New Strategies for Sales Prospecting

"We're moving forward with another vendor." Every rep's nightmare sentence. I pressed for details. "Their approach felt more open. We actually knew what we were buying into." That stung. I'd shared: ••• Exhaustive feature documentation ••• Dozens of success stories   ••• Complete pricing breakdowns Where'd I go wrong? Days later, I got access to our competitor's sales process. The difference hit instantly: They didn't preach transparency. They lived it. Their follow-up wasn't an email avalanche. It was one collaborative hub where buyers could: ••• Monitor which stakeholders engaged with what ••• See their exact position in the evaluation journey ••• Find materials curated for their unique pain points ••• Manage internal distribution seamlessly My revelation: I was buried in PDFs. They were cultivating partnership. Next prospect, new approach: I built a shared workspace exposing EVERYTHING: → Which team members on our side viewed their data → Critical docs they'd missed → Realistic implementation expectations → Where we excel AND where we don't The buyer's response: "Finally, someone not playing games." Ink on paper in 10 days. Here's what's real: Today's buyers aren't starved for data. They're starved for authenticity. Yesterday's strategy: Bombard with polished assets that sidestep weaknesses. Tomorrow's strategy: Build transparent environments that tackle doubts directly. Your buyers know when something's off. Even when nothing is. Quit running sales like a shell game. Start running it like a glass house. You with me?

I warmed up a prospect for 3 months on LinkedIn before our first call. They signed a £75K deal in 3 days. Modern selling demands a new approach: cold outreach fails, warm relationships win. Think about it... That prospect had consumed 47 of my posts. Watched my videos. Read my articles. Engaged with my content. By the time we jumped on that first call? They already trusted me. They already knew my approach. They already understood the value. I didn't have to sell them. They'd already sold themselves. Here's my framework for turning content into closed deals: 👇 1. Build trust at scale BEFORE the pitch Stop spraying and praying with cold messages. Start building relationships through value. Each post builds trust. Your insights mark credibility. Stories create connection. Your content is doing the heavy lifting while you sleep. 2. Let buyers self-educate on THEIR timeline Modern buyers don't want to be sold to. They want to discover solutions themselves. ↳ 70% of the buying journey happens before they talk to sales ↳ They're researching you before you even know they exist ↳ Your content is either attracting or repelling them Give them what they need to make informed decisions. 3. Recognize the REAL buying signals Forget MQLs and SQLs. Think about PQLs (product qualified leads) Here's what actually matters: - Multiple engagements across different posts - Bringing colleagues into the conversation - Asking specific, detailed questions - Moving from public comments to private messages These aren't leads. These are pre-qualified buyers. 4. Keep momentum BETWEEN meetings Here's where most deals die: The 167 hours between your calls. While you're chasing other prospects, your buyer is: ↳ Getting cold feet ↳ Talking to competitors ↳ Forgetting why they were excited Smart sellers stay present even when they're not there. This is where tools like Consensus come in. They let buyers explore demos on their own time. Answer their questions at 10 PM. Share materials with their team. Stay engaged between touchpoints. It's how you keep social selling momentum right through the demo stage. https://lnkd.in/ePVWw-Bi 5. Close with confidence, not pressure When trust is already built? When value is already proven? When buyers are already educated? Closing feels natural, not like a battle. The best deals I've ever closed felt inevitable. Because the relationship started months before the opportunity. Here's what this approach delivers (in my experience): ✓ Significantly faster sales cycles ✓ Much higher close rates ✓ Bigger deal sizes (pre-sold = less negotiation) ✓ Happier customers (they chose you, not the other way around) Stop thinking of social selling as "nice to have." Start treating it as your primary sales strategy. Your next big deal isn't in your CRM. They're scrolling LinkedIn right now. What content are you creating to catch them? #ConsensusPartner

