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You’ll already know just how important it is for your sales team to contact the best prospects at the perfect time. Sadly, one problem a lot of sales teams like yours commonly face is that determining who to contact and when to contact them isn’t always an easy job.
If you and the rest of your sales team are sick of those sky-high rejection rates, then it’s likely that sales trigger events can help. Here’s what you need to know about them and how they can help you.
WTF is a Sales Trigger Event?
A trigger event is basically any occurrence that signals a buying opportunity. This is where sales and marketing joining forces is vital, as automation workflows use trigger events to enable small organisations to scale customer interactions.
They’re not exactly obvious though. Your sales team probably won’t come across tweets or LinkedIn posts from prospects screaming out that they’re looking for a new product or service that you can somehow help with. It’s all about the right timing and tuning into the relevant channels to see blatant or subtle shifts that can potentially warm up a cold prospect.
Timing is key for your sales team, as reaching out to a prospect after they spend big money on a competitive product or service isn’t going to work as well as your sales team reaching out to a prospect before they even begin researching.
That way, your sales team’s message is received with greater interest.
How Do They Help?
Sales trigger events are a lot more effective than cold calling, for example. Primarily because they’re a better and more effective way of closing valuable leads, but there’s slightly more to it.
Rather than randomly going through a long list of names and making cold calls with little success, sales trigger events help your sales team better qualify and improve your list of prospects. They’ll be more receptive that way compared to a cold call because the conversations they have with your sales team will actually be valuable.
Think of it this way. Without sales trigger events, somebody from your sales team might be on the phone to prospects and being blunt - telling them about the services you can offer. With a trigger in place, however, they can make it a lot more personal. Your sales team can say they saw a tweet about a recent promotion, congratulating them and asking how they can help the prospect in their new role.
Which one is the prospect more likely going to engage with? The second, because it feels a lot more personal to the prospect rather than forced which suggests that entire conversation is going to be more useful for the prospect.
Sales trigger events help your sales team come across as more human. They establish a connection or a relationship with prospects which makes it more likely for the conversation to carry on, rather than putting the phone down and immediately saying the exact same, generic message to another prospect.
So, if your sales team isn’t using sales trigger events for prospecting calls then you’re missing out.
Important Sales Trigger Events Stats
Selling isn’t easy. That’s why you need a fully motivated sales team that can put all of their effort into closing leads. To make prospecting easier, sales teams will obviously want newer and better ways to find out which prospects are the best to contact. That’s why sales trigger events are great to use.
To see why they can be such a big help, check out some stats below:
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HubSpot revealed that 40 percent of salespeople claimed that prospecting is the most challenging part of the sales process.
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On average, it takes around 18 phone calls to connect with a buyer. This is before you can even qualify them to turn them into leads.
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Reaching out to prospects based on trigger events can increase conversion rates by a massive 400 percent.
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Companies that have been recently funded are eight times more likely to buy - so you know who to target.
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Studies have found that 75 percent of prospects respond to a well-timed email or call.
Which Tools to Use For Tracking Trigger Events
The point of sales trigger events is that it saves your sales team a lot of time by only focusing on good prospects. It’ll be pointless if they have to use whatever time they do have left into research on news and updates on prospects before every call or email.
The great news is that there are plenty of tools and software out there that do most of the legwork, allowing your sales team to set up tracking for specific trigger events in each tool which signals a buying opportunity.
Some of the most proven and popular tools include:
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Industry news.
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Social media channels.
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Press releases.
You won’t be able to use just one tool for every single prospect. Some prospects will open opportunities for your sales team through their social media channels - such as Twitter where your sales team can use TweetDeck - while others will come through Google Alerts.
These tools make each interaction from your sales team highly-tailored and more specific. It means your sales team is more likely to grab a prospect’s attention than they ever could with a generic pitch used over and over again.
Sales Trigger Events Your Sales Team Can Track
There aren’t any set rules on what you can and can’t track. Although, we can give you some useful examples to lead you on the right path so you can decide which sales trigger events will be worthwhile down the line.
Check them out below and the tools you can use to track the events...
Buyers Opening Your Emails
Although a prospect physically looking at an email your sales team has sent isn't a trigger event for them as much as it is for you, it’s a great opportunity to hold their attention for even longer after you’ve already grabbed it one.
You can track this event using HubSpot Sales.
Awards
If your prospect or the company they work for is getting recognition, such as winning an award, then it’s the perfect chance to reach out while they’re riding a wave of success. You can inform them on how you can help them stay ahead of the competition.
This event can be tracked using tools like Google Alerts or even keeping up to date with industry news and press releases.
New Roles
If you’ve already worked with a satisfied lead before and they receive a promotion, for example, then you can keep that flywheel turning by having your sales team reach out and asking if they’d want your service along for the ride.
It’s a good opportunity to remind them of how your team made them look good in their last role, so bringing you along again could help achieve the same.
You’re likely to find prospects use social media channels like LinkedIn to announce the great news of a promotion or new job role, so check out social media channels they use the most.
Unhappiness With Current Service
This all depends on your prospect. Some won’t publicly announce that their current provider isn’t working out while others won’t waste time letting their followers know. If you notice some dissatisfaction, use that chance for your sales team to swoop in, empathise and explain how you can help in a better way.
To track this event, keep an eye on social media or even industry news for articles or blog posts that signal a sour relationship.
An Actual Evidence of Interest
Let’s say you’re selling a popular car and a prospect is posting several articles on social media about that car, how amazing it is, how much they want it and other people should buy it. It shows that they’re interested and they want the whole world to know.
That’s why your sales team should monitor what your prospects are sharing on social media, posting, liking and everything in between on several social media networks.
If it just so happens that a prospect is talking about your products or services, then your sales team will know that they can help in the right way because they’ve been tracking their social media activity.
To track this event, your sales team will need to track various social media channels, depending on the ones that your prospects are using the most.
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We could sit here all day and explain every single sales trigger event your sales team can track. The five above are good examples of where to start, but here are some other event examples you and your sales team might consider looking into - or even come across your own:
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New legislation.
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Major industry developments.
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Mergers and acquisitions.
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New products or service announcements.
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Company expansion.
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Large customer announcements.
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Press coverage.
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Additional funding.
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Entrance into a new market.
Again, these are just some examples of events your sales team can track. All of them will need different tools ranging from Google Alerts to simply keeping an eye on social media platforms.
Want to Know How You And Your Sales Team Can Close More Leads? Check Out Our Free Sales Enablement Guide…
By now, it’s clear just how beneficial using sales trigger events can be as a technique when approaching prospects. However, sales trigger events combined with sales and marketing alignment, automation, a lead qualification process and so much more are just small chunks of a bigger process called sales enablement.
Sales enablement is basically a process featuring tools and techniques that will help your sales team close leads and successfully engage buyers. Obviously, we can’t fit everything about sales enablement here, so we’ve created a free and comprehensive guide you can download so it’s easier to understand the entire process.
The eBook covers a range of topics, from how you can align your sales and marketing teams, tips on increasing sales productivity, how sales enablement actually works and so much more. Until that's ready, why not join our private Facebook group? We regularly share news and updates about all things sales enablement and inbound marketing.
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