At Outreach, I’ve labored with many purchasers who battle with their prospecting technique.
New prospects typically search recommendation on participating prospects throughout a number of channels, what to say, and how typically.
Whatever the dimension of the gross sales org, the challenges stay the identical. With no blueprint, maintaining prospects engaged and hitting quotas is sort of unattainable.
With no blueprint, maintaining prospects engaged and hitting quotas is sort of unattainable.
Enter sequences — the muse of an excellent prospecting technique and the engine fueling your playbook.
Sequences simplify engagements with prospects and current prospects, guaranteeing your most vital communications don’t fall by means of the cracks. Sequences are probably the most used characteristic in Outreach, and creating one includes three phases:
Part 1 – Sequence construction
Part 2 – Sequence upkeep
Part 3 – Measuring sequence success
Let’s have a look underneath the hood.
Sequence construction
Scale is a phrase that’s used ceaselessly today.
A phrase I typically hear is “progress requires scalable processes.”
Creating a correct sequence construction permits you to personalize prospect engagement at scale whereas guaranteeing reps spend time centered on extremely valued prospects. In the event you construction your sequences appropriately from the start and attain out to the best prospects, with the best message, on the proper time, it turns into a breeze.
Easy methods to construct sequences in Outreach
There are 4 key steps to constructing a sequence:
- Determine and outline your personas
- Design your blueprints
- Optimize particular person sequence steps
- Implement governance
Determine and outline your personas
A persona-based sequence method will set the muse.
When prospecting and connecting with present prospects, your messaging and speak observe will differ primarily based on a person’s title and division throughout the account.
For instance, you’ll method a VP of gross sales a lot in a different way than a gross sales supervisor, proper? It’s because every position has totally different challenges and issues to unravel. Under is an instance of which sequence method to leverage when coping with a particular persona.
Unsure who your purchaser personas are? A superb place to begin is with your advertising and marketing workforce. Your advertising and marketing workforce has already slotted these personas into cohorts to optimize advertising and marketing efforts. Don’t have a advertising and marketing workforce? No worries! Get a bunch of key stakeholders collectively and establish your purchaser personas collectively.
Want extra assist? Signal-up for our Content material 2.0 College course, learn to Configure Personas in our assist portal, or examine How Outreach Makes use of Outreach to Promote Outreach.
Design your blueprints
The easiest way to jump-start your sequence creation is to make the most of one of many Outreach blueprints. This allows you to preserve your sequences easy and comply with a primary two-tiered, high-touch/low-touch method to outbound prospecting. The picture under has some common tips to comply with when utilizing these blueprints.
Wish to optimize your sequences additional? Listed below are some professional suggestions from Outreach content material creator, David Plutschak.
- Apart from follow-up and event-based sequences, each sequence ought to be a minimal of 8 touches spanning over three weeks.
- Create sufficient sequences to achieve all goal personas for personalization at scale. This might be so simple as utilizing the two-tiered method outlined above or including in a 3rd tier to achieve extra personas.
- Outreach follows the 3-tiered method under:
- Tier 1: management personas – This can be a handbook sequence centered on name steps. Reserve this tier to your highest precedence prospects.
- Tier 2: mid-level personas – This can be a handbook sequence with automated reply steps and calls all through. Reserve this tier to your heavy influencers (these that may affect the choice maker).
- Tier 3: Low-Stage Personas – This can be a 100% automated sequence. Reserve this tier for whenever you’re asking for a referral, on the lookout for the very best contact, or it is advisable to achieve perception on firm particulars/challenges.
Searching for extra sequences to create? Find out about Outreach workflows in our eBook “It’s Not Who You Are, It’s What You Do: From Roles to Workflows,” and browse our Outreach workflows part within the assist portal.
Optimize particular person sequence steps
The subsequent step to think about is the varieties of steps you wish to use in every tier.
Ought to step one be a name or an e mail? How must you comply with up? When ought to your reps use a LinkedIn interplay?
Most prospects wish to know the best way to greatest interact with prospects throughout channels. By means of in depth A/B testing, we’ve discovered the very best method is:
- Begin robust with a one-two punch! First, begin your sequences with a number of duties collectively (e.g., have reps name and e mail on day one). After, slowly taper with steps unfold out over the sequence. This technique will instill urgency in your prospects.
- Alternate your handbook touchpoints. This manner, reps can full numerous quantities of handbook duties, lowering monotony of their day-to-day.
- Use social touchpoints akin to LinkedIn. Finishing LinkedIn view duties was so final yr! In addition to, in case you’ve included name duties, most reps will view the prospect’s LinkedIn to prep earlier than the decision. As an alternative, have reps eat and work together with content material a prospect has shared. For instance, have them remark within the thread and comply with up with a message the following day.
Wish to study extra about writing emails? Join our Content material 2.0 College course.
Need assistance crafting your sequences? Take a look at our Galaxy associate – REGIE.
