On today’s episode of Word on the Street, Katie speaks to Stephen Harlow, Chief Sales Officer (CSO) at Sopro – A sales engagement platform, run by outreach experts.

With over 15 years sales and sales management experience, he has covered every aspect of the sales cycle from generating initial interest, to complex negotiation and closing. Stephen is a sales professional passionate about driving efficiency through the sales process, after accidentally falling into sales 17 years ago! He’s done it all, from cold calling to multiple sales team management, and spotted the benefit of Sopro straight away. He now heads up the internal and external sales teams, as well as our partnership network.

In this episode you will hear:

• Why B2B email marketing is a new business must
• What makes an engaging sales email
• How you can generate leads from your email campaigns
• The importance of using a multichannel approach

Using a multichannel approach

Having a multichannel approach, and being able to utilise different platforms is important for your agency, but Katie believes if there is one channel you should focus on the most, it’s email, and in her words, email is ‘king for sales, and business critical’. Stephen agrees that a multichannel approach is super effective and although email is very important, channels such as social media are a great vehicle for getting people to your website and creating potential customers.

Using a multichannel approach can help you to develop an engaged audience before taking them into the sales process.

How to structure your email campaigns

What does a great prospecting email look like? Stephen recommends that prospecting emails need to look like they’ve gone directly out on a one-to-one basis, using normal plain text with your email signature at the bottom, and there is no need for images, borders, or frames and you don’t even need bullet points! If it looks like a mass email, people will move on from it. Make the people you are emailing feel like it’s personal and they are more likely to respond.

How emails can help you generate leads

There is no marketing solution that fits everybody, different things will work for different agencies depending on their specific area of expertise. But Katie recommends creating emails containing insightful pieces of content to engage prospects that solves a problem they might be having and offers a solution- Your agency! Insightful and personalised content will lead to higher engagement and response rates.

Links & references

Katie Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
Stephen Harlow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenharlow/

Check out Sopro The State of Prospecting 2022 report here: https://bit.ly/3xjJrpB

Our Sponsor

Series 6 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships, and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business ‘engine’. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.

The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency.