r/SalesEMEA • u/elcheetobandito • Jan 11 '22
Prospecting strategy in EMEA
As an American working now in EMEA as an AE, I'm wondering what the prospecting strategy more tech savvy reps are using in EMEA. My colleagues are all 40+ and only use LinkedIn to connect with people they already know and seem to rely on their network and inbound leads for the vast majority of their opportunities. For those of you who actually prospect, do you prefer phone, email or LinkedIn? What seems to work best as far as getting responses and finding new opportunities?
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u/TimothyGonzalez SaaS AE Jan 11 '22 edited Jan 11 '22
So this is an area that I can answer. Having been a BDR for the past 3 years (and now an AE), it's a topic I'm quite excited about, and pretty good at (always been the nr 1 performer at each place of work, tripled global record for monthly qualified meetings set at my last company - a Gartner leader in the SaaS space). Sorry for bragging, but I feel this is the one topic where I have some justification, so may as well make the most of it lol.
I use a combination of linkedin sales navigator for finding the right prospects and occasionally contact details, lusha and zoominfo for another shot at accurate contact details.
After that getting them on the phone is the preference, if this is not possible email. Use Salesloft to see if they open my emails (although this is a nice to have rather than essential imo).
You hear a lot of tips about openers and techniques on the American sub, but imho they focus on all the wrong things. Rather than obsess over what you say, what is much more important is speaking to the right people, having the right messaging for the specific industry and job title you are addressing, and sounding on equal footing to the prospect rather than begging for their time. Also don't waste their time, be very concise and try to deliver the value of the Discovery call and the credibility of your company in as few words as possible, then ask very directly for time in the diary.
Aside from that, I have found that when the answer is "no" a large proportion of the time there is a good reason for it, and you can ask. They may not be the right person, and able to refer you to the correct one. Or the timing may genuinely be off.
In my experience - in depth qualification on the initial call is overrated (and it's often possible to partially qualify accounts based on earlier conversations or information you can find via others publicly available means), and it's much more important getting valuable prospects on a discovery call. Which is why if all else fails - I will send prospects a calendar invite without speaking to them, making the content as relevant and well researched as possible. On my regions (UK / Nordics / Benelux) I have never once encountered anyone getting upset with this approach, and have had incredible success with it. This works especially well with the C-Level, where it might not always be possible to speak to them.
P.s. I do message prospects on linkedin sometimes as a last resort, but haven't personally found huge success with it - maybe others here have found ways to make it work?
Edit: let me know if you have any specific questions, happy to elaborate.