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- [00:02]
Kevin Dunn
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Agency Unfiltered, the HubSpot Solutions partner podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Dunn, and Agency Unfiltered is a weekly web series and podcast that interviews the owners, founders and executives of agencies and services providers from around the world about whatever it takes to grow and scale. On this week's episode, we have on Lara Triazzi and Terry Lynn Anderson, CEO and sales manager at Market Launcher, respectively. The to talk about prospecting and lead generation with both of their perspectives, we.
- [00:34]
Terry Lynn Anderson
Get to talk about both the broad.
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Kevin Dunn
Evolution of B2B prospecting and the cyclical nature of how sellers must change their.
- [00:40]
Terry Lynn Anderson
Approach to reach prospective buyers.
- [00:43]
Kevin Dunn
And the tactical approaches that work best from someone on the front lines. So we talk about the current state of prospecting, what businesses are looking for from sales reps and sales conversations today, and. And what the Market Launcher team does that can help others improve and or accelerate their own prospecting and lead generation efforts. And based on Market Launcher's expertise in the enterprise, Lara and Terry Lynn also discuss how these early sales conversations change as you move up market. You're listening to another episode of Agency Unfilter. Hey, guys.
- [01:43]
Terry Lynn Anderson
Welcome to the Agency Unfiltered podcast. How are we doing today?
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Lara Triazzi
Good.
- [01:47]
Terry Lynn Anderson
We're good. How you doing?
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I'm good, I'm good. We have here Laura and Terry Lynn from Market Launcher. How are things at MarketLauncher? We've, you know, spoken before we've had you on the podcast. We always love repeat visitors. How are things since we last, you know, were able to connect on a microphone?
- [02:04]
Yeah. So things are good. It's been a crazy year. It's been a crazy three years, actually, I should say. I think we've all been on this roller coaster ride together.
- [02:13]
Sure.
- [02:14]
But we've really watched a lot of change happen over the last 12 to 18 months that I think, you know, in a lot of ways is good for Market Launcher because we're out there on the front lines, so we're in the front of the roller coaster, so we see all the changes as they're coming. So, you know, we're really focused on trying to make sure we're helping our clients navigate how this whole thing that we call prospecting looks really different today than it did a couple years ago.
- [02:42]
Yeah. And, you know, love the roller coaster metaphor. I love the. They say that the front of the roller coaster, that's the best seat in the house. Right. But for the business metaphor piece, it allows you to see the twist and turns before you actually have to more Acutely feel them. So I think love the metaphor there. And yes, by all accounts from our conversations, but also conversations with other agencies and partners that I've had, yes, right. Prospecting, business development, a lot of the sales engagements and contacts, a lot of that's changed. And so I think that was a perfect tee up for maybe the conversation we're going to have today. And so maybe that's where we'll start. And I'll just, I'll hone right in on what you laid up there. And so what is the current state of prospecting in biz dev for partners, for services providers? And what have you seen be the biggest evolutions or changes over the last, I think you said three years or so.
- [03:31]
Yeah. And I'll tee this up, but I really, I brought Terri Lynn Anderson with me today because she is out there on the front line. So she really is in the front of the roller coaster. I'm a couple rows back, but she's out there on the front lines just really tactically able to, you know, sort of figure out what's working, what isn't and really make those pivots. But I can tell you sort of, you know, globally, overall, the biggest thing that we're seeing is this heightened importance for relevance. The days of this being a numbers game. If you reach out to enough people, you get somebody to say yes. You know, those days are long over and have been for a while. We've kind of watched that evolution progress over the last probably five or six years really. But there is a, in the last, I'm going to say 18 months in particular, what we've seen in acceleration is a much lower tolerance for anybody being willing to take a meeting just to learn. It's really about coming into a meeting really prepared with the intelligence that you have been able to gather so you can quickly connect the dots between the prospect's current situation and the solution that you're offering. So I'm going to let Terry Lynn talk about kind of some of the ways that she goes about doing that. But I think that's kind of the big overarching difference is how important that relevance is. And then it's not about sort of slowly, organically getting somebody to be willing to have a conversation. It's more about coming in and being very precise and specific about what you want to talk about and it being something that's highly relevant to that prospect.
