If sales prospecting was easy, all sales teams would run on autopilot.
To top it off, no university or college teaches the skill except The School of Hard Knocks—just kidding!
But there are experts around the world who have mastered the art of sales prospecting.
They have cracked the formula of identifying the right-fit prospects, grabbing their attention, and making sure they are creating a positive client experience and a solid pipeline!
So to find those magical scrolls, we scanned each nook and corner of LinkedIn, and sifted through 639 LinkedIn posts by the top 63 SDR leaders to compile a list of 9 sales prospecting tips to help you set meetings and build that pipeline of yours faster!
So let’s just get into it.
1. Prospecting is not about hard work
Sales prospecting tip by Thibaut Souyris, VP International at M3 Learning:
Prospecting is about consistency.
Not hard work.
Here’s 5 steps to getting it right:
1. Define your cruising altitude
- How many prospects do you need to contact to reach your goal?
- Break down your goal into bite-sized, achievable targets.
- Daily activity target > lofty meeting goals.
2. Build a daily prospecting ritual
- Stop prospecting like crazy on Monday, only to stop on Tuesday.
- Block 30 – 60 minute every day at the same time.
- Protect your schedule from all distractions.
3. Follow up every day
- Following up is one of the best prospecting strategies to land more meetings.
- Have a system in place to keep track of your activity.
4. Add new prospects every day
- Don’t try to find a ton of prospects at once.
- Pick 10 – 20 people every day.
- Add them to your sequence.
5. Trust the process
- Building a solid outreach system takes patience.
- Focus on generating consistent, daily input.
- Then tweak after a few weeks.
Build your prospecting routine like you would build a new habit.
Recap:
1. Define your input.
2. Protect your schedule.
3. Execute your follow-ups.
4. Find enough new prospects daily.
5. Enjoy the journey, and tweak after a few weeks.
Over time, you can add fancy tools and tactics.
When getting started?
Keep it simple.
2. STOP building rapport about the weather
Sales prospecting tip by Michael Hanson, Founder & CEO at Growth Genie:
STOP building rapport about the weather.
It’s lazy.
Instead, spend 5 minutes before every call to:
✅ Check the LinkedIn profile of the person you are speaking to
✅ The website of the company they work for
When I spoke to Nicki Paterson recently, I started the conversation with:
“Nicki, noticed on LinkedIn you played professional football in the US. How did you end up in sales leadership?”
It turned out Nicki played with Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill in the MLS (top division in the US).
We also had a great conversation about how athletes can become great salespeople.
This all happened because I took a couple of minutes to see who I was speaking to.
Stop being lazy and prepare properly for your calls.
What are the most interesting sales conversations you’ve had recently?
3. 90% of SDRs are only focused on qualification so you must go deeper
Sales prospecting tip by John Barros, CEO at JBarrows Sales Training:
Discovery vs qualification.
90% of SDRs are only focused on qualification.
Imagine if they were technically savvy enough to do effective discovery as well.
The SDR role is evolving because buyers want and expect more.
4. Send LinkedIn Videos to Convert More Opportunities
Sales prospecting tip by Morgan J Ingram – well who doesn’t know him?
Sales Tip: Send LinkedIn videos to convert more opportunities.
Here is the exact formula I would follow.
1. Keep the video under 60 seconds if possible every single time (remember, this is not a vlog or a YouTube video) 😅
Focus on the AIDA formula (Attention ⇒ Interest ⇒ Desire ⇒ Action)
2. Get their attention in the first 5 – 7 seconds through a trigger you found on their website, LinkedIn profile, or something related to their role.
3. Stating an attention grabber in the next 15-20 seconds that talks about the ways you can help them and their organization based on what you found.
4. The last 8 – 10 seconds is the call to action, which is essentially what you want them to do.
By taking this approach, you will see higher conversion rates on your videos across the board.
5. You might be name-dropping wrong
Sales prospecting tip by Kyle Coleman, SVP Marketing, Clari:
There’s a right and a wrong way to name drop customers in your outbound emails.
