5 Sales Cadence Mistakes That Kill Your Conversations

Do you know how often do you need to contact your leads to keep top of mind? And how far apart do your messages need to be, to avoid ending up on a block list? Sales cadence is the sequence of activities all sales reps should master to get their leads qualified and close deals. Learn how to master this sequence and avoid sales cadence mistakes that can alienate leads before you even make contact.

We’ve compiled this list using tried and tested tips from sales pros. The XANT Labs course on sales cadence should work to complement your training on sales cadence and make sure you apply this knowledge in your every-day routines.

Talking to Your Leads Only Once

The Sales Cadence Report 2017 from XANT shows that sales representatives are not being diligent about contacting their leads. This is surprising and disappointing to see. Past research has shown that following up on leads frequently leads to the best contact rates and sales performance.

While sales reps ‘think’ they are making an average of 15 touches per leads (according to TOPO research), XANT’s report shows the number is, in fact, around 6.

Contacting a lead only once before giving up is a sure fire way to miss out on excellent business opportunities. Sadly, sales reps make this mistake all too often.

Talking to Your Leads Too Many Times

It so happened that I recently purchased a course from a vendor which had a practice of introducing every customer to multiple emailing list. The madness was so that I ended up receiving emails every 12 hours, every single day.

I’m the good kind of customer – I only spent a few minutes unsubscribing from each of their newsletters.

Other customers might actually take some more time to leave a negative review online for your company.

It’s always a good idea to show respect for your prospect’s time. There is more noise out there than ever, and any potential customer does not appreciate spam mail.

Take into account sales cycles: some deals will only close after 90 days, no matter how many emails you send. There is a possibility of ending up on block lists if you contact people too often.

Using Only One Communication Channel

A lot of sales representatives will choose one communication channel and use it as their preferred method for outreach. The most common outreach practice is email (32 percent of sales reps use this method, according to recent findings). However, it’s been proven that using diverse communication channels yields the best results.

Phone calls, texting, voicemails, emails and social media communication – all play a role towards getting you to the final goal of closing a deal.

A lot of sales reps forget that social media is just as good as any other sales communication channel. Some say it’s even better: the average person will spend around two hours on social media every day.

Yikes! That’s more than some people spend talking to their kids!

Given the popularity of social networks, they make a great communication channel – and the rise of the social selling phenomena is no surprise.

Including social media in your cadence strategy will up your chances of connecting with prospects.

Not Accounting for Industry and Product

The software-as-a-service industry will have a different sales cadence than say, mattress selling or the financial industry. Each professional and persona within these industries will also have a preference for how and when to have a conversation. The sales cycle will also be different for each product, depending on price and other factors.

Not taking into account all these variables when building your sales cadence will set you up to fail.

Granted, it takes either years of experience – or a solid investment in marketing research to know the ins and outs of your prospect’s day.

Sales acceleration technologies can help here, by offering sales reps real-time information about their leads, and offering predictive analysis on which leads are more likely to respond or close a deal.

T leads us to the final error that sales reps make with their prospects – lack of interest when it comes to testing sales cadence strategies.

Not Testing Sales Cadences

Another very common mistake that sales team make when contacting leads is repetition. Some sales and marketing teams will do the same thing day in and day out, without regard as to what works and what doesn’t.

Repetitive sales cadences mean that you’re missing out on the opportunity to test new options and find out what really gets your prospects engaged.

So, put on your scientist hat and find out which of your strategies had the best results. You may be surprised of the results.

Build a Cadence For Your Business: Game Plan Course

This is only a short-list of errors that might come up in sales representative’s plan for sales cadence. If you’re interested in learning more, XANT has created a course on sales cadence building and implementation.

Learn how to set an ideal sales cadence for your business and how to make sure no lead escapes your sales funnel!

 

 

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