Amplemarket Blog

Over the past year, our research unit at [Amplemarket](http://amplemarket.com/?utm_source=blog_lead_gen&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=blog_lead_gen) has exhaustively analyzed B2B lead generation strategies from hundreds of our clients. One interesting fact in B2B lead generation is that *less is more*. All the top 10% performers focus on strategies with a lower number of leads, **but higher purchase intent**. Finding ultra-qualified leads isn’t an easy process for any business. In this article, we will give you 11 B2B lead generation strategies to find leads that convert in 2021. For starters, this article also covers some basics of B2B lead generation. If you’re comfortable enough with the topic, feel free to jump ahead to 1 of the 11 tactics below 👇 1. [Generate leads from people interacting with LinkedIn content](http://blog.amplemarket.com/b2b-lead-generation/#1generateleadsfrompeopleinteractingwithlinkedincontent) 2. [Generate leads from new managers on growing teams](http://blog.amplemarket.com/b2b-lead-generation/#2generateleadsfromnewmanagersongrowingteams) 3. [Generate leads from conference attendees](http://blog.amplemarket.com/b2b-lead-generation/#3generateleadsfromconferenceattendees) 4. [Generate leads from conference non-attendees](http://blog.amplemarket.com/b2b-lead-generation/#4generateleadsfromconferencenonattendees) 5. [Generate leads from companies that use relevant tools and are featured on famous company lists](http://blog.amplemarket.com/b2b-lead-generation/#5generateleadsfromcompaniesthatuserelevanttoolsandarefeaturedonfamouscompanylists) 6. [Generate leads from your participation in relevant Slack, LinkedIn and Facebook groups](http://blog.amplemarket.com/b2b-lead-generation/#6generateleadsfromyourparticipationinrelevantslacklinkedinandfacebookgroups) 7. [Generate leads when companies are approving new budgets](http://blog.amplemarket.com/b2b-lead-generation/#7generateleadswhencompaniesareapprovingnewbudgets) 8. [Generate leads from your competitor product reviews](http://blog.amplemarket.com/b2b-lead-generation/#8generateleadsfromyourcompetitorproductreviews) 9. [Generate leads from companies that recently fundraised](http://blog.amplemarket.com/b2b-lead-generation/#9generateleadsfromcompaniesthatrecentlyfundraiser) 10. [Generate leads from openly available resources useful to your niche](http://blog.amplemarket.com/b2b-lead-generation/#10generateleadsfromopenlyavailableresourcesusefultoyourniche) 11. [Generate leads within your ICP with common interests or hobbies](http://blog.amplemarket.com/b2b-lead-generation/#11generateleadsfromleadswithinyouricpwithcommoninterestsorhobbies) #First things first, what is B2B lead generation? In sales, business-to-business (B2B) lead generation refers to the first step of an outbound sales process. It consists of sourcing contact information about potential new customers. B2B lead generation is an important step for both sales & marketing teams. However, in this blog post, we will focus more on relevant tactics and strategies for B2B sales teams selling online (i.e. via email, social media, etc). #Why is B2B lead generation so important? It’s simple. You don’t want to waste your team’s resources (money and time) selling ice to Eskimos. Even if you’re able to convince a few of them, they will soon realize that your product/service is useless to them. Having a great lead generation process means getting the right people to use your product/service. This leads to higher conversion rates in your sales & marketing funnels and happier customers to provide good reviews and referrals. # How does a great B2B lead generation process look like? A great B2B lead generation process is able to generate a considerable amount of leads at the top of the funnel. Of course, numbers will differ a lot between companies and industries, but the idea is that you’re able to source enough leads and still make sure you are targeting the niche of customers that truly benefit from your product / service. Your ultimate goal is to find **the leads** with the most potential to become your next customers, by looking for purchase intent signals online. How? Let’s get practical with a few examples of B2B lead generation tactics. #11 B2B Lead Generation tactics and strategies you should try in 2021: ##1. Generate leads from people interacting with LinkedIn content Every day, many professionals open their thoughts for discussion on LinkedIn. Every time this happens, lots of interactions are generated. People that are liking or commenting on those thoughts are publicly showing alignment with a topic that is relevant to them. This opens the possibility to find an entire audience out there that might be ready to start a conversation with you. How amazing is that? We’ve recently written an article about this lead generation strategy, you can follow the [complete step-by-step guide](http://blog.amplemarket.com/generate-leads-linkedin-content/?utm_source=blog_lead_gen&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=blog_lead_gen) of this approach or [watch our 15min webinar here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4yVFRuycZQ&feature=youtu.be). PS: If you’re already thinking about how you’ll have the time to gather data from all the profiles on these posts, here’s the solution. Extracting leads from LinkedIn content is a seamless experience with Amplemarket’s LinkedIn extension: ![[b2b lead generation]](https://i.imgur.com/UMIcTfL.jpg) ##2. Generate leads from new managers on growing teams Sales Navigator is a powerful tool for lead generation because LinkedIn has access to a lot of data that it’s virtually impossible to replicate. This tactic uses Sales Navigator to find the decision-makers that: - Have available money to spend right now - Want to shake things up with new processes and tools Of course, LinkedIn doesn’t give you the data like this, but there are 2 really good proxies you can use. 1. Filter accounts by headcount growth and department headcount growth On account filters, you should target companies that are growing in general, but also in specific departments relevant to your product. This will signal higher purchase intent because growing teams are certainly looking to adopt new processes and tools to accommodate their tool. 2. Filter leads by decision-makers that changed jobs in the last 90 days Once you have your accounts list, you shouldn’t randomly target decision-makers within those companies. On lead filters, narrow to decision-makers that recently changed jobs. Why? These people just entered a new role, on a growing team. This means, they are looking to shake things up internally and have available money to spend right now. [In this article about how to find purchase intent on Sales Navigator](http://blog.amplemarket.com/how-to-find-purchase-intent-linkedin/?utm_source=blog_lead_gen&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=blog_lead_gen), we explain this approach step-by-step. ![[b2b lead generation]](https://i.imgur.com/xVPbzTX.jpg) ##3. Generate leads from conference attendees Industry-relevant events are a great way to connect with potential customers in your niche. Even with conferences going remote in 2020 (and expectably in 2021 too), this is a great opportunity to reach out to these people. Using a lead generation tool like Amplemarket, you can easily filter for companies