revenue

Gross sales revenue comprises of the income an organization makes through the sales of its goods, products, and services. Gross revenue generally indicates an organization’s ability to sell its products; however, it doesn’t necessarily show its ability to make profits.

Whenever gross revenue is maintained, all the income made from a sale is adjudged for on the statement of income. Expenditures from any other sources are generally not accounted for here.

In gross revenue reporting, the sales and the costs of the products that are sold are separated. Say, for instance, a tailor sells a pair of trousers for $100, and it cost the tailor $40 in total to make them. In this case, the gross revenue would still be $100. The reporting guidelines for gross revenue versus net revenue under the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or GAAP were addressed by the Emerging Issues Task Force, or EITF 99-19.

Whereas, net sales revenue, on the other hand, shows an organization’s gross revenue after subtracting allowances and returns. It is the more accurate representation of the amount of money that a business pockets from its customers.

Source

In net revenue reporting, only the “net revenues” items are listed, and it’s calculated by taking away the cost of the products sold from the gross revenue. For the tailor that we spoke of above, the net revenue for the pair of trousers that he sold for $100 pair, which cost him $40 to make, would be $60.

Out of that $60, the tailor would remove other costs such as packaging, labor charges, rent, and other miscellaneous charges. After all the costs that the tailor incurred to make the trousers were deducted from the gross revenue, the tailor would end up with the net revenue.

Net revenue reporting is usually done when a commission is there that needs to be accounted for and/or to acknowledge cases where a supplier receives part of the sales revenue. Legal fees of an attorney are a classic example. In this case, an attorney always takes home a percentage of the net proceeds of the lawsuit. This warrants that they acquire a high.

In the table above, the figure adjacent to Total under Revenue corresponds to the gross revenue, while the figure adjacent to Net Profit under Expense gives you your net revenue.

Why Is This Difference Important?

Oftentimes, investors and funders are more fascinated by the gross revenue because it shows your business’s ability to sell and its latency for growth. If your organization has just started a new branch at a new location, gross revenue is a far more essential metric than net revenue as it shows the potential of your business without the capital charges of opening the new branch at a new location.

However, this does not mean that you should overlook the importance of net revenue, for they are what indicate your actual profits or the real amount of money that you pocket after you have paid for everything to sell your goods. It’s the best way for you, as a business owner, to see how much money a product is bringing in and accordingly make decisions of worth and cost.

Even if a service or a product is generating you a lot of gross revenue, you can see how successful or profitable your venture is after deducting all the expenses associated with the service or the product. Many a time, you will also be able to see the places where you should and shouldn’t cut costs to help your business run more efficiently—along with seeing your best profit-generating opportunities.

The Revenue Formula: How to Calculate Revenue

Now, let’s take a look at the formula through which revenue itself is calculated. There are two main variants of the formula for calculation of revenue. These two formulas differ from each other based on whether your business is product-based or service-based. The formula for both of them is given as:

• For product-based businesses: Revenue = No. of units sold x Average price
• For service-based businesses: Revenue = No. of customers x Average price of services

Steps to Calculate Sales Revenue

1. First, you have to ascertain the total number of units that are manufactured or sold during a particular period.
2. After that, you have to look at the demand, which is driven by the total number of units manufactured because it makes up the basis of the function for the price, after which you calculate the average sales price per unit.
3. Finally, you calculate the revenue by multiplying the total number of units sold and the average sales per unit of the product.

Let us take the case of a ceramics manufacturer that made 25 million sanitary ware pieces across different segments in a particular fiscal year.

Throughout the year, the manufacturer sold 10 million pieces of sanitary ware at an average price per unit of $70, another 10 million pieces at an average price per unit of $100, and the last 5 million pieces at an average price per unit of $200. In this case, the total revenue of the company will be determined as:

No. of units sold = 10,000,000

Average price per unit = $70

No. of units sold = 10,000,000

Average price per unit = $100

No. of units sold = 5,000,000

Average price per unit = $200

Total sales revenue = $2,700,000,000

What You Could Do with the Data

While it may seem simple to do, calculating revenue is by no means a walk in the park, and incorrect calculations have cost businesses dear. Keeping a manual record of revenues using spreadsheet formulas can cause unprecedented issues:

• Manually keeping a record of revenue can grow out of hand very soon. You should work out and keep track of when you are to receive payment for all subscriptions. Do you make a billing system? Do you charge per unit? Do you take the payment over a month’s course incrementally?
• Every change that can affect the revenue of your business has to be taken into account. For example, if you make modifications to a pricing page, you will have to revise the spreadsheets to adjudge for this.

Proper calculation of revenue is the north star by which your entire company can be guided in the right direction. It helps you ascertain all the possibilities and opportunities that you can chase and also tell you of any evasive actions to take to help yourself get back on course. You can use it to:

Plan Your Expenditure

Take care of the basics first. You can plan out both your contemporary and future expenditure for things such as inventory, maintenance, salaries, and so on based on your revenue.

Come Up With Strategies for Growth

Historical revenue data can aid in steering your long-term plans in terms of growth – how much you can invest in R&D, and how much you spend upgrading your property, plant, and equipment.

Examine Relevant Trends

With the help of historical data on revenue, you can measure and recognize the behavioral and buying patterns of customers and accordingly modify your operations around it.

Revamp Pricing Strategy

An accurate perception of revenue will also help you identify if the changes you are making are amounting to much or not.

Significance and Uses

Even though smaller businesses may view profit as their major point of consideration, the measurement of sales is just as crucial. It can deliver actionable data about the organization which cannot be gained from the measurement of profits alone. One can extract the maximum benefits out of the business information by recognizing the importance of revenue measurement.

Apart from the aforementioned, it also helps business owners in analyzing trends in sales over a certain period, equipping them with a better overall view of their business. A few of the apparent benefits of revenue tracking are the examination of daily sales trends to know if there has been any change in the pattern of customer behavior.

Moreover, business owners can use the data obtained from the monthly trends of sales revenue to strike a relationship between seasonality and sales volume. Further, the management can take appropriate measures to enhance the production or supplement the per-unit sales price based on this revenue trend to manage the sales volume accordingly.

Takeaway

The first metric on a statement of income, sales revenue is also the most important one. It signifies the point of origin for businesses to find out their net income, the basis for important business calculations and reports, including cash flow statements.

Apart from being the first metric on an income statement, sales revenue is also the most efficient metric for forecasting and historical analysis of data. That’s why its position at the top of the statement of income is significant. It’s because the figures that follow it are often expressed as a percentage of it. It also provides the best point of reference for forecasting the future of other figures on the income statement.

Much like crossing the finishing line of a grueling marathon, the closing part of any sales activity is the most fulfilling and thrilling aspect for a salesperson. It’s the final moments when the sales rep strikes the iron while it’s hot and finally watches their product being sold!

Unfortunately, the percentage of salespersons touching their quota has reduced from 63% to 53% in the past six years. While closing has now become a derivative of the entire sales experience and calls for collaboration across all departments, there are still a few techniques that you, as a salesperson, can employ to close the deal. The primary skill involved in closing a deal is Communication, Communication, COMMUNICATION!

In this case, choosing the right set of phrases could be your savior and make or break the situation. Thus, it is critical to have a few killer sales closing techniques under your belt just in case you find your lead sitting on the fence, waiting for a final nudge. An effective sales closing technique can make the prospect fall hook, line, and sinker for your product or service.

So if you are still wondering how to close a deal, here are 20 B2B sales techniques that will give you the desired result!

The 20 Best Sales Closing Techniques to Close More Deals

1. The Assumptive Close

If your product already checks all the customer’s requirements, it is safe to assume that the deal is as good as done. Now all you need to do is make the client realize that you are ready to close the deal. In this case, you can make use of an assumptive close as it will gently push the client towards making the purchase without giving them the time to come up with reasons or excuses to delay or put off the deal.

Examples of Assumptive Close

• Which package/bundle are you going with?
• What would be your preferred delivery date?
• So, would you like to go with [feature 1] or [feature 2]?
• When can we start with the implementation?

2. The Summary Close

This is one of the most tried and tested methods of closing a sale. As the name suggests, it involves summarizing all the features of your product or service and the benefits it will offer to your clients. Think of it as your closing arguments before the judgment is passed.

It refreshes your clients’ memory, especially if the sales process has gone on for a long period, and involves several products and features. Furthermore, through this method, you can also reengage the clients if you sense that they are hesitant to reach a decision or their attention is diverted by your competitors. As it offers a holistic overview of your offerings, the client will have a stronger leaning towards your product or service.

Examples of Summary Close

• So, in conclusion, if you opt for our [package 1], you get [features 1, 2, 3… n]. On the other hand, [package 2] will fetch you [feature a, b, c… z]
• Once you make use of our product/service, you will notice [desirable results 1, 2, 3… n]. Now all you have to do is sign the contract!
• With our product, you can enjoy [features] that will help your business overcome [pain points]. Additionally, we also offer [add-ons] to make it easy to implement the product/service at your office!