- [05:06]
That's great. And Terry Lynn, I think again to the note here that you're on the front lines, I can't Wait to extract all of the expertise that you have, all the recommendations you have. Again, knowing that we're, we're feeling these changes, would you say, would you guys say that it's cyclical? Is this is. Should we be like time bound? You know, is there like a, a sense that, you know, prospecting, biz, dev, sales, like, is it every X amount of years we see things change? Is this just more a sign of the times? Like, I guess maybe the root of the question is like, how can partners or other services providers best prepare for or plan for and evolutions that we see and feel as part of the sales process?
- [05:48]
Lara Triazzi
Yeah, I can jump in. And I will say that definitely, you know, prospecting has definitely evolved into a different situation. We used to, remember when email used to work, like, we get responses and be able to, you know, book meetings. That way, email alone just doesn't work anymore at all. It takes that human connection. It takes a very strategic, intelligent and authentic outbound approach to get in front of the right buyers at the right time. And you have to be relevant, like Lara had said. So our approach really is to make outreach via phone first and then follow with an email right after. But we're using the same language as we're using on the phone. There's still that need for personalization and emotional intelligence, you know, especially when it comes to a complex sale. And we're even seeing now like, you know, prospects are asking us to text them. So I do believe that we're moving in that direction as well of using text as another form of communication.
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Terry Lynn Anderson
So, I mean, it's, it's, it sounds like not only the expectations of prospective buyers, but the channels in which they want to be reached out to. Right. Or open to communicating on are also evolving and they continue to evolve, I think, to your note about maybe a heightened tolerance or like a growing acceptance of text being a channel. You mentioned email no longer works. Is that the biggest change we've seen or the most drastic pivot from what we've seen as historically working as part of like a prospecting process? If not, what has been like, what do you feel most acutely?
- [07:23]
Lara Triazzi
Oh, well, to Laura's point, she'd mentioned relevance. You know, the details matter. So when we're prospecting, we have a full team that's doing outreach as well as research. So we're capturing every detail in HubSpot. And even things that you think might not be significant can really help in prospecting. So, you know, the big things are obvious, you know, current initiatives, projects, but it's also the small details like getting the receptionist or assistant's name. It all helps to be relevant to the person that you're reaching out to.
- [07:53]
Terry Lynn Anderson
That's super interesting. So it's, it's, it's all of the details that you can pull together, seemingly large or seemingly small. Right. And so, yeah, I think what I'm hearing here is, all right, there's relevance and maybe context has never been more important. And pairing that with a lower tolerance for prospective buyers or just businesses to take meetings, especially if they're informal or to learn. And so, yeah, what does successful prospecting look like? You mentioned pulling in the details, but how should partners seek out and find those details and then channel that into a really effective message or outreach?