that are attending industry-relevant events. [Check here](https://amplemarket.com/demo?utm_source=blog_lead_gen&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=blog_lead_gen) how this could work for you. ![[b2b lead generation]](https://i.imgur.com/dBPC59D.png) You see? With a quick search, you can easily find hundreds or thousands of good leads to reach out to. Alternatively, you can also purchase the tickets for each conference and have access to the attendees' page. Still not convinced? Some other great companies have tested this strategy with success. You can see what a [real outreach example from PandaDoc looks like here](http://goodsalesemails.com/campaigns/pandadoc-1?utm_source=blog_lead_gen&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=blog_lead_gen). ##4. Generate leads from conference *non-attendees* Many times, the decision-makers within your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) are not the ones attending the conferences. This strategy enables you to re-target companies that attended industry-relevant events with the "wrong" people. Great! How? You've got the companies from strategy #3. You just need to re-target your approach to decision-makers that better fit your ICP but didn't attend the conference and that's it! In the end, you'll either have leads with more seniority or leads that belong to a different team. Note: You can also add the companies that didn't convert in strategy #3. ##5. Generate leads from companies that use relevant tools and are featured on famous company lists Every day, you can find new lists online that feature / bundle companies in several topics. Depending on your industry, you might be interested in companies like: New Unicorn Companies in 2020 or Fortune 1000. There are several ways you can find the relevant contacts for these companies. For instance, you may use advanced google searches or you may know some online resources. Any tactic you choose, you can use these lists to leverage *relevancy* in a dedicated message. 💡 **Hint:** You can add an extra point to relevancy and personalization if you know which technologies these companies use and you integrate with. Note: Find this information on websites like Crunchbase, reviews pages like G2, Capterra, and Featured Customers, or on the tool's website under the customer testimonials section **Example:** > *"I found you on the 2020 Unicorns list"* - this alone might not be enough **Adding more value:** > *"Congrats, I just saw your company made into the Unicorns list in 2020. I’m reaching out because I see that you use {{tool}} which we integrate... "* - **this type of message will make you stand out from the crowd**. On [Amplemarket](https://amplemarket.com/demo), we do this for you: ![[b2b lead generation]](https://i.imgur.com/RizWaNy.png) ##6. Generate leads from your participation in relevant Slack, LinkedIn, and Facebook groups Slack, LinkedIn and Facebook groups are a great and unexplored way of generating leads. While people ask questions about how to solve their issues, you can find unexplored opportunities by helping them out with your solution. Whether your industry prefers Slack, LinkedIn or Facebook groups to hang out and debate relevant topics doesn’t really matter for the purpose of your lead generation efforts. Example: For companies in the marketing technology industry, this Slack group has a channel where people share their issues with experts in the field. If your product solves the issue, you can easily jump into the conversation and potentially win a new customer. ![[b2b lead generation]](https://i.imgur.com/UZrvp8n.png) This strategy may not be the top source of leads in terms of volume, but with the right process, you can easily approach prospects that are just looking to solve the issue you solve for. Manually checking for each message on the channel isn’t very efficient. With [zapier.com](https://zapier.com/), create customized notifications on your slack whenever someone mentions a relevant topic to you. ##7. Generate leads when companies are approving new budgets For most B2B SaaS companies the last 2 months of the year is a period when a lot of companies approve budgets, renew contracts, or evaluate new vendors for the upcoming new year. From a timing perspective, this is one of the best moments to jump into a conversation and eventually win some customers. At this time of the year, you can easily search for companies using your competitor tools and create a dedicated message on Amplemarket. Just as an example, a message like this will trigger their curiosity to learn more about your tool: > *"I noticed you’re using {{competitor_tool}}, I reached out because for a lot of companies the end of the year is usually a period when they evaluate renewals with vendors. Is that the case for {{competitor_tool}}? If so, I would love to connect, we at XYZ..."* ##8. Generate leads from your competitor product reviews Websites like [G2](https://www.g2.com/), [Capterra](https://www.capterra.com/), and [FeaturedCustomers](https://www.featuredcustomers.com/) are a great knowledge source about your competitors. Not only you can use the reviews to learn more about issues that people usually feel, but you can also identify potential new customers from unhappy reviews. Here’s an example: ![[b2b lead generation]](https://i.imgur.com/n4ZEONR.png) From this review, you get 2 things: 1. The user values a support team that is quick to answer his issues 2. The user feels the pricing structure is complex to understand and expensive If you sell a product that competes with Intercom and have a better offering for the 2 key points Gareth mentioned, then this is a relevant lead to you. Open LinkedIn and search for Gareth M with title `“Co-founder OR CEO”`. Scroll through the profiles and select the one that matches the picture. In 80% of the cases, you’ll find the profile. This looks manual and cumbersome, but it’s worth exploring if you’re competing with large companies that have plenty of reviews online. You’ll be reaching out to leads that are already aware of your market and if you solve their issues, you’ve just nailed it 💯 **Note:** Keep in mind the reviews date. In this case, the review is from January 2021 so it’s definitely worth reaching out to. ##9. Generate leads from companies that recently fundraised Companies that recently fundraised are a good proxy for potential new customers because: 1. They have readily available money to spend 2. They probably need new tools to accommodate the company growth 3. They will hire new people, which means they are looking to implement new tools and processes Depending on your industry you’ll find every new quarter lots of new companies that recently fundraised and are within your ICP. Within Amplemarket, you can easily search for companies based on: 1) funding amount, 2) funding round type, and 3) funding date. ![[b2b lead generation]](https://i.imgur.com/LeHcJUT.png) ##10. Generate leads from openly available resources useful to your niche Everyone loves free tools, especially if they are useful. Creating valuable resources like [GoodSalesEmails.com](http://goodsalesemails.com/?utm_source=blog_lead_gen&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=blog_lead_gen) and [Lists.Amplemarket.com](http://lists.amplemarket.com/?utm_source=blog_lead_gen&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=blog_lead_gen) is one of our most