3. The Takeaway Close

Sometimes, to close more deals, you need to strip off the goodies. Does it sound confusing?

Allow us to explain.

The Take Away Close makes use of reverse psychology. You start by listing all your best features, then start knocking off a few to accommodate the customer’s requests, be it time or money, etc. Naturally, losing out features may not seem like an attractive option for them. Thus, they will be more eager, not only to make the sale happen but also to go for the better alternative.

Consequently, if you fail to receive a positive response, a bolder step would be to call off the deal entirely. While it may be a brazen move, it reflects your belief and confidence in your product. It may make the client realize that they’re missing out on something phenomenal. Thus, they would instantly get over their hesitation or stop bargaining and get to closing the deal. It is ideal for leads that take up a lot of your time without committing to anything.

Examples of the Take Away Close

• We would suggest that you skip [feature 1], you may lose out on [positive result], but you also get the item within your budget.
• How about we go over the product once again and close the deal within the next 30 minutes? However, if we fail to reach a decision, it would be wise for us to take a step back and reconnect at a later date when you’re ready to make a final decision.

4. The Objection Close

Every salesperson has had its fair share of objections. Normally, a sales rep would want to avoid an objection like the plague. However, a seasoned salesperson is adept not only at handling an objection but also using it as an effective sales closing technique.

The Objection Close helps you gauge whether the client has a clear understanding of what you offer and how it fits in their business process. Further, it also allows you to address any concerns or issues that the client may have about your product, which could possibly be delaying the sale.

Examples of Objection Close

• So, do you have any doubts or queries regarding the product? I’d love to help you with them!
• Is there any reason why we cannot start deployment by the end of this month?

5. The Now or Never Close

This traditional sales closing technique helps in closing sales deals quickly by creating a sense of urgency. It follows a simple recipe, a spontaneous offer paired with added benefits for a limited time period. This encourages the clients to respond quickly and take immediate action. This pressure tactic is highly effective for clients who are interested in the deal but have been sitting on the decision for far too long.

Examples of Now or Never Close

• We have a special X% discount for those who sign up within this week. You wouldn’t want to miss out on this offer!
• If you make a purchase by this month, we offer three months of servicing free of charge.
• There is only one item left in stock. From next week onwards, the price will be going up for the new shipment.

6. The Need Close

What can better seal a deal than a product that meets the customer’s needs? You can comfortably close more deals by detailing what your product or service offers and how it satisfies the prospect’s needs.

To pull off a Needs Close, you first need to recapitulate the things that the prospect needs from your product. Then present the features against these needs. The more needs that get met, the better the product is for the prospect. It allows the client to understand how your product will benefit them. By comparing their needs with your product’s offerings, you help them understand how your intervention can benefit their business.

Examples of Need Close

• So basically, you are looking for [features 1, 2, 3… n]. Have I got that correctly? Great. Well, let me tell you that our product/service not only meets these needs but also offers more!
• If you need [desired result], you should really give the product/service a try as it can meet all your requirements for [requirement 1, 2, 3…]

7. The Scale Close

The Scale Close starts with asking the prospect to rate your product on a 1 to 10 scale. Depending on their score, you can decide the subsequent course of action. For instance, if you find the rating to be too low, you can always ask the reason for it and offer a clarification for the objection. On the other hand, if you score an impressive digit, you can work towards closing the deal.

In most cases, the budget will be the primary concern for organizations. To counter this objection, you can always scale up or scale down the investment by either breaking down the total cost into smaller per day or per week expenses or calculate the cumulative effect of the service on the investment and revenue. As a result, the product will now appear to be a reasonable investment for the company.

Examples of Scale Close

• On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate our product? Interesting. May I ask why [rating]? I see, and could you also explain why not a ten?
• I can see that price is a major concern for you. However, if you consider that when you divide the total investment, you are only paying X per week, which seems completely reasonable, right?

8. The Something for Nothing Close

The Something for Nothing Close relies on the principle of reciprocity, which dictates that positive actions will trigger a positive response. Thus, to close a deal through this sales closing technique, you offer the client a freebie or an extra feature. In return, the client will feel obligated to purchase your product out of goodwill.

However, practice caution since as much as people like free things, this situation could potentially get out of hand as your client gets greedy. Additionally, offer something that is of less value to you and more value to the client.

Examples of Something for Nothing Close

• If you make the purchase today, we will grant you membership access to [service] worth XYZ at absolutely no charge!
• We normally charge XYZ for this [service], but since we are eager to work with you, how about we throw it in for free?

9. The Empathy Close

While gaining leverage and applying some amount of pressure may be effective B2B sales techniques, nothing can beat the language of empathy. You could close more deals through empathy than cold-blooded transactions. Empathy helps in developing a strong interpersonal bond with your client, which will allow them to lay more trust in you. Simply replace the “you” statements with an “I” and express genuine emotions to let them know that you understand.

Examples of Empathy Close

• I can understand that reaching this decision right now could be tough. How about you take some time to deliberate on what we’ve discussed?
• Looking at the market conditions, I feel that choosing [package 1] could be a better choice for you as it is better suited for your business. If I were you, I’d choose that.

10. The Artisan Close

This method of closing a sale involves narrating the story that covers the work, time, and skill invested in the product, which makes it what it is today. Rather than focusing on the product or service, it highlights the people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to help and benefit the clients. It is a highly effective sales closing technique to try on prospects who can appreciate the hard work and effort that goes into the product. It not only garners their appreciation but also earns their trust that their dropshipping business will also be treated in the same spirit.

Examples of Artisan Close

• Our team of experts invested XYZ number of hours in bringing this product to you!
• Our product is a result of the hard work, toil, and sweat invested by our founders. To honor the sanctity of the same, we offer a:b customer to support ratio to ensure top-notch support from our end.

11. The Ben Franklin Close

Benjamin Franklin was a businessman ahead of his time. At any point, if he were ever confused about making a decision regarding something, he would list out the pros and cons to gain more clarity of his decision’s consequence.

As a salesperson, you could use the same trick to close a deal. Listing out the pros and cons of your product offers the client the insight into how it will benefit their business. Clearly, a list where the pros outweigh the cons is desirous. At the same time, you can also capitalize on the opportunity to highlight measures that can be taken to overcome your product’s drawbacks!

Examples of Ben Franklin Close

• So, it becomes apparent that the advantages of having the product could be [advantages 1, 2, 3… n]. On the other hand, we have the cons as [disadvantage 1, 2, 3… n]. On closer inspection, it becomes clear that you bag more advantages through this product.
• Going over the pros and cons, you may be concerned about [problem]. However, our [solution] can take care of it, which effectively means that you can reap greater benefits!

12. The Sharp Angle Close

When you know that closing the sales deal is a strong possibility, but the prospect is struggling with an objection, you can better your chances by pulling off a sharp angle close. Once they state their inhibition, you can counter it with another question that solves their objection or fulfills their requirement. Naturally, if their need is being met and the prospect is genuinely interested, they would then proceed to close the deal. However, if they continue to dilly-dally, there is a strong possibility that there may be another issue or the prospect is simply not serious.

Examples of Sharp Angle Close

• I understand that you’re concerned about whether we can deliver within a month. What if we give a one-month delivery guarantee, would you be ready to close the deal?
• If I offer you an X% discount to alleviate your budgetary restraints, are you willing to jump on board?

13. The Visual Close

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. But in reality, a picture is worth 60,000 words! Due to this property, visual cues like infographics, charts, tables, or even videos that leave a lasting impact on an individual, can be an innovative and attractive fashion to close a deal. So rather than bombarding your clients with numbers and calculations or walls of text, try the visual approach. Similarly, translate the big impact of your product in a visual format and illustrate how it will solve the client’s problem.

Examples of Visual Close

• Here’s a table that I have made illustrating the pros and cons of our product. I would encourage you to go through it to get an in-depth understanding.
• To save us time, I have prepared a quick presentation rich with informational graphics, which I would like to share with you. It will offer you an in-depth understanding of what we have to offer.

14. The Alternative Close

The Alternative Close is a close relative of the Assumptive Close and is ideal for the prospects who have no queries whatsoever related to your product.

The maneuver starts with the assumption that the prospect is ready to make the purchase. Then, the salesperson offers them two alternatives as options to close the deal. The question should be formulated in such a way that regardless of the choice that the prospect makes, the deal moves forward. By offering two alternatives, you cut down the confusion and simplify the decision-making process to get the client on board. However, be wary, offering more options may dilute the sales closing technique’s performance and, in fact, add to the client’s dilemma.

Examples of Alternative Close

• So, we could begin with the first installment in the last week of this month or in the first week of the next month. Which of these would work best for you?
• You could choose between the Basic package or the Elite package. Now the ball’s in your court.

