A cautious optimism is growing about the outlook of economic conditions according to McKinsey & Company as 48% of respondents in a recent survey had a positive outlook on conditions now compared to 6 months ago – the highest figure since June 2022.
Many commentators are predicting that it is vital for companies to build on this momentum of recovery by optimizing their sales outreach in Q3 and building a strong pipeline for Q4 to end the year on a positive note.
Igniting the lead gen universe
Companies often invest in resources and do a lot of work to map out their addressable market, identify their Ideal Customer Profile and build a database of relevant contacts. But how can you get started and ignite sales pipeline?
Gaining clear user consent among your target audience is perhaps the first priority. From here you can get the ball rolling and start building brand awareness, identifying in-market customers and aiding customer education on complex products.
This can be done in different ways:
Programmatic advertising:
By using intent data to determine purchasing intent and define audiences, programmatic advertising can be used to target prospects with specific messaging depending on where they fall in the purchasing cycle. The ads can be used to drive decision makers to specialized landing pages where they can not only access curated content to educate themselves on the product or service, but it is also an opportunity for them to digitally opt-in by using gated content.
BDR outreach:
Due to GDPR and other privacy regulations, gaining clear consent from your prospects is non-negotiable. Phone outreach is one of the most straight forward ways to achieve verbal consent. However, it also gives BDRs the opportunity to gain further insights such as confirming job titles, contact details and identifying other key stakeholders in the purchasing process, information that is invaluable for follow-up activity. Our team removes the uncertainty of compliance as our team of BDRs gains the prospect's consent on our client's behalf via phone.
Engaging prospects with the right message at the right time
Once you gain compliant consent, you can reinforce your outreach and engage your prospects with relevant content at the right time when you have identified they are in market or have a need for a particular product or service. In order to create a meaningful engagement with your prospects and generate a reliable pipeline, you need to understand their needs and pain points. More than ever prospects want to see that the sales agent reaching out to them not only understands their needs, but also their role in the purchasing process.
Content marketing:
Companies often find that prospects can get stuck in the middle of funnel without ever converting. Targeted content marketing using strategies such as programmatic advertising and email nurturing can help direct prospects to specially curated content hubs where they can self-serve content and further familiarize themselves about your products and services.
In particular email marketing can be a valuable strategy to drive prospects through the funnel as more and more, decision makers prefer to be contacted via email, (66% according to LinkedIn’s State of Sales Report 2022), and more importantly they expect a heavily personalized message to show that the sales rep truly understands what they want and what they need.
BDR activity:
Digital activity is a valuable tool in generating consented contacts, however it can be difficult to determine where in the buying journey they currently are. It’s necessary to filter through and determine which prospects are hotter opportunities by verifying interest. Intent data and digital activity can generate valuable insights for BDRs to personalize their messaging whether their outreach is via phone, social media, or email.
Anteriad's intent service helps cut through the noise of digitally generated leads gaining valuable insights such as confirming intent and identifying buying committees.
Seal the deal and close top opportunities
By using Q3 to build momentum and engage with prospects, you can build a strong pipeline with opportunities more likely to close in Q4 as companies distribute remaining budgets for the rest of the year.
For companies who are struggling to build momentum in their pipeline generation efforts, our BDR and SDR Sales-as-a-Service offering can reinforce and support existing sales teams. Our teams of BDRs and SDRs not only give support for pipeline generation, but our SDR-Sales-as-a-Service model allows you to avail of SDRs who act as a full-time sales resource who handle the deal throughout the entire sales cycle.
BDR-as-a-Service:
A comprehensive solution designed to augment your in-house BDR team's capabilities. Our service provides immediate resources and multilingual support in 26 languages, ensuring the generation of credible and compliant opportunities at a more advanced stage in the sales cycle. Our skilled BDRs excel at account profiling, following up on digital interactions, lead qualification, and identifying key decision makers and buying committees, gaining valuable insights through their conversations.
When a prospect is identified as a sales-ready opportunity, we facilitate a warm handover call, where our BDR acts as a bridge between the prospect and the client in a three-way call. BDRs are available on a time-based leasing model and can operate with a client email, making calls on behalf of the client. We recommend providing training on the product or service to our BDRs before they start engaging with prospects.
SDR-as-a-Service:
Similar to the BDR-as-a-Service model, the SDR-as-a-Service offering provides our clients with an SDR who serves as a dedicated full-time sales resource.
The primary distinction between the BDR and SDR models lies in the scope of responsibilities. In the SDR model, our skilled representatives handle the entire sales cycle, from lead generation to closing sales and driving revenue. We collaborate with clients to create a strategic partnership, agreeing on a commission structure that aligns with mutual goals and objectives.