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Lara Triazzi
Right, Yeah, I can share some examples. You know, obviously to cut through the noise, we're getting emails all day long that are just not relevant. But to cut through the noise, you have to be relevant. So some examples of that are, you know, reference any past conversations with, had with anybody in the company. Even if you're talking to the receptionist, you know, get their name. Hey, I talked with, you know, Sarah Smith and she informed me you're responsible for XYZ or I understand you're currently using this product. Anything that you've learned, research their website. For example, we have a client that provides CRO or clinical research services. And before I call a prospect, I will look at the company pipeline and see what trials we can speak to or the types of trials we can speak to where I know that the client has expertise in those types of trials. Look on LinkedIn, you know, look at the contacts, job description for any keywords, you know, I see you're responsible for xyz. That's exactly what we want to talk to you about. Or we can make your job easier. Use relevant messaging based on the title or any pain points that, you know, that position might be feeling. We use events where applicable. So if we can get an attendee list, great. But even if it's an event that's in that prospects area that we know the client's going to be at, we still will leverage that. You know, curious if you're attending, you know, this event and we'll be speaking about today's current challenges and how to overcome those challenges, even if they're not attending, there could be fomo, you know, so I know you won't be there, but let us show you, you know, what others are going to be hearing about. One thing too is use short, relevant voicemails. Be direct to the point and do it with great energy. You know, for an example, hey, I know this is going on in the industry. This is exactly what we want to talk to you about, very specific to them, and then follow up with a very strong call to action email. It also takes the human touch to ask the right questions. When someone asks me for information, we need to be asking the right questions to send them relevant information. What's important to them. When we ask these questions, honestly, it usually turns into a conversation which turns into a meeting anyway. The other thing, not only relevance, provide value, like why do they want to meet? Like, what are they going to get out of the meeting? Offering something for free, like a complimentary gap assessment. Sometimes people don't even realize they have gaps until it's explored. When you're asking the right probing questions, what's in it for them? So offering best practices or strategies during a call, that's one way to get in front of them. For example, I have a client that specializes in PR and media relations strategies. And so I booked a meeting recently by offering to share these PR and media relations strategies that can help them gain credibility, validation and trust with their target audiences. And again, no obligation, you know, so what's in it for them? One thing that we do as well, offer results of a recent survey or cqa, if applicable to their role or in their industry. So those are some tips. And I just talked for a really long time.
- [11:33]
Terry Lynn Anderson
No. Yeah, There's a ton to unpack there. I was simultaneously listening, also jotting down my own notes here too.
- [11:41]
Right.
- [11:41]
And so it sounds like the, the big takeaway and I'm going to try and reflect it back, maybe try and help summarize too. But it's, it's what you reference and how you reference it. Right. And so I think, to your point, I think you mentioned like name dropping anybody that you've previously talked to. That helps getting a foot in the door. Referencing things like event or industry news. Right. Other things that might be going on, whether they're attending or not. I think you mentioned like the FOMO factor and then it sounds like the other one was like industry taxonomy or. Right. You mentioned CRO or like there was like clinical trials, which I'm glad you specified too because CRO, I had a different acronym in mind. And so that's like clinical trials. Being able to like talk, to talk there too. How, I don't know how verticalized or industry niched market launcher is, but how, what, what role does industry expertise play in your ability to like, you know, reference or, or use relevant messaging based on an industry's, you know, their own version of a leader. You know what I mean? Where does that come into play?
- [12:46]
Lara Triazzi
Well, we're. Go ahead, Laura. I know. Go ahead.
- [12:50]
Terry Lynn Anderson
No, no. So, yeah, I mean, that, that's a, that's a big differentiator for us because, you know, we, we focus strictly on B2B. But above that, our niche is really around companies that have a very complex sale, and then those fall within technology. So MedTech, FinTech, EdTech, any really complex software as a service offering, and then also professional services. So we work with architecture and engineering firms and management consulting firms. So because we've chosen that as our target audience, we've had to be really focused on then making sure that we've designed our process around taking that industry knowledge and applying it very effectively on behalf of our clients. And so that means being able to build upon anything that we've learned from our experience and exposure to those same target audiences. Because again, as Terry Lynn talked about, it's all about being relevant and cutting through that noise. And you were asking that question earlier about the evolution and the cyclical nature of it. And I wanted to circle back to that because. So we've been around for 22 years, and it's been my observation that we see these shifts happening about every six or seven years, and it's mostly driven by technology and how our behavior changes based on how we're using that technology day to day. So way back in our early days, it was about leaving a very compelling voicemail message so that someone would call you back. No one calls back anymore. Now voicemail messages are really about, as Terry Lynn said, being really quick and to the point and hoping that they might view the transcript of that voicemail message on their phone, knowing that the chances they may actually listen to it are pretty nil. That started to evolve when everybody stopped listening to their voice on messages. And then it became about email, and it was really about having the tools that would enable you to be able to see what people were most responsive to. Were they clicking on a link and going to look at content. Now what we're seeing is that technology is starting to shift, and email by itself is a lot less effective because one, the technology has caught up with removing some of that visibility. So now we don't know if a click was really a click. You know, was that really a click or was it the firewall filtering out spam? So today it's really more about kind of leveraging this omnichannel approach where you have access to all this different information, but using it very intelligently as a way to be highly personalized to that prospect. I always like to use the bad examples are the hundreds of emails I get on a weekly basis that say, laura, I see that you went to Southwestern University and that you live in Florida. How's the weather in Miami? Which, by the way, I'm about five hours from Miami, so I don't know how the weather is. But then they'll say something like, I'd love to talk to you about how we could improve your search engine optimization. Those are completely irrelevant points. Where I went to college and where I live have nothing to do with my website. Now I realize that they're just leveraging technology to very quickly find out these things about me and hoping it's going to get my attention. What would impress me a lot more is if they said, hey, I did some keyword searches on some phrases that I think are probably relevant to who you prospect to and your competition showed up higher on the search engine results than you did. I would love to talk to you about how we could optimize your search engine results. That would probably get my attention. But if you're not doing that legwork on the front end and you're just kind of using these tools to kind of grab information that's easily captured off of LinkedIn, then that's not really going to be effective. But obviously people think it is because I get hundreds of them.
