The Omnichannel Approach: Sales Prospecting That Divides And Conquers 

In a sales role, you constantly have to pivot and re-think your prospecting strategy. Peers are always uncovering new ways to improve the discovery call, get more email opens, or identify the hottest leads. Being agile and willing to throw things at the wall to see what sticks is one of the things that makes you perfect for sales. But wouldn’t it be nice to throw things at the wall with guaranteed efficiency? 

We certainly think so. This article will guide you through the omnichannel prospecting approach. We’ll cover what it is, how to build yours, and how to easily tinker with it to maximize your results. Let’s jump in.

The strongest channels to frame your strategy

Think about your current prospecting approach. Do you exclusively hit the phones and cold call? Do you stick with an automated email drip? Maybe you mostly stick with one channel and maybe add in a bit of the other but only if it’s a really valuable lead. 

The omnichannel prospecting approach is all about building a sequence to cover, you guessed it, varied prospecting channels. No two prospects are the same. The lead who picks up the phone may never check their email. Or maybe the lead with the clean inbox never uses LinkedIn. The omnichannel approach will help you cover all bases, heightening your chances of landing that first touchpoint. Here are the recommended channels:

  1. Email

  2. Cold Call

  3. LinkedIn

  4. SMS

  5. Video recording

If there’s another channel that may be appropriate for your industry, like contacting an influencer on social media, feel free to add that into the mix as well. 

Build out your strategy and get creative with it

Now we move to the building part. How do you build your strategy with so many channels to choose from? We recommend a mix, with the less-invasive touchpoints first with a day or two in between steps. Then, the approach picks up and gets more forward. Maybe something like this to start:

Step 1: Follow them on LinkedIn. Engage with one of their posts. Could be a simple reaction like a “like”.

Step 2: Send a short, friendly email. Mention you follow them on LinkedIn and point out something personal.

Step 3: Another LinkedIn engagement.

Step 4: LinkedIn Connection request and message.

Step 5: Follow-up email.

If no response yet, we can start mixing in a few more direct channels. 

Step 6: Cold call.

Step 7: Follow-up email.

Step 8: LinkedIn video message introducing yourself.

Step 9: SMS

Step 10: Video email with a tool like Loom or Vidyard.

The next sequence of steps will be about consistency. 

Step 11: Cold call.

Step 12: Follow-up email.

Step 13: LinkedIn message.

Step 14: Cold call.

Step 15: Cold call.

If still nothing, you can begin to wind down your approach with a few automated steps. It gives them a few more chances to connect, without burning the lead.

Step 16: LinkedIn message.

Step 17: Automated email.

Step 18: Automated email.

You know your industry best. If historically, cold calls work well for your ICP, integrate those earlier. If you get a lot of traction on LinkedIn, keep it message-heavy. This is purely a guideline for inspiration.

Personalize, personalize, personalize

This is the part where you get to use your detective skills. You have the steps of your omnichannel prospecting sequence laid out, but what about the content that goes into it?

The approach may vary depending on the targeted industry, lead profile, and what you’re selling. The tried and true rule of thumb is to personalize as much as you can. 

Go take a look at LinkedIn, or if you use a lead-generation tool like Zoominfo, it will also give you valuable insight. Find out what you can about the lead, and reference it in your messaging. For example:

“Hi, [NAME]. I read on LinkedIn you just got promoted to [JOB TITLE] recently. Congratulations! I know you likely have a lot on your plate in [DEPARTMENT], but I wanted to check in and see if you got my last email.” 

Information like promotions, work anniversaries, or new certifications are a great way to personalize and kick off the contact in a fun, congratulatory way. You could also reference things like past work experience, a school they went to, or sometimes people put fun tidbits of information on their profile that you may find common ground on. 

AI is a super powerful tool that’s increasingly commonly used in sales and marketing. Prospects will likely be sensitive to blanket messaging that looks like it could be mass-sent and AI-generated. The more you keep things personalized, the more your prospect can be confident that you’re a real human who’s looking to help.

Stick it out, track your progress, and readjust from there

The omnichannel prospecting sequence has quite a few steps. The important thing here is to be consistent, and don’t get discouraged. Give the sequence your most thorough try for as many leads as you can, and then the data showing your success rate will be most accurate. 

For example, it’s hard to detect whether the messaging in your emails is doing well if you have a habit of skipping that step in a sequence. The same goes for pick-up rates for calls, and new LinkedIn connections. Don’t give up! 

If you’re consistent, and you do find that there’s a certain step that never gets any traction, take it out, change the messaging, or change the order. The more consistent you are, and the more you listen to your analytics, the more foolproof your sequence will be.