Here are the top four scariest horror scenarios to avoid being in your cold outreach so you don’t end up sending your prospects running.
Pennywise from “IT” – Clowning around with your prospect too early
AEs, SDRs and BDRs make it a goal to build rapport quickly, but often try to accomplish this through unprofessional means, such as being too casual or silly and sending jokes to prospects. (GIFs, opening with “Hey Scott” instead of “Hi Scott”)
Humanizing conversations with prospects is critical to breaking through the noise, but remember initial emails must convey respect since positive first impressions are key.
Personalize your outreach in a way that offers research, and strive to add value to the prospect through tailoring, but be sure to side-step a conversation that mirrors how you and friends talk over a Friday night beer.
Dracula – Sucking the life out of your prospects with wasted text
Successful sales reps deliver a persuasive, valuable message that guides prospects through the funnel. Alternatively, muddy emails that bury the key message are often overlooked or ignored. These emails regularly fill prospects’ inboxes with overly used language, such as:
- “Following up on my last email…”
- “Just looping back, did you see my original message?”
- “Happy Monday – Hope you’re having a great day!”
AEs and BDRs include these phrases with good intentions to personalize interactions genuinely. However, they just lengthen emails without providing new value, earning it a spot in the Spam folder.
Replace filler language with content that gets to the point quickly, and be sure to pair it along with industry insight or value that your prospect didn’t have beforehand.
The Riddler – Asking the wrong questions that berate your prospects
Successful cold calls and meetings alike rely on asking questions.
But just like seeing Smarties or a king-size Snickers in your bag on Oct. 31, all questions aren’t created equally.
Every buyer interaction should make them feel validated without ever putting their decision-making authority or intellect into question. No matter what the prospect’s role is, they deserve to be respected and heard. To accomplish this, avoid questions like, “Does that make sense?” “Do you know what we do?” or “Are you the decision maker?”
Rather than worrying about your prospect’s ability to comprehend, identify areas of improvement in how you communicate and sell to them. Incorporate that feedback into your sales enablement process to encourage alternative questions like:
- “Am I making any sense?”
- “Have you ever come across us before?”
- “When you’ve made decisions like this in the past, how have you gone about them?”
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Pulling a bait and switch talk-track
The basis of quality business relationships lies in establishing expectations of respect and trust. Treat your prospects by understanding their needs well enough to deliver on promises truthfully.
Tricking prospects through communicating one agenda but switching to an alternative is the quickest way to erode rapport. This phenomenon is exemplified in situations such as the “connect and sell” method of relaying to your prospect that you’re connecting on LinkedIn to “network,” only to immediately turn around and sell your platform.
Be upfront and open about what your intentions are so your prospect knows what they are getting into and can establish a baseline of trust.
Save the “Tricks” for Your Halloween Party
Whether cold-calling or emailing this scary season, remember underneath all of the costumes and masks, you are human. Be you, add value and connect with your prospects in a genuine way, where you strive to make their world a simpler and better one.
Start your relationships with respect, clearly & confidently relay your value prop, and ALWAYS add value so you can prevent your prospects from ghosting you.
Becc Holland is head of sales development at Chorus.ai and a homegrown Texan who innately believes that hiring the right people is just as important as developing them.
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