Using Personalization to Enhance Sales Conversations

It took me 2 years to learn what makes personalization work. I’ll teach you in 2 minutes. Most people think personalization means… ❌ First name ❌ Company name ❌ A compliment pulled from LinkedIn That’s not personalization. That’s pattern-matching. And your prospects know the pattern. Here’s what real personalization looks like: ✅ Context - Why this message, why now? ✅ Signal - What buying behavior did they show? ✅ Relevance - How does your offer solve their current friction? Let’s break it down: Start with intent Are they hiring? Funded? Shifting strategy? That’s your “why now.” Anchor in pain Lead with what they’re trying to fix, not what you’re trying to sell. Mirror their language Read how they talk on their site or in interviews and reflect that back. Offer a next step Not a meeting. A win. → “Saw X. Helped Y solve it with Z. Want the teardown?” Bad personalization flatters. Good personalization understands.

🚀 Revolutionizing B2B Sales: Beyond Names and Titles to Genuine Personalization 🚀 1️⃣ True Personalization: It's not just about using names and titles. To truly connect and stand out, delve deeper into understanding your clients' unique challenges and goals. 2️⃣ Avoid the Generic Trap: Sending emails that only use surface-level info like names or titles is often seen as self-serving. It's crucial to position yourself distinctively and avoid being just another sales pitch. 3️⃣ Lesson from a Lost Opportunity: A sales team's transactional approach failed because they lacked personalization. They treated their client like any other, missing the chance to connect on a deeper level. 4️⃣ The Power of Preparation: Do your homework! Reading a client's annual report, industry news, and understanding their challenges can transform your approach from generic to genuinely engaging. 5️⃣ High-Stakes Email Strategy: One company's bold move of emailing the C-suite with researched, relevant content paid off. This shows the value of understanding and addressing the client's specific needs and challenges. 6️⃣ Why Your Emails Get Ignored: If your emails are all about you and your product, they're likely getting deleted. Shift the focus to your clients - their goals, their company, their needs. 7️⃣ Enter ValueMail: Instead of standard sales emails, use insights to create emails that offer real value to your clients. Show that you understand and can contribute to their goals. 8️⃣ Be the Expert: In the evolving world of sales, being informed and authoritative is key. Know more than your clients and competitors. Let your knowledge and personalized approach be your edge. 🔍 Research is Key: Dive into your client's world - read their reports, understand their industry, and know their competitors. Show them you're not just selling - you're a partner in their success. 🌟 Elevate your sales game by embracing true personalization. It's not just about winning a sale; it's about building lasting, meaningful relationships. 🌟

Over 20 years of running companies, I’ve seen three traits that consistently separate the top salespeople: volume of activity, personalized outreach, and delivering value in every interaction. In a world of AI and automation, these things are more important than ever. Volume of activity There is a strong correlation between the number of calls, emails, and LinkedIn messages a salesperson sends and the number of meetings they book. That was true 20 years ago and it’s true today. At my first company, we didn’t have dialers. Reps manually punched in every number, I know… old school. One rep asked for a headset so he could move faster. He instantly doubled his daily dials and exceeded every goal we set. Today, there are more channels, more tools and more noise than ever, but the best reps know how to leverage automation to consistently execute a high volume of activities against the right accounts. Personalized outreach This is important because just pure volume isn't going to do it. You need to have strong personalization to your outreach to get people's attention because so much is being written by AI, is templated, etc. The best reps do real research on their prospects and use it to tailor their message. This might include referencing a shared connection, a recent announcement, or even a personal interest (I’ve seen reps find crazy stuff about prospects with some basic internet stalking). One of the best outreaches I ever received came from a rep at a bank who had been trying to get my attention. He sent a package with a framed New York Times article I was featured in, along with a handwritten note about why it resonated with him. He showed me I wasn’t just a name on a list. I had to take the meeting. Value in every interaction High activity and personalization go a long way, but the best reps consistently bring value to every conversation. That might mean sharing relevant trends, customer stories, or internal research. Most reps forget that even if they’ve never done the job their prospect does, they speak to more people in that role than most practitioners ever do. Sometimes it means connecting prospects with people or ideas they wouldn’t otherwise access, like the rep’s CEO or a high-profile customer. One of my top reps had a gift for becoming a kind of therapist. She would listen closely, reflect what she was hearing, and share examples of others facing similar challenges. It helped prospects feel understood. But all of it has to tie back to the value your company and product can deliver. When reps get this right, prospects actually look forward to their calls. The most interesting thing is that I have been saying this for many years to every rep I work with and only a very small portion will actually do these things. The truth is that none of this is easy. It takes time, effort, and discipline. But these are the three things that set the best apart.