Five Hacks to Dominate Your Quota This QuarterSee how marketing automation gives sales an edge.

2 / Pardot

There are lots of great things about being in sales — but, let’s be honest, your monthly, quarterly, or yearly quota? Let’s just say there are probably other words that come to mind before “great.”

When you’re trying to hit your numbers, wasting time on time-consuming follow-ups and leads that aren’t ready to buy isn’t an option. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a repertoire of handy sales hacks that you could use to nurture your leads, identify the hottest leads for follow-up, and nail those all-important personal conversations?

Good news, my quota-crushing friends! Marketing automation makes it easy to do all of this and more — and despite it’s name, it’s not just a tool for marketers. Using features like lead nurturing, real-time alerts, and prospect activity tracking, you can free up more time in your day to focus on the tasks that are actually going to get you to quota, not slow you down.

This e-book will walk you through five common B2B sales scenarios, and provide you with a game plan to tackle similar situations on your own. Check out the hacks on the following pages to learn more about how marketing automation can give you an edge.

INTRODUCTION

Give sales an edge with marketing automation.

Hack 1: Reviving Dormant Leads

Hack 2: Easy Lead Prioritization

Hack 3: The Competitive Drip

Hack 4: Nailing the Demo

Hack 5: Speedy Follow-Up

intro

A few months ago, Amy made contact with a lead that initially seemed promising — but as of late, her lead hasn’t been responding to emails, answering phone calls, or reciprocating any of her attempts to get in touch. Heck, according to the prospect activity history in Amy’s marketing automation tool, he hasn’t even been opening any of her emails! Only a few months into their relationship, and Amy has hit a dead end.

Ever the optimist, Amy wants to keep following up — but the end of the quarter is quickly approaching, and she has to worry about hitting her number. She decides that it’s time to pass this lead back over to marketing. With the click of a button in her CRM, she adds her lead to a lead nurturing campaign titled “Inactive - Needs Nurture.”

As soon as Amy’s lead is added to this list, the lead is enrolled in a targeted nurturing program within her company’s marketing automation tool. This nurturing campaign will attempt to re-engage inactive leads using special, personalized marketing content.

Reviving Dormant Leads

3 / Pardot

Every so often, the lead will receive a marketing message from Amy’s company with a compelling blog post, fun infographic, or other piece of interactive content. As soon as the lead engages with one of these emails, Amy will receive an immediate notification so she can reach out and get the selling process back on track.

Lead nurturing emails receive a 4-10x higher response rate

than standalone email blasts. -DemandGen Report

one

HACK ONE

Reviving Dormant LeadsGAME PLAN

Use this hack when…

…a lead has been inactive for an extended period of time.

…a lead has stopped responding to your sales communications.

…a deal fizzles out during the sales process, but the lead is still a great fit and might re-enter the sales process in the future.

How It’s Done:

Step 1. Add the lead to a re-engagement nurturing track — right from your CRM — to proactively nurture them with engaging marketing content.

Step 2. Sit back and wait for the lead to engage with one of your drip emails.

5 / Pardot

Mitchell has a problem many reps would envy: he’s getting assigned tons of leads from his marketing team. Unfortunately, he’s having trouble figuring out the best ones to follow up with first. As a result, he keeps accidentally neglecting some of his hotter leads, who then go on to seek out competitive solutions instead. What Mitchell needs is more insight into what his leads are doing, so that he can easily determine which ones to focus on.

45% of companies report that their sales reps need help figuring out which accounts to prioritize. -Lattice Engines/CSO Insights

To solve this problem, Mitchell takes a number of simple actions. First, he uses his company’s marketing automation tool to subscribe to a daily digest of his prospects’ activities. This will ensure that an email is delivered to his inbox every morning with a list of his prospects who have been active over the past 24 hours.

two

Second, he begins familiarizing himself with the lead scores and grades that are populated in his CRM by his company’s marketing automation tool. After the initial shock (how could he possibly have ignored these?!), he becomes adept at using the lead score to tell how interested his prospects are in his company, and the lead grade to tell whether or not his prospects are a good fit. The combination of the two allows him to gauge whether his leads are hot or cold at a glance.

Lastly, Mitchell begins using the real-time notifications provided by his marketing automation tool to keep an eye on his most active prospects. This allows him to reach out if any of his prospects are showing buying signals, so that he can be an immediate resource during the buyer’s research process.

Easy Lead Prioritization

HACK TWO

Easy Lead Prioritization

GAME PLAN

Use this hack when…

…you find yourself wasting too much time pursuing cold leads.

…you aren’t sure which leads to call on first.

…hot leads are getting neglected.

How It’s Done:

Step 1. Enroll in daily prospect activity digests to stay on top of your recently-active leads.

Step 2. Use a combination of lead score and lead grade to determine whether a lead is hot enough to merit additional attention or follow-up.

Step 3. Monitor prospect activity using real-time alerts for additional indications of sales readiness.

7 / Pardot

Jimmy has been working a lead who uses a competitive solution, and even though she loves his company’s product, she’s locked into her contract for another year. Jimmy still wants to build rapport, but he needs to use his time wisely. This deal may close a year down the line, and is therefore worth an investment, but his quota is being judged on what he can close now, so it’s time to put this one on autopilot.

Instead of devoting time every month to check in on this lead (and every other one like it), Jimmy enrolls her in a competitive nurturing campaign that his marketing team set up. Since Jimmy is familiar with the talking points that often come up in competitive deals, he’s already worked with his marketing team to give them a better understanding of the types of content to include in this drip.