favorite B2B lead generation tactics. Users appreciate it when you create value and offer it for free. These types of resources not only build brand awareness but also help you build trust between your brand and potential new customers. Make sure you have your website optimized to capture users to sign-up for more content with a business email address. ![[b2b lead generation]](https://i.imgur.com/ajQgqDr.jpg) ##11. Generate leads within your ICP with common interests or hobbies It’s easy to get overwhelmed with too many cold emails in our inbox. This tactic gives a new breath to your sales outbound efforts. When doing B2B lead generation, you can also leverage uncommon information to make the cold outreach easier. After selecting your usual ICP filters, you may still have an audience that is too broad. In this situation, you can narrow down your target audience with keyword filters. To do this, you can manually check the about sections of all the LinkedIn profiles and select the ones you want, OR use Amplemarket’s searcher functionalities to easily search for this. For example, you can create target audiences that love cooking or a sport like basketball. Then create a dedicated message where you connect the common interest with the product you sell. ![[b2b lead generation]](https://i.imgur.com/446MnpJ.png) This looks ingenious, that’s why I have a real example for you: ![[b2b lead generation]](https://i.imgur.com/L1HtYL5.png) #Wrapping Up... In this blog post, we’ve preached 2 things about B2B lead generation: 1. B2B Lead Generation is an important (and oftentimes, overlooked) step of any outbound sales process 2. Some of the most important B2B lead generation tactics you should try in 2021 focus on a lower number of leads, but higher purchase intent. Our research unit at Amplemarket uses millions of daily data points from all our users to constantly test new B2B lead generation tactics and strategies. Nonetheless, **we advise you to always A/B test all assumptions and adapt them for your use case.** ==If you got excited enough, **[sign-up here](https://amplemarket.com/demo) to join us in the pole position for the future of B2B SaaS sales**.== We’re happy to onboard you on the amazing journey we have in front of us! 🚀

Every day, many professionals post their thoughts on LinkedIn and generate loads of interactions. This implies that your target audience might be out there engaging with those LinkedIn posts. With Amplemarket you can leverage the engagement with LinkedIn posts to build a personalized but scalable sales approach. This blog post walks you through the process - step by step. **Give it a try - success guaranteed!** ###Step 0: Setting the scene 🤓 All over the globe, sales teams using Amplemarket generate millions of data points from their sales outbound campaigns every day. From that data, our research unit concluded that a successful sales outbound approach uses this recipe: - Find a **relevant audience** - Craft a **relevant message** - Send at a **relevant timing** The LinkedIn post approach described in this blog post is an excellent example of how to create an approach that respects these 3 variables and increases your sales performance. **For the purpose of this exercise we’ll assume the following use case:** A digital marketing agency is looking to launch a new TikTok strategy. The Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) includes companies that are looking to grow their market presence leveraging social media and common titles of decision-makers are: - Founders/CEOs for smaller companies - Marketing roles in larger companies ###Step 1: Find your relevant audience in LinkedIn posts 👥 As mentioned - your target audience is engaging with posts on LinkedIn. Now let’s find them! Search LinkedIn’s content for keywords that are relevant to your product and look into the engagement by clicking on the likes and browsing through the titles. Is your target audience there? These people are signaling that this content is relevant to them. Hands-on - the TikTok use case - search for content containing the keyword “TikTok” and scroll through the posts to find posts that: 1. Can be linked to your product/value proposition - Have a high number of engagement from our target audience (likes and comments)  Here is a good example of a post that can be linked to the value proposition of the marketing agency and has a lot of engagement.  1. The post mentions “Tik Tok is the most democratized social media platform ever”. This statement is exactly what the agency is trying to sell - “we agree and think you should leverage TikTok in your marketing strategies. We can help!” 2. This post also has more than 500 interactions containing job titles relevant to the ICP of the marketing agency.  With a dedicated tool, such as Amplemarket, you can enrich these contacts with the data you need to move to the next step. **[Sign-up here](https://amplemarket.com/demo?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=intext_link&utm_campaign=leads_from_linkedin_content) to learn more about how this can work for you.**  ###Step 2: Craft a message that is relevant to the audience ⚒ Once you have the list of target contacts you need to craft a dedicated and relevant message. Remember that the information that you have on the prospect is useful while creating your message: 1. They liked or commented on a post - (this means it’s a relevant topic to them) 2. Their job titles, industries, location, etc indicate different types of interests in the topic. You should leverage the information you have on these prospects in your message, always respecting the basic structure of a great outbound sales email ([more of this on this blog post](http://blog.amplemarket.com/outreach-cold-emailing/)). **Subject-line**: A simple example that works - hi {{first_name}}, saw you {{interaction_type}} {{original_poster}}’s post. **The introduction**: Leverage the fact that you know they liked or commented on the post and add a reminder of what the post was about. **The body of the email**: You should add your value proposition related to their interest in the body of the email. As mentioned before, their job titles, industry, etc indicate different interests in the subject. With Amplemarket you can leverage that information with liquid syntax. [Check this blog post](http://blog.amplemarket.com/personalization-at-scale/) to learn how you can design hyper-personalized email templates with Amplemarket’s liquid syntax. **Call to action**: Finalize the email by asking them one specific question. **Note**: Do not forget to add a couple of follow-up emails to make sure your prospects’ attention is attracted to your initial email. ###Step 3: What about timing? ⏰ If you are able to find relevant posts that were posted yesterday or the day before, you are making your message extremely relevant timewise and prospects will be impressed. They were interested in the topic just a couple of days before, so the likelihood of the prospects still being interested in talking about the subject is very high. ###Let’s recap! Focus your energy on outbound efforts that work such as the LinkedIn approach to leverage the 3 key variables for a successful outbound campaign: 1. Find a **relevant audience** (in the engagement on LinkedIn posts) 2. Craft a **relevant message** (leveraging the information you have) 3. Send at a **relevant timing** (is peanuts if you target LinkedIn posts) Still not convinced? This is the type of answers you’ll get:  **Happy prospecting!** Our product specialist, [Samuel](https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelverhegge/), did a walkthrough of the “LinkedIn Approach” in this webinar - watch it here: [📹 Webinar: Lead Generation with LinkedIn Extension](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4yVFRuycZQ&feature=youtu.be) ==If you're struggling to craft the right message, we can send you a free template via email. Just reach out to Amplebot in the chatbox, he will make sure the email will be sent to your inbox.==

