Stop Selling Start Clienteling - A New Approach to Cold Outreach
Cold outreach doesn't have to be cold.
If you work in Sales/Business Development/Marketing, or you are an entrepreneur like me, you will likely reach out to someone you have yet to have a prior connection with. Chances are you are not alone - many industry peers are doing the same. Here are some clienteling tips to "warm" your cold outreach and stand out from the crowd:
💡 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴: Recognise and like the potential client's LinkedIn (or other social media) posts and add insightful comments. Make this a consistent practice for some time.
💡 𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵: Invest time and effort into understanding your potential client's "universe" and relate your message to their recent sharing /work. The "universe" could be personal, company, or industry-related. For example, Congratulations to someone on their career progression or an innovative event they have done!
💡 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀: The more common grounds we share with the other person, the easier it is to open doorways. Common grounds could be our shared connections (e.g. we are both friends of Amy) and our shared values (e.g. we are both passionate about improving customer satisfaction).
💡 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁 "𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲": Study and replicate the writing style of the potential client. Do they prefer more logical, concise language or emotional and personal touches? Do they use any emojis?
💡 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂; 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺: In your first outreach, instead of discussing your products or service offerings, focus on building initial engagement and developing common ground.
💡𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 ❤️ : Celebrate small wins - this could be a new connection on LinkedIn, a piece of new industry insight you have learnt through research, an article you have written and bravely shared to the world. Be proud of the effort you put in instead of merely focusing on results.
Stop selling, start clienteling. You will see the seeds of the relationship growing - and of course, the commercial result will follow!
