25 sales targeting tactics to increase conversion rates
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 9:16 am
Searching for your leads can be extremely boring for one simple reason.
You wanna press send ASAP and see how many leads you can convert.
But what if I told you that 51% of your success depends on your sales targeting. It’s essential to do the research right as it will tell you who are the right leads that may actually be interested in what you’re selling and how you should approach them.
What is sales targeting & why you shouldn’t send campaigns to anyone
Sales targeting is the process of determining who your ideal prospects are and then using techniques to search for these leads so you can send them your outreach campaigns.
sales rep doing their sales targeting meme
Honestly, this sounds like a bunch of fluff.
There’s only one goal you should keep in mind. Find people that are going to improve their business by using your product/service.
And if this isn’t enough to convince you, see what happens if you start sending outreach campaigns to everyone.
Introducing the SDRs worst nightmare, the quadrant of death.
sales targeting done wrong
Let me show you an example.
This is a message our lovely digital marketing manager, Charlie, got in her LinkedIn DMs recently.
And to preface… no… Charlie doesn’t have a gambling problem.
terribly targeted DM to Charlie about gambling
Like, really?
Imagine this kind of targeting and conversation in real life.
How to target prospects that will lead to conversion
What can you do to find the people that are most likely to convert algeria phone number list and stay happy clients? This is your step-by-step guide.
Step 1: Determine who your target prospects are
You should construct your target audience that fits both:
Your ideal company/account
The ideal position at this company
Take lemlist for example, this would either be a sales leader working for an SMB with a sales team running outbound or an agency owner/head of sales.
You want to get specific on the type of profile to look for so it’s 10x easier when you get to the point where you are using the fun tactics I’m about to mention.
P.S. To save you hours of research and boost your reply chances, we’ve prepared this free, step-by-step guide that will help you:
✓ define the companies you want to target (your Ideal Customer Profile)
✓ define the people you want to get in touch with (your buyer persona)
✓ segment buyer personas into tiers for best outreach results
BONUS: get access to the buyer persona template that got us 20k+ customers!
Step 2: Find the sales targeting tactics that work best for this ICP
FINALLY, this is the fun part. You can let your creativity run wild when you’re finding the real people behind your ICP.
finding perfectly targeted leads meme
Here are 25 sales targeting tactics you can use to find them, broken down by type of targeting strategy.
Also, I tried to make this list as actionable as possible so you should be able to open another window and do it while you’re reading. Happy targeting!
Targeting based on buying signals
These leads are more likely to be ready to make a purchase because they are in growth mode or have recently got some extra change in their pockets.
When a company is hiring
If a company is hiring it usually means their processes are going to change a bit since they are adding more people.
For example, at lemlist, we pay attention to when sales teams are hiring since we help these teams boost growth with outbound.
To use this tactic, you can either use LinkedIn sales navigator account filters to find companies that have grown their sales team, follow the company and your target lead on LinkedIn or use a tool to set up notifications.
This is what that filter looks like on sales nav:
department headcount growth filter on sales nav
2. When people change their role
For example, if you see that someone you follow goes from SDR to Manager/Head of/Director.
We say this is a buying signal because, generally, when you start a new role, you are looking to introduce new tools and tactics to increase performance within your first 90 days.
To do this there are a few things you can do:
Follow these targets on LinkedIn
Set post notifications for them on LinkedIn (the little bell on their profile)
Add them to a list on LinkedIn sales nav and activate notifications when something changes
save a lead for notifications on sales nav
3. Company raised funds recently
If a company raises funds, they obviously have some money to spend, but this also means that they will try to grow the company.
You can also learn so much about their initiatives this way since there are usually press releases and articles which will state what they hope to do with the funding.
To find targets this way you can:
Follow the company on LinkedIn + turn on sales nav notifications for the account
Use Crunchbase to identify leads that have raised funds recently
crunchbase search for funding rounds
Or you can also do this manually by using google news or through a google search, filtering by site, like the screenshot below:
google search for funding rounds on techcrunch
4. Company went IPO
If a company goes public, this is usually a sign that things are about to change.
This one isn’t a silver bullet by any means, so you’ll need to do some manual work.
My advice? Pick one sector. Looking where your best clients are is a great place to start.
Then double down on reading the financial news for this sector at least once per week. And thanks to algorithms, the more you do this the easier it will become to get the info at your fingertips.
Create one campaign for people that fit with this segment and personalize as needed when you see that a company that fits with your account ICP has gone public.
Some good sites to keep you in the know:
good sites for IPO news
5. Executive change
This one is pretty similar to when a company is hiring or when people change their role. But it’s a different signal because you’ll get a ton of info about what’s going on internally depending on who they hired for what position.
For example, if you see they are hiring more experienced execs, they might be trying to focus on things that require specific experience and use tried and true strategies to get there.
We can learn more about these execs and see what they did in the past.
And you can use the same ideas as with hiring or changing jobs:
Following the company on LinkedIn
Following key players like the CEO and “head of” various departments
Turn on sales nav notifications for the account to see when they gain new employees
Just remember, those first 90 days are vital so it’s best to land in their inbox within the first couple weeks.
Based on “interest signals”
Yes, I made this phrase up.
These are the leads who have sent signals that mean they might be looking for a tool like yours.
6. Asked a question related to you in communities
Let’s say you offer a tool that integrates with a CRM. People can ask questions related to the specific CRM your tool works best with.
Either way, this is a great group of people to reach out to because they are expressing interest in what you offer.
How do you contact them?
You wanna press send ASAP and see how many leads you can convert.
But what if I told you that 51% of your success depends on your sales targeting. It’s essential to do the research right as it will tell you who are the right leads that may actually be interested in what you’re selling and how you should approach them.
What is sales targeting & why you shouldn’t send campaigns to anyone
Sales targeting is the process of determining who your ideal prospects are and then using techniques to search for these leads so you can send them your outreach campaigns.
sales rep doing their sales targeting meme
Honestly, this sounds like a bunch of fluff.
There’s only one goal you should keep in mind. Find people that are going to improve their business by using your product/service.
And if this isn’t enough to convince you, see what happens if you start sending outreach campaigns to everyone.
Introducing the SDRs worst nightmare, the quadrant of death.
sales targeting done wrong
Let me show you an example.
This is a message our lovely digital marketing manager, Charlie, got in her LinkedIn DMs recently.
And to preface… no… Charlie doesn’t have a gambling problem.
terribly targeted DM to Charlie about gambling
Like, really?
Imagine this kind of targeting and conversation in real life.
How to target prospects that will lead to conversion
What can you do to find the people that are most likely to convert algeria phone number list and stay happy clients? This is your step-by-step guide.
Step 1: Determine who your target prospects are
You should construct your target audience that fits both:
Your ideal company/account
The ideal position at this company
Take lemlist for example, this would either be a sales leader working for an SMB with a sales team running outbound or an agency owner/head of sales.
You want to get specific on the type of profile to look for so it’s 10x easier when you get to the point where you are using the fun tactics I’m about to mention.
P.S. To save you hours of research and boost your reply chances, we’ve prepared this free, step-by-step guide that will help you:
✓ define the companies you want to target (your Ideal Customer Profile)
✓ define the people you want to get in touch with (your buyer persona)
✓ segment buyer personas into tiers for best outreach results
BONUS: get access to the buyer persona template that got us 20k+ customers!
Step 2: Find the sales targeting tactics that work best for this ICP
FINALLY, this is the fun part. You can let your creativity run wild when you’re finding the real people behind your ICP.
finding perfectly targeted leads meme
Here are 25 sales targeting tactics you can use to find them, broken down by type of targeting strategy.
Also, I tried to make this list as actionable as possible so you should be able to open another window and do it while you’re reading. Happy targeting!
Targeting based on buying signals
These leads are more likely to be ready to make a purchase because they are in growth mode or have recently got some extra change in their pockets.
When a company is hiring
If a company is hiring it usually means their processes are going to change a bit since they are adding more people.
For example, at lemlist, we pay attention to when sales teams are hiring since we help these teams boost growth with outbound.
To use this tactic, you can either use LinkedIn sales navigator account filters to find companies that have grown their sales team, follow the company and your target lead on LinkedIn or use a tool to set up notifications.
This is what that filter looks like on sales nav:
department headcount growth filter on sales nav
2. When people change their role
For example, if you see that someone you follow goes from SDR to Manager/Head of/Director.
We say this is a buying signal because, generally, when you start a new role, you are looking to introduce new tools and tactics to increase performance within your first 90 days.
To do this there are a few things you can do:
Follow these targets on LinkedIn
Set post notifications for them on LinkedIn (the little bell on their profile)
Add them to a list on LinkedIn sales nav and activate notifications when something changes
save a lead for notifications on sales nav
3. Company raised funds recently
If a company raises funds, they obviously have some money to spend, but this also means that they will try to grow the company.
You can also learn so much about their initiatives this way since there are usually press releases and articles which will state what they hope to do with the funding.
To find targets this way you can:
Follow the company on LinkedIn + turn on sales nav notifications for the account
Use Crunchbase to identify leads that have raised funds recently
crunchbase search for funding rounds
Or you can also do this manually by using google news or through a google search, filtering by site, like the screenshot below:
google search for funding rounds on techcrunch
4. Company went IPO
If a company goes public, this is usually a sign that things are about to change.
This one isn’t a silver bullet by any means, so you’ll need to do some manual work.
My advice? Pick one sector. Looking where your best clients are is a great place to start.
Then double down on reading the financial news for this sector at least once per week. And thanks to algorithms, the more you do this the easier it will become to get the info at your fingertips.
Create one campaign for people that fit with this segment and personalize as needed when you see that a company that fits with your account ICP has gone public.
Some good sites to keep you in the know:
good sites for IPO news
5. Executive change
This one is pretty similar to when a company is hiring or when people change their role. But it’s a different signal because you’ll get a ton of info about what’s going on internally depending on who they hired for what position.
For example, if you see they are hiring more experienced execs, they might be trying to focus on things that require specific experience and use tried and true strategies to get there.
We can learn more about these execs and see what they did in the past.
And you can use the same ideas as with hiring or changing jobs:
Following the company on LinkedIn
Following key players like the CEO and “head of” various departments
Turn on sales nav notifications for the account to see when they gain new employees
Just remember, those first 90 days are vital so it’s best to land in their inbox within the first couple weeks.
Based on “interest signals”
Yes, I made this phrase up.
These are the leads who have sent signals that mean they might be looking for a tool like yours.
6. Asked a question related to you in communities
Let’s say you offer a tool that integrates with a CRM. People can ask questions related to the specific CRM your tool works best with.
Either way, this is a great group of people to reach out to because they are expressing interest in what you offer.
How do you contact them?