In today’s newsletter, I’ll share why you don’t need more than 7 fields in your CRM to get started with prospecting. A lot of salespeople I meet have analysis paralysis. They spend 80% of their effort evaluation tools, learning about new tactics, and mapping fields in their CRMs, and 20% of their effort on actually reaching out to prospects.

We have a problem with CRMs

CRMs were initially designed to help close deals. They allowed entire sales teams to work together, and capture data in one place (at least that was the goal).

However, selling is not as simple as it used to be. Between sales engagement tools, AI tools, and new prospecting channels emerging, sales teams have to rely on increasingly complex tech stacks that break all the time. Look at any sales organization and you will see:

• Reps wasting hours to keep CRMs up to date and organized
• Managers wasting hours telling reps to update them
• Executives wasting hours building reports

That’s why I recommend drastically simplifying CRMs, especially for beginners. If this resonates with you, here are the only seven fields you need to monitor in your CRM to get started:

Category 1: Information fields

These fields help you identify and contact prospects.

• Name: This one is pretty straightforward. Can be Full Name or split into First Name and Last Name.
• Job title: The job title is important to help you build your prospecting messages. If you reach out to different types of buyers (Below The Line and Above The Line), this will help you adapt your messages based on their problems.
• Email: Important to get it right. There are tons of different tools out there, but you’ll need a combination of 2 or 3 to get almost all emails right.
• LinkedIn profile URL: This one is critical. I recommend using it as your Unique Identifier, as each LinkedIn profile is unique (and easy to find). It’s also a great source of data if you want to find triggers.
• Phone number: If you’re cold calling, this one is important too. I typically don’t track it as I’m not using cold calls to book meetings, but this can help if your prospects are not hanging much on LinkedIn.

These information fields are really basic and easy to find. With these fields, you can start prospecting, run multi-channel outreach sequences, and initiate conversations. You won’t need to spend much time filling in each field, allowing you to focus on prospecting rather than managing your CRM.

Category 2: Progress fields

These fields help you keep track of your activity on each prospect.

• Stage: This field allows you to monitor each prospect’s status. You can track both your prospecting and opportunity stages in the same field. Alternatively, you can separate them into two fields: Prospecting Stage and Opportunity Stage. Here’s how I structure mine:

In today’s newsletter, I will explain why scaling your outreach might not be the best strategy if you want to book meetings in 2023 and beyond. According to a research from Jeremey Donovan, it now takes 1,000 to 1,400 touches to generate an opportunity from cold outbound, compared to 200-400 five years ago.

In this context, scaling your outreach can lead to negative outcomes. Here’s why, and what you can do instead.

Reason #1: You need to understand human psychology

Before automation and AI, humans had limited options to scale their outreach. They relied on door-to-door or cold calling, and prospects weren’t overwhelmed with outbound messages or emails.

Today, sales reps can easily create fully-automated sequences and flood prospects with cold outbound messages. When you develop an automated sequence, you outsource your communication to a robot.

Instead, it is important to understand what motivates humans to respond to a message:

• Using a creative media
• Teasing prospects’ interest
• Writing an intriguing message

Reason #2: Automation and AI have a “smell”

There’s something odd about receiving an email that was written for an ICP and not for an individual. When you automate your outreach, prospects can detect it. The tone, the words used, the lack of personalization, all contribute to giving an automation ”smell” to your outbound.

When you send the same sequence to thousands of prospects, based on their job titles, you’re doing email marketing, and you get typical results of email marketing (reply rates under 5%, click rate under 2%).

Instead, ditch your automated sequences, look for personalization elements for each prospects, and use automation to help you create a prospecting system.

Reason #3: It’s the only thing you really control

Prospecting is one of these activities that you simply can’t skip if you want to be successful in sales. It also happens to be one of the only things you can control in sales, especially in 2023.

If you calculate your cruising altitude, build a prospecting routine, and tweak your messaging with new templates every week, then you’ll create more control over your results. Here are my stats for example:

• Cruising altitude: 5 new prospects added to my sequence daily
• Reply rate: 39.89%
• Meeting rate: 19.4%

I’m able to start conversations with almost 40% of people I contact, and get 20% of these people into a meeting, with a 3 to 5 touchpoint sequence. These results may differ based on what you’re selling, but the consistency comes from my prospecting system.

In my opinion, outsourcing your outbound sequences to a robot is too risky. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use tools or AI to help you with repetitive tasks. Just make sure they don’t define your craft and see them as what they are: tools.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Thibaut Souyris

In today’s newsletter, I will share the exact system I use to find emails and messages that get replies. I will also explain how to store them and turn them into templates that you can use for selling your products. By following these steps, you will continue to stand out in your prospect’s inbox and start more conversations.

Here’s how, step-by-step:

Step 1: Create a swipe file

If you spend time on LinkedIn, you will come across many people sharing sales tips, including myself. However, not all the tips and tactics you find on LinkedIn are helpful. Nevertheless, some of them are highly practical and use detailed example.

That is why I suggest creating a swipe file to collect all the valuable message templates you come across. You can download my Prospecting Template Swipe File to access my favorite templates and add your own.

In today’s newsletter, I will share the exact system I used to close a €10,000 side gig in 3 weeks. If you can replicate these steps, you will be on your way to stop working for bad bosses and start using your sales skills to build a more independent career.

