Prospecting is a lot like advertising – you need to get the right message in front of the right people at the right time. But, as Sales professionals, we know this is not as easy as it sounds.

Today, the tech and SaaS space is more competitive than ever. So how do SDRs prospect effectively to acquire new customers and business? By using the right tools and technology to send well-researched, personalized, and engaging messages that will break through the noise and leave an impression.

Choose Your Outreach Tools Wisely

We have the technology – the key is knowing how to use it the right way. 

Our AdRoll Sales team uses a variety of tools like Salesforce (our CRM),  Zoominfo, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator – oh yeah, and good ol’ Google – to find the right ecommerce companies that would benefit from using our marketing and advertising platform. 

Salesforce

If you also use the Salesforce CRM, we recommend building a prospecting report to help you uncover prospects that match your Ideal Client Profile (ICP). Pro tip: check out the company’s revenue, size, business model, and even the technologies it already uses to help you determine if they’re a fit for your product. 

Zoominfo

If you don’t have Salesforce, Zoominfo is another spot to check the firmo/technographic data of a prospect – or where you can confirm the data from Salesforce. This is also a great tool to confirm the right point of contact (POC) for your outreach. You want your outreach to show that you took the time and care to research the company and ensure your product is the right fit for them. 

While you’re there, dig into the Scoops section (or Google News search if you aren’t seeing the right information) and see if there’s anything worth noting in your future outreach message to the POC. You may also set up an alert within Zoominfo, and it will notify you of any big changes or news at the prospective company. While you might have the right person, if their company just went through a RIF or other business change – it may not be the right time. You need to match your timing with your message as closely as possible to have the best possible outcome. 

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Finally, don’t skip checking out LinkedIn Sales Navigator. This tool will also help you reach out to the right person at the right time – an essential to effective prospecting. 

You may and should also use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to build lead lists and account lists. If you add a person to a lead list, LinkedIn will tell you if they change jobs, get a promotion, etc. Linked In will also add that person’s posts to your news feed so you may engage with that prospect within the channel. Moreover, if you build out account lists in Sales Navigator, LinkedIn will also tell you when changes have been made to personnel on those accounts you save.  

You found your POC. Now what?

Finding the right contact and timing out your outreach is half the battle, right? Now it’s time to send them a personalized message that will drive them to respond.

Technology is here to help with that, too! 

On the AdRoll team, we use Outreach as our tool for sequencing contacts. In that tool, you may search for keywords relevant to your message. Maybe “Shopify” is one of them. The tool will then list out top sequences by reply rate with the word “Shopify” in the title. 

Also, don’t shy away from using ChatGPT for some writing support. You may already be doing this, but just in case you’re not, ChatGPT is a good way to inspire your message. But consider reading it closely and editing it to sound personal to you. Remember all of those personal details you found with ZoomInfo and LinkedIn Sales Navigator? This is the time you use them. Research shows that personalized messaging gets a nearly 1200% higher open rate than a canned email.  

With all this information in mind, we challenge you to do this at least once today. Find your prospect and craft a personalized email and LinkedIn Inmail that’s driven by your research.  

Happy prospecting!