- [16:30]
Well, it just goes to show too, how important. Well, we know that this is what you need to do in order to be successful in prospecting in 2023, 2024 and beyond. However, we also see how hurtful poor attempts at executing this can look. And it's actually more damaging. Right. If you're able to do it that way. To your point, some of the examples there. And so it's like, okay, if you're going to do this, you have to go all in. You have to do it strategically and with the right amount of personalization and context, etc. Because we know we need to. But poor attempts can be damaging. Right? For that.
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For that, absolutely. I'm a little worried that we're going to kill email, that it's going to cease to become a valid form of communication because, you know, my inbox is just full of garbage.
- [17:15]
Yeah. You know, I'm surprised you didn't take the bait there. Everyone loves to be the first one to pronounce when, like a channel is dead. Right. And so you had you had it right there. Like email is dead. But you're like, we don't know yet. But it's, that's where we're headed. That's where we're headed. Going back to your, your role in the front lines here, how do you battle? I've always assumed that prospecting in sales and biz dev, it's a numbers game, right? And it's like the more outreach you do, the more, you know, it's, it's a, you know, it funnels down into connections. How do you balance the numbers game methodology, if that still is to be true, with the growingly, I'm assuming, time intensive process of research and personalizing and gaining the necessary context. How do you, how do you balance those two things?
- [18:00]
Lara Triazzi
I actually don't focus on the numbers. I will say I'm not one of those people that bangs out calls. I am very strategic before I make calls and so I do convert pretty high as Laura knows, because I am being so strategic and I am doing that research beforehand. We also have a team that does research as well. But before I make a call, I don't want to make a call just to make a call. I want to make sure that I have relevant information and I have done that research that I know I can help that prospect, that the product or the solution that I'm selling can solve a problem for them. So you know, that intent is there and like I said, the relevance is there. You know, I'm speaking to something that I know they may have a pain point about or that they're, you know, will impact their role. So it's not just banging out calls. I'm very, very thoughtful and strategic before I actually get on the phones and.
- [19:02]
Terry Lynn Anderson
I want to tag onto that. As far as referring, you know, in referencing a numbers game, I think the change that we're seeing is it's much more about conversion metrics than it is about we start with this volume and it's going to result in this output. Instead it's looking at those conversion metrics and then if we can see where those conversion metrics are higher, where we're getting more traction, then you take that and apply it back up to the top of the funnel and now you are going to get more output, but it's less about what volume you, you start with and where you end up than it is about what is actually moving faster through the funnel based on things like industry, you know, certain profiles around who, you know, if you're targeting a range of companies that are in different Size brackets, you know, just kind of seeing where are those indicators across different.
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You read my mind. I was about to ask what are the variables that you look at when analyzing conversion metrics. But it looks like industry, like profile, business demographic or you know, company size. Like those are the things you look at to determine where should we be putting more of our strategic thought into knowing that again? Yeah, a numbers game isn't the methodology it sounds like anymore.
