Attracting Prospects and Distributors with e-mail Campaign
An Effective e-mail campaign to cold B2B international prospects is a Three-Stages
Sales Funnel:
Teaser Letter: that is targeting potential audiences personally.
Bits & Bytes: Technical letter with all the relevant info about the products and solutions.
Biz Op: A letter revealing the commercial aspects, feasibility & ROI to qualified Leads.
Teaser Letter
It all started with an effective teaser-letter is based on AIDA concept:
Attention Grabber: a short paragraph about the reader and his pains or challenges
Interest: by pressing customer Pains and touching his motivation triggers (Fear or Greed)
Desire: developing the climax, or desire to know what you can do in order to solve the Pains
Action: a call for action: invitation to review documentation, to contact or schedule a meeting
Such letters are generic, with few alterations according to the prospect industry (energy, telco, gov) and the decision maker (technical, financial, business).
Usually we recommend trying 2-3 pitches and confirming which one is converting better. Each letter is in two languages, English and Spanish.
In most cases, the email will refer the Prospect to a hidden Landing Page with more relevant information.
This Landing Page will also include a Capture Section, so we will be able to track him and learn more about his interests.
Bits & Bytes
Once a Prospect responds to such letter – he is actually diving one step deeper in the Sales Funnel.
From this time on – he is treated as a Lead and monitored under the CRM system.
Leads are being qualified (Size, volume, industry, experience, contacts) with a basic Due Diligence. In some cases the Leads Enrichment is done over he phone by a junior executive.
We will have to draft the Lead a second letter, with an in-depth explanation about your solutions, case studies or other relevant data that will make him smell the money (WIIFM – What's In It For Me).
When approaching a VAR/Distributor/Integrator, I am adding to this letter also an appetizer regarding his market's potential and his ROI when working with us.
If applicable, we can provide a demo account, send sample devices, Products' specs and a technical discussion with your pre-sale engineers.
This is the time to pick up the phone and call the Prospect, starting an open dialogue and better understanding needs. Challenges and pains.
Biz Op
A conversion at this stage, meaning he responded with some interest to the second letter, means he is highly interested.
So the third letter is the killer: it includes a Business Terms Sheet, Feasibility/Roi Analysis and schedule a face to face meeting with the ECI executive.
The phone/video conference/webinar at this phase will build the confidence of your Prospect, since executives are suspicious when receiving an overseas call from a company with limited references.
As you can see it is a lengthy process, with high risk of losing prospects due to the quality of the communication.
The preparation phase for effective campaign is about one to two months, when dealing with highly sophisticated and competitive market that needs a special differentiator.
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About WikiSales
WikiSales is an International Trading, Training and Mentoring firm.
We are experts in International Sales and we are committed to your business success worldwide.
WikiSales is serving mostly exporters in the following ways:
· Training & Lecturing in International Sales
· Outsourcing Projects in International Sales
· Mentoring Entrepreneurs, Managers and Business Owners
About Gabriel Hayon
International Business Facilitator, International Speaker, CEO of WikiSales – Training and Consulting Firm,
25 years' experience in international sales, marketing and business development in variety of industries, territories and business models.
Industrial Engineering + Business Administration.
Spanish, English, Hebrew, Portuguese.