B2B marketers who have successfully deployed lead nurturing programs average a 20% increase in sales opportunities from nurtured leads versus non-nurtured leads. -DemandGen Report

three

Over the next year, Jimmy’s lead will receive consistent communication so that his company stays top of mind. The nurturing content the lead receives will contain content that draws attention to the pain points of using the competitor’s solution, highlight the benefits of switching, and showcase new innovations as Jimmy’s company continues to improve their offering. When renewal time approaches, Jimmy’s company will be at the top of his lead’s list.

The Competitive DripHACK THREE

The Competitive DripGAME PLAN

Use this hack when…

…you encounter a lead who is a good fit for your product, but is using a competitive solution.

…you need to stay top-of-mind with a prospect over a long period of time — in a noninvasive way.

How It’s Done:

Step 1. Talk to your marketing team so that they understand the talking points that often come up during competitive sales.

Step 2. Once the drip has been developed by marketing, use your CRM to enroll any leads who are using competitors and need additional nurturing.

9 / Pardot

Peter has an upcoming demo with a hot prospect. With several additional key stakeholders now involved, he wants to make sure he really nails his pitch. This group isn’t going to respond well to a generic presentation about his product, so he really needs to personalize it to their specific needs.

Instead of using his company’s catch-all presentation deck, Peter decides to make things more personal by leveraging the data collected by his company’s marketing automation tool. Inside his CRM, he can see a list of his prospect’s activity history:

• Page entry via search with a Google AdWords click

• Thirteen page views

• A form complete for a white paper download

• Two email opens and a tracked link click to a video overview

• 60% of the video overview watched

Judging by the types of white papers downloaded and pages viewed, this particular prospect seems to have an interest in invoicing software. Peter then scrolls down

to take a look at the demographic data that’s been collected. Using Data.com, he can see a wealth of social and prospect data to supplement the data already collected by his marketing automation tool. He makes note of his prospect’s industry and company size, and starts putting together a presentation deck that really focuses on how small businesses in the manufacturing industry are leveraging invoicing solutions to improve their accounts payable process.

42% of sales reps feel they do not have the right info before making a sales call. -Lattice Engines/CSO Insights

Nailing the DemoHACK FOUR

four

Nailing the DemoGAME PLAN

Use this hack when…

…you want to personalize a product demo beyond your typical one-size-fits-all sales pitch.

How It’s Done:

Step 1. Check out your prospect’s contact record in your CRM to view their activity history, including the content they’ve downloaded, pages they’ve viewed on your website, and more.

Step 2. Make note of their industry, job title, company size, industry, and any other relevant information that can be used to tailor your sales pitch.

Step 3. Customize your presentation deck or sales pitch so that it caters to your prospect’s interests and pain points. Include relevant examples or case studies based on the demographic information gathered during Step 2.

11 / Pardot

Monica hasn’t heard from Jared, one of her prospects, in a few months. But she isn’t worried — the “Inactive Lead” nurture track she placed him on is keeping her company top of mind.

35 - 50% of sales go to the vendor that responds to the prospect first. -InsideSales.com

As Monica is checking her email one day, a notification pops up in real time to let her know that Jared is looking at her pricing page. She quickly clicks over to her CRM to view his activity history, and notices a few content downloads from recent drip emails also on the list. Since he was just viewing the pricing page, he probably has a free moment to talk. Monica picks up the phone to call him while her product is still on his mind.

She’s in luck! When Jared answers, Monica says that she just wanted to check in to see whether the last piece of content she sent over had been helpful. Since she noticed that he’d been downloading additional content on marketing analytics, she tactfully works that topic into their conversation too. At the end of the conversation, Jared agrees to have a second call the following week to go over Monica’s product in more detail. Just like that, she’s in.

The average amount of time it takes an inside sales rep to set one appointment is 6.25 hours. -Ovation Sales Group

Speedy Follow-UpHACK FIVE

Speedy Follow-UpGAME PLAN

Use this hack when…

…a previously inactive prospect takes an action on your site or re-engages with your brand.

…a prospect takes a “hand-raising” action that indicates they’re sales-ready, like viewing your pricing page or downloading a buyer’s guide.

How It’s Done:

Step 1. View your prospect’s contact record in your CRM to see if any talking points can be gleaned from their activity history. Note any pieces of content they’ve engaged with that might indicate their pain points.

Step 2. Reach out promptly so that your product is still top-of-mind. Use what you know about their interests and activities to personalize the conversation without explicitly stating, “I saw that you downloaded our white paper at 2pm on Tuesday.” Remember, don’t be creepy!

Five hacks not enough? Check out our 25 Marketing Automation Tips e-book for additional sales tips straight from Pardot’s own sales reps. Learn how they’re using marketing automation to find everyday sales success.

HERE’S A TIP. OR 25.

GET THE E-BOOK

Ready to dominate your quota this quarter? Start working these five sales hacks into your daily workflow, and see how much time you free up to focus on the tasks that matter, like closing deals, crushing your numbers, and popping that celebratory champagne.

In fact, more and more B2B companies are already turning to marketing automation to “hack” the sales cycle and achieve success across their organizations. With the ability to speed up the sales pipeline and prioritize your hotter leads, marketing automation gives you the edge you need to crush your quota and outsell your competition.

What are you waiting for? Get hacking!

Start HackingCONCLUSION

LEARN MORE

Your customers are smarter, more capable, and better- informed than ever before. This new breed of consumer demands a better breed of marketing, and the Pardot platform has the capabilities to get you there.

Pardot is B2B marketing automation by Salesforce.

WANT MORE INFORMATION?