5 Sales Triggers (and how to use them)
If you're like most sales reps, you spend a lot of time writing cold emails. But are your emails actually getting read? And more importantly, are they getting results? In this post, we'll take a look at five sales triggers that will help you write better cold emails and get more responses. So whether you're just starting out in sales or you've been at it for a while, these tips will help you start more qualified conversations with your prospects. Ready to get started? Keep reading.
What is a Sales Trigger?
Sales triggers go by many names depending on who you talk to: buying triggers, intent signals, marketing triggers, etc.
At Detective we consider a sales trigger to be any intel that indicates an opportunity to start a conversation with a prospect. Specifically, information that hints at a potential pain, project, initiative, use case, value proposition, or anything you can use to related your offering to your prospect.
For these 5 sales triggers we'll examine how might use them to connect your message to your prospect. We'll also hook you up with some sample messaging you can copy/paste into your next campaign.
Sales Trigger 1: Open Job Posts
Your prospect's job posts can hold a wealth of insight into their team's challenges, priorities, and how they're allocating resources.
Questions to ask yourself:
- What common challenges might your buyer be facing that motivates them to expand the team?
- What specific job titles, required skills, experience, or technologies mentioned in the posts that you can associate to a common pain?
💬 Outreach example
Saw you were hiring a {role} and was wondering if {associated pain or initiative} was top of mind? We help teams like yours to {value prop} while {benefit}.
Just remember - the goal isn't to nail the pain perfectly. Simply showing that you've done some research allows you to open by talking about your prospect and their challenges instead of blindly pitching. This builds credibility, makes the prospect feel valued, and increases the chances of a response.
Sales Trigger 2: Initiatives and Projects
One of the most compelling things you can do in your cold outreach is tie your offering to a specific project or initiative. For this one, first you need to think through which keywords and phrases are related to your offering and value proposition.
Your prospect's press releases, earnings call transcripts, and news (especially executive quotes) are all places where companies tend to announce what they're working on.
💬 Outreach example
I was researching {company}'s website and came across your sustainability initiative. How are you approaching {related challenge}? We help teams like yours to {unique benefit/value}...
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Initiative triggers are notoriously hard to track down by hand which is exactly why we created Detective.
(Learn more and sign up for a free trial today).
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Sales Trigger 3: Growth Events
Examples: Funding, M&A, New Locations, Rapid Hiring
For most teams, growth events are best used as a way to simply prioritize which accounts to reach out to first. (Company growth usually means lofty ambitions and often increased spending to achieve those goals).
However, if your offering's messaging also naturally aligns with growth or increasing headcount, then all the better. But if it's not a natural fit, don't force it. (Nothing rings more hollow than a cheesy "congrats" for a funding round... followed by a "now give me your money").
💬 Outreach example
I noticed that {prospect's company} recently {growth trigger} and was wondering how you'd be dealing with {related challenge}? We've helped similar teams navigating {growth trigger} to {unique benefit/value}...
Sales Trigger 4: Complementary Technologies
Does your product work especially well alongside specific tools or technologies? If so, there's another great way to tailor your message to be specific to your prospect's company.
💬 Outreach example
How often does your team run into {related pain} while using {tool} to {task}? I'm reaching out because we help teams like yours to {task} without {pain} while {benefit/value}...
Pro tip: if you don't have a dedicated tool for this, job posts can be a great way to see what tools your prospects are hiring operators for.
Sales Trigger 5: Product Launches
If your offering is in any way related to go-to-market, a product launch is another sales trigger that you can likely attach a message to. Rarely (if ever) is a product launch a one-and-done affair, so even if the product is already out your message will still be timely.
💬 Outreach example
I just came across {company}'s launch announcement - congrats! I'm reaching out because we help teams like yours to {related value prop} while {unique benefit/value}...
Wrapping up
Sales triggers are a powerful way to get your buyer's attention and increase the chances that they will respond to your cold email. By using these tips, you can write emails that stand out in people’s crowded inboxes and compel them to take action. What sales trigger will you try first?
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P.S. If you're looking for a solution to find every sales trigger mentioned here (and way more), check out Detective.io today. You can start a free trial and start exploring triggers in minutes.