😭 Unfortunately, most people are doing it the wrong way. Re-using the same customer names over and over again regardless of the recipient.
Here’s how to be more thoughtful, and get better results.
Call out companies that the recipient will care about, are likely to be familiar with, or share some similarities. Companies that are…
📈 The same size / growth rates
👯♀️ In the same industry
🏦 Backed by the same VC / PE company
🌎 In the same geo
😏 And of course, if a direct competitor is a customer, that’s worth including.
It takes a little extra effort, but it’s totally worth it.
6. Don’t file for a divorce when you’ve never been married
Sales prospecting tip by Sarah Brazier, Sr. AE, Gong:
Don’t file for divorce when you’ve never been married.
A la, don’t send a breakup email when a prospect hasn’t responded to your outreach.
Instead, do what Michael Hanson from Growth Genie recommends…. ask for coaching.
“Hey, I think I’ve missed the mark with my outreach. In an attempt to spare others from ineffective messaging, I’m curious – what could I have done differently to grab your attention?”
^ or something like that, but better, and more */you/*
Breakup emails are corny at best.
So… don’t?
Yeah, don’t.
7. After booking a meeting, search for your prospects’ competitors and prospect them
Sales prospecting tip by Charlotte Johnson, Account Executive, Salesloft:
Whenever you book a meeting with a company, search for their competitors after and prospect them.
Chances are that they will be facing similar challenges & will potentially have similar company goals & objectives.
I always remember Niamh Bainbridge was a rockstar at doing this and would book 20% of her pipeline from this strategy.
The first email or video might sound something like this –
“Looking at the sales team on LinkedIn, Billy,
Interesting that there’s {insert trend} e.g. a load of recent hires in Germany – seems like you and {competitor} have the same expansion plans…
Maybe I’m completely wrong but I’ve been chatting to a number of salesleaders in {insert industry/space} and seem to have the same challenge around {insert challenge} e.g. booking meetings & creating a process in these new territories they’re targeting).
Again maybe I’m way off but wondering is this a struggle you’re also running into?”
Simple, easy & very scalable.
Follow Charlotte Johnson here.
8. Double back on your missed meetings
Sales prospecting tip by Callum Henderson, Chief Revenue Office at EngageTech:
Rhetorical question for those in sales – have you been swerved for a new business appointment before?
“Missed Meetings” were covered by Gerry Hill 🚀 and Chris Beall in this thread, and I think it’s a top display of flipping the script on a negative.
What do you think of using this?
9. Go through your lost opportunities now
Sales prospecting tip by Sam Nelson, SDR Leader at Outreach:
SDRs: If you haven’t gone through your lost opportunities recently, there are probably some easy meetings that are highly likely to close sitting there.
Things change fast in the current environment:
📈 Outgrowing a competitors solution
💸 New funding rounds
🦔 Changes in company priorities
🧑💻 Changes in an account’s upper management
🎛️ New functionality of your solution
🧔 Different AE on the account
Can all completely change the situation!
You can look back in Outreach to see the exact play that got a meeting with them before, and it will likely work again.
A Bonus Tip Before We Say Sayonara
This tip is for the best SDRs that want to work on their personal brand – when you use these tips above, write a LinkedIn post, tag the expert, and us too (this will increase your post reach), and let the world see your awesomeness! Mastering social selling and personal branding is the need of the hour and abide you must.
Additionally, here’s a tool to increase your productivity – download Slintel’s Chrome Extension and find everything you need to prospect – phone number, email, firmographics, technographics, psychographics, and key company news – in one place. Click here to start using the Chrome Extension right away.
You can also check out our email templates, to start reaching out to your prospects.
We hope you loved reading about these incredible sales prospecting tips from some of the best SDRs around the world. From Thibaut’s tips on the mindset to Sam’s tip on analyzing your closed-lost opportunities, the ideas shared here are actionable and promising.
Have you tried any of these tips? Or maybe something that isn’t on our list? Let us know which one worked for you in the comments below.