15. The Opportunity Cost Close

No business wants to miss out on a great opportunity. Hence, highlighting a concern that the company will incur some losses by not taking proactive measures is the crux of the Opportunity Cost Close. Through this technique, you can stress on what the client will miss out on if they do not opt for your solution. As a salesperson, you have to sell the idea that your product is not an expenditure but is a worthy investment. Talk about the ROI in terms of improved productivity, efficiency, quality, and time-management, etc. as quite often, these are the qualities that a business wishes to get a hold of, especially in the long run.

You basically have to convince the client that they should have purchased your product yesterday and that every day lost is a loss in revenue.

Examples of Opportunity Cost Close

• I understand your concerns about the initial investment involved. However, put this in perspective: not purchasing the product would result in you missing out on X number of potential clients!
• Our product streamlines your processes, thereby enhancing the productivity of your employees and boosting customer satisfaction. And you know, a happy client means more business. So you’re essentially missing out on that!

16. The Ownership Close

The Ownership sales closing technique revolves around firmly planting the idea that your client already owns the product. You can draw facts and figures to paint a holistic picture regarding how their business will be positively impacted upon the purchase of your product. Narrate testimonials regarding how similar businesses were capable of achieving their goals, overcoming their competitors, and outperforming the key metrics. Start referring to the product or service as “your” product/service. Draw parallels and talk about the stellar performance of your client’s business once the product steps into the picture. Doing so will create and fortify the mental belief that the product will definitely add value to their business, which will make it easier for you to close the deal.

Examples of Ownership Close

• As you start offering quick, efficient, and accurate responses to customer queries, your product will definitely enhance customer satisfaction. Not to mention, once a load of repetitive tasks is taken off the employees’ shoulders, they will also appreciate your insight in introducing this product.
• How do you plan on spending/investing the excess revenue that you will generate after using the product?

17. The Puppy Dog Close

The Puppy Dog Close follows a ‘try before you buy’ approach. It is based on the concept of how dog shelters allow prospective adopters to take a puppy home for a couple of days and see how it works out for them. If the trial period goes well for them, there is no possible excuse for them to refuse to keep the puppy. Eventually, they would have formed such a strong bond with the furry friend that they cannot imagine functioning without it!

Similarly, sales reps can identify well-qualified prospects and offer them the chance to try out your product for free. Upon realizing the true value of the product, they would be more open to purchasing it. Once they have developed an affinity for your high-value product, they would not be willing to let it go.

A word of caution: Before trying out the Puppy Dog Close, you have to be extremely sure that your product can prove its usefulness and efficacy within the short timeframe for which you allow the client to try it at no cost. Think of this as an elevator pitch of test drives. Offering something for ten days, with the knowledge that it takes at least fifteen days to implement, is simply a waste of time!

Examples of Puppy Dog Close

• If you wish to give our product a try, we could ship it to you for a month without any pressure or obligation to purchase it. If you are not satisfied with it, you can simply ship it back to us, and we’d take that, no questions asked. Would you like to give that a try?
• I can sense that you are still hesitant to make the purchase. How about I offer you a 5-day no-cost trial and you can see how the product works for your business. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to buy it. But at least give it a fair chance!

18. The Calendar Close

Having a client who simply refuses to make up their mind can be frustrating, simply because they are too close to the finishing line for you to abandon them, but they also keep you waiting forever! Given that you have your own personal timelines and targets, implementing the calendar close for closing sales deals with a non-committal client can come to your rescue. For a Calendar Close, you suggest a date for finalizing the deal in the near future. This initiative allows you to fix a concrete timeframe by when the prospect should make their decision. Further, the response generated by a Calendar Close can also act as an indicator of the prospect’s level of commitment.

Examples of Calendar Close

• I think we have discussed everything that there is to our offer, so shall I set up a meeting this Wednesday to get the ball rolling?
• Now that we have ironed out the details, how about we meet on the 21st and finalize the paperwork?

19. The Columbo Close

The Columbo Close is named after a late 1960s TV character, Columbo, a homicide detective. Apart from his smart and witty one-liners, he was also well-known for his dramatic reveal of who the killer might be. In a classic Columbo close, he would complete his monologue or interrogation and start walking away from the suspect. Just when the suspect believes that he’s being let go and breathes a sigh of relief, Columbo would turn around with his catchphrase, “Just one more thing.”

Similarly, just when you have completed your sales pitch, and you can perceive that you are losing the client’s attention and they are walking away from you, reel them back in with  “Just one more thing,” and offer the juiciest part of your offering. This reveal could also address any objection that the prospect may be struggling with, which is delaying the sale.

Examples of Columbo Close

• So in conclusion, the [product] is going to revolutionize how your business operates… Just one more thing, though, it is also available at a shocking X% off!
• That’s a wrap on the presentation. Thank you for your time. Just one more thing, if I may ask, why didn’t you buy from us today?

20. The ‘Best Time to’ Close

Does your prospect have any trigger event in the near future? If yes, then it is the best time to use the ‘Best Time to’ Close! Some common trigger events include a change in business strategies or location, growth or expansion of the business, transfer of ownership, hiring/firing of employees, dissatisfaction with the current vendor, mergers or acquisitions, new legislations, change in brand perception, etc. You could cite any of these trigger events to persuade the client why it is an ideal time for them to purchase your product. For the ‘Best Time to’ Close, you need to have an in-depth understanding of the target company and monitor and track their activities.

Examples of ‘Best Time to’ Close

• We’ve heard that your business is venturing into the XYZ avenue, which is pretty exciting. Now is the best time to try out the [product] as it will help you gain traction on these new territories.
• Since you are hiring a new workforce this month, it is the best time to implement the product as it gives them ample time to complete training and get acquainted with the product as they face new challenges every day!

As We Close…

While these sales closing techniques are highly effective, they are not a magic spell to close more deals. These are not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ situation, as different closing techniques will have varying results for different prospects. To truly grasp the art of closing sales deals, you need to have a clear and thorough understanding of your prospect, their needs, opportunities, deal size, etc. Thus, these techniques can simply aid your skills, and it all eventually boils down to how you, as a salesperson, can gauge the situation and the prospect to pick the best way to close.

Finally, with these tricks up your sleeve, you are all set and ready to ABC – Always Be Closing.

With over 4 billion email users worldwide, it is no surprise that cold emailing is at its peak right now. On average, a regular email user receives 147 new emails per day. While this is a positive number for reaching out via this medium, you’re in for a lot of competition if you’re a sales rep trying to stand out in the vast sea of emails.

Unfortunately, while 8 out of 10 prospects prefer talking to salespeople via email over any other medium, only 23.9% of sales emails are opened, with the response rate going even lower.

So, where are sales executives going wrong, and how can they fix their emails to realize the potential of cold emailing?

We’ve curated a list of tried-and-tested tricks that will help you create the perfect cold email for a meeting by grabbing your prospect’s attention.

1. Don’t Ignore the “From” Line

The ‘from‘ line is usually set up when we configure our email, and that’s it. It hardly ever comes to our mind again to change it in any way. While that might work for everyone else, it’s a huge and unusually common mistake when you’re a salesperson writing a cold sales email.

On average, an email user deletes 71 messages every day, and all of them under five minutes. This means that most of them are sent to trash even before your prospect opens the email. Apart from the subject line, the ‘from‘ line is the only other thing the user sees when the email is still unopened. As such, it needs to fittingly convey who you are and be consistent with the purpose of your email.

You can change the ‘from‘ line any time, depending on who your current campaign is targeted to and what your message is going to be. There are different combinations of your first name, your last name, your title, and the company’s name that can each affect your prospect differently when used as a ‘from‘ line.

A. First Name + Last Name + Company Name

While this tells the receiver who exactly the mail is from at first glance itself, it can also seem a little impersonal and might not be enough to convince the individual to open it.

Rachel Smith – Clodura.AI

B. First Name + Last Name

This may be a little too personal, thereby making you lose credibility. If you’re trying to sell the product or service your company offers without having their name attached, your prospect may feel you don’t have the authority to use it and may consider your email spam.

Rachel Smith

C. Title + Company Name

An email with only your job title and the company name in the ‘from‘ line will definitely seem like one of the promotional, automated emails businesses send. Using a specific personal name can increase your open rates by 35%, and yet, a staggering 89% of email marketing campaigns are sent with a company name. These emails do not invoke the recipient to engage with them because they do not feel personal and are likely to be ignored or deleted.

Account Executive – Clodura.AI

D. First Name + Company Name

A little personal while still conveying where you’re from – this combination can work with most of your campaigns.

Rachel from Clodura.AI

Other Combinations

• First Name + Last Name + Title
• First Name + Title
• First Name + Title + Company

Do note that these are merely general suggestions on which combinations can be used, depending on the situation. However, in the end, the ‘from’ line you choose should be carefully selected based on your target audience for a particular campaign. Other factors like the context of your message and your end goal also play an essential role in its determination.

To ensure you choose the correct ‘from‘ line, ask yourself these questions, and use the combination that best fits your answers.