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional social network, which means they have access to a lot of data that no other company can attempt to replicate. If you have a Sales Navigator account, you might be under exploring just how valuable this product is. This step-by-step guide will help you leverage some key features of Sales Navigator that make it easy to find purchase intent data. These data points will enable you to do 3 crucial things for success in outbound campaigns: 1. Find the **relevant** audience 🎯 - Start the conversation at the most **relevant** timing ⏰ - Contact them with a **relevant** message 💬 ###1. How to Find a Relevant Audience 🎯: On Sales Navigator, you can find two types of searches: Account and Lead. Let's start by focusing on Account searches and their respective filters.  **Account filters** help you narrow down the potential relevant companies for your product or team. Here you can explore not just simple filters that allow you to find companies within your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), but you can dig into less widely known filters. These filters will help you predict which companies are growing and have available money to spend on your product/service. ####Find companies with available money to spend 💰 There are several indicators that can help you determine if the company you are looking for has available money to spend on your product at the moment. Here are some of those indicators and how you can find them on Sales Navigator: **\> Is the team growing?** **Size Filters** - Sales Navigator allows you to search for a perfect proxy of money available, which is team growth. If a team is growing, then likely, this company has money to spend. Further, if they are growing, they must also be looking into tools that accommodate that growth. On the other side of the spectrum, a stable team will be less likely to change processes and purchase new tools. Finally, shrinking teams, in general, will not be good buyers. If you imagine you’re selling software that helps a growing team of engineers (i.e., GitHub or GitSight, ...). You would want to set up 3 filters that users usually forget. **Department Headcount** - Your product probably suits best a specific team size. Or perhaps, your product has different pricing or use cases depending on how large a given team is, then you should target companies with departments of a specific size. We will be targeting a special offer for departments with 5-25 employees, for our example.  **Department Headcount Growth** - Find the teams looking for new tools to accommodate their considerable growth.  **Company Headcount Growth** - Target companies of a specific size growing in total; this will help ensure that the company has available money to spend. For our example, we want middle-sized companies (51-200) growing at a rate of 5%.  **\> Is the company hiring?** A growing team and department are definitely good proxies for available money to spend. But you want to first focus on those whose cash flows more heavily. In that case, you can add the filter “Hiring on LinkedIn” to the previous ones. This tells you that not only have these companies been growing, but they plan to continue growing and still have the available money and are ready to spend it now 💡  ###2. How to contact leads at an appropriate time ⏰: ***You now have Relevant Accounts, but who are the Relevant Leads should you target?*** **Lead Filters** help you narrow down the potential individuals that have enough decision-making power to purchase your product/service. Here you can explore not just simple filters, like title or location, that allow you to find leads within your ICP, but you can dig deeper into less-used filters.  These filters will help you select the perfect individuals that will be grateful to be starting a conversation with you. While on Sales Navigator, hit the search from the Account filters. Select all profiles and click “View current employees.”  ####Find new decision-makers that are looking to shake things up 💼 Several indicators can help you determine the leads who are most likely looking for new tools and services. Here are some of those indicators and how you can find them on Sales Navigator: **\> Changed jobs in the past 90 days?** When a decision-maker has been introduced to a new role, it can mean that the company is looking to shake things up internally. This happens because the new managers are looking for new processes and new tools that help them grow beyond their previous results. LinkedIn understands this, and that is why they have a tab focused only on these leads. When you hit the previous account search, you can see the following tab on top of your search results. Select the one we’re looking for: Changed jobs in the past 90 days.  ####Find relevant information to add personalization 🎯 After selecting the correct individual profile, you can add a few search criteria that will help you craft a very tailored message for those who are already “warmer” leads (i.e., the ones that will be easier to convert into paying customers without overwhelming the AEs in your team). **\> Who is already in your network?** 1st and 2nd-degree connections are easier to reach and have higher engagement rates. If you have not explored this option yet, this is the first step you should take.  **\> Who follows your company on LinkedIn?** If a decision-maker is already following your company on LinkedIn, it will make the outbound much smoother since they are familiar with the product or service.  **\> Who is active on LinkedIn?** People who regularly post on LinkedIn are also easier to reach out to and translate into higher engagement rates.  The extra filters you add here help you connect more effectively with the leads. They also give you valuable data points that you can add in the next step of crafting your own relevant message. ###3. How to craft a relevant message 📨 : ***You have the perfect leads for your campaign. What now?*** #####Import search to Amplemarket In this step, all you have to do is to open Amplemarket’s LinkedIn extension and import the search into a customer profile.  **Why do this?** Once you have the leads in a customer profile within Amplemarket, you can make it easy to reach with true personalization at scale to each of the prospects you just imported. For example, you can now reach out via email and perform other LinkedIn actions, such as connecting with the prospects or visiting their profiles. ####Craft a dedicated message The last step is to craft a dedicated message that will stand out from the others. Here you should leverage Amplemarket’s liquid language to personalize your message at scale. If you’re not sure how you can best do this, reach out to us, and we will help you. **Customers who follow this 3-step methodology achieve 3 - 5x more meetings on average.** Most importantly, they leverage a tool they already have and were under exploring. You could also find interesting our repo of **openly available curated lists of companies**. Find the perfect company lists for your campaigns like "[2000 Fastest-Growing SaaS Companies - 2020](https://lists.amplemarket.com/company_lists/2000-fastest-growing-saas-companies-2020?utm_source=blog_sales_navigator&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=blogpost)" or "[Companies Prospering During COVID-19](Companies%20Prospering%20During%20COVID-19?utm_source=blog_sales_navigator&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=blogpost)". ==If you’re struggling to make your cold outbound stand out from the others, reach out to us in the chatbox on the bottom right corner of this blog post. There’s no shame in it, and we won’t ask anything in return 😇==