Proven Strategies to Supercharge B2B Outbound Lead Generation Let’s be clear: outbound isn’t dead—it just needs to be smarter. In a world where buyers are more selective and inboxes are more crowded, effective outbound lead generation is about precision, personalization, and partnership with sales. Here are 7 strategies I’ve seen drive real results: 1. Laser-Focus Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Before you start reaching out, refine your ICP. Go beyond firmographics—consider buying triggers, tech stack, growth signals, and key pain points. Use intent data and predictive analytics to prioritize accounts most likely to convert. A highly defined ICP ensures your efforts are efficient and relevant. 2. Multi-Threaded Outreach Modern B2B decisions are made by committees, not individuals. Build relationships across multiple stakeholders within a target account. Tailor messages to specific roles—finance, marketing, operations—and connect them to how your solution supports their objectives. 3. Hyper-Personalized Messaging at Scale Generic emails are dead. Use dynamic personalization tools to tailor messaging based on job title, company news, shared connections, or industry trends. AI can help scale personalization while keeping your messaging authentic and relevant. 4. Leverage Warm Channels First Outbound doesn’t have to mean “cold.” Use mutual connections, recent webinar attendees, or social media engagement as warm entry points. Pair outbound efforts with LinkedIn nurturing, retargeted ads, or personalized video messages to increase response rates. 5. Sequence with Strategy Use automated sequences (email, phone, social touches) designed around your buyer’s journey. Ensure every touchpoint adds value—share relevant case studies, industry insights, or pain-point specific content. A well-structured sequence improves both response and conversion rates. 6. Align with Sales for Speed and Feedback Marketing and sales alignment is critical. Share real-time feedback loops so messaging can be optimized based on what's resonating. SDRs should be armed with the right content, timing cues, and conversation starters to accelerate qualified conversations. 7. Test, Learn, and Optimize Relentlessly Outbound is not set-it-and-forget-it. Track metrics like open rates, response rates, and meeting conversion. A/B test subject lines, messaging, and timing. Leverage attribution insights to refine outreach and double down on what works. 💡 Outbound done right isn’t about volume—it’s about velocity and value. When marketers shift from “spray and pray” to precise, personalized, and data-driven outreach, outbound becomes a true catalyst for sustainable B2B growth. #B2BMarketing #OutboundLeadGen #GrowthStrategy #MarketingLeadership #RevenueMarketing #ABM #CMO #DemandGeneration

Outbound is dead in cyber. Long live AE-owned prospecting. I will die on the hill of "outbound is dead". But it's been misunderstood when I've brought it up here. In cybersecurity, generic mass outreach is dying or it's a zombie waiting to be whacked. Targeted, value-driven prospecting led by Account Executives is thriving. SDR's have a hard time doing this not because they can't, but because the system is not setup for them to do it (i.e. comp plans, org structures, etc.) We know from research that personalized outreach based on deep account knowledge delivers 3x better engagement than templated SDR approaches. Yet we keep trying to build outbound motions with higher volume and worse conversion rates 🤮 Here's my framework for building a repeatable pipeline development program where AEs actually own the process: 👉 *The Value Hypothesis Approach* 1. Narrow the focus dramatically: Your target account list should be small enough that each account gets hours of dedicated research. 2. Make AEs accountable for contact mapping They need to identify key stakeholders and understand the organizational dynamics before any outreach begins. 3. Develop specific value hypotheses This is the game-changer. Each account gets 2 customized value proposition based on their specific situation. 4. Collaborate on hypothesis refinement The best teams involve SE/PreSales, Product Management, and Sales Leadership in critiquing and improving these hypotheses. 5. Execute with precision With this foundation, outreach becomes a targeted conversation rather than a generic pitch. 6. Close the feedback loop: Sales leaders need to document which value hypotheses resonated and which fell flat - this becomes your competitive advantage. The best-performing enterprise sales teams allocate at least 1/3 of AE time to this process. Yes, it's resource-intensive, but the results speak for themselves. 2 hours a day (minimum) every day, every AE, for 3 months. Then come back and tell me 'thank you' Unexpected benefit: When AEs spend 10+ hours weekly on strategic prospecting, your inbound and partner-led conversion rates automatically improve. Why? No AE will let warm leads slip after experiencing how much work cold prospecting takes. Pro-tip? Spend 'Training Thursdays' evaluating value hypothesis together. Double pro-tip, combine Value Hypotheiss with 'Show me You Know Me' on your messaging (follow Samantha McKenna - She crushes SMYKM content) Anyone here that calls value hypothesis something else? I used to call it my 'angle'. Need something more catchy and less scientific-sounding 😆