- [20:15]
Yeah. At an account level. And then we even look at are there certain decision makers by title or level in the organization that are more responsive? You know, we might, you know, we might think that the decision maker is somebody at a VP level in an operations role. But if we're going a little bit wider on our net and we can see that actually it's somebody at the director level with a very specific title that has some keywords in it is where we're getting more traction, then that's where we're going to pivot and obviously get better output.
- [20:45]
Oh, that's great. And yet. So who at the. Who at a company should we be reaching out to with the message?
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Right, right.
- [20:52]
You mentioned to Omnichannel, obviously marketers and salespeople killed the email inbox. And so we've pivoted now to our let's make sure we lead phone first. We have a really to the point, succinct but contextual voicemail. How many contact attempts are you finding that you need to make or that partners are making in order to actually go ahead and book a meeting or advance the conversation?
- [21:14]
Lara Triazzi
Yeah, well, we are noticing that there's a lot more stakeholders involved, especially when we're calling into those enterprise level companies. So it's really important that you have the right messaging right off the bat and you're creating some awareness across that ecosystem. Obviously referrals are gold. But there may be one person in the organization that's tasked with finding a solution to a particular problem and who that person is might not be obvious by their title. So when we're asking the right questions and have the right messaging right off the bat to even reaching gatekeepers and even other stakeholders that can get you in front of the right person who's actually tasked with that. With that, with finding a solution.
- [21:58]
Terry Lynn Anderson
It's interesting. So you mentioned a couple times too about asking the right questions even to potentially gatekeepers. What have you found to be like the most impactful or effective questions that you ask early in the process to inform. To strategically inform Right. Future outreach for a particular business? Like what are the best questions you.
- [22:16]
Lara Triazzi
Could ask, I will say one is what are you doing today? You want to find out what solution they're using or what their processes look like today?
- [22:28]
Terry Lynn Anderson
I love that. Do you find that gatekeepers have the answer to that question at least enough? Maybe. All right, now I can name drop and reference that and you know, talk it to whoever I think the right decision maker might be.
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Lara Triazzi
Yeah, we've actually had quite a lot of success in even reaching gatekeepers and I mean it doesn't hurt to ask the question, right?
- [22:47]
Terry Lynn Anderson
That's very true. You mentioned too. I'm glad you teed this up. I did want to ask, you mentioned there's a growing amount of stakeholders, right. In these types of conversations, sales decisions, especially as you move into the enterprise. We know a number of solutions partners are thinking about moving up market. We know the software at HubSpot's growing in breadth and depth, the customization capabilities etc, and so I think upmarket enterprise, it's on the, it's on the minds of a lot of partners and services providers in addition to the increasing count of stakeholders. What else and how else do you see the prospecting process change, you know, as you move up market or deal with these types of businesses?
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Lara Triazzi
Yeah, let's go ahead.
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Terry Lynn Anderson
Sorry.
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Lara Triazzi
No, you go.
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Terry Lynn Anderson
I can jump on that one.
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You both like that one. You both like that one. You both came in hot. Excellent, excellent.
- [23:32]
Well, and it's kind of back to your earlier question as well is that you know, how many touch points is it taking these days to get a response? And this is actually highly relevant to when you're moving up market and getting up into these enterprise levels organizations because as Terry Lynn was talking about, there's a lot more stakeholders potentially involved in the decision making process. It also can be a lot harder to actually get to that one person who owns finding a solution to a particular problem. And so we're finding that the number of touches it takes to reach someone is getting a lot higher. However, we're also finding that once you get to the right person, the conversion to get them into an engaged conversation and then get them to agree to a meeting and is actually significantly higher than it used to be, which seems counterintuitive to everything that we've just talked about. But the short version of that is it's a lot harder to reach somebody. But once you do, once they let you in, there's a good chance that you're speaking their language in a way that they're willing to take that conversation forward. So if I Were giving advice to anyone doing prospecting, particularly in enterprise. It's going to take a lot of touches. Don't get discouraged by that. 8, 9, 10, 11 on average, to get to that person who is going to ultimately be willing to at least give you two minutes on the phone to get to that point where you can turn that into a discovery call or a demo. But that goes up even higher in the enterprise organizations because so many of those touches are just navigating through the organization to get to that right person. But like I said, it pays off because once you get to them, the conversion on that, you know, we, we track six different stages of the lead funnel, and we've seen something really interesting in our reports just in the last six months where it's like the reach rate is going down and the number of touches it takes to reach is going up. But then once we get to that point, those conversion metrics into that engaged and then booking into a meeting are much higher than they used to be.