In 2018, LinkedIn launched a new feature: LinkedIn Voice Messages. This new feature allows users to send 1-minute long voice messages to any connection on LinkedIn. However, the reason why not a lot of people know about it is because it’s only available in the LinkedIn mobile app. Like some of the best sales leaders in the industry have already understood, this feature can be a great opportunity to stand out and get people’s attention. Does that mean that you need to open your LinkedIn mobile app whenever you want to reach out to someone? No, this is where things get interesting. To make this feature more accessible and actually leverage it, Amplemarket’s extension recently made it available in the browser!  ##What makes these messages so relevant to any person selling on LinkedIn? 🧐 How many LinkedIn voice messages have you ever received? Probably not that many (if any). It’s a new channel that will automatically grab a person’s attention just because of its novelty - people are curious! Besides, voice messages feel inherently more personal than text. The voice messages feature is something that most people are used to seeing on apps like WhatsApp or iMessage and it’s associated with something that you should pay attention to. Generally speaking, you should always be considering different ways of connecting with your prospects and LinkedIn Voice Messages are a great way to stand out from the crowd and achieve much higher engagement rates. ##How can you best leverage LinkedIn voice messages for sales?  #### #1 Use it as an unconventional first touch The idea is to leverage this less conventional channel in your first touch and make a great first impression. **Step 1: Do your research and connect with the prospect beforehand (2-3 days)** Whenever you reach out to someone, it’s crucial that you have found potential buying intent from this prospect. If this is found, you should find some elements to personalize your message. This can range from industry, title, interests, etc they mention on the LinkedIn profile to other information you may have collected somewhere else (example: recent company news, referral by xyz, etc). Note: If you’re using these voice messages in complement to an email sequence. You can use LinkedIn bulk actions on Amplemarket to quickly connect with all the prospects on that sequence.  **Step 2: Structure your voice message** - **Be concise.** Although LinkedIn allows you to send 1-minute long messages, keep your message under 30 seconds. - **Have a powerful and personalized intro (first 7-10 secs).** You want to get the prospect’s attention in the first 5 seconds. Prospects don’t like to lose time with spammers, so make sure to leverage your research and personalize your message. >“Hey {{first_name}}, I figured I’d drop you a message as I’m sure that everyone is probably texting you at this moment.” >“Hi {{first_name}}, I looked at your profile and saw that you are {{title}} at {{company_name}}. I figured that [topic] falls into your wheelhouse.” - **Introduce your value proposition (next 15 secs).** Prove that you’re worth continuing to listen to. Follow the introduction with a strong message that provides value. >“We just got off a call with a client we recently helped solve [issue] for in only a matter of weeks.” >“We’re currently helping clients with [problem_you_solve] and I was curious to see if this is also something you’ve been facing recently.” - **End with an effective call to action (5-10 secs).** The end goal of your message is to get the prospect to engage with you. Make sure you offer a chance to get a reply. >“I would love to schedule a call to go over this issue, would you be the best person to discuss this with?" **Step 3: Record, listen and send your message!** When you practice, record it so you can listen to yourself. Make sure you sound conversational, not too formal nor too casual. Speak in a clear tone and don’t rush the script (even though it’s only 30 secs you’ll see that you have time to say all the relevant things you need). When you're ready, **hit send!** **Step 4: Follow-up with text** Prospects aren’t usually aware of this functionality, so they might be skeptical to open your voice message. Send them a personalized very short text to make sure they are prompted to open your recording. >“Hi {{first_name}}, just dropped a quick message over here, keen to hear back.” #### #2 Use it as a soft reminder within a sales sequence LinkedIn voice messages can also be used as a reminder within an ongoing sales sequence. You can have high relevancy first touch via email and follow up with a LinkedIn Voice Message that is a bit less personalized than the first touch but will get some attention points due to the novelty of the channel. Additionally, when leaving a voice message you’ll be visiting the prospect’s profile which will trigger a LinkedIn notification and create another way to naturally grab the prospect’s attention. Here is an example of what you could say in this situation: >“Hey {{first_name}}, I just shot you an email but figured dropping you a message to explain why I’m reaching out to you. I saw that you are {{title}} at {company_name}} and figured that [topic] falls into your wheelhouse. Are you the right person to discuss this with?” #### #3 Use it as an unexpected last touch LinkedIn voice messages can also be used as a last resource when the prospect has been unresponsive on all the other channels. Again, the channel’s novelty will help you grab the prospect’s attention and you could also leverage the fact that you have tirelessly exhausted all the possibilities to connect with the prospect. Here is an example of what you could say in this situation: >“Hi {{first_name}}, I thought I’d give it a last shot. We’re currently working with… Do you think this is worth a conversation?” ###A couple more resources to help you nail sales calls: * [A simple guide to prepare for each inbound call](http://blog.amplemarket.com/a-simple-guide-to-prepare-for-each-inbound-sales-call/) * [Lesson Learned #5: Sales Calls and Lead Qualification](http://blog.amplemarket.com/sales-calls-and-lead-qualification/) ==If you’re struggling to make your cold outbound to stand out from the others reach out to team@amplemarket.com. There’s no shame in it and we won’t ask anything in return 😇==