Here’s how, step-by-step:

Step 1: Find your marketable skill

If you work in sales, you already have a marketable skill. The ability to schedule meetings, transform them into opportunities, and convert them into business is a highly desirable skill. There are various ways to sell this skill, but here are a few that come to mind:

• SDR as a service
• AE as a service
• Sales consultant
• Sales coach
• Fractional Executive
• Sales Advisor
• Etc.

Once you have finished listing the best way to sell your sales skills, you should determine what resonates with you the most. Personally, when I began working independently, I had little interest in scheduling meetings or closing deals on behalf of other businesses. Instead, I chose to help founders resolve sales process issues, which led me to offer a combination of consulting, training, and coaching services.

Step 2: Build a list of potential prospects

Once you have identified the perfect combination of your marketable skills and interest, you can begin contacting your network for introductions. I suggest starting with a list of close friends and colleagues.

These individuals can assist you in generating a list of potential prospects. Some of them may have a direct need for your services, while others may know individuals who need sales assistance (which is super common).

For example, I personally began reaching out to previous customers and asked if they were aware of anyone who could benefit from help with sales.

Step 3: Build a simple prospecting sequence

Now that you have a list of potential prospects, you can begin asking your acquaintances and friends for introductions. You can create two sequences: one to ask your friends for introductions and another to ask for referrals once an introduction has been made.

Here’s an example of a message I sent to my friend Pierre-Yves to ask if he knows anyone who may need assistance with sales:

Pierre-Yves, I’m looking for founders who are having an issue with their sales process. Do you know of anyone who could benefit from a quick conversation to see what’s wrong, and get a few ideas on how to solve these issues?

PS: If you want to get a sequence planner, a few more email templates, and the whole playbook I followed to close my first side gig, then go check my 7-day email course, Escape The Hamster Wheel.

Step 4: Run a first discovery call

If you execute your sequence correctly, you should have a few discovery calls scheduled. The advantage of not having a clear product to sell is that your discovery call can be completely focused on your prospects and their problems.

Here is a list of questions I asked to understand the problems my prospects were facing:

• Why are we meeting today?
• Tell me more about your sales process.
• Walk me through a deal you closed recently.
• Walk me through a deal you lost recently.
• Tell me more about your tech stack.
• What are your sales targets?
• Are you on the right trajectory to meet them?
• What’s your plan to reach your sales targets?

When you ask these questions, you can learn about your prospect’s business problems and goals. It’s not uncommon for the conversation to last longer than expected, and that’s actually a positive sign.

Step 5: Scope a project

After running a few discovery calls, you should be able to progress to the next step with at least one prospect. You can propose interviewing employees of your prospect to get a better understanding of their problems and present your findings in a scoping call.

For my first project, I interviewed one of the SDRs from my prospect and identified the following challenges they faced:

• No clear ICP
• SDR with no experience
• No structured outbound system
• Founder had no clue how to sell to people he didn’t know
• No time to build a sales organization because they were raising money

Next, we discussed how we could collaborate, defined the deliverables, and established the desired outcomes. Since this was my first consulting project, I opted to sell hours instead of specific outcomes. This approach allowed me to remain flexible and still provide value even if the scope of the project changed.

Step 6: Present an offer

During the scoping call, you may feel tempted to share your offer. However, I recommend against doing so. Estimating the workload properly may be challenging within the limited time of the call. It is better to build anticipation and keep the offer as a reward for the prospect’s patience.

As Skip Miller would say, your offer is not an educational document, but a validation document. It serves as a natural extension of your discovery call, individual interviews, and scoping call. There should be no major surprises for the prospect.

Here is an example of what mine looked like:

In today’s newsletter, I will share a tactic I used to book 12 meetings with a simple LinkedIn connection request. By replicating this tactic, you can increase your chances of receiving more replies, scheduling more meetings, and ultimately earning more money.

Personally, I was able to convert 10 of these meetings into sponsorships (note that win rates may vary depending on the product or service you sell).

Here’s how it works:

Part 1: First framework

A LinkedIn connection request has to be short, relevant, and optimized to get an answer. That’s why I use the following framework:

• Trigger: The reason for reaching out
• Idea: An intriguing idea
• CTA: A simple call-to-action

Examples:

• Trigger: Mary, had a great time building content with Aisha.

• Idea: I have a few additional ideas on how to get you some additional exposure to my audience.

• CTA: Worth chatting about?

• Trigger: Mary, saw you had plans to hire over 50 reps in H1 2024.

• Idea: I have a 7-step checklist to help you bring a screening call from 30 min to 10 min, so you don’t end up wasting days with bad candidates.

• CTA: Want to learn more?

This framework is effective because it begins with a personalized element (the trigger), piques the curiosity of the prospect by presenting an opportunity to solve a problem, and encourages a response if the prospect is interested.

Part 2: Framework variation

I have also been using a small variation of this framework, where the Idea and the CTA are combined:

• Trigger: The reason for reaching out
• Idea: An intriguing idea + question

Examples:

• Trigger: Oren, I’ve been invited as a guest on The Epic Show and saw you were a sponsor.

• Idea: Opposed to putting Worthy in front of my 40K+ audience too?

• Trigger: Oren, saw you liked Owen’s post about cascading lead enrichment being the future.

• Idea: Opposed to grabbing my 5-step playbook to using cascading lead enrichment?

This variation is powerful because it’s short, direct, and it uses negative psychology (opposed to) to get more replies.

Part 3: Results

With these two frameworks, I managed to get over 18 replies, like the ones below: