I will be answering your questions on sales development, career development, mindset, and prospecting strategies on June 11th, from 3:00pm EST to 4:00pm EST.
I have been REALLY hype on video selling lately, however, I am open to all questions related to prospecting. Looking forward to your questions and having a great conversation!
Post your questions below and answers will start showing up at 3PM EST Thursday.
Thanks for doing this, @morganjingram!
I’ve seen a lot of questions about selling with video relating to scripting, shooting, editing, etc.
But I’m even more curious about how selling with video might change the rest of your outreach. Like, how you reference videos in voicemails, emails, phone calls. And how the timing or content of those other points of contact should change when/if you use video.
Any tips?
No problem Colin! My voicemail is a proactive voicemail and ill mention how I am going to send a video the next day so that they are prepared to watch it. The video is normally the 4th or 5th touch in the sequence. However, I will recommend this strategy that was helpful for my team in the past. If we saw an email had over two views. We would move it to a video cadence that was a personalized video to the prospect to schedule more meetings. We saw a 70% open rate and 27% response rate.
Nice! Super interesting and I love the hyper-tactical approach to changing up emails that are viewed more than once.
Is this the reasoning behind that move? Somebody is reading the email and thinking about how to respond if they view it more than once, so you give them an extra bit of effort to get them over the hump?
Its the extra bump to get them over the hump to respond.
Hi @morganjingram I’m excited to see what you have to say tomorrow. I’d love to ask what you enjoy the most about sales, about prospecting? It feels almost like a gold hunt for me, but in a fun way. What do you think?
I love this question because my goal is to make prospecting fun. I enjoy prospecting because its a puzzle to figure out what type of channel is going to make the prospect respond to me in a sea of noise. You are 1 out of thousand sales rep reaching out. How do you get someone’s attention to where they respond to you out of those people. That is extremely fun for me. What I do to make it fun is to focus on the 80/20 rule. 80% of my prospecting I know leads to proven results. 20% of my prospecting is something that is new that will make it more exciting for me. Don’t make this boring, make it exciting for you and your prospect.
I’m sure it gets exhausting talking about this but how do you think the broader sales community can start to combat our massive diversity problem? Particularly with POC in our industry?
Also you’re the man, thanks for doing this AMA.
It all starts with a simple formula:
1. Listen to the perspectives of the African American Community & POC
2. Educate yourself
3. Take action that is uncomfortable
If everyone starts doing these things, we will start to see change. Also, hire MORE Chief Diversity officers. That’s a must.
SV Academy has started combating this 🙂
When leads are stalling after being sent to AE’s for follow up; how do you get them re-engaged and excited to follow through? There is a big disconnect in my org despite clear SLA’s.
Thanks!
I’m keen to hear the answer to this as well. Great question @jlatchaw85
Get the AE excited @jlatchaw85? I would encourage you to create an ROE on how to handle those leads and what happens when they arent. Incentives and disincentives drive behavior.
+1 to that!
And sometimes the fear of loss of opportunity is a more powerful motivator than incentive to do something extra.
When it comes to prospecting, what are the sources you see success with? (Sales Nav, Zoominfo, Seamless, etc.?)
Also, is your approach focused on more volume and generic messaging (can this be done in video at scale?), or less volume and more personalized messaging (even if you’re not using video?)?
Looking forward to your response. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us @morganjingram!!
What’s sup Drew! I see the most success with Sales Nav, ZoomInfo, LeadIQ, Drift Video and Salesloft.
My approach is focused more on personalization because I am targeting fewer accounts. So the answer to this question depends on what the rep’s goals are. If you are being asked to schedule more meetings. You are going to have to figure out your balance of volume-based messaging vs hyper-personalization. I do more hyper-personalization with videos to make it more of a human interaction.
Oh and one more thing, what’s your favorite Travis Scott song to get you in the ZONE?
SCOTT! My favorite Travis Scott song to play to get into the zone would be No Bystanders.
Love it, I’m going to throw that in my eardrums now.
#itslit
What has been the best practice(s) for outbound that you’ve seen success with in this post COVID landscape?
1. Prospecting outside of the box (LinkedIn videos, LinkedIn voice messages and Gif prospecting)
2. Keeping your emails short and straight to the point (2-5 sentences and 78% emails are normally read on a mobile device)
3. Frictionless voicemails (Leaving your phone number out of the voicemail)
4. Understanding your ICP’s ICP (Are the buyers from the organization you are reaching out to purchasing their product still based on the current landscape?)
@morganjingram – We have talked about video prospecting over the past two months. Now that the states are starting to open back up, my team has seen increases in Linkedin conversation via text.
What trends are you seeing outside of video prospecting?
In terms of career development, what do you believe is the number one skill SDRs should focus on to prepare them for an AE role?
What is your take on COVID-19 affecting the SDR role long-term? With layoffs happening across the country do you see companies moving back to full desk AEs while increasing marketing spend for inbounds
Always appreciate your insights!
Lots of questions here brotha haha.
1. The trends I am seeing outside of video prospecting are the use of GIFs and Memes. I have seen more people engage with my LinkedIn messages and emails that include these things. Completely out of the box, however I am seeing it working in multiple spaces across the board.
2. The #1 skill is the ability to ask great questions. When you ask great questions, you get great answers. I would suggest reading Question-Based Selling.
3. We are going to see fewer inbound reps after this in my opinion. Also, SDRs will be required to learn more AE skills earlier because they will be asked to do more qualification calls and become sellers and not just appointment sellers. If you are an SDR right now I would be focusing on your sales skills, not just your prospecting skills. The successful reps moving forward will know how to do both.
Your time is so valuable it’s either posting content on Linkedin or playing COD. I gotta get all my questions in at once. lol
Fair point. Haha. I hope this all helps!
It did, thank you! We are going to use the Question-Based Selling for our book club in July.
Welcome @morganjingram Morgan!
Excited to hear your thoughts!
Q: I know you have a podcast I believe in addition to your full time job. How did you get your start? What is your podcast, and do you have more than one?
If you could get a do over, would you change any thing?
Thanks Morgan!
Cheers!
Macky
Thanks for the warm welcome! I started the YouTube Channel 4 years ago and I focused on the topics that I was struggling with the most as an SDR. I knew that these topics would resonate because it is what I was dealing with on a day to day basis. I used my Macbook computer and my editing software which was iMovie. The podcast/YouTubeChannel is called #TheSDRChronicles. I would have done more Q&As with the community as I started out.
Thanks for the great and thoughtful responses @morganjingram
It was truly a pleasure to here from an industry leader!
Best wishes Morgan and THANK YOU for your time!
Cheers!
Macky
What does your voicemail script sound like?
and how long should it be?
this is normally around 20-30 seconds? However, most people look at the transcript of their voicemails and don’t even listen to them.
@bphan002 Good question. I believe in frictionless voicemails instead of friction voicemails. What that means is that I leave voicemails that dont have a number vs leaving a number because it interrupts the pattern that the prospect has.
Very interesting, super curious about this @morganjingram – do you say “dont worry about calling me back, I’ll reach back out in a few days (or with a vid)”? Or something else …
Ah, just saw your other comment!
@bphan002 this is my voicemail script.
Hi, Sally the reason for my call is one of the VPs of Sales I recently worked with told me they ran a call blitz after one of my prospecting trainings and improved their conversion rates from 5-15% while driving 25 meetings using our techniques. No need to call me back, please look at my following email that I am about to send you to see if our training could have this kind of impact on your results. This is Morgan J Ingram from jbarrows sales training.
Once, this is Morgan J Ingram from jbarrows sales training
Once again*
Do You have a sales or business template for developing business with distributors?
Can you tell me what you mean by developing business? Is that prospecting? Is that discovery calls? I want to make sure I understand the question.
SDR targets – what is the best way?
I have used # of SALs per month but like the idea of having a points system – say 20 for SMB, 40 for MM, 80 for Large ENT etc – this way it compensates SDRs for the long hunt of enterprise accounts
Thoughts?
It depends on your ACV, length of sales cycle and how new the team is too. Personally I like the point system because it encourages reps to go after higher-end deals like you mentioned. My team did the # of SALs per month with ENT deals having a higher commission if they ran.
How often should you post videos to social media (personal or company), YouTube or your own website showcasing what a product/service can do? I know each company is different but I was wondering if there was a benchmark that a company should try to achieve if they are new to video. Thanks!
As you said, it depends on your goals and what you are looking to accomplish. I would shoot for once a week so people can identify a face with the brand.
Team lead. Aspiring Manager. How can I make the most of being a TL? What are your favourite TL tips and what do you look for in a TL?
Congrats on being a TL!
Tips
1. Be a proactive team lead and ask people how you can support them
2. Ask your manager what are the three things you can help them with
3. Lead training sessions weekly/bi-weekly
4. Book clubs
Look for:
1. Someone who is a proactive coach
2. Someone that the team looks up to
3. Someone who has a structure that they can coach other reps on for consistent results
Hi Morgan!! Are you an advocate for keeping your video on even if nobody from the customer’s end has their webcam on ? Or do you turn yours off if you know that the customer doesn’t have theirs on too ?
Hey Sammy! I keep my video on EVERYTIME because I want to show my face to the prospect and create a more human experience in the sales cycle. Normally when I have the second call, the prospect is comfortable with me and they turn their webcam on.
ahh.. and what if they just never turn theirs on? do you continue to have yours on?
Yep.
Noice…… thank you so much Morgan.
How do you identify pain points of clients and reach potential prospects with the help of pain points for specific industry/vertical like Accounts Receivable Management. What tools to use for prospecting?
Thanks a lot for doing this Morgan 🙂
I would go talk to your customer success team and ask them what pain points your clients normally deal with. Then create messaging off of those pain points and how you help solve those. I use LinkedIn Sales Nav, LeadIQ, ZoomInfo, Salesloft, and Drift Video to prospect.
Most Outreach video I’ve seen is used clumsily. Where in the sales process is video best used, and what are best practices for use in communicating with C-level, Director-level prospects?
There are four places where you can deliver video in the sales process:
1. Prospecting
2. Re-engage
3. Objection Handling
4. Proposal
Where its best used is based on the situation you are in. For example, I was attempting to get a deal over the line and we had to talk to power. I drafted a proposal to send to the managers/directors I was working with to make sure it aligned with the Chief Sales Officer’s priorities. They all agreed that it did. From there, I created a video talking over the proposal and highlighting what was important to the executive. The video was 6 mins vs. sitting in a 30-45 minute with me. They watched the video and we ended up closing the deal later on that week. I hope this helps!
Excellent. Thank you!
Video selling
1) How do you convince people who are not video friendly? I joke that i have a head for radio (before they were live streamed) most of my team hate being on video – let’s be fare here – sex sells. My team are mainly men and none of us are sexy (even our wives would agree! LOL)
2) what do you think about the screen grab that people send with your name on it and then you click and you find it generic and they are wearing something else? How do you offset efficiency with tailoring?
1) I tell them that video is the virtual handshake and that you are most likely doing video anyways because of Zoom. You dont wear a paper bag when you go to events do you? Haha. Its the same thing here. Video always you to have a face to face interaction from the comfort of your home AND show your personality in the sales process.
2) I haven’t done that technique myself. I would create template videos based on the persona or objection that you are looking to overcome. If you are going to be personalized than be personalised and don’t make it a gimmick.
Is email marketing dead? Colm
Nothing is dead, so in this case I would say no.
Want to learn more about using video for increasing lead flow in auto service repair centers and other businesses that need a world class ERP in Oracle’s NetSuite combined with the most unique game changing technology in our Advectus DMS!?!
Thank you for your help!!
How have you adapted to providing meaningful insights to targeted points of contact within an organization?
This is in reference to a cold contact, or towards a contact where you have established a buyer persona.
My research has been on anticipating where their attention & interest will be.
For example, any given channel, group or conference.
Thanks Morgan.
Kevin Eytel
Cold contact – I ask marketing what content people have been engaging with the most and provide those insights. Also, you can see what experts are posting in your space and use that.
Established interest – Based on what they say their priorities are I would send content that is around that. You can use a website called Feedly to get blog posts and articles to send to your prospects that are engaged.
Who are some great sales managers to work for?
Who are some great AEs to follow?
Kevin Dorsey, Lucas Ulloque and Tonni Bennet are great sales leaders/managers. Danny Read and Tyler Cole are great AEs to follow.
Awesome Thanks Morgan for all that you do. Stay healthy.
Hi Morgan,
We are boutique in size and selling professional services – so less outreach of higher quality and we are light on tools.
Thinking about embedding a one minute video into outbound emails, relevant and tailored to their business.
What do you think? Any thoughts on how to execute it, what platform to use, etc.? Ideas on how to track clicks and watch time?
War Eagle! (my wife went there anyway!)
@chadrspain Morgan may have a different answer but I’ll share mine. I use Dubb.com (similar to Bomb Bomb and OneMob) I find the ability to create a branded page for viewing my videos allows the prospect to see social channels and exposes them to a call to action right there on the view page. Since videos can’t actually be “embedded” in an email (gifs and images can) you’ll always have to link to a page for your recipient to see it. Dubb gives me a TON of options for this page. Here’s an example (NOT a prospecting video but it’s an example): https://sellmark.dubb.com/v/UyHsdU
Haha nice on the WAR EAGLE.
I would get software which it looks like it has already been recommended here. Vidyard, BombBomb, Drift Video.. tons to chose from.
It will give you a video link that you can put in your email. Then you can track the view rates and clicks as well.
Thanks @theresafrench and @morganjingram, very helpful – and thanks for the example
Subject line – Matt (their name) + Morgan l A quick video for you
Body of the email – make it one sentence. Here is an example.
I made you a quick video on how we are helping sales leaders keep their team agile in their prospecting efforts during this time. Its less than 90 seconds. Enjoy!
What is the top trait and skillset that you have seen needed for SDRs to transition to Account Exec/ Account Management roles?
1. Asking better questions to get better answers to close. This also ties into active listening so your questions are better.
Hi Morgan,
In a saturated market, where the TMP has to have the product, how do you differentiate your solution from the 30+ others? We have case studies, testimonials, etc… I would like to to know how to best engage my TMP with this information.
Thanks!
Hi Morgan,
In a saturated market, where most prospects are required to have the solution we are offering, how do you deliver the information that differentiates our solution from the competition’s in an effective way?
Thanks!
I would go outside of the box with your prospecting. Talk to people that are your end-users and gather data from them. Use that information from an end-user and then prospect the executives. It’s the best way to stand out.
Hey @morganjingram! You had a discussion with my sales team once and we all really enjoyed it! I was hoping to learn the best way to engage someone on the other side of the phone via cold call. I’ve heard from people to NEVER ask how they’re doing and i’ve heard of people saying its silly not to I can see both sides of the argument however i’m still in limbo for that initial way to capture interest. I don’t want to go in with my pitch directly because that isn’t building rapport. What do you advise the first 10 seconds should consist of to engage them and not think its another sales call? Or since we are sales people treat it as it is?
Loved being able to have you speak to our sales team, hope to have you back soon!
Great to hear! Thanks for your message. This is my intro. Hi Megan, thanks for taking my call. I know I am calling you out of the blow however do you have a few moments to chat? I dont say my name and it interrupts their pattern. This leads to better conversations and allows for them to say “Who are you” so you can go into your pitch. I dont like “how are you?” because everyone else says that and your prospect goes in defense mode. We don’t want that. We want conversations with our prospects. I hope this helps!