Everyone's been sold the same lie: “Spend more time personalizing to get better results.” Here’s what actually happens: Your SDRs waste 5 min per prospect digging through LinkedIn, find nothing useful for 90% of them, and end up defaulting back to generic templates. Personalization is a 1:1 game. You can’t scale it. Relevance is different. Relevance multiplies. One account insight → 10 conversations One company challenge → Every stakeholder One initiative → Entire buying committee The best SDR teams have already made this shift. They’re booking more meetings with less research time. Stop personalizing for people. Start building relevance for accounts using an Account-Based System. What’s an Account System in outbound? Start with company-level insights first, then apply them to the prospects inside the account: Adapt to Above the Line and Below the Line prospects. If your product touches multiple teams, you go both horizontal and vertical inside the account, a multithreaded approach, not just single-thread. With this, it’s faster to spot real initiatives or challenges for each account, then build a strong POV (point of view) around how you can help. That makes your outbound relevant at scale. Example strategy: Identify company strategic initiatives/pain points in under 10 minutes → create a strong POV → reuse insights across multiple prospects in the same account. Here are different approach examples CEO interviewed on a podcast → use it to reach their direct reports. CRO just got hired → leverage with the CEO and front-line sales managers. Bottom-up: talk to end-users about current challenges/tools → use that with front-line managers → Economic buyer. VP of CS just hired 2 CSMs → name-drop. Ask for referrals inside the account. With that, you’ve got (almost) infinite ways to outbound an account. Because if the prospects you’re chasing aren’t active on LinkedIn, you’re just wasting time. And in 2025, with tools like n8n, Clay or AI-driven solutions make this faster and scalable, even if your prospect accounts aren’t active on LinkedIn. "But Elric, does this work in SMB and Mid-Market?” Yes. It works there too Example: Owner sells to single-location restaurants; they only have one contact for most accounts. They adapt the talk track by segment: Restaurant has: A website + uses Uber Eats/DoorDash → focus on the pain of 3rd-party apps (30% revenue cut, no customer data). A website + no delivery → educating them about missed revenue opportunities. They personalize for business maturity, not the owner. -- Follow me 👨🍳 Elric Legloire for daily outbound recipes.

In 36 months, I scaled a hunting team at AWS from $0 to $25M Though it was seen as a great success by many, there are 5 critical shifts I’m applying to build a modern outbound engine at Yess: WHO, WHY, WHEN, TO WHOM, and HOW LONG. Here’s the breakdown: 1️⃣ WHO is reaching out: - Old Way: entry-level SDRs flood inboxes with spam. + New Way: Team-selling facilitated by SDRs. Decision makers prefer talking to other decision makers. Executives and peers should engage directly. companies should move from old-school outbound to team selling model that is facilitated by SDRs and driven by signals and intent data. 2️⃣ WHY we're reaching out: - Old Way: Generic emails saying, 'I see you're the {job title}...' + New Way: Relevancy > Generic personalization. Generic outreach that lacks relevance and personalization is dead. Look for accounts that visited your website, engaged with your social media, or showed intent through third-party data to craft contextually rich content driven by intent data and real-time signals. 3️⃣ WHEN we reach out: - Old Way: As soon as a new lead gets into the CRM, no matter what. + New Way: Engaging contacts when they show interest. Sales isn’t about immediately pouncing on every lead anymore. Leading sales teams will strategically time their outreach with behavioral signals, like site visits or content engagement. 4️⃣ To WHOM we are reaching out: - Old Way: Single (ICP) persona within the account. + New Way: Target the entire buying team, with personalized touches. Modern outreach should involve the entire buying committee. Each stakeholder has different needs and goals. Use detailed persona data to create messages that hit home for everyone. 5️⃣ HOW LONG we reach out: - Old Way: same 18-step generic sequence for all accounts. + New Way: Dynamics playbooks based on live engagement data. Dynamic playbooks help sales teams tweak their outreach using live data. Sequences adapt to prospects' actions in real time, keeping the prioritization of accounts updated and dynamic. TAKEAWAY: The outbound paradigm is shifting and pushing us to focus on precision over volume. Outbound should leverage: + WHO is reaching out,  + tailor WHAT they communicate,  + sync it perfectly with WHEN it matters the most, + strategically choose TO WHOM they reach out to,  + and dynamically adjust HOW LONG they engage based on data. Keep them in check. 

Reps who are great at prospecting aren't focused on pitching—they are focused on connecting. Too many salespeople treat prospecting like a game of darts in the dark, hoping something sticks. But hope isn’t a strategy. If you want real results, you need to shift your mindset and your approach. 1. Be Relevant, Not Random Your prospects don’t care about your product—they care about their problems. Do your homework. Research your prospect’s industry, company, and specific pain points. Then craft a message that speaks directly to them. If your outreach feels generic, it’s already in the trash. 2. Lead with Value, Not Features Nobody wakes up thinking, “I need a new software solution today!” They wake up thinking about how to hit their goals, fix bottlenecks, and grow their business. Your outreach should answer one question: “What’s in it for them?” Educate, inspire, and provide insights before you ever ask for a meeting. 3. Keep It Short and Simple Your prospects are busy. If your email is a wall of text, they’ll move on. If your voicemail sounds like a dissertation, they won’t call back. Get to the point. One problem, one solution, one clear next step. 4. Follow Up Relentlessly (But Respectfully) Most sales happen after the fifth touchpoint, but most sales reps give up after three. Persistence is key, but so is tact. Mix up your approach—email, phone, LinkedIn, even a personalized video. And always add value in every follow-up. 5. Master the Art of the Conversation Scripts are a great starting point, but real connections happen when you listen more than you talk. Ask great questions. Be genuinely curious. Engage in a real dialogue instead of rushing to the pitch. Prospecting isn’t about selling—it’s about starting conversations that lead to relationships. Nail that, and the sales will follow. Now, go pick up the phone and make something happen!