- [25:28]
That's super interesting. Yeah, I think you caught it too. Like, yeah, those, those almost seem like they're in contrast in one another. But it's like, yeah, if somebody's invited you in, you've proven your potential value. Add all the way up that it's like, okay, then, you know, once you're actually conversing with the right person with the right message accelerates, and it's great. How many points of contact are you reaching out to as you know, in like an enterprise organization?
- [25:54]
Yeah, so we start with an initial cycle where we're really just. We know it's all about just trying to figure out who that right person is. And so we'll start with a phone outreach followed by a series of three emails and then another phone touch, if we can see that the emails are getting to the right person. So it's really kind of five touches right out of the gate. And that's really to get the list nice and clean. Once we know we have the right people, then that's where someone like Terry Lynn comes in and she gets very strategic about who am I going to follow up with on this list? Based on how they reacted to that initial outreach, what we've been able to learn about that organization or that individual from our sales research, and then kind of honing in on who we want to actually get on the phone and get into a conversation. But it's pretty much, you know, that that's been a good formula for us, about five touch points on the front end just to get to the right.
- [26:44]
People, that's helpful to know. And then the sales research component, what tools, technologies, databases, networks, like, where are you primarily conducting that sales research in order to identify those five people?
- [27:00]
Lara Triazzi
Well, some of it's manual. We do have a team, a sales research team, and they will, you know, again, look at websites and have conversations with others within the organization. But we're also using AI. So, you know, AI can obviously automate efficiencies, like make it easier to find relevant information for quality prospecting. And, you know, while we believe that the human connection needs to happen for complex sales, we understand that AI does play a big role in prospecting, including being able to personalize emails one to one and also in building out the right companies. So understanding their footprint online is easier to do with AI. And that helps our clients target the right companies. And then we use our team to really find the right decision makers, as Lara had just walked through. And when you mix that AI information and the human connection, that's when really the magic of prospecting happens. So some of it's manual and then we're using other tools. We use list sources as well. But Lara, you can also chime in there on some of the other.
- [28:07]
Terry Lynn Anderson
Yeah, so we're, you know, we're testing a lot of things. There's so much out there, you know, there's so many new toys to play with. We're testing a lot of things. One, one thing that we're seeing success in very specific circumstances is intent data. And it doesn't work across the board, but when it does work, it's magic. And so when you can find those scenarios where the intent data does is a really strong indicator that you've got a buyer who may be actively looking for a solution that aligns with your offering, then intent data can be a great way to shortcut getting to that right person. As I was talking about earlier, when you get to the right person and they have a need, then you can exponentially increase that conversion metric. And so anything that you can do on the front end to shortcut what it takes to get to that person, then that's where you're going to get much bigger output from the same effort.
- [28:59]
Lara Triazzi
Yeah, Laura, you just talked about how you get emails about where you went to school, and it's for SEO services. I actually just booked a meeting for a company that provides those types of services, SEO. And the intent data that we had is where that company ranked on search engines and the keywords. And I used that intent data when I was making my outreach And I booked right away, as soon as I reached somebody because I mentioned, hey, you know, for these keywords. I was doing some research and I noticed that, you know, you could, you could. What's the word that I used to. You could get more exposure if you were at the top of the search engines. And right away he was like, yes, I want to talk to you. Let's figure out how to, how to solve that problem.
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Terry Lynn Anderson
Intent data. Yep. Problem they need to solve. Positional relevance. Yeah, love that. And so it sounds like intent data is incredibly powerful, as is, as I, you know, I would have guessed. AI, generative AI can only imagine if you're prompting it with the right information, giving it what it needs could probably accelerate the creation of a lot of that, like hyper contextual or personalized outreach that you can tinker in that and then shoot out.
- [30:14]
Right. But it is all about how you prompt it. You know, don't get the generic garbage that we're all getting. Like, that's really the key there is using being very strategic and intelligent about how you're prompting the AI so that it's generating something that is saying what you want to say to that particular prospect.
- [30:33]
Have you boiled it down now? Do you have like a template that you used to prompt it for that type of like outreach, you know, content?
- [30:41]
Not yet, but we're working on it. Excellent going on.
- [30:45]
Let us know. Yeah, once you conduct your testing, let us know. I'd love to know what that looks like. I think, Laura, I think you had mentioned it that you have a sales research team. I don't know if I've talked to another partner that has a dedicated sales research team. What does that role entail? And then how. And what do they package off, maybe to you, Terry Lynn or others to then, you know, drive the prospecting for the business? What does that relationship look like?
- [31:10]
So this is a new role at Market Launcher. And it's one that we put in place because we were starting to see this need. And so we're all about how do you leverage someone like Terri Lynn, who is very good, you arm her with the right information. She's very good at getting a decision maker to on the phone into a meaningful conversation. She asks the right questions, there's an opportunity there, she's going to turn that into a meeting. But we then don't want Terry Lynn spending hours doing the research that arms her with that relevant information. And we had some people on the team at Market Launcher who were just sort of naturally good at that particular skill set. And were doing a lot of that work themselves, and we teamed them up as a test. And what we found is that, yes, Terri Lynn can book exponentially more meetings if she's got somebody who's really strong at that research piece feeding her that information. And so, you know, it can be as simple as they'll start with a list. Here are the target accounts that we're going after. Here are the keyword titles that we believe are the right decision makers. We'll build out a list through our list sources, and they'll start with some initial outbound calling. Because the best intel really comes from those conversations that you can have just calling cold into a company. If you can get a gatekeeper to give you just a little bit of information, or you can, you know, get lucky enough to get a stakeholder on the phone, that intel is gold. It's hard to get. So we don't rely on that all by itself. But they then take anything that they've learned from that initial outreach and they're looking at other sources. Zoom Info is a source that, you know, we're consistently tapping into to everything from, you know, finding that intent data to, you know, any other sort of, you know, keyword searches that we can do relative to, you know, something in an individual's title that might start to link it to this person's been tasked with solving this problem. They'll go on LinkedIn and look at profiles. They'll look at once we've kind of honed in on who we think the decision maker is, and we can look at things like, you know, what are they posting about on LinkedIn? Are there any clues or what does their Bio say on LinkedIn about what their key areas of focus are for that company? And so kind of packaging all of that and then putting it into HubSpot, you know, so everything is captured in HubSpot through various fields and then that's going to populate for Terry Lynn. Okay, we've now done in depth research. Here is an individual that we believe is a good prospect for this offering based on what we've learned. And so that's going to prompt her. So I don't know, Terry Lynn, what does that look like when you log in? You've kind of got a list of key to go after and kind of the more information we have, the higher priority they are.
- [33:48]
Lara Triazzi
Yeah, it's either in fields in HubSpot or you might even see, like it in a snippet in the notes section and it's very detailed, like, you know, the sales Research team will even include their LinkedIn and maybe pull some keywords from their title or the responsibilities that I can utilize in my outreach. And like I said, go back to the CRO, you know, example that I shared. They might even, you know, share the pipeline of what trials they have and where our client has expertise. So I can talk to that. So they're very, very specific and leave very detailed information in that snippet. And I've, I've booked many meetings with that sales research snippet, so that's great.
- [34:35]
Terry Lynn Anderson
And so it sounds like, I know we've talked a ton about just like the evolution or how does prospecting evolve? It almost sounds like my read here is that like the inside sales function is evolving too. And there's a growing importance of sales research and having dedicated resources to, to put and gather. We'll do all the research but then gather into a place for someone like you, Terry Lynda, to go action. And then it sounds like too the data is going into HubSpot, but then whether it's fields or however, but it's actually helping you prioritize your day. The system is, is helping prioritize or it sorts those contacts by key information or volume of information to, to streamline your day. Is that, is that what I'm hearing?
- [35:17]
Lara Triazzi
Yeah, absolutely. They do pin it. They'll pin the note to the top so that, that's readily available for me. And it's such a time saver for me too, because everything's right there that I need. All that relevant information is at the top of the page.
- [35:31]
Terry Lynn Anderson
That's great.
- [35:31]
And there's certain things we can put in fields too, so that we can then do reporting so that we can see is there a particular item that we're finding, we get a higher conversion on and then we can direct the sales research team now go find this information on more prospects.
- [35:46]
Well, going back to the, you know, analysis on conversion data. Right. That's now informing and making sure that your research team is more strategic in where you, where you send them and where do they do that, the research. Ladies, as we come up on time, I do want to sneak in one final question. We ask the same question at the end of every episode. What's the strangest part of agency life?
- [36:08]
Lara Triazzi
That's an interesting question. The strangest part.
- [36:12]
Terry Lynn Anderson
Hmm.
- [36:14]
What's the strangest part of prospecting life? You know, there's got. If you want, we can, you know, contextualize it for this conversation too.
- [36:24]
Lara Triazzi
Let me think.
- [36:25]
Terry Lynn Anderson
Yeah, I gotta think about that. You're gonna have. You're gonna have to edit out all. I mean, I think, well, this is probably gonna just sound like a typical answer, but strange. And part of what I love about it is just the opportunity to work with such a broad range of clients because, you know, they're all so different. It's like. And we work with everything from startups to, you know, big blue chip Fortune 500 companies. So we get. And that's what, when I talk about how we have a front row seat to changes happening in the industry, that's why we see it so fast, is because we work with such a broad range of clientele. And so it can be really interesting and strange to see how different companies approach just their whole sales process and the discipline or lack thereof that they may have and how they're measuring success and how they are, what resources they put behind it. So I think from just what's strange about agency life, that's a big one, is that you get to sort of see this cross, weird cross section. Because you would think that companies, once they get to a certain level would all sort of approach this process similarly. And the fact that they don't always, always surprises me.
- [37:44]
Yeah, the path of optimization would lead them into some sort of like sameness, you know, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Yeah, super interesting.
- [37:51]
Lara Triazzi
Yeah. And I will say because we do work for so many different clients and sell so many different solutions and products, even the people that we reach out to, you can just see those different personalities based on titles and everything too. So that's a little bit strange and different.
- [38:07]
Terry Lynn Anderson
It opens you up to a diverse array of businesses. But then to your point, I like.
- [38:10]
Lara Triazzi
That because it keeps. Keeps you on your toes, you know. So I actually.
- [38:15]
Terry Lynn Anderson
And each with their own sales process and methodologies and level of investment and resourcing. And to your point, there's some value add for yourselves as well because then you get, you know, you get to build up, you know, a fairly robust view of what can and cannot work for prospecting and sales outreach. So puts a bow, I think on this conversation. But I know we're coming up on time, so I appreciate you both coming on talking about both the evolution we've seen, we are seeing as it relates to prospecting. What does effective successful prospecting look like. But then also getting some actionable tips. Terryland, from you on the front lines. I know it was super valuable, super insightful for me. Can imagine it's the same for those that tuned in today. So thank you both for. For joining the podcast.
- [38:57]
Lara Triazzi
Well, thank you.
- [38:58]
Terry Lynn Anderson
Thanks for having us.
- [39:00]
And for everyone that's tuned in today, this has been another episode of Agency Unfiltered. Sam.
- [39:49]
Ra.