• Is the combination I’m choosing consistent with the rest of my email? Even though it is often ignored, the “from” line also plays an essential role in swaying your prospect’s opinion. Ensure that your “from” line is consistent with the subject line, the body of the email, the signature, the message, and everything else in your email.
• Would I open this email if I were the prospect?Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes to find out if the “from” line you chose has enough value to compel your prospect to open the email or not.
• Have I carefully scrutinized my prospects to use a combination that they wish to receive?As mentioned above, your “from” line depends on a lot of factors only you are fully aware of. These also include the persona of your prospect and what they expect from you. Ensure that you’re specific in your targeting and do not fall prey to the most popular idea around at the time. Each company and each campaign of that establishment will have a unique set of factors that will affect the message and, consequently, require re-evaluation to determine the ideal ‘from’ line.
• Have I ensured that the “from” line indicates that the person on the other end of the email is someone they want to talk to?Find out who your prospect wants to talk to and include that in your ‘from’ line. For instance, if you believe a campaign to target decision-makers will get better results if they see the Head of the Department (HOD) has contacted them, then create your email campaign and ‘from‘ line around the HOD’s name and title.

2. Create an Eye-Catching Subject Line

Another element that forms the first impression, the subject line plays a crucial role in driving the prospect to open and read the email. Statistics support this statement — with 35% of recipients opening an email based on the subject line alone and 69% marking an email as spam based solely on the subject line.

While a prospect ignoring your email may make you lose that particular individual, marking it as spam will affect your email deliverability and, consequently, your entire campaign. To that end, it is very important to create subject lines that attract and interest the recipient. Here are some golden tips that can help you stay on track when choosing a subject line.

A. Put Yourself in Your Prospect’s Shoes

Ask yourself if your subject line is convincing enough to make the prospect open and read the email or not. Ensure that it responds to their needs and offers a solution to their problem. This way, you will change the subject line from being about your company and your product to their concern and how you can resolve it.

B. Personalize Your Subject Line to Create a Highly-Targeted Email

You know their problems, but do you know them? You can make your prospects feel like you see them by forming your subject line in a more personal way. In fact, subject lines with the prospect’s name in them can increase your open rate by over 29% and your click-through rate by over 41%.

For instance, in the image above, the third subject line is an excellent cold sales email example of how to personalize your subject correctly, and the first one is a generic one that you should avoid in your cold email campaigns.

C. Don’t Try to Lure Your Prospect With Click-Bait Strategies

There are two ways a click-bait subject line can go. Either your prospect will be annoyed by the ‘sales-y’ email and ignore or delete it right away, or they will open the email only to be disappointed because of the misleading subject line and then delete it. So, stay away from trying to bait your prospect with shifty cold email ideas and simply write a subject that offers value instead.

D. Remember That You’re Reaching out to a Human

Along with personalization, use other tricks so that the recipient knows that you’re human, and you’re treating them as one rather than a paying machine being cajoled by an automated system.

Did you know that 56% of brands using emojis in their subject lines received a higher open rate than their peers? This implies that playing to the human emotions of your recipient can help you get better results. Moreover, only 2% of businesses use emoticons in their subject lines, ensuring that yours will stand out and be re-callable if you add emojis to it.

Have a look at this fun video by HubSpot to get a better idea of how to use emojis in subject lines.

E. Use Succinct Subject Lines

Short subject lines with about 41 characters or around seven words tend to garner the most opens. Most subject lines are about ten characters more than this ideal one. You also have to take note of how your prospects are reading your emails. If it is on a mobile device, its interface will likely allow only about 30 characters of the subject line before the rest is cut off.

Source

3. Use the Introduction Smartly

Okay, so if your prospects have reached the introduction stage through your “from” line and subject line, then you already have a pretty good understanding of them. Now, you have all of 5 seconds to make an impression after they have opened the email. Your opening line is crucial here.

Instead of directly starting with your and your company’s introduction, write something meaningful for the recipient. Remember, it’s still better to keep it short, but you also want to establish a connection with your prospect that can get them to read the entire mail. You have to use these opening lines to show your prospect that you’ve done your research on them and are deliberately sending this mail to them. You have to make them feel special.

Here is how you can do that.

A. Talk About Them

Refer to their work that you’ve come across. It could be a blog, a tweet, a website, anything that has been personally created by them. Show your appreciation for their expertise.

Here are some examples of how you can start your email.

• I loved your blog on….
• I got your email through [Mutual Contact]…
• I saw that both of us have [include personal connection]…
• Congratulations on….
• I heard that you’re in need of…

B. Talk About Their Company and Their Problem

Next, ask them questions about the concern that your product is directly related to. For instance, “Do you know why [their company’s name] is not able to hire talent?”

Remember that while the idea is to create a personal connection with your prospect by using mutual contacts or even flattery, do not overdo it by making this part of the introduction long. Also, stay away from including parts about their personal life lest you seem like a stalker.

Immediately after these two sentences, add a transitional line and move towards your offer.

4. Pitch Your Product

Finally, it’s time to introduce your product or service. As a sales rep, you’ve already done it lots of time. You probably don’t even have to think about the features and the benefits of your product before talking about them anymore.

While that sales pitch might work in a face-to-face or even a phone conversation, emails are a whole different ballpark. Here, the prospect is not obliged to listen to or read your sales pitch. As soon as they realize that the mail is only about you selling your product, it’s a click on the trashcan.

With cold emails, you have to present your product in such a way that the prospect finds value in it. If your pitch strays away from making the recipient the center of attention, you’ll simply become another salesperson whose business they don’t have to care about.

You’ve already highlighted their issues in the introduction. Now, you need to seamlessly connect your product to their problems so that they can see the clear trajectory of your product being the solution.

Here is what the body should include.

• The reason why you reached out to them personally and not anyone else – The idea is to make them feel special and valued.
• The product that you’re offering. However, instead of including all the features of your product, add the specific benefits that they will enjoy.
• How a business relationship with you can benefit them.
• The testimonials or use cases of your previous clients to show how others have benefited through a business relationship with you.

Ensure that you avoid the salesperson tone at all costs and stick to proposing the value of your product to your prospect where they need you rather than the other way around.

5. Invoke Action With the CTA

Alright, you’re almost done now. All that is left is to put forward what you want your prospect to do. Do you want them to have a Skype call with you or a phone meeting or a physical meeting somewhere? Whatever it is you want them to do with your cold email ultimately, write it down in a short, simple, and straightforward manner.

6. Tie It All With the Perfect Signature

Like the “from” line, the signature is also often ignored. As a part of your email, it deserves as much attention as the other elements. After all, it gives your prospect a way to know more about you and get easy access to your contact information. Here are the golden rules of email signatures.

• Include your phone number, email address, link to a social media profile of your choice, and link to the company website. You can choose to add or remove other points depending on your target audience and how they generally connect with you.
• Do not add quotes and images to it. It’s not clean and takes the focus away from your real offering. Images are also easy to get automatically blocked by the email carrier, and it’s best to avoid any delivery issues.
• If your signature is made up of messy HTML, it can be classified as spam and, again, decrease your deliverability rate.
• Keep it minimalistic with not more than two font colors, a single font type, and no or only one icon. The more you add to it, the more cluttered it will look.
• Include enough information to make yourself look trustworthy. If the information is too little, the prospect might think you’re not credible.
• Aim for consistency among your organization so that you and your colleagues use the same template, font, etc. for your signature.

And send!

What happens now?

Well, you wait for your prospect to respond. And if they don’t respond, you send them another mail to follow-up.

7. Why Do You Need Follow-Up Emails?

On average, about 80% of prospects don’t respond to the first 3 cold emails. Despite this, the average salesperson only makes two email attempts before giving up. In an ideal world, your prospects would understand the need for your product at first go and be ready to invest in it. But the world of cold emailing is no utopia. Professionals are busy and not willing to pay attention to a product they haven’t realized the value of yet. So, be prepared for your mail to be ignored the first time even if it is perfect.

Source

Follow-up emails work as gentle reminders that there is something like your product in the market and that you’re still available if the prospect wishes to buy it.

Here is how you can write a follow-up email to increase the chances of a response.

A. Take Care of the Subject Line

Similar to our first email, the subject line of the follow-up email is essential too. Ensure that it is short, attractive, and shows the value of the email.

• Following up on My Email
• Re: Introduction Call

B. Make the Introduction Contextual

With the number of emails we receive every day, it is easy for your prospect to forget who you are or what you are talking about. To avoid that, always start by providing them with the context they need.

• Thank you for the meeting yesterday….
• It was nice meeting you at the conference last Saturday…
• I’m following-up on the email I sent a few days ago….

C. Be Clear About What You Want

Now that you’ve established where they know you from, you need to come to what the purpose of the current email is. What exactly do you want from them?

• Are you available for a call next Wednesday / Thursday at 3 or 4 PM?
• Can we schedule a meeting this week on Tuesday at 3 or 4 PM?
• I would like to invite you to [the event] we’re hosting…

D. Hit Send!

Different kinds of follow-up emails have different time-frames that they can be sent in. Of course, you’re the best judge of when you want to send which sort of email to your prospect. However, if you’re specifically looking for when to send a follow-up on a meeting request, it is best to do so within 1-2 months after the first email is sent.

To know more about how you can carry an effective email campaign, check this blog out.

How Can You Take Your Cold Email Campaign a Notch Higher?

Okay, so you have everything in order now. With a carefully crafted “from” line, subject line, introduction, body, CTA, and the signature, you can now kickstart your email campaign to generate more meetings. You can also follow-up with more emails to get the result you desire by taking care of their subject line, context, and purpose.

While you have the information to rope in any prospect now, manually doing so with every lead may prove to be inefficient. To increase your sales velocity Clodura’s killer email sequence features helps to generate more interactions and book more meetings, with the right message at the right time for sales prospecting.

Cold calling is one of the hardest aspects of a sales rep’s job, considered an outdated method in the digital age by most sales professionals. Unfortunately for them, cold calling is also one of the most effective ways to reach potential customers. And the numbers support this — with 57% of buyers preferring cold calls over other methods.

So, what’s the hurdle?

Today, most sales reps struggle mainly on the best way to approach their prospects. And even though you might have nailed it, it is possible that at least 20% of the data you have is inaccurate and outdated, making your entire process futile.

The trick here is then to acquire good, useful data and spend minimal time doing so. And the best way to accomplish this is to get your hands on the correct phone numbers of people in charge. To help you get out of this sales cul-de-sac most of your peer’s grapple with, we’ve curated a list of 10 cold calling tips that will win you the data you desire

1. Draw On Out-Of-Office Replies

A little sneaky, but very advantageous, this handy cold calling trick can get you anyone’s number. All you have to do is mail them when you know they will be off work. Most responsible professionals have an out-of-office email template, ready to be sent out on weekends and holidays to respond to unexpected emails.

2. Leverage a Data Product or Service

For the busy and the time-savers, there are several great third-party options that can bring the numbers to you instead of you having to hunt for them. You can either get the help of agencies that provide a list of phone numbers of your prospects or invest in a reliable product that can extract these numbers for you.

By choosing a product over an agency, you can avoid the biases innate to an analysis by a human. An AI-powered platform like Clodura.AI can extract the data of decision-makers from thousands of profiles and serve it to you within a negligible amount of time compared to how much it would take you to do so manually. You will even have access to a chrome extension to make things easier.

According to a 2016 study, on average, 18% of telephone numbers change annually. While this figure may be different in 2020 and requires more research, it’s best to steer clear of inaccurate data completely, considering 95% of organizations see negative impacts on their cost and resources because of poor data quality. A data extraction product also comes with the promise of keeping the information up-to-date, relevant, and accurate to allow you to save time, effort, and resources.

3. Scope Their Online Resume

If you’re aiming to talk to an influencer, you’re in luck. Most big shots in their field have a personal brand that they establish and flourish through content in the form of blogs, images, videos, or podcasts. Reaching them through this is relatively easy if you’re willing to dig in.

To remain an attractive candidate for a relevant job in their industry, your prospects can also have online resumes on the web. Even if they aren’t seeking a job, many job sites like Monster.com and Naukri.com will still have their resumes available for you to peruse. Like traditional resumes, but working full-time and in a searchable format, an online resume is a much easier option to go for when you’re looking for something specific like the phone number of your prospect.

The only drawback of this method is that the individual can choose to keep their information private, in which case, you will have to send an equivalent of a “friend request” to get included in their circle. It is best to keep a note of the common ground between you two so that you can reach out to them accordingly.

4. Connect Through the Company Switchboard

It is a little time consuming but the easiest way to connect to someone, the company switchboard is any sales executive’s go-to option. You can find the number with a simple search and be greeted with a live receptionist or an automated transfer service. While it will probably only connect you to the concerned department or the office number of the person you want, it is still one step closer to a personal conversation with the decision-maker you need. If you’re lucky, a general inquiry can get you their personal number as well.

5. Request Someone from Their Network

While the person in charge you want may be a busy individual with a lot of hurdles on the way to getting a personal conversation with, the people around him are reasonably easy to connect to. Getting in touch with the operator or the personal assistant will require no more than a quick search, and if you happen to fall upon a colleague’s contact information, then that’s even better.

Simply call or email them to request the phone number of the person you want or, if that’s too much, then to get on a phone meeting with them. Once you’ve got the chance to have a personal conversation with them, it all falls on your sales skills, whether you can create a rapport strong enough to sell to them or not. You can go over this blog for cold calling sales tips on generating meetings with your prospects in the first go.

6. Ask Around in Your Network

It’s a small world, and if you and your prospect are from the same industry, chances are you know someone who knows someone who knows your prospect. Although it may feel like a shot in the dark, don’t judge this cold calling tip harshly before trying. Ask around in your network enough, and you’re bound to get a chain of people that can get you the individual you require. Depending on the status of your prospect, this chain could only consist of you, a mutual contact, and them, or it could have a dozen people. So, be prepared for the same before you start.

7. Use Google Search

An obvious but often overlooked method when you’re trying to reach someone higher-up, there are few things a Google search can’t get you. With the digital identities of everyone plastered on the web, sales reps have it easy when they are looking for someone’s contact information. However, if your prospect is at a higher or an important post in his company, it is common place to assume that their phone number won’t be readily available.

We advise you not to do that, though. Before starting on any other technique, carry a quick Google search on your prospect. As part of increasing its search database, Google also has an extensive collection of phone numbers from online phone directories.

All you have to do is put the concerned person’s name, location, and any other information you might have in the search bar and end it with the keyword “phone number.” This will get you several results from which you can find the prospect you need. Even if you aren’t able to get your hands on their number, you will still find a lot of information that you can use when trying other methods.

8. Try Your Luck on LinkedIn or Facebook

Another useful resource to find the contact information of your prospect is to check their social media profiles out. While almost all social media accounts will give you some insight into the individual, Facebook and LinkedIn especially can help you get the phone numbers that you need.

Did you know that there are more than 260 million monthly active users on LinkedIn and a staggering 2.3 billion+ monthly active users on Facebook? Professionals know the importance of social media profiles in today’s world and maintain theirs to show the best version of themselves to the corporate sphere. This means that most of them will have a systematic and organized profile to catch a prospective employer’s attention.

Lucky for you, the about sections of the profiles on both the channels are searchable, and both the platforms have straightforward navigation. Still, if you wish to know more about how to generate leads on LinkedIn, you can go over this blog.

9. Go for Email Signatures

Did you know that only 23.3% of cold emails are opened, and merely 2.6% contribute to the click rate? This proves to be a massive hurdle for salespeople. However, don’t focus too much on cold emails right now. Your objective is to write an email to prompt your prospect to respond to you, even if it is not necessarily a positive sales response.

This is because a reply will give you access to their email signature, which is likely to have their phone number mentioned. You can try these proven email strategies to increase your reply rates and get their email signature in your hands. Once you have it, you can call them personally and convince them of your product or service.

10. Ask Your Prospects Directly

Instead of going the roundabout way, you can simply ask your prospects directly to share their phone numbers with you. And why would they do that? This is where your first reach out to them comes into play. Present your product or service to them in a manner that makes them see the need for it in the very first contact you have with them. Follow it with a request for their phone number so that you can take the discussion forward.

This will ensure that they come to you rather than the other way around if they are interested in what you have to offer. If they are not keen, you will be saving the time of both parties by giving them an option to not respond and share their number with you.

Specific sources for the statistics and claims mentioned-

To enhance accuracy and credibility, here are suggested improvements with proper citations:

1. 57% of Buyers Prefer Cold Calls:

2. Data Inaccuracy Claim:

3. Annual Change in Telephone Numbers:

4. Negative Impacts of Poor Data Quality:

5. Monthly Active Users on LinkedIn and Facebook:

6. Email Open and Click Rates:

7. Proven Email Strategies:

Real-World Examples and Case Studies-

Leverage a Data Product or Service:

Scope Their Online Resume:

Connect Through the Company Switchboard:

Request Someone from Their Network:

Ask Your Prospects Directly:

By incorporating real-world scenarios and evidence-based examples, you can transform your “Cold Calling Tips & Tricks” article into a practical and insightful resource for sales professionals seeking to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of prospect outreach. Remember, the key is to demonstrate the effectiveness of your methods and empower readers to put them into action with confidence.

Are You Ready to Dial?

Investing time and effort is an indispensable requirement for sales executives aiming to guide their prospects towards conversion through personalized conversations. Dedication to building relationships and understanding client needs is the bedrock of successful salesmanship. However, it’s crucial to recognize that in today’s dynamic landscape, there exist alternative methods that can streamline this process, delivering results that are just as effective, if not superior, to the traditional approaches you might be accustomed to.

