Among hyper-competitive markets, the perfect prospects can sometimes be hard as hell to find. As marketers increasingly turn to email to generate short term revenue with minimal investment, the email marketer’s job becomes harder than ever. Seriously, with the kind of results sales bosses expect from their teams borders on the ridiculous, right?
But worry not. There is a way and nice Mr. Duff is going to help you find it. Here is a selection of the finest B2B prospecting tips from around the web, to ensure that you hit your targets on time, every time!
1. Leave lots of white space in your email. Not only will this intensify the effect of each statement, but will also allow busy prospects to quickly scan through the email and absorb the gist of your offer.
2. Words like free, amazing, cutting-edge, solutions, fantastic and any other overbearing superlatives are usually associated with scams and spam. Be discerning in your choice of language or your mail will find its way to either the junk folder or the trash can. Conversely, by using the jargon and terminology that your prospects use, you can make your email sound more relevant and professional.
3. Don’t write out essay length mails. In fact, keep the text under a hundred words. The people you’re trying to reach out to are likely to be extremely busy and if you can’t effectively pitch your product in a few short lines, you should consider switching careers.
4. Do your homework. There’s a list of stuff you’ll need to research if you want to prospect well. A great way to research is to begin with a broad topic and progressively narrow it down. For instance you could begin by researching your entire target audience followed by a specific industry within that audience. From there, move on to studying an organization that presents a viable sales opportunity. Finally, learn everything you can about the individual you intend to mail.
Be sure to include recent industry and organizational developments within the scope of your research. These measures will help you gain an eagle-eye view of their problems and priorities and as a result, you will be able to craft a pitch that is eminently in line with the prospect’s business objectives.
5. Write a subject line that piques professional interest. Instead of making your subject line an exercise in sensationalism, try writing lines that appeal to your target audience’s business needs (loads of research will always be necessary).
6. If you’ve managed to figure out where your prospect’s business goals lie, set your pitch up to deliver information and insights that will help them along. The idea is to come across as an industry expert by delivering as much value as possible. Also, attitude matters be helpful and suggestive instead of cocky and authoritarian.
7. Publish an e-newsletter. Newsletters are a great way to deliver value-packed content and nurture potential clients. They also make a great platform on which to launch and build awareness about your offers and promotions. Plus, monitoring the levels of engagement that your newsletters receive, will help you isolate trends and categorize subscribers, allowing you to gain a better understanding of your target audience.
However, effective newsletters can be hard to develop – if you aren’t great at creating spectacular content, hire someone to do it for you.
8. Optimize your email signature. The email signature may not be an aspect that you pour your energies into, but it can make a considerable difference to the results you get from a prospecting drive. When creating your email signature keep it to a maximum of 5-6 lines. Include contact details, business information, job title and also, a link to your company website.
9. The hottest and most important leads are usually the busiest people and can sometimes be really hard to contact. To combat this, follow up on your email efforts by cold calling a prospect a few days after contacting them by email. Don’t lose heart if can’t get through on the 3rd or 4th attempt. Sometimes it takes as many as 10 tries just to find a break. Additionally, by integrating different marketing channels you stand a much higher chance of converting prospects.
10. Ensure that you have an active testing program in place and test multiple mails for response rates. Coupled with an email marketing tool, test mails can arm you with a great deal of data about how prospects respond to your emails and consequently, how to ensure that they respond more often.
