sales outreach

How to Execute Sales Outreach Like a Pro

Image by Patrice Audet from Pixabay 

Sales outreach is all part of being a successful sales professional. Most of your leads won’t fall into your lap. You have to actively go looking for them. From searching for new customers to generating sales from old customers who might have gone cold, read on for some advice.

Use a CRM for More Effective Sales Outreach

Customer Relationship Management CRM) tools are essential these days. For example, top CRMs like Salesforce, Nimble, and Freshsales make it much easier to juggle sales outreach to hundreds or even thousands of customers like a pro. Therefore, if you are working in sales, make sure you invest in a CRM system.

CRM’s allow you to automate your sales outreach. This saves time and prevents both new and old customers from slipping through the net. However, don’t rely on a CRM to do everything. There are still some things that require the human touch.

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Stay Engaged with Sales and Sales Outreach

Sales is not a nine-to-five job. If you want to meet—and exceed—your sales targets, you need to allocate adequate time for sales outreach. In other words, don’t sit in your office and wait for customers to come knocking on your door. Many of them won’t think about your company unless you jog their memory or let them know you exist.

Set aside a block of time each day for sales outreach, and use this time to call on prospects. First, sort them into new and old prospects.

Old customers should be contacted according to a rota. For example, set reminders so each customer is contacted every three months (or whatever is most appropriate). This prevents them from getting too cold.

Search for New Prospects

Then, have another block of time set aside for new prospects. Unless you outsource lead generation, the onus is on you to find new customers. Luckily, there are several ways you can do this from the comfort of your office.

For example, let’s say you sell products in the local area. Go through your list of existing customers and use a tool like Nuwber.com to search for people living on a particular street or in a certain neighborhood.

In fact, with this sales outreach tool, you can search by name as well as by address. Then the tool will give you other names, addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers of people living nearby. You can then target these individuals with a preliminary email or cold call.

Treat Existing Customers with Respect

Make sure you initiate follow-up calls or emails with existing customers to check in after they have placed an order.

Your aim is not to pester them to death with annoying phone calls and emails. No, the purpose of follow up calls and emails is to find out if they have any problems or questions.

Be courteous and respectful of their time. If they say they are too busy to talk, ask them to let you know if there is a problem and make a diary date to call them back when it’s more convenient. Treating your existing customers like the treasures they are is one of the keys to being great with sales outreach.

Send Out Discount Codes and Freebies as a Part of Your Sales Outreach Efforts

Both new and existing customers will often be tempted by a gift or enticing discount code. If the discount code or special offer is good enough, it may be enough to persuade them to make a purchase.

Free gifts have a similar effect, except they come with no strings attached. Here, the customer is happy to receive a freebie, but they are under no pressure to buy anything. Instead, it paints you, the salesperson, in a positive light. Then, when they are ready to buy, they will turn to you first. In other words, being a thoughtful and likable person is a big part of successful sales outreach.

Conclusion

Sales outreach is a skill. If you lack confidence in your sales skills, ask a more experienced colleague to mentor you. By embracing CRM’s and tools like Nuwber, it won’t be long before you are smashing your targets like a true pro.