The key lies in identifying the strategy that aligns best with your unique goals and your team’s capabilities. It’s not a one-size-fits-all scenario; what works for one salesperson or team may not be the ideal fit for another. Therefore, the emphasis should be on adaptability and a willingness to explore new avenues.

If you find any of these cold-calling tips and tricks resonating with your sales approach, consider bookmarking this page. By doing so, you’re not only ensuring your own continued success but also creating an opportunity to share valuable insights with your team. In today’s fast-paced sales environment, staying open to innovation and constantly refining your methods is the key to achieving outstanding results.

FAQs

Q: How can I find phone numbers for sales prospecting through cold calling?

Utilize online business directories, social media platforms, and company websites to gather contact information.

Q: Is it legal to cold call for sales prospecting, and how can I ensure compliance?

Cold calling is legal but ensures compliance with regulations like GDPR and the National Do Not Call Registry by maintaining updated lists and respecting opt-out requests.

Q: What are effective opening lines for a cold call to grab the prospect’s attention?

Begin with a concise introduction, addressing a pain point, and offering a solution to pique the prospect’s interest.

Q: How can I handle objections during a cold call and turn them into opportunities?

Acknowledge the objection, empathize, and then provide relevant information or testimonials that address the concern, turning it into a conversation opportunity.

Q: How many follow-up attempts should I make after an initial cold call, and what’s the best approach?

Follow up persistently but respectfully, trying different channels like email or LinkedIn, and tailor your message based on any feedback or information gathered during previous attempts.

The world of sales today is even more competitive than it was just a few years ago. Accelerated by the sea of companies and consumers who need these companies, the job descriptions of sales reps are getting tougher and tougher, with 61% believing it was easier five years ago.

The sales executives of yesteryears had much to struggle with but were free to concentrate on their customers completely, as opposed to today’s sales professionals who are able to spend a measly 34% of their time actually selling. It is no surprise then that the adoption of an organized process to save time has become the new norm. Surprisingly, only 18% of sales professionals prioritize improving the efficiency of their sales funnel.

And this is where they fall.

With most reps being concerned about closing the sale, the awareness and discovery stage of the sales process is often undermined. And when the first stages suffer, the proceeding ones are bound to bear the consequences.

This is why the growth of any company relies so much on identifying and qualifying sales leads.

What Exactly Is a Sales Lead?

The first step in a buyer’s journey is identifying their challenge. Once the individual or business becomes aware of their need, and if it matches what your product or service offers, they become your leads — someone who may eventually become a client.

There are several ways to generate leads. While a lot of these are must-do(s) for good leads, the others depend entirely on your business model and marketing strategy.

What Is Sales Lead Qualification?

Evaluating the leads to ascertain whether they are worth spending your time, efforts, and resources on or not are called sales lead qualification. In simple terms, qualifying sales leads turns them into prospects.

While the sales funnel may give you the impression that qualifying leads is a one-time affair and is only carried out in the discovery stage, in reality, it is a task required at each step.

A bad habit appearing in many companies is to put reps in the unenviable position of trying to hit their quota by feverishly working through as many opportunities as they can.

But this isn’t necessarily the ideal solution. Data-driven sales teams are finding that it is usually more effective to spend more time on qualification earlier in a sales cycle in an effort to only deliver the best opportunities to highly paid account executives.

– Fergal Glynn, Marketing VP, 6 River Systems on Saleshacker

Sales-qualified leads can be useful to your organization in the following ways:

• They take less time, money, and resources to nurture.
• They reduce the sales team’s workload.
• They are quicker than non-qualified leads in terms of reaching the decision stage.
• They can help you understand your buyer persona better, which will eventually lead to a more refined sales funnel.

While sales lead qualification has obvious perks, qualifying potential customers properly is a huge challenge for sales reps, with 22% considering it as the most difficult part of the sales process and failing to do so can lead to disadvantageous outcomes. Statistics prove this statement — with 67% of lost sales being a direct result of sales executives improperly qualifying leads before taking them through the full sales process.

To help you through it, we have created a stepwise process of lead qualification that is sure to make things easier for your sales team.

How Can You Qualify Leads?

Lead generation follows four steps that are essential to qualify sales leads perfectly.

1. Lead Enrichment

When you verify existing data and include additional information on your leads to enhance your data, it is called lead enrichment. Good data management practices that ensure your data is high-quality, accurate, and up to date can increase your lead generation efficiency by a staggering 152%. Usually, such work required painstaking manual effort previously, but, fortunately, there are now smart AI powered data platforms available that enrich your data without biases in a jiffy, increasing your sales team’s efficiency tenfold.

2. Lead Profiling

Summarizing and segmenting your leads based on the data they contain is referred to as lead profiling. Filtering your list based on your leads’ characteristics and behavior can allow your sales team to create customized and more efficient strategies. Lead profiling can highlight leads that are closer to your ideal buyer persona and gauge their level of interest in your product or service through their activities and interactions.

3. Lead Scoring

Based on your profiling, you can assign a score to each category to help your sales team prioritize. For instance, if the lead is from a location you don’t sell to, you can deduct its points. If the lead has offered their contact information even if it was optional on your form, has visited the demo request page, or has a high click-through rate on the subscription emails sent, you can add points to it.

Adopting a lead-scoring algorithm system can increase your conversion rate by 20%. Your sales team can create a different strategy based on each group or cluster of groups with varying degrees of importance attached to each to streamline your sales pitch and ensure that the leads can be led to conversion smoothly.

4. Lead Routing

The distribution of incoming leads amongst the sales executives is known as lead routing or lead assignment. Mostly automated, this assignment can be based on any criteria you choose, with it even being as simple as all of Monday’s leads assigned to one agent, all of Tuesday’s to another, and so on. However, more sophisticated systems route their leads more strategically, depending on the leads’ location, potential deal size, and other factors.

Quick lead routing leads to faster follow-ups and, eventually, better relations with your potential stakeholders.

What Is the Ideal Framework for You to Qualify Your Sales Leads?

While you now know which steps to take to qualify your sales leads, you still have a big hurdle ahead of you. Did you know that at least 50% of your prospects are not a good fit for what you sell? These lead qualification measures need to be teamed with a reliable and relevant approach for them to benefit your company in any way.

It is essential to agree on a qualification methodology that your sales team can follow to ensure no miscommunication and maximum efficiency. Lucky for you, you have several options at your disposal, and we’ve listed out the most useful ones to help you choose the best fit.

1. BANT

Conceived by IBM, this well-known methodology stands for Budget, Authority, Needs, and Timeline. The prospects receive validation if they meet three out of these four items. To get the answer to your own question about an item, you need to ask your prospect certain things too. Here are a few examples.

Budget – Does the prospect’s budget match your product or service?

• Do you have a budget?
• If so, what is it?
• Which other avenues are you investing in?
• What is likely to affect the budget?
• How flexible is your budget?

Authority – Does your prospect have the decision-making authority to sign-off on a purchase?

• Who else is involved in the purchasing process?
• Do you anticipate any disagreements on the purchase from someone from your team?
• If so, what is their position in the organization?
• Do you know the reason for their denial to buy?
• How can we change their mind?

Needs – Can the prospect’s business need to be satisfied with what you offer

• What challenges is your organization facing?
• When and how did you identify them?
• What is their source, in your opinion?
• What do you think is the right solution for them?
• Why have they not been addressed yet?

Timeframe – When is the prospect planning to implement a solution?

• Is there a deadline by when a solution should be in place?
• What are the consequences for the organization if it is not in place by then?
• How heavily will the timeline factor into the purchase decision?
• How long is the organization expected to take to make the purchase decision?
• Would it be suitable for you if the solution is implemented by so and so date?

2. GPCT

While BANT has been popularized because of its effectiveness, times have changed since its inception. Prospects in the era before the internet used to rely entirely on the salesmen to identify their challenges and offer a solution. However, now, most have already done their research and know exactly what they want. This is where GPCT comes in. An approach based on Goals, Plans, Challenges, and Timeline.

Here is the information you need to find out and the kind of questions you need to ask when using the GPCT framework.

Goals — What are the prospect’s goals?

• What are your organization’s goals?
• What are your personal goals?
• Do these goals intersect, and how?
• Are you expecting any hurdles in reaching your goal?
• What is the priority of these goals in the organization?

Plans – What are your current plans?

• How do you plan to achieve your goals?
• Are your team members in agreement with this plan?
• Do you have the right resources to implement this plan?
• Do you have a plan B?
• What kind of product/service does your current plan require?

Challenges — What challenges is the prospect struggling with?

• What are the challenges your organization is facing?
• How do you propose to resolve them?
• Do you think you can deal with these challenges internally?
• According to you, what kind of product/service can help you overcome these challenges?
• What are the measures you have taken to address them yet?

Timeframe — When does the prospect need the solution implemented by?

• Do you have a deadline you’re working with?
• What are the consequences if you’re unable to implement the solution by that particular time?
• By when will you start on implementing your plan?
• Will you be able to revise the timeline if it is found to be unrealistic after going through all the options?
• Can you reach your goals and manage your challenges internally with this timeline?

3. CHAMP

A major concern with traditional sales methodologies is that their focus prioritizes the seller’s needs over the prospect’s. This can put off the prospect, and you could end up losing your sale altogether. CHAMP helps to establish the importance of the prospect’s requirements over the seller’s by identifying their concerns before going over how the seller’s product or service can fit into the picture. CHAMP stands for Challenges, Authority, Money, and Priority.

The following questions will help you understand what you require from the prospect and how to extract that information.

Challenges — What are the prospect’s concerns?

• What do you see as a challenge for the organization?
• Is it a personal challenge as well?
• How do you plan to tackle this challenge?
• Do you believe your team has the resources to do so?
• What steps have you already taken towards implementing a solution to overcome this challenge?

Authority — How much influence does the prospect have on the decision?

• How many people are involved in the decision-making process, and what are their roles?
• What concerns do you think they may have?
• How do you think these concerns can be managed?
• Would you prefer it if this discussion is carried out with someone else from your team?
• How are purchasing decisions usually made with products/services like ours?

Money — How much money can the prospect invest in the solution?

• How much do you expect you will need to invest in this solution?
• Have you set a budget to implement the solution?
• If so, how flexible is it?
• Who has the authority to approve or make changes to it?
• When does your finance team plan to allocate the budget for this solution?

Priority — What is the priority of the implementation of the solution in the prospect’s organization?

• When are you planning to begin the implementation?
• By when do you wish to close it by?
• Are there similar projects being carried out in the same time frame?
• If so, is their priority higher or lower than this one?
• Are you looking at other similar products or services to tackle this challenge?

4. MEDDIC

One of the more modern methods, the MEDDIC framework places a great emphasis on figuring out how qualified the prospect is and whether it is worth the efforts to get into the sales funnel or not. Companies with longer sales cycles usually go for this methodology. MEDDIC is an acronym for Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, and Champion.

To ensure that you have a clear understanding of each item, the questions you ask your prospect should provide the answer to your main one. We’ve listed a few examples below to help you through it.

Metrics — What are the prospect’s quantifiable expected gains?

• What are your quantifiable goals?
• How will you measure the success of the project?
• How will the organization measure the success of the project?
• Do you have a minimum and maximum target in mind?
• Do you have metric milestones to adhere to?

Economic buyer — Who has the power to make decisions and authorize spending?

• Is anyone else involved in the decision-making process?
• Do we have their assent on the goal?
• Are they the direct sponsor of the project?
• What are their expectations from the project?
• Is it possible to directly involve them in our discussions?

Decision criteria — What are the company’s standards for making decisions?

• How have projects like ours been handled in the past?
• Are there alternatives if certain criteria cannot be met?
• What are the technical criteria that your organization follows to come to a decision?
• How will the ROI for this project be calculated?
• If there are no clear criteria, can we put it on paper?

Decision process — What does the process of making the final decision look like?

• What are the steps to reach the decision?
• Are there mandatory record-keeping requirements that we should get out of the way to save time?
• What are the technical requirements to complete the process?
• Who has the final say about the purchase decision?
• Are there any formal boards?

Identify pain — What is the prospect’s pain point?

• What do you think is the source of the concern?
• What are the consequences for the organization if this isn’t managed properly?
• Do you have a solution in mind?
• Which kind of product or service do you think can effectively handle it?
• How will it affect the organization if an incorrect decision is taken in choosing the solution to implement?

Champion — Who is rooting for you in the prospect’s team?

• Who is the individual most likely to be affected by the company’s pain?
• Who stands to benefit the most from a solution that involves our product/service?
• Does this person have any influence on the decision-making process? Do they lean towards our solution?
• If not, what can we do to influence them?

5. ANUM

More time-effective than the other methods, ANUM prioritizes the authority figure to make the sale. However, beware of cutting out people who will actually lead you to the decision-maker. That is the most common mistake sales reps make while using ANUM, often forgetting that they will rarely be directly introduced to the authority figure at first go. ANUM stands for Authority, Need, Urgency, and Money.

Here are the questions you need to ask yourself and your prospect when using the ANUM analysis.

Authority — Who has the authority?

• Do you have the authority to make the purchase decision?
• If not, can you connect me to the person who does?
• What is their title and role in the organization?
• How many people are involved in the decision?
• What is their primary concern?

Need — What do your prospect and their organization need?

• What is the pain point?
• What challenges has it brought forward?
• How do you plan to tackle these challenges?
• What will not doing anything about them lead to?
• Do you believe you can take care of this need internally?

Urgency — How soon does the prospect need this solution implemented?

• By when do you wish to complete the implementation of this solution?
• What is the priority of the pain point in the organization?
• How fast can the decision process go?
• What are the consequences if the solution isn’t implemented by so and so time?
• How important is it to finish it before so and so time?

Money — How much is the prospect willing to invest?

• Do you have a budget in mind?
• Has it already been allocated?
• If not, by when are you expecting it to?
• How often do you plan to renew your order?
• What is your average time to reorder?

6. FAINT

While your ideal prospect would already have a budget set aside to purchase your product, most of the time, sales reps aren’t lucky enough to get one like that. This is where a framework like FAINT comes into play. Instead of focusing on the budget, FAINT puts the emphasis on who can and cannot afford the purchase for qualification. It stands for Funds, Authority, Interest, Need, and Timing.

The questions you ask your prospect to depend on the answer you want for yourself for each item of the methodology. We’ve curated a list of the ideal questions you need to keep for yourself and the examples on what to ask your prospects to find out what you require.

Funds — How much can your prospect’s organization afford to spend?

• Does your organization have the financial capacity to make this purchase?
• Can funds be allocated to this unplanned purchase?
• How difficult is it to do so?
• How much do you think you can invest in?
• If an offer is worth the effort, can the decision-makers be convinced to reallocate budgets to this?

Authority — Who has the authority to spend?

• Who is the decision-maker?
• How many are there?
• Who manages the authorization of expenditure?
• Is it possible to get in touch with them?
• How likely are they to allocate funds to this project?

Interest — How can you generate interest in the prospect?

• Did you know that our product/service can help your organization in so and so way?
• Did you know that it stands out from the competition in so and so way?
• Did you know that not implementing a solution such as this could negatively affect your organization in so and so way?
• Did you know that so and so organizations have already benefited from this solution?
• Did you know that the product/service also has these extra features?

Need — How can our product fulfill your needs?

• What are your organization’s goals?
• How do you plan to achieve them with the current resources?
• Do you not feel that your organization needs such and such things to achieve these goals?
• Did you know that there are other organizations that have gone through the same issues you have?
• Did you know that the product/service that we offer has already helped them with their concerns?

Are You Ready to Qualify Your Sales Leads?

Sales aren’t easy. But it doesn’t have to be this tough either. Do your team and yourself a favor by implementing these techniques and properly qualifying your leads. Instead of manually managing these processes, take the help of a reputed data & sales engagement platform like Clodura to save your time and effort. Doing so will not only increase the efficiency of your sales funnel but will also provide you with more valuable prospects to deal with and improve the overall job satisfaction of your team. Happy Sales!

A sales pitch is critical because it forms the initial interaction with your potential customer. It’s the first opportunity for the salesperson to connect and build rapport with your buyer and persuade them to buy your product or service. To successfully sell your product, it is necessary to build up a meaningful conversation with your ideal buyer.

So, your sales pitch should demonstrate a right solution to resolve the buyer’s problem. Of course, the idea of dialogue or communication between you and your ideal buyer is much more fruitful and appealing than monologue. It is essential to listen to your buyer’s requirements and match your product offering based on what exactly your ideal buyer wants.

As a salesperson, you don’t want to sound as over-rehearsed or show that you are unprepared. Let’s look at what makes a successful pitch, along with sales pitch examples and tips. It will help you establish a rapport and move ahead in closing deals and generating revenue, faster for your business.

Building rapport is not a wishy-washy task to do. Let’s work on the top 4 sales pitch formats.

1 – Past Reference Conversations

-Remember, if you have spoken to the prospect before, do not start talking about company products and business. Ensure to use the rapport that you have already built with client or customer – Give references for previous communications – Remind them about the problems they have discussed with you, and you have understood it Example: Hi Lisa, Thank you! It was nice to talk with you over a call on Monday.

As you mentioned the concern that you’re sending your business proposals into a black hole, it struck a note with me. This issue is faced by your sales and marketing team. Now at Clodura, I help B2B companies to solve the problem, by giving them insight into who engages with us for LeadGen.

I think I can help you prioritize the ideal customer list with more engagement. Can we talk about itat 3 pm on Wednesday?_ _Regards,_ _JohnDavis

2: Begin Your Sales Pitch with a Question

-A good sales pitch opens dialogue between sales rep and client. Instead of talking more about your product or service, ask your clients open-ended questions. Here are a few question examples to get your customers’ positive reply. Have you noticed the engagement in the email campaign has considerably decreased? – Do know how to deal with the.