The ability to do precise Google searches and getting relevant results is a superpower that is easy to acquire but most people don't have it. The goal of this post is: * to provide simple and tangible examples to help you gain this superpower * to show you how you can leverage Google for prospecting. #####Google Search Operators Google search operators (also known as “advanced operators”) are commands that extend the capabilities of regular text searches. With Google search operators you can do anything from market analysis, prospecting people on LinkedIn, retrieving fundraising news, finding emails, etc. Understanding the basics of Google search operators will drastically improve the quality of your search results. #####How do Google search operators work? Even though there are lots of search operators for you to use, they usually follow a similar syntax like this one:  **Some of the most common search operators are:** * `site`: Limit results to those from a specific website * `intitle`: Web pages with a certain keyword in the title * `inurl`: Web pages with a certain keyword in the URL * `filetype`: web pages with a certain file type, such as pdf or png * `[number]..[number]`: restricts the search to a certain range of numbers ####Examples for sales, growth, and marketing use cases: > **Find: Google spreadsheets that include “startups” and “2020” in the title** * [**`site:docs.google.com/spreadsheets intitle:startups 2020`**](https://www.google.com/search?q=site:docs.google.com/spreadsheets+intitle:startups+2020&rlz=1CAZAQH_enPT910&oq=site:docs.google.com/spreadsheets+intitle:startups+2020&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i58.1251j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) Use case: This search will provide you with several links to lists of Google spreadsheets with data about startups and the year 2020. For example, if you offer services for startups that are hiring remotely you’ve just found a list with 900+ potential leads. >**Find: List of LinkedIn profiles that mention “Founder” and the words “We’re hiring”** * [**`site:linkedin.com/in/ "founder We're hiring"`**](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CAZAQH_enPT910&ei=W91-X8nzAYbkU8eTv4AN&q=site%3Alinkedin.com%2Fin%2F+%22founder+We%27re+hiring%22&oq=site%3Alinkedin.com%2Fin%2F+%22founder+We%27re+hiring%22&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzoHCAAQRxCwA1Ck6ARYpOgEYKXwBGgDcAB4AIABPogBPpIBATGYAQCgAQKgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6yAEIwAEB&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwiJjfno2KTsAhUG8hQKHcfJD9AQ4dUDCA0&uact=5) Use case: This search should retrieve a list of founders at startups/companies that are hiring and managing a growing team. For example, if these founders match with your ICP you can directly click on the link and reach out to this person. >**Find: Google docs that contain the words “SaaS”, “conference” and “2020” in the body** * [**`site:docs.google.com saas conferences 2020`**](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CAZAQH_enPT910&ei=td1-X8POA4Wzgwe3x6rADA&q=site%3Adocs.google.com+saas+conferences+2020&oq=site%3Adocs.google.com+saas+conferences+2020&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzoHCAAQRxCwA1DozgRY6M4EYK3WBGgDcAB4AIABQ4gBQ5IBATGYAQCgAQKgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6yAECwAEB&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwiD_e-T2aTsAhWF2eAKHbejCsgQ4dUDCA0&uact=5) Use case: This search should find you documents related to SaaS conferences in 2020. For example, you can find lists to make sure you don’t miss out on any important event in your industry. Furthermore, you can connect with thousands of potential customers by making sure you attend and reach out to the people participating in these conferences. >**Find: Airtable bases/lists that contain “investors” in the URL** * [**`site:airtable.com inurl:investors`**](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CAZAQH_enPT910&ei=At5-X-KMHfrOgweEvp7YDA&q=site%3Aairtable.com+inurl%3Ainvestors&oq=site%3Aairtable.com+inurl%3Ainvestors&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQA1D3jgJY944CYLGSAmgDcAB4AIABRogBRpIBATGYAQCgAQKgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6wAEB&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwjileW42aTsAhV65-AKHQSfB8sQ4dUDCA0&uact=5) Use case: Airtable has been creating tons of content with relevant lists that help you access more information about companies. For example, here you can find lists of investors that may be relevant to your fundraising needs or that fit your ICP. Keep in mind that these lists not only provide you with the names of the investors, but they also share relevant information about each one of them. >**Find: Industry reports from multiple sources** * [**`inurl:report intitle:"SaaS trends" filetype:pdf`**](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CAZAQH_enPT910&ei=Jt5-X7fyGLOcjLsP6Oy_gA0&q=inurl%3Areport+intitle%3A%22SaaS+trends%22+filetype%3Apdf&oq=inurl%3Areport+intitle%3A%22SaaS+trends%22+filetype%3Apdf&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzoHCAAQRxCwA1CH8gFYh_IBYMj0AWgDcAB4AIABQYgBQZIBATGYAQCgAQKgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6yAEDwAEB&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwi3nfbJ2aTsAhUzDmMBHWj2D9AQ4dUDCA0&uact=5) Use case: This search will help you stay up to date with your industry trends. With a quick search you can immediately find the most relevant docs for your market research activities. ####Wrapping up… I hope these examples will help you gain a better understanding of how Google search operators work and save you huge amounts of time during your prospecting initiatives. If you want to learn more about successful B2B prospecting tactics that save you a lot of time and help you convert more qualified leads, you may find these resources helpful: 👉 [11 B2B Lead Generation Strategies & Tactics to close more deals in 2021](https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/) 👉 [Amplemarket Lists](https://lists.amplemarket.com/?utm_source=blog_google_searches&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=blog-google-searches) - here you can find several manually curated lists of companies based on relevant information from our database for free. ==If you’re struggling with prospecting or lead generation activities reach out to team@amplemarket.com. There’s no shame on it and we won’t ask anything in return 😇==

