Prospecting for Pipeline
How to optimize your prospecting activities to build a more qualified pipeline.
Hey Friends -
Bobbing for apples. Going for broke. Dialing for dollars. Panning for gold.
And now…Prospecting for Pipeline™️ ?
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
Really, really good keynote from Bastiaan Janmaat on how to build an outbound sales strategy.
A nice guide from Salesforce on how to build, evaluate and improve your sales pipeline.
And like always, don’t miss this week’s snippets on optimizing your prospecting activities to build a more qualified pipeline.
THANKS for reading!!
-Grant
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- subscribe or share it with someone who might as well 👊.
STRETCH SHARES
How to Build an Outbound Sales Strategy in 60 Days
Really, really good keynote from Bastiaan Janmaat on how to build an outbound sales strategy. Bastiaan talks about how he did this at Datafox, what has worked and what hasn’t.
He goes in-depth on four things you need to get right with your outbound sales strategy:
Focus on the right companies to go after. (No more Scorched Earth OR wasted arrows)
Build a relationship by taking a personalized approach. (Requires multi-threading and more than 50% Senior Titles)
Incentivize your reps to do the right things that you want them to do. (no outreach without research. No follow-up without reason. Pick up the phone!)
Support your sales team with collateral and marketing efforts to educate your future customers. (Account-based marketing FTW)
How to Get Your Sales Pipeline to Flow And Grow
We all know what a sales pipeline is - or should. But give this article from Salesforce a read on how to build, evaluate and improve your sales pipeline, and I all but guarantee you’ll find something you can utilize or fine-tune in your org.
So..how do you get your sales pipeline flowing? Hint: It starts with prospecting and qualifying (holla last week’s topic)
Highlights:
What is a sales pipeline?
What are the stages of a sales pipeline?
How do you build a healthy sales pipeline?
How do you evaluate a sales pipeline?
How do you work with reps to improve the sales pipeline?
STRETCH SNIPPETS
📧 Long emails for the win. Gong says that longer follow-up emails are more effective in booking cold prospects than shorter ones. A 4+ sentence email gets you 15 X booked meetings over ones with just 2 or 3 sentences.
✅ Check out this list of 16 sure-fire tips to double your reply rates from Jeremey Donovan at SalesLoft. Learn why “Hey [Name]!” is the most effective prospecting greeting, while mentioning your company in the subject line gets the highest reply rates and much more.
☎️ What’s the worst way to open a cold call? Nick Cegelski says “Is now a bad time?” takes the cake. Use a permission-based opener instead.
🤫 It's no secret the role of the SDR is changing and evolving. Doug Landis talks with John Barrows on how the role is shifting.
🎯Loved this Twitter thread by Morgan Ingram on his 5-step process to building your own targeted lists for prospecting.
🧠 Mindset
Thanks for reading!
My hope is if you find this valuable, consider sharing it with friends (or signing up if you haven’t already).
— Grant 👋
About stretch vp: confessions, learnings, and insights from sales leaders in SaaS
Compiled and aggregated from a network of sales leaders in SaaS, Stretch VP showcases learnings, insights, and experiences as well as best practices to overcome common hurdles, obstacles, and setbacks in your quest for excellence as a sales leader in SaaS.
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