– Or doesn’t it seems like. For Example: “I’m Kevin, and I work for ACME Corp. We offer digital marketing solutions to help to increase your business presence globally.” Now we reverse the above example: “Have you noticed that there is less engagement on your website, which is affecting your website’s ranking in Google?”

3: Keep your email message short

-It’s recommended not to open all the cards that you are going to offer to your potential buyers in the first go. Your sales pitch should keep them wanting for more. Do your homework of understanding the client’s pain points and how your product and service convert their pain-points into touchpoints. Pitch your email with a short message and straight to the point. For Example: “We teach kids how to take photos.” Here, the sales executive is not talking about the lenses, angles, or poses. He is informing his customers that they have a course for kids who are interested in photography.

4: Always Highlight advantages and not features

-Focusing on benefits helps to make your information more relevant to the potential buyer than just talking about the product features. For example, – If you have a student study portal app. So, in your email pitch, highlight the advantages of the app.

Or list them which helps to catch readers’ attention such as- Dear John, I am Celina working with Edu–care- handling student study portal from City International School, San Francisco. As you have mentioned, the concern about your child’s studies and progress on the school portal. I would like to help your child in his studies.

Many parents face these issues, and Edu-care ensures to give you the study structure that assists in developing your child in academics as well as in general knowledge too. Here are a few advantages of our curriculum listed: Includes engaging video lessons to visualize the concept and understand lessons easily Personalized learning graph/ journey to help you understand learning needs required for your child in each subject and so on.

Can we have the product demo this week on Wednesday at 3.00 pm? Regards, Celina It is recommended to add data supporting your email content. Either you can have data from reputed resources or use your company’s data to represent it to your potential customer in the text. For example: “Updating and maintaining the sales lead database is a priority task for every Sales & Marketing Team.” Instead, you can write- “Sales & Marketing teams spend 40% of the time in updating and maintaining the Sales lead Database.

If you have a little more time, or you are preparing for the product demo, then narrate a story that illustrates how your product has helped the customers. So, don’t include the ‘About Us’ section in this pitch. Instead, include how your trusted customers have benefitted after buying the product. How are their problems solved? You can consist of relevant video clips, rating reports, etc., in your sales pitch.

How are their problems solved? You can consist of relevant video clips, rating reports, etc., in your sales pitch. Speaking of Follow-ups, this needs to be the top priority in sales reps’ task. You cannot expect the customer to reply actively and promptly every time you send out an email. Whether you have talked to prospective customers in an event, or via emails, over the phone, lost the customers touch in between the process, it is recommended to be persistent. For example: Hello Ronan, Greetings of the day! As per our telephonic discussion on Thursday last week related to the leadgen issue faced by your team.

I have scheduled the product demo for you this week on Wednesday at 2.00 pm. I am looking forward to receiving your confirmation. Regards, Henry Wrapping Up Ensure to use sales pitch to close your deals Working in the Sales & Marketing team, a good sales pitch is your bread & butter.

No matter what you are selling and to whom you are pitching to. It means that you need to put in time and effort to perfect your sales pitch. Next time when you are writing sales pitch, try using our core components and sales pitch examples to improvise your email flow and close more deals.

Get indispensable sales intelligence based on 25 vital buying signals like hiring areas, and tech stack install base, position changes, investment, growth areas, etc. to help you draft an intelligent & highly personalized sales email pitch Use the robust AI algorithm of Clodura.AI to do smarter sales prospecting. Start your free trial now.

5. Use Social Proof and Testimonials

Social proof can significantly enhance your credibility. Use testimonials, case studies, or endorsements from satisfied customers to build trust.

Example: Share a success story from a similar company.

When it comes to a sales lead, what do you value the most – quality or quantity? If your affirmation goes with the later then you can count yourself among the majority of the managers who share the same belief.

It is not hard to understand why most companies focus on numbers rather than the results. After all, their main motive is to increase profits, which is the whole point of running a business. However, making this choice often results in nurturing a large number of unqualified leads who don’t buy.

When the lead conversion rate drops significantly in a company, the following series of events take place – the manager calls the sales and marketing teams in the meeting room and demands answers. The marketing blames sales for not closing the provided leads, and the sales blame marketing for passing unqualified leads in the first place. Unfortunately, they are both wrong.

The real reason why a lot of companies are struggling to maintain a decent conversion rate is that they just don’t have the right technology to differentiate high quality leads from the poor. Most of them are still relying on cold campaigns that are no longer efficient. However, this problem can be overcome by new-age marketing and sales automation tools.

Here are some of the tools that you can start using today and give a whole new meaning to your marketing efforts:

Automated Lead Generation Tool

Automated lead generation tools make marketing a lot easier. Plus, they also allow you to comb leads on the Internet 24/7.

Even the best marketing teams in the world can deliver results only during their work hours. However, an automated lead generation tool will continue to work even when you are at home, sleeping. This alone increases the average lead generation rate greatly.

For instance, a digital footprint tracker (an integral module of the complete platform) keeps tabs on key people in the relevant industry and records insights obtained in a separate database. Thus, not only you get access to increased leads, but also the latest information associated with them.

Clodura is an intelligent sales assistant. In other words, it can do a lot more than most traditional lead generation tools out there which have a major drawback of being artificial or mechanical. Not only Clodura generates the leads for you, but it also filters them according to their “hotness”.

How Sales Automation helps in business growth

Generating leads has never been a problem. In fact, there are many sources that provide them to you directly at the right price. However, you will be lucky to get even 50% of these converted. The reason? Quality.

Businesses don’t struggle with lead generation, but a rather quality lead generation. However, human mental capacity is limited by time and problem-solving abilities. This is where an intelligent automated system like Clodura comes in. It collects information through 100 different data points, follows social media activities of relevant prospects, and uses a proprietary complex algorithm to identify quality leads for your business. These are the leads which are actually interested in your products, and thus highly likely to buy.

Tracking Customers Social Activities

Digital technology and the Internet have opened a variety of different avenues for lead generation. You have social media, emails, instant messages, a news feed, and many other platforms like these. A sales assistant like Clodura can tap into all these areas with far greater efficiency and accuracy than any human can.

Sales assistant Clodura tracks key prospects on almost every platform they are active on and learns about their behavior that will eventually give your sales reps the upper hand. For instance, it extracts valid contact details (email addresses, contact numbers, etc.), stores them in a file, and updates the same period if there are any changes. It also analyzes their call history for a pattern to suggest the best timings for contacting them. This way when the time comes to follow up with a prospect, you don’t have to waste time in finding the correct contact information yourself or prevent your call from being sent to voice mail.

Clodura also has many other nifty features such as leads grouping, with which you can put all the quality leads into different groups based on their line of work, recent acquisitions, key people involved, etc. You can then track their activities through live data that is provided by the software.

Lead Generation through Email Automation

Email automation is one of the popular lead generation tools deployed by businesses, mainly because of the remarkable ROI it offers. For every $1 spent you can easily get an average of $40 ROI.

Here are some of the features that can easily enjoy a typical email automation tool:

• Schedule Multiple Emails: You can schedule your newsletters and other kinds of marketing emails in different batches. This way you can reach hundreds of leads with minimum efforts.
• Write Personalized Emails: You don’t have to work on finding personalized topics for every individual prospect. The automated system will suggest a few topics itself.
• Delivery Time Customization: When your clients/leads are based in different geographic locations then sending them the emails at the same time may not be the best approach. However, with email automation, you can schedule the emails according to different time zones.
• Prevent Being “Spammed”: Your emails go directly to the inbox rather than the junk folder, or the spam folder.

Unlike other automation tools, email automation is quite simple and easy to understand, which is why it is being used by almost every competitive business today.

Things to Consider When Investing in an Automation Suite

There are many marketing and sales automation tools available today. So, how do you pick one? The following are some of the things that you can consider when making a decision:

• CRM Integration: CRM is an integral component of every lead generation system, which is why the automation platform must be able to work in sync with it. It is also important that it updates the database automatically to save time and prevent mistakes.
• Volume and Quality of Leads: The automation suite should be able to create a high volume of quality leads that are scalable with your business.
• Social Analytics: A great number of leads are found on social media portals. Thus, the sales and marketing automation tools should be able to make the most of these platforms.
• Personalization: The challenge with marketing automation is that the process can sometimes feel artificial, which becomes evident when you contact your prospects. Incorporating tools like an AI voice generator can help maintain a personal touch while giving you the advantage of automation, ensuring your communication feels more natural and engaging.

Clodura is one of the few lead generation systems which checks off all the bullet points above. With it, you can spot and convert more leads, reduce your manual marketing efforts, and make your campaigns more streamlined and organized. Thus, there is no way it wouldn’t improve your business.