How to Be More Personalized in Your Sales Outreach

There’s something to be said for personalized communications. When it comes to sales outreach, today’s customer doesn’t want to be just another one of the masses. People want tailored, personalized messaging and marketing campaigns so that they feel connected, appreciated, and heard in their needs. It’s easy to feel like you can’t really personalize cold outreach, but there’s more that you can do than you might realize.

Even from that very first email, phone call, or message, your sales team should be doing research to figure out who they’re talking to and why. That way, you can identify key decision-makers and tailor your messaging to their needs. 

Some people will tell you that sales has changed drastically since the 1960s. That’s partly true—we do have better tools, resources, and strategies than before. We’re also catering to a different kind of consumer mentality. However, it’s not really that different in the end because the goals are the same: turning prospects into customers. 

Here’s what you need to know about personalized sales outreach and how you can use it to improve your efforts. For extra support, ask how Smith.ai can help with your outreach campaigns and prospecting. 

Why personalize sales outreach?

Studies have shown that personalized outreach generates a 142% reply rate increase when you communicate via email. And we’re not just talking about putting their name in the greeting or subject line. It’s time to get truly personal and connect to people based on their unique needs. 

When you do this, you give people more connection. You show them that you care about them as a person, not just a sale or customer. It also allows you to outpace the competition and even run against some of the big-box brands because you’re taking the extra time to customize your communications. 

How to personalize your sales outreach

There’s no real “formula” for successful outreach, but your strategy should include several different elements. When you’re trying to create a more personalized approach, here are some steps and tips to help. 

Research and refine 

Your first effort should be to figure out the target of your outreach. Who are you going to target and why? This question can be used to define all of your audiences when you’re doing sales outreach, so make sure that you take advantage of it. Be specific in your answers, not generalized. 

For example, instead of targeting mid-size companies and their decision-makers, you could choose to target CFOs at companies with 1,000+ employees. Or, perhaps your target is a single mom in the 30-50 age range with kids under age 10. See how much more specific these are? That’s what your target definitions should look like. 

Use templates for email 

Sales outreach can happen in many places. The phone and email are still, by far, the most popular choices for both sales reps and customers. People love email because it allows them to absorb the information and respond on their time. Templates can help you create personalized outreach and save time, streamlining your outreach efforts. 

Make sure that you craft all emails from scratch. Use token personalization for mass emails, but take the time to create individual messages and unique pitches so that you have them when the prospect wants something even more personalized. 

Lead in with how you know your prospects 

Outreach begins with your leads, not your company. People want to know that you’re reaching out to them specifically and deliberately. Therefore, the first two or three lines of your conversation should include their name and something notable about them, which you can find from their website, company news articles, etc. 

If you’re pitching to consumers, you’ll have less to work with here, but you can still make an attempt to highlight their needs first and then lead into why you’ve contacted them and what you have to offer. 

Choose your angle 

The “angle” is how you’re going to actually pitch your product or service to the lead with their needs in mind. You can use a variety of methods, but the most common include:

• Case studies
• Social proof
• Offers 

Offers are the last on the list because you should always use the first two if you can. Save the last for when you need a way to get people’s attention. An offer would be something like, “If I can’t increase your conversion rates by X, I’ll pay you $100.” 

It comes off a little uncouth to some, but it gets people’s attention and it has proven to work. Besides, if you do your job right, you’ll impress them and you won’t have to pay up. 

Be careful with automation 

A quick note on personalized sales outreach and automation: there’s a balance and you must find it. You can automate a lot and still streamline your lead intake and sales outreach without sacrificing that personal connection. Find the balance and your sales reps will thank you (and so will your leads!). 

Track sales outreach and monitor progress 

It’s important that you keep an eye on your outreach efforts and make sure that you’re hitting the mark. Take advantage of your CRM to help you monitor email campaigns and other outreach efforts. You can personalize your dashboard and reports, set your own KPIs and benchmarks, and more. 

With proper monitoring, you’ll be able to tweak campaigns and the personalization of them so that you can continue to drive leads. This will result in increased conversions, an improved brand reputation, and a whole new group of customers that you can cultivate for lifetime business. 

Outsource to Smith.ai to handle those incoming leads and more

While you’re building a better sales outreach strategy, who’s handling all the new leads that are coming in? Partner with Smith.ai and you’ll get a team of dedicated virtual receptionists that can provide support for lead intake and appointment scheduling. We can also assist with your outreach campaigns to get the leads in the first place, and provide a 24/7 answering service so you never miss a single opportunity.

To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai.

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