Training 1 - How to Start New Conversations

As we begin our Baku training series, our first session will focus on a foundational aspect of B2B sales: How to Start New Conversations. This memo details out our opinionated workflow on the most effective, and customer friendly way to do that.

The goal of any B2B business is to build an effective repeatable sales process that scales, even if scaling means it works with a handful of additional people doing it outside of the first seller.

The new conversation pipeline is the foundation of a successful repeatable sales process. The truth is, there will not always be an immediate opportunity with every conversation we start. That’s why we manage a “sales funnel” that starts wide, and gets narrower as we progress opportunities through our steps in the sales process.

Building a reliable new conversation pipeline is not about perfection, but rather consistent, focused effort.

But with every conversation we start, the likelihood of identifying potential new opportunities increases. There is the added benefit, that even if there isn’t an immediate fit with the target company, with every positive customer interaction, we grow our brand recognition, potentially create a scenario where we can ask for a referral, and build future opportunity.

This session will equip you with some basic knowledge, tools and tactics to enhance your approach to starting conversations and to build a new conversation pipeline.

By focusing on these elements of pipeline building, you’ll be better positioned to identify and nurture the right conversations to have, ultimately leading to more closed deals and stronger client relationships.

It’s also worth noting that “what constitutes success” for Gradient Metrics is only a handful of new conversations started per week. We are not talking thousands a month, we are talking dozens, this is very doable.

This is a quality over quantity exercise. We have some example weekly and daily workflows below. But, if you think you can work towards the habit of around ~1 hour per day, or 5 hours a week that will reflect about 12% of your 40 hour work week. The workflow you use to check the previous day’s work if you are not already checking Linkedin/ Email, and you are ensuring you are replying quickly if you get a conversation started, has to be what works for you.

Ask yourself: When am I most creative/ have the most horsepower to do work? Pick the date and time to do that, block it off on your calendar.

Set a personal goal for yourself. We don’t want to do things just to do them. So setting an attainable achievable target makes this measurable. Some goals we can set are:

• # of new prospects engaged per month
• # of new prospect conversations started per month

Currently at Gradient Metrics we have three types of companies that get value out of our products. Here they are:

1. ICP 1: Household Brands: There are large, well-known companies needing help with high-risk strategic questions. Examples: Nike, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Brooks.
2. ICP 2: Brand Strategy Agencies: These are firms that need support in answering their clients' complex strategic questions. Examples: Red Scout, C-Space, Media Monks, Bread & Butter, Co:collective, Lippincott.
3. ICP 3: Philanthropies, Think Tanks, and Political Organizations: These are organizations seeking insights on public policy and public opinion. Examples: CZI, Populace, The Just Trust, ACLU, City Fund Action.

All three of these ICP types have one thing in common—they have a need for our approach, they can afford our products,they have a budget, and we generally can figure out their approval processes for repeat research. We try to avoid smaller companies, as one and done projects require a lot of relationship building, but ultimately produce less recurring work. See this page for more detail.

The objective is to find and focus on the path of least resistance to starting conversations with people at these companies. It should go without saying, a person you know, or an introduction from someone you know, is the highest probability path to starting a new conversation.

Referrals are the single most productive lead generation source for a B2B business by nearly any metric - especially in our market. Generally speaking, referrals close at higher rates, for more dollars, in less time than any other channel.

Here are some tools to find the path of least resistance, and inform your messaging you use:

1. Stefan’s List of Accounts you will be assigned : Account Manager Assigned Accounts
2. Linkedin, ##1 tool to identify degrees of separation. Don’t worry if you don’t have a lot of connections just yet. This is still a powerful research tool.
3. Your own personal network. Think former colleagues, classmates, friends.
4. Internal Slack. Your current colleagues.

Note: Other activities you can do for each prospect to stay informed as you get connected:

• Follow the prospects company page on Linkedin
• If the prospect company has a newsletter, sign up for it.
• Create a google alert for the prospect, or company name for press mentions

Note: Optional Tools you may want to look at to aid you in this process:

• Calendly, or Google Calendar Scheduling for scheduling options and rescheduling management
• Grammarly or Lavender for email copy
• LinkedIn for account research, network building, and messaging
• Apollo for account research, email sending
• ChatGPT, or Claud for account and company research, copywriting assistant, meeting conversation summarizer/ email drafter.

Asking for a referral is a mindset. We sort of want to train our attention to always be on the look out for an opportunity to ask.

We will dig into this more later in Training 2, 3, and 4 where there is a focus on the live interactions with a customer. But there is value to talking about this now.

Most folks wait til they have “social proof” or a case study with a customer to ask for a referral. This is totally fine and logical. Once you have delivered value it is much easier to ask for something – when you’ve delivered value through our solution.

The miss: there are in fact other opportunities throughout any relationship with a partner to ask for in introduction. In fact, there is potential in every conversation.

Sample talk track when on the phone with a customer:

“Outside of Gradient Metrics, if there’s anything I can do to help you personally, just say the word. I talk to and work with tons of brands, brand strategy agencies, philanthropies delivering insights, etc all day long. Happy to connect you to people / info where it might be helpful."

“By the way, I am trying to bring our approach at Gradient to as many people as possible. If you’d be open for it, can I send you a short forwardable email on what we are up to? If anyone in your network comes to mind that you think would enjoy a chat with us, or that you hear are looking to chat with someone like us, I’d love to talk with them."

Yes, there is etiquette for these channels. Ultimately, they should align to your personal values, as well as your company values. Remember, the primary goal is to connect with someone in an approachable way. It is not to sell them within the medium (text, email, Linkedin). The goal is to create a connection, and create an environment where you get the prospect’s attention, and schedule a meeting.

Etiquette Guidelines

• Be Yourself:
  • Authenticity resonates.
• Be Helpful:
  • Offer perspective and value.
  • Be hospitable and thoughtful in your communication.
  • Ensure your insights and reasoning are concise and logical.
  • Empathize: Consider if you would appreciate the approach if you were the recipient.
• Be aware of the Medium you are messaging within:
  • Text: Keep it short and casual.
  • LinkedIn Message: Short and casual.
  • Email: Short yet professional; longer messages are fine if they add value.
• CC Protocol:
  • Keep introducers in the CC loop until the meeting is scheduled for accountability.’
• Follow-up:
  • Post-meeting, update the introducer with a summary and next steps, expressing gratitude.
• Response Time:
  • Make scheduling easy and prompt.
  • Suggest availability and, if applicable, request a scheduling link or EA assistance.
  • A delayed response may imply indifference.
• Respectful Closure:
  • If declined, respond graciously with an offer of future assistance and network access.

1. Check LinkedIn and email for any responses that need immediate attention.
2. Review your list of targets for the day.

1. Spend focused time researching targets on LinkedIn and other platforms determining the best path of introduction..
2. Send out initial contact messages using the appropriate templates for introduction format.

1. Follow up on any messages sent in the morning that received responses.
2. Log activities and outcomes in your tracking system.

3. Review the day’s interactions and plan for the next day’s targets.
4. Ensure all conversations are tracked and next steps are noted.

5. Select a list of targets to go after this week, or if you have already selected a list from the previous week, pick up there. On whatever day you decide to do focused work:
   1. Search each target on LinkedIn, look for the path of least resistance
   2. Message to each of your referral requests using the templates provided.
6. Every day: review Linkedin/ Email to ensure there are no contacts that need to be responded to.
7. As you contact targets, or get traction, Log activity to your pipedrive sheet in airtable.