Sales teams are sitting on the most underused follow-up asset: Their CEO's LinkedIn posts. Your CEO posts 3x/week on LinkedIn. Your sales team never references it. That's a missed opportunity. I've been writing LinkedIn content for climate tech CEOs and founders for 2.5+ years. Companies that repurpose founder content for sales enablement shorten their 6-12 month B2B sales cycles. Here's how to write LinkedIn posts your sales team can actually use in follow-ups: Tip 1: Start posts with problems your prospects are facing right now. Open with the exact challenge your ideal customer is dealing with today. Use their language, not yours. For example: "Everyone's talking about scaling from $5M to $20M, but nobody talks about what breaks when you hit $10M." When your sales team follows up, they can say: "Saw our CEO wrote about the challenges at $10M ARR. Curious if you're experiencing any of that?" Instant warm conversation starter. Tip 2: Use the borrowed credibility format to create instant relevance. The format: "I met a [prospect's role] who [achieved impressive result]. Here's what they did differently..." Example: "I met a VP of Operations who cut their energy costs by 40% in 8 months." When your sales team reaches out to similar prospects, they can say, "Our CEO just shared a story about a VP Ops in a similar situation. Thought you'd find it relevant." Tip 3: Reference internal triggers that signal buying readiness. Call out the specific moments when companies realize they need a solution. Things like: "Growing past 5-6 crews," "Drowning in service tickets," "Hitting the limits of spreadsheets." These triggers tell prospects: we know exactly where you are. When sales follows up, they can ask: "Are you hitting any of these inflection points?" It naturally qualifies the prospect. Tip 4: Include real numbers and metrics from your experience. Don't just say "we helped a client save time." Say: "We helped a $25M company reduce their reporting time from 40 hours/month to 4 hours/month." Specific numbers establish credibility and give sales concrete data points to reference. When a prospect asks "can you quantify the impact?", your sales team points to the CEO's post. Tip 5: End with niche-relevant engagement questions that filter for qualified prospects. Don't ask generic questions like "What do you think?" Ask questions that only your ideal customer can meaningfully answer. Examples: • "What's the biggest bottleneck you're hitting between $10M and $20M?" • "CFOs: how are you currently tracking sustainability metrics?" When prospects comment, they're self-identifying as qualified leads. Your sales team can follow up directly with context. — Using CEO content for sales enablement is one of the most underrated tactics in B2B. Your sales team gets warm conversation starters. Your prospects feel understood, not sold to. Your CEO's content drives pipeline. — How often do you repurpose your CEO's LinkedIn content for sales?

The Limits of Personalization in Cold Email To ensure the formatting closely matches the example provided, including spacing and presentation for clarity and consistency, let's refine the structure slightly: Evolution from Spray and Pray to Ideal Customer Profile Targeting: A Step-by-Step Guide Introduction In the shift from the broad "spray and pray" sales strategy to a more targeted approach, sales organizations now prioritize personalizing their outreach to align with the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This evolution underscores the nuanced challenge of making personal connections in a crowded digital marketplace. Steps to Refine Sales Outreach 1. Identify the Paradigm Shift Transition from generic to personalized outreach strategies. Understand the diminishing impact of personalization amid widespread adoption. 2. Avoid Personalization Pitfalls Incorrect personalization signals lack of genuine interest or care. Getting names wrong or using insincere compliments can alienate potential clients. 3. Rethink Role and Title Recognition Simple acknowledgment of a prospect’s role isn't enough for true personalization. Seek deeper insights to make a meaningful connection. 4. Utilize Trigger Events Wisely Trigger events offer a timely opportunity for personalization but require prompt action. Late utilization diminishes the relevance and impact of the outreach. 5. Strategically Employ Social Proof Testimonials and success stories should be used to support, not lead, your outreach efforts. Effective in later stages of engagement, they solidify rather than initiate interest. 6. Prioritize Trading Value Offer insights and value ahead of requests for meetings or commitments. Stand out by contributing positively to potential clients' goals or challenges. 7. Adapt to the Cold Outreach Crisis Recognize the increasing difficulty in engaging contacts through traditional cold outreach. Innovate beyond personalized emails to capture attention and interest. Conclusion As the effectiveness of traditional personalization in sales outreach diminishes, the necessity for innovation and genuine value-add strategies becomes paramount. By avoiding common mistakes and focusing on delivering real insights and solutions, sales professionals can better align with their Ideal Customer Profiles, fostering more meaningful and productive relationships in an increasingly saturated digital landscape.