Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Salespeople shouldn’t send “just checking in” emails for one very simple reason: They don’t work. Buyers feel like the rep is virtually poking them, making them reluctant to answer. Not only do “checking in” messages rarely garner responses, they can even turn prospects against their senders.

But reps still need a way to get in touch with buyers who’ve gone dark. Enter these 23 email templates.

These “just checking in” alternatives simultaneously add value to the prospect while putting the salesperson back on her radar. She’ll want to restart the sales conversation -- so it’s a win-win....

If you’re a B2B salesperson, you’ve probably heard about SPIN Sales. It’s one of the most well-known -- not to mention oldest -- selling systems. SPIN gives reps a research-backed framework for working and closing complex deals with extended sales processes.

You can use SPIN principles along with your current sales methodology. The strategy focuses on asking good questions in the right order, using active listening, and translating the prospect’s needs into your product’s features. (Many of SPIN’s principles align well with inbound sales.)

To help you implement the most useful tips, aspects, and templates from SPIN Selling, we’ve put together the following guide:...

How often do you get a call from a prospect you’ve never spoken to before who says, “I love your service and it’s the perfect fit for my business. Where do I sign?”

Probably not that often.
That’s where persuasion comes in. Some deals are easier to close than others, but all sales conversations will involve some degree of persuasion -- even if both salesperson and buyer know your offering is the best choice.

It’s not easy -- if persuasion were simple, far more than one-third of all salespeople would make quota. But adopting the techniques below can make you more convincing, and influence prospects to buy....

I’ve been selling for 30 years, and it’s been a blast. I’ve seen some incredible changes, and I can say without a doubt that right now is the best time to invest in a sales career. Sales is fun, critically important to scaling businesses, financially lucrative, and intellectually stimulating.

But being a salesperson in 2016 is very different than being a salesperson in 1986. Buyers have changed, and so top salespeople have to change with them. Things that worked 30 years ago don’t fly anymore, but it’s for the best. Although it’s arguably more difficult to sell effectively in 2016, it’s easier for top performers to differentiate themselves.

And the first thing you need to do is drop the eight tactics below. These are all things that worked when I started out in sales, but smart salespeople should never try these tactics today....

You know what tips buyers off that the email they're reading is a sales pitch?

"Hi, My name is John Smith, and I'm a sales rep at Company."

Yup. That'll do it.

While you should never actively hide the fact that you're a salesperson from buyers, there are far more creative and engaging ways of opening sales emails than the standard name-and-company introduction. "Hi, I'm a salesperson" encourages readers to hit "delete" immediately, which is a shame because you probably have something valuable to offer. Changing up your opening lines to position yourself as a consultant, business expert, or interested party will do you justice and keep the prospect reading.

If you're struggling to think of alternatives to the standard opening line, take one of these for a spin and see how they perform for you. ...

According to HubSpot, 65% of survey respondents say that generating leads is their top challenge and even more (74%) say that converting leads is their top priority.

If you’re reading this, you likely know that landing pages are the best asset in your digital marketing arsenal to generate leads and sales. Every stage of the marketing funnel can utilize landing pages, but one type of landing page helps qualify leads for sale unlike any other: a demo landing page.

Demo landing pages are typically included in the decision stage of the buyer’s journey, at the bottom of the marketing funnel. In the decision stage prospects already know they have a problem, they’ve evaluated all of their options, and are now deciding who to purchase from.

Lead capture forms tend to be longer on these pages because companies want to know more about the prospect to ensure they are qualified for the sales process. With this in mind, let’s take a look at 10 demo landing page examples to see what works well and what could be improved....

Like writers, sales reps often develop bad habits. But without paying attention to what they’re doing and examining their behavior, these habits can cause mistakes that end in deals falling apart, annoyed prospects, or missed quotas.

Just like a double negative can wreck an otherwise solid paragraph, all it takes is one cringeworthy phrase to kill a sales follow-up email. The phrase I’m thinking of is nothing short of poisonous to deals, and should be cut from the vocabulary of every sales rep.  Can you spot it in the following email?...

Negotiation isn’t just something that ambassadors and heads of state do, it’s part of our daily lives.

Many commonplace interactions involve negotiation, whether we realize it or not. Unless you are alone on the road, the very act of driving is a constant negotiation. The tips in this infographic won’t help you with deciding who’s going first at a stop sign, but in any negotiation situation where you can talk to the other party, you’ll get good advice here....

It’s incredibly rare that a prospect responds to a salesperson’s first outreach attempt. This necessitates following up … and following up on your follow ups.

But how many prospecting touchpoints should salespeople make before they call it quits? When should they send these messages? And should they email, call, or reach out in another way? The “how,” “when,” and “what” of following up is important to get right if a rep hopes to snag the buyer’s attention and make a sale.

Here’s a guide that can help you optimize your prospecting process and significantly improve your response and connect rates, even with no changes to the content of your messaging.