Sales reps often underestimate the importance of adding a call-to-action to their cold emails. In order to maximize your reply rates, it is best to give your prospects clear instructions on what to do next. **A missing call-to-action, or using the wrong one, might be the reason why you aren’t achieving the conversions you expect.** Finish your emails with a clear call-to-action, i.e. propose a time for a meeting, ask a question etc... Here are some useful tips and guidelines: * **Write a short and clear sentence.** People have a short attention span, so you should try to make your call-to-action as short and clear as possible. * **Questions work well.** A good practice to follow when writing a call to action is to write it in a way that the answer is not a simple "No". It's not always possible but when it is, finish your emails with a question like "When...?" instead of a simple "Yes" or "No" question. It seems simple but it's a psychological trick that works. Prospects will tend to reply and even if the answer is "No", it means that you just started a conversation and can try to change your prospect's mind. * **Write something that resonates with your prospects.** Write a call-to-action that you believe would work on your prospects, that would make them feel the urge to reply. You can be creative and use humor. Here are some examples of calls-to-action: * *Would you be interested in {!partnership_opportunity}?* * *Is this something that could be interesting to you?* * *Would you have time on {!suggest_times} to discuss {!your_product}?* * *I have a pretty open schedule in the next few days, is there a time that works for you? I’d love to learn more about {!prospect’s_company}.* * *What’s the best way to reach you for a quick demo?* * *{!first_name}, do you have time for a short call in the next days so that I can get your feedback on {!my_company}?* * *Are you interested in a partnership between {!your_company} and {!prospect’s_company}?* * *Do you have time for a quick 15 min call this week so that I can show you how {!your_product} works and get your feedback?* * *Are you available for a quick call in the next days to see if {!your_product} aligns with your goals?* * *How about a quick 5 min discovery call to discuss how {!prospect’s_company} could benefit from {!your_company}?* * *Does this sound interesting to you?* * *What do you think? Would next week work for you for a quick discovery call?* * *I think {!prospect’s_company} might be a great fit. Would you be game for a 10 min call?* ####Summary: The ultimate goal of a call-to-action is to **move your prospect to the next step of the sales funnel**. It’s important to keep it short and give clear instructions. There are a lot of other examples of real calls-to-action being used in email campaigns from real companies on [Good Sales Emails.](http://goodsalesemails.com/?ref=blog)

When you start an email campaign, it’s important to be data-driven. An experimental mindset will help you understand if you’re going in the right direction or if there is something different you can test to improve your results. In order to measure the success of your cold email campaigns, there are a few metrics that you should keep an eye on. In this blog post, we are going to focus on the three main metrics and provide tips to help you increase those metrics. ###1. Open Rate 🔎 The open rate measures the percentage of people that opened your email (total opens/emails sent). It’s the variable you need to measure to know if your subject line and the first sentence of your emails are working. Here is a list of things to take into consideration to improve your open rates: * **Have an accurate lead generation process**. Make sure you are reaching out to the right person. You should send your emails to the purchasers, the decision-makers for your product/service. * **Discover the ideal time to send your emails**. It’s important to find the best time to send your emails. It usually depends on several variables such as the type of companies you’re reaching out to, their location, the job titles of the prospects (CEOs vs Managers) etc. In general, Mondays are not the best days to send cold emails, people have a lot of catching up to do. Try to send them early in the morning or late in the afternoon. A/B test until you find the best time to send your email campaigns.  *Image: Distribution of the interested ratio per day of the week.* *PS: Don’t feel discouraged by the lower ratio during weekends for example. With very well targeted campaigns, it’s possible to get prospects with high buying intent onboard when they are less busy.* * **Select a killer subject line**. This is the key factor when it comes to the open rate. If you want your prospects to open your emails, you have to write a killer subject line. Keep it short, and avoid using spammy words. Check this blog post on how to write the best subject lines for a more effective cold email. * **Write a good first sentence of your email**. The first things your prospects see are the subject line and part of the first sentence of your emails. Be concise and personal in the way you start your emails. * **Raise your game with follow-up emails**. When you send your first email, it may slip through the cracks in a cluttered inbox. That’s why you should be persistent and use your follow-up emails to catch the prospects' attention.  *Image: Cumulative percentage of interested email replies per stage of the campaign.* *💡Note: With only one touch in your campaign you’re missing out 44% of all interested prospects in your product/service.* ###2. Reply Rate 💬 The reply rate gives you the percentage of people that replied to your email (total replies/emails sent). The most important factor is the body of your email. You should aim at a reply rate that is half of your open rate (i.e. if you have 70% open rate you should have a 35% reply rate). Here is a list of things to take into consideration to improve your reply rates: * **Write a short and concise email**. People have short attention spans when it comes to emails. Keep your message short and clear to increase the chances of getting a reply. * **Personalize your approach as much as possible**. Personalize your emails with the use of powerful dynamic fields such as first names, job titles, locations, etc. You can also mention news or recent achievements. *💡Note: This can be the most time-consuming part of your cold emails, [learn here](http://http://blog.amplemarket.com/personalization-at-scale/) how you can personalize your emails at scale!* * **Avoid features, add value propositions**. When you craft your cold email campaigns, put yourself in your prospects’ shoes. Avoid enumerating your product’s features, and focus on presenting a solution to a pain point they might be struggling with. * **Add a clear call to action**. The main goal of cold email outreach is to generate as many opportunities as possible. Be very clear with your ask and where you would like to take the conversation. Writing good calls to action is of utmost importance, you can learn more here: Learn here how to write catchy and clear calls to action. ###3. Conversion Rate 📈 The conversion rate measures the percentage of people that converted to a given goal (i.e. scheduling a call, signing up for a free trial, clicking on a link, etc...). The main goal when sending cold emails is to turn cold leads into warm leads. You should aim at 10-20% of your reply rate. This is a good benchmark for conversion rates in cold email campaigns. It's a good number for a first call/demo, however if you’re offering a free trial maybe it should be even higher. The conversion rates are a combination of everything mentioned above: Prospecting, Value Proposition, Personalization, Follow-ups, Subject line, Call to action, Reminders. In a nutshell, you need to make sure you have targeted campaigns, with relevant content and good calls to action. ######Wrapping up... In this blog post, we shared the 3 most important metrics that you should measure when sending cold emails: Open rate, Reply rate and Conversion rate. You should always A/B test every assumption, in order to guarantee the best results possible. Iterate a lot and learn and refine along the way! At [Amplemarket](https://amplemarket.com/?ref=amplemarket-blog), we’ve helped several clients optimizing their cold email strategy over the years. We are constantly testing new hypotheses to see what works for cold emails. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice when things aren’t going as you expected! ==Looking to improve your cold emails? We’d be happy to chat, feel free to reach out to team@amplemarket.com.==

