Aaron Ross is here to show us exactly how at Salesforce.com, he was able to create the outbound sales process that grew the company from $0 to $100 million in a few short years.
Cold Calling 1.0 vs Cold Calling 2.0
What Ross calls Cold Calling 2.0 is at the heart of Ross’ predictable revenue strategy. Cold calling 2.0 entails qualifying accounts and contacts before calling and researching rather than selling. To do this there are 5 steps, and we will go through them one by one.
Step #1 - get clear on your ideal customer profile
An ideal customer profile is going to help you better find great prospects. If you don’t yet know exactly who to be selling to, you should be thinking about where you have the highest likelihood of winning business, and where you have the highest potential for generating revenue. Ross suggests that you can have more than one “ideal customer”, but you should limit yourself to 1-5 types of profiles. Your customer will also be changing, so keep that in mind.
Step #2 - building your list of targets
Now you are to build your list of targets. The general idea is that you should use one of the more popular list services to do this. You have likely already started to build an internal marketing list, which will help with this process.
Step #3 - run outbound email campaigns
There are three important rules you must follow in order for your emails to not be considered spam.
- The subject and header must not be misleading.
- You must have a valid physical address in your email.
- You must include a way to opt out from future communications.
Assuming that you are legally allowed to send unsolicited emails, you’ll want to determine whether or not to follow this strategy. The goal of your email should be one of the following: to get a referral to the person you should be talking to in that organization or to figure out the best day/time to have a conversation.
Step #4 - have the “discovery call”
Once you’ve gotten through with the person you want to reach, you should have a quick call to see if there is a match between what you sell and what they need. This is not a selling call, this is a call to determine if there is a fit between you.
Step #5 - Pass the Baton
If there is a fit, the last step is to pass the baton over to the account executive to close. The most important thing to ensure is that your lead will actually complete the sale. Ross suggests that the compensation plan be set up for the prospecting rep so that very specific criteria need to be met before it can be counted as a lead. It will sometimes hurt to let a leadoff, but above all, you are better off if you focus on where you are most likely to be successful.