Wish to incorporate extra multichannel engagement? Be taught extra about which Galaxy Integrations could make this occur.
Implement governance
You’ve outlined your purchaser personas, designed blueprints, and optimized the person steps. The final step, however maybe most important, is implementing correct governance round creating and modifying content material.
We recommend limiting the flexibility to create and edit content material to a couple workforce members or teams who’ve been skilled and vetted. This ensures your content material is top of the range, meets your model tips, and helps your sequence technique.
Be mindful: limiting content material creation to a choose group will allow you to match sequences in opposition to each other and create significant benchmarks. This lets you use information to see what’s driving outcomes and iterate primarily based on these findings.
With out controlling content material creation, this job turns into difficult. Keep in mind, it’s all the time simpler to provide permissions than take them away. Over time, it’s possible you’ll think about introducing content material creation to a choose group of reps (e.g., senior reps or a content material committee).
Sequence upkeep
Now that you just’ve constructed your sequences, it’s time to keep up them.
Sequence upkeep is important to maintaining your content material updated, related, and efficient. However, similar to common upkeep in your automotive or dwelling, with out some fine-tuning, you threat breaking down, dropping worth, or getting up to now behind it’s laborious to maintain up.
Fortunately, sequence upkeep is straightforward, and with common check-ups, you’ll preserve the integrity of your content material and keep on prime of any points that will come up.
Easy methods to preserve your sequences in Outreach
Your purchaser personas are outlined, blueprints are in place, sequence steps have been optimized, and governance insurance policies are set. Now your sequences are stay and within the arms of your reps — the trusted crew steering you in the direction of gross sales glory! Right here’s what to do to make sure your technique stays efficient over time.
Overview all sequences on a proper cadence
Overview sequence efficiency throughout their first month. As soon as everyone seems to be skilled on the platform and utilizing sequences frequently, you may improve the time between critiques. A great rule of thumb is to overview efficiency at the very least each six months however not more than each quarter.
In the event you’ve allowed reps to create content material, overview the way it’s performing and if it’s being utilized earlier than locking it in bulk.
Monitor adoption
Take this time to see in case your sequence technique is being adopted throughout all groups. You are able to do this by maintaining tabs on the amount of prospects being sequenced frequently.
Leverage the facility of A/B testing
If one sequence outperforms others, use that as a baseline to tweak your different sequences. Likewise, if one sequence outperforms others, use that as a baseline to tweak your different sequences.
Word: Make one change at a time. In the event you make too many adjustments directly, you received’t be capable of inform what change was chargeable for what.
When you’re prepared, it’s time for the ultimate part of your sequence build-out, measuring success!
Measuring sequence success
In my skilled opinion, that is the very best half. It’s time to measure the success of all of your laborious work! In doing so, you’re not solely seeing the fruits of your labor — you’re additionally getting an opportunity to refine your work utilizing information to achieve extra prospects, e-book extra calls, and develop your enterprise.
Easy methods to measure sequence success in Outreach
Any nice steady enchancment cycle features a measurement part. Constructing killer sequences that improve conversion charges is not any totally different.
You’ve strategized, applied, and executed. How are you going to now iterate on what you’ve finished to make your gross sales pipeline much more profitable? What measurements must you take note of? Under are the suggestions I inform all my prospects to look out for:
Control your efficiency information
Throughout the platform, you’ll discover quite a lot of methods you may achieve perception into your sequence efficiency. Open and reply charges might be discovered at each the sequence and particular person step ranges, and also you’ll have clear visibility into which sequences and steps outperform others.
Interpret and iterate primarily based on A/B take a look at outcomes
Make the most of Outreach’s built-in A/B testing. Simplicity is essential, so restrict the take a look at to 2 messaging methods however not more than three. It will preserve your A/B take a look at manageable and help you collect correct outcomes.
Determine how a lot is an excessive amount of
You all the time need prospects flowing out and in of sequence. Nevertheless, there may be such a factor as including too many prospects into sequence directly.
In the event you begin seeing the variety of overdue duties rising, think about lowering the variety of prospects sequenced. However, if the variety of remaining duties per day is all the time zero, think about sequencing a better variety of prospects.
Stability is essential. Over time, you’ll discover the quantity that works to your workforce. We suggest including 10 to twenty prospects every day, as it would more than likely compound from there. Inside a month, it’s best to be capable of decide your ‘actual’ quantity.
You now have the instruments to create the engine that can gas your playbook— sequences. Now, it’s time to construct, preserve, and measure your sequences. The world is your oyster!
This text was initially written by Katie Douglas.Katie is a former buyer success supervisor who joined Outreach in 2017 and departed in 2021. Whereas at Outreach, she received the celebrated buyer success supervisor of the yr award for her phase. Katie’s obsession with serving to company prospects succeed was rooted in her give attention to implementing and driving gross sales engagement methods.