In this series of posts, we are analyzing sales email campaigns written by some of the world's best SaaS companies. The entire collection of email campaigns can be found here: [goodsalesemails.com](http://goodsalesemails.com/?ref=blog). In this post we will focus on one of [Gusto’s sales email campaigns](http://goodsalesemails.com/campaigns/cb3bb7e7c48/?ref=blog). We will discuss things that we like and think are well done and propose suggestions on things that could be tested. ######First touch email:  ######Follow-up email:  ###What we like 🤓 * **Original introduction.** This is an interesting and out of the box introduction that sets this email campaign apart from the other companies' sales emails. Gusto's sales team acknowledges that this is a sales email and uses humor in their opening paragraph. The email is written in a light tone and they include an original funny image. This email triggers the reader's curiosity and makes them want to read it. * **Short subject line.** The subject line is short and intriguing. By keeping your subject line short the first line of the email will be previewed in your prospect's inbox giving them more context about the contents of the email.  * **Storyline and interesting P.S.** In the follow up email Gusto's sales team continues their "storyline" by sharing a new picture of "Finnley" (the dog). They are continuing a story that started in the first email and this might be intriguing and funny enough to get a prospect to reply. Also, P.S. is a common and effective way to add a special note on something you want to stand out on your email. ###What could be tested 🧐 * **Personalize value proposition.** It's a good email sequence but a bit generic in some aspects. It might be worth tailoring parts of your emails to your prospects thus showing them that you took some time to look into them and their companies and why this would be a great fit for them. Note: We have posted a blogpost showcasing how you can personalize sales emails at scale. [Check it here.](http://blog.amplemarket.com/personalization-at-scale/) Hope this helps you get some ideas on how to write good sales emails. **==Subscribe your email below==** to make sure you receive the next monthly email analysis on your inbox! If you have ideas or suggestions feel free to email us at ==team@amplemarket.com.==

The first call with a potential customer is one of the most important stages in a sales funnel. It’s a unique opportunity to make a great first impression. At Amplemarket we approach our cold calls and warm calls with the same seriousness. In this post, we are going to focus on warm calls with inbound leads. Taking a few minutes to prepare your calls is one of the most important factors when it comes to closing. Even when we are talking with inbound prospects we always aim to make a great first impression. Inbound prospects are usually evaluating several other tools so we strive to stand out amongst their other daily interactions. This cheatsheet is a result of an iterative process of several hundred calls by our sales team. We tried to distill best practices and want to provide insights into what we have seen work and not work. The main thing we know that works is preparation & training. >**Sales is not an art. The best salesperson is the one who studies the company, listens to the customer and is able to leverage his preparation.** ######In our best sales calls we were fully prepared with this cheatsheet:  #####The first step is: Preparation >It’s crucial that you learn about the company and the prospect at the same time. For instance, when we’re learning about the company at Amplemarket we try to understand: * How big their sales/growth teams are * How much money did the company raise (if they have raised) * What recent news there are about the company Whereas when we’re learning about the prospect we usually visit their LinkedIn profile and try to get insights from it. It’s valuable that you show your prospect that you have spent some time doing your research. *Note: While checking the prospect’s LinkedIn, perhaps you will find connections or interests in common, or even similar background education. This can make you two easily connect during the call.* #####The second step: the Call >This is the time to actively listen to your prospect’s pain points, ask questions to get all the information you need about the prospect and the company. 1- <ins>Start by building rapport.</ins> After setting a nice tone, **make it all about them.** The time you spend talking on a sales call has a significant impact on your chance to close the deal. In fact, top sales performers are known for consistently letting their prospects talk about 60% of the time, so it’s your prospect who should be talking the most. We often get surprised by the amount of information prospects share when we ask open-ended questions. 2- <ins>Make sure your research is well informed.</ins> Try to get answers to your questions and have your prospects verbalized their pain points before you start pitching. 3- <ins>Give your pitch.</ins> Once both of you have acknowledged your prospect’s pain, you will now be better informed to give your prospect an adapted pitch about how your product solves their issue. 💡 *Insightful Note: If you’re not able to find any good arguments that could make your product useful to the company, maybe it’s because it doesn’t qualify as a potential user. You should acknowledge this and since it’s very unlikely that you would be getting a deal from here, avoid wasting your time trying to sell and focus rather on creating a connection they might be a buyer in their next company.* #####The third step: Next steps >Keep your lead moving further along the sales funnel by making sure you have well defined next steps. For example, if you want a follow-up meeting to do a demo, make it so that you book it at the end of the call. Or if you want to involve other decision-makers, make sure you know who they are at the end of the call. When you see you only have 5 more minutes in your calendar, you should schedule the next meeting step before you finish the call and your prospect has to leave unexpectedly. It’s also important that you know if there are other people to be involved in the deal and your prospects know exactly what to do next. *Note: If you fail to schedule the next steps, you may end up losing a client because the prospect couldn’t find it easy to schedule a next call with you or your proposal lost relevance after they had a call with another competitor which already gave them a trial version they are enjoying.* #####Why are we telling you all this? It wouldn’t be possible to gain so much experience in calls if we weren’t using [Amplemarket](https://amplemarket.com/demo). With our tool, we are able to increasingly schedule more calls and our AEs have the time on their agenda to really focus on what’s most important, delivering an outstanding sales experience to our customers. [**Feel free to sign-up here**](https://amplemarket.com/demo) to see how this could work for you too. ==We have also prepared a cold call and demo cheatsheet for you, **reach out to team@amplemarket.com to receive the 3 cheatsheets** in your inbox and keep posted on our latest blog posts.==