The Anatomy of a Sequence
In today’s issue, I’m breaking down The Anatomy of a Sequence because when you understand all aspects of a task - you can master it.
Most of you have a piece of tech that allows you to build a sales sequence; a series of of sales activities over a specific period of time aimed at one goal: initiating a conversation with your prospect.
Here’s the thing about sequences - they’re tricky - they’re really good at making you feel busy.
Sure, you can quickly build out 12 steps over 20 days, plug in some templated emails, add some prospects and voila - you’ll be sending a slew of messages and calls over the next two weeks. That’s good, right?
Well, it’s not bad per se, but it’s important to remember that with each message you send to your prospect - you’re building a reputation and perception for said prospect.
So, when the day comes they finally pick up the phone, you want them to have a positive association with your name. Demonstrate you industry expertise, your understanding of their position, your ability to solve problems, etc.
As with anything in sales and especially in today’s environment, it comes down to the level of quality with which you’re constructing this sequence.
Wanna make sure you knock it out of the park each time you build a sequence?
Here are the 5 dead-simple things you have to get right 👇
Target: The first question you have to be able to answer: “who am I reaching out to and why?”
By who I don’t mean the specific individual, but the persona. Of course you can’t create a sequence for each person you’re reaching out to, but you can personalize @ scale by understanding your audience at a Persona + Industry level. From there, you can make safe assumptions about the goals / challenges they have, which drives everything to follow.
At any given time, you should have 4-6 sequences running concurrently. One “core” sequence that you revisit on a quarterly basis and refresh messaging. This is best suited for Tier C and a few of your Tier B prospects.
Outside of that, build tailored sequences for your Tier A prospects that speaks to the specific challenges people in their position and industry care about most.
Example: Let’s say your main economic buyer is the VP of Operations and your company generally targets Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Insurance. Instead of throwing all of these prospects into one sequence, build three for each industry. Why?
Because a VP of Ops in Manufacturing will have unique challenges to their functional peers that live in different industries!
Get this step right and you’re making your life a lot easier.
Story: It’s important that you see your sequence as a story, not just a set of emails / messages / calls you’re sending out. Here are a few considerations when building a storied sequence:
Education & Awareness: can you teach your prospect something about their position, industry, or peers? Provide them unique and interesting information to build credibility and capture their attention.
Frame a Problem: most salespeople have an urge to start here, don’t give into it.
Educate first and once you’ve built familiarity with your prospect, you can begin framing core problems they’re likely to have. Ex: a VP of Ops at a Supply Chain company is going to be under the gun for moving products as quickly as possible. Begin framing that through the lens of potential/actual loss of time, money, and customers. This sets you up for your next step.Solve a Problem: Ideally, at this point your prospect has some level of interest what you’re saying. You’ve identified the problem is real, if not for them, at least for their peers - which is enough of a reason to keep pushing until you find out if they’re impacted. To finish the story on a high note, “solve the problem” through a combination of social proof (testimonials / case studies), simple logic, hard-to-ignore ROI figures, and the idea of what life will be like after implementing your solution.
Messaging: Now that you understand what story you’re going tell, how are you going to tell it?
Take into consideration your Target and general persona here. Again, make a few safe assumptions about the people you’re reaching out to and what personality types they might have. Of course this is a generalization, but there’s plenty of research suggesting certain types of people tend to have certain types of careers.
Example: if you’re selling to a sales leader; take liberties with the tone of your message. Have fun with it, be clever and direct at the same time, shoot your shot more often. Because they’re salespeople at heart, they’ll respect the hustle and in general are more open to a conversation
But if you’re selling to say, Engineering Leadership - you’re going to need to teach them something. They won’t be as open to having a conversation for the sake of talking or networking. They need a concrete reason to spend time with you.
Let your persona dictate your strategy here.
Communication Platforms: For the longest time salespeople had two options to reach prospects - phone and email. As you know the game has changed. While you should continue to cold call and send emails, leveraging all of forms of outreach is a must.
One of the most critical components to a successful sequence is a multi-threaded approach. Where you’re reaching out via call, email, Linkedin (engagement + connection + DM), Vidyard, leveraging a gifting platform, and of course - warm intros by way of networking.
That’s a real strategy.
Simply pushing calls and emails into the dark abyss of sales activity will get you nowhere fast.
Cadence: This is where overly eager salespeople drop the ball.
Your cadence is defined by how often you’re performing outreach. For example, if your sequence is 15 days long and has 15 steps - you’ve made a mistake. Turn back and try again!
There is virtually no scenario in which prospects should be hearing from you or seeing your name on a daily basis.
A good rule of thumb: start off heavy for the sake of impact (but you better come with a damn good message) and then start to taper off towards the end. Below is an example of what a healthy cadence looks like within a sequence:
You’ll notice a variation of calls, different kinds of emails, video prospecting, early Linkedin tactics (refuse the urge to pitch on Linkedin in the first month). You’ll also see that most of my tasks are manual.
Do not over-automate. Let’s be honest, automation isn’t real work in a sales world where personalization and relevance is paramount.
I quickly put this together as an example this morning, but you get the picture.
Mix it up to find out what kind of outreach your prospects are most receptive to and double-down on it.
Alright people, that’s it for today. When you build a sequence, make sure you:
Know your target
Tell a story
Nail your messaging (persona-driven)
Use a multi-threaded approach
Build an appropriate, professional cadence (don’t reach out too much)
My challenge to you: Create a new and fresh sequence this week!
Here are a few ways I can help, when you’re ready:
30-Minute Course: Elevate Your B2B Emails - use my self-developed H.I.P. email framework to quickly compose customer-centric emails that elicit responses and start conversations.
On-Demand: Live Enablement Session: Converting Cold Outreach - watch a previously recorded sales enablement session where we cover three sales frameworks (and practice live). Frameworks include:
Easy Contract Call Script
H.I.P. Emails
A.R.C. Objection Handling
Personal & Team Training: whether you’re an individual contributor looking for focused 1:1 coaching to enhance your sales skills (or personal brand), or a sales leader looking for a fresh training to re-engage / upskill your team, I’m here to help. Schedule a call with me using this link.