Discover effective prospecting strategies to overcome challenges faced by Business Development Representatives (BDRs) with a limited account pool.
Understanding the challenges of prospecting with a limited account pool
Prospecting BDR can be challenging when you have a limited number of accounts to work with. With fewer opportunities, it becomes crucial to make the most out of each account and maximize prospect engagement.
When orgs restrict you with only a handful of accounts to work with, your options are as limited as a clearance rack on Black Friday. This can make meeting your quota and achieving your goals feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Another challenge is the risk of saturation. With a limited account pool, it's possible that your prospects have already been contacted by other BDRs recently. This can make it harder to stand out and grab their attention. It's important to find ways to differentiate yourself and make a lasting impression.
Remember this though, most BDRs are not effectively reaching out to every prospect they can within that account, and new people join & leave companies often. Even though another seller might have been working the account 2 months ago, does not mean there is not opportunity for you to seize, that the other seller could not.
Maximizing prospect engagement at an account
When working with a limited account pool, it's essential to maximize prospect engagement at each account. This requires a few key things:
- Targeted and personalized approach for Tier 1 prospects (Ideal Buyer)
- High touch cadence and a lot more cold calls
- Tier 2 prospect cadence with high call volumes & automated emails focused on gathering intel & getting referral introductions.
- Stellar Nurture sequence with up to date resources, lead magnets & value touches every month.
Personalization
Let's get something straight first, if you're spending 4 hours per day writing hyper personalized emails from scratch, you are wasting your time. This approach has quickly become stale, outdated & saturated now with the amount of AI tools available claiming to be able to personalize any email. This has created overwhelming stimulus for prospects when it comes to getting their attention in the inbox.
That said, there are ways to automate personalization with tools you have available & for very specific purposes. Most SEP systems such as Outreach or Salesloft allow you to pull in custom variables to email templates. Think of a core pain your customers face, is there any publicly available statistic related to most of your prospects companies that draw attention to your solution?
For example, a BDR selling competitive intelligence can easily find their prospects top competitor with a quick google search, paste that competitors name into a custom variable, then pull it into an automated email template with ease.
Hyper hyper personalization, where you are writing an email from scratch or with limited input from a template, should only be used for (1) Referral emails / introductions or (2) You know for a fact that this person is the end buyer and have some intel gathered from their colleagues that you know for a fact is relevant.
Gone are the days of mentioning a prospects favourite Starbucks order, their dogs name, or the fact that they were in their college chess club. People do not care.....Well, most people.
Instead, keep your emails short, concise, focused on the problem & personalize around intel or referrals you've gathered.
Another strategy is to leverage multiple communication channels. Instead of relying solely on emails for personalization, consider using LI voice notes or Loom videos for Tier 1 prospects. By diversifying your communication channels, you increase the chances of reaching and engaging with your prospects through pattern interrupt.
Overall, maximizing prospect engagement requires scaled & strategic personalization, leveraging multiple communication channels, and gathering as much intel as you can from Tier 2 prospects.
High touch cadence
If your buyer is a VP of sales, this absolutely does not mean that you should ONLY be reaching out to the VP of sales. 9/10 times, the end buyer is not actually going to be the end user of a product. Most of the time, end buyers such as VPs or Managers are the ones being bombarded with emails.
Think about every persona that could potentially be involved in using, or reaping the benefits of your solution, then put them in respective sequences.
Emails should be automated, while keeping them short, concise, relevant & always having a call-to-action (CTA).
Cold call tasks should be scaled, as this is where 80% of meetings come from for top performing BDRs. You should be calling your Tier 1 prospects at least 2-3 times per week during the first month of your cadence. Followed by at least once per week near the end of it.
Tier 2 prospects should also have call tasks as well. Every answered call is an opportunity. An opportunity to gather intel, get a personalized referral intro, learn who the actual person to talk to is, etc...
Nurture sequence
Nurture sequences are highly underrated. If done right, nurture emails can be responsible for 5-10% of the meetings you get!
A prospect should automatically enter your nurture sequence directly after finishing your high touch cadence, which typically lasts ! 30-45 days. The nurture sequence should be however long it takes until you are comfortable hitting up the company through a high touch cadence again. For limited account pools, this should be b/w 3-6 months with touch points 1-2 times per month.
Ensure that every nurture email includes relevant content, a useful resource & a CTA. The CTA doesn't need to be "Take a meeting with me", it can be something less invasive to just get any sort of engagement out of the prospect.
Examples:
- Would you find it useful for me to send you additional content around this topic, ?
- Was this valuable to you, ?
- Do you want me to add you to this webinar, ? Could be a great way to network with some other folks facing these challenges. Let me know!
- Would you like a copy of the eBook, ? Let me know & I'll send one over to ya :)
Creating valuable content to engage and nurture prospects
Creating valuable content is essential for engaging and nurturing prospects, especially when you have a limited account pool.
One strategy is to create educational and informative content that addresses the pain points and challenges of your target audience. By providing valuable insights and solutions, you position yourself as a trusted advisor and thought leader in your industry.
Consider asking your marketing team (if they haven't already) to create blog posts, whitepapers, case studies, or videos that provide valuable information and actionable tips. Share this content with your prospects through nurture emails or social media platforms. By providing value upfront, you increase the chances of prospects engaging with your content and considering your solutions.
By creating valuable content, you can engage and nurture your prospects, positioning yourself as a valuable resource and increasing the likelihood of eventually converting them into customers.
Do more cold calling
When you have a limited account pool, one way to increase your prospecting opportunities is to do more cold calling.
Cold calling can be an effective strategy to reach out to prospects who may not have been contacted by other BDRs. It allows you to have direct conversations with potential customers and build rapport.
Some will say that to make the most out of cold calling, it's important to be prepared and confident. This is not always the case.
Think about it, does your product really have 50 different pain points you could solve for and you have no idea which one is relevant to your prospect until you do research? No, you know what you do, you know why you're calling, you know the pain their facing. Run with that.
Research your prospects for 10 minutes beforehand is a waste of time. Even if you do, you likely already have a clear script or talking points that you rely on. Cold calls can and ARE booked on 1 minute cold calls. This is not the time to get into the weeds, this is the time to get them interested to learn more in another scheduled call, where you aren't calling them out of the blue.
Be confident in yourself. Be confident in the product your selling solving a core pain. Be clear that you are calling them specifically, because you thought they have this pain. Then nail the pitch & book the meeting.
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