The Power of Trigger Events: A Comprehensive Guide For Sales Professionals
Trigger events can be a game-changer for sales professionals looking to improve their success rate and close more deals. In this comprehensive guide, we'll dive into what trigger events are, why they matter, and how you can use them to your advantage. We'll also explore some unusual trigger events that can help you stand out from the competition and increase your chances of success.
What Are Trigger Events and Why Are They Important for Sales?
Simply put, trigger events are changes or events within a company that signal a need or desire for a new solution. These events can be positive or negative, and they can indicate an opportunity for sales professionals to reach out to potential customers at just the right time. By identifying trigger events, you can tailor your message and pitch to the specific needs and challenges of your prospects, making it more likely that they will be interested in what you have to offer.
Positive Trigger Events: What to Look For and How to Leverage Them
Positive trigger events are events that indicate growth or change within a company, and they can be leveraged to create a more compelling sales pitch. Here are some examples of positive trigger events to look for and how you can leverage them:
- New DM Hire: A new decision-maker (DM) joining the company can indicate a need for change or improvement. When reaching out to a company with a new DM, make sure to acknowledge their recent hire and offer insights or solutions that can help them achieve their goals.
- New Round of Funding: Companies that have recently secured funding may have more resources to invest in new solutions. When reaching out to these companies, make sure to highlight how your solution can help them maximize their new resources and achieve their goals.
- Adoption of a Certain Technology: Companies that have recently adopted a certain technology may be more open to other new solutions that complement it. Make sure to research the technologies that a company is using and tailor your pitch to how your solution can enhance their existing technology stack.
- New Industry Regulation: Changes in industry regulations can create new challenges and opportunities for companies. When reaching out to companies that are impacted by new regulations, make sure to highlight how your solution can help them comply with the new regulations or take advantage of new opportunities.
- New Product Release: Companies that have recently released a new product may be looking for new solutions to help them market or sell their new offering. When reaching out to these companies, make sure to highlight how your solution can help them achieve their sales goals and stand out from the competition.
- Hiring or Laying Off a Certain Dept: Changes in staffing can indicate a need for new solutions or a shift in priorities. When reaching out to companies that are hiring or laying off a certain department, make sure to tailor your pitch to how your solution can help them achieve their new goals or address their new challenges.
- High or Low Growth: Companies that are experiencing high or low growth may be more open to new solutions that can help them sustain or improve their growth rate. When reaching out to these companies, make sure to highlight how your solution can help them achieve their growth goals or address any challenges that are holding them back.
- Expansion: Companies that are expanding into new markets or geographies may need new solutions to support their growth. When reaching out to these companies, make sure to highlight how your solution can help them expand and achieve their new goals.
- ZoomInfo Scoops: ZoomInfo is a powerful tool that can provide insights into changes happening within a company. When using ZoomInfo, make sure to look for scoops that indicate changes or events that could create a need or desire for your solution.
By identifying and leveraging these positive trigger events, you can create a more compelling sales pitch that resonates with your prospects and increases your chances of success.
Negative Trigger Events: What to Look For and How to Handle Them
While positive trigger events can be useful in identifying new sales opportunities, negative trigger events can help you avoid wasting time on prospects that are not likely to buy. Here are some examples of negative trigger events to look for and how to handle them:
- Layoffs: If a company has recently laid off employees, it may indicate financial difficulties or a shift in priorities. When reaching out to companies that have recently laid off employees, make sure to tread lightly and be sensitive to their situation. Consider offering solutions that can help them reduce costs or improve efficiency.
- Haven't Closed Funding in X Months/Years: If a company has not secured new funding in a long time, it may indicate financial difficulties or a lack of interest from investors. When reaching out to these companies, make sure to acknowledge their situation and offer solutions that can help them achieve their goals without requiring significant investment.
- Added Your Competitor's Technologies or Dropped a Technology that Compliments Yours: If a company has recently added your competitor's technology or dropped a technology that complements yours, it may indicate that they are satisfied with their current solutions or have found better alternatives. When reaching out to these companies, make sure to acknowledge their current solutions and offer unique value propositions that differentiate your solution.
- Low Growth: If a company is experiencing low or negative growth, it may indicate that they are not interested in investing in new solutions. When reaching out to these companies, make sure to acknowledge their situation and offer solutions that can help them overcome their challenges and achieve their goals.
- Negative ZoomInfo Scoops: ZoomInfo can also provide insights into negative events happening within a company. When using ZoomInfo, look for scoops that indicate financial difficulties, layoffs, or other negative events that could impact a company's willingness to buy.
By identifying and handling negative trigger events appropriately, you can avoid wasting time and resources on prospects that are unlikely to buy. Consider using negative trigger events as an opportunity to learn more about a company's challenges and offer solutions that can help them overcome them.
Crafting a Compelling Sales Message with Trigger Events: Tips and Strategies
Once you've identified the trigger events that are relevant to your prospects, it's time to craft a sales message that speaks directly to their needs and challenges. Here are some tips and strategies for crafting a compelling sales message based on trigger events:
- Personalize your message: Personalization is key to making your message stand out in a sea of generic outreach. Use the trigger event as an opportunity to personalize your message and show your prospect that you understand their specific needs and challenges.
- Show the value: When crafting your message, make sure to clearly articulate the value that your solution can provide in the context of the trigger event. Whether it's reducing costs, increasing efficiency, or improving customer satisfaction, make sure your prospects understand how your solution can help them achieve their goals.
- Use social proof: Social proof can be a powerful tool in persuading prospects to buy. Use case studies, testimonials, and other forms of social proof to show your prospects how your solution has helped companies in similar situations.
- Focus on the benefits, not the features: When crafting your message, focus on the benefits of your solution, rather than the features. Your prospects don't care about the technical details of your solution - they care about how it can help them achieve their goals.
- Keep it concise: When crafting your message, make sure to keep it concise and to the point. Your prospects are busy, and they don't have time to read long, rambling emails.
Use the trigger events you've identified as an opportunity to show your prospects that you understand their specific needs and challenges, and that you have the solutions to help them overcome them.
Leveraging Technology, best tools and practices
- Industry-specific tools: Depending on your industry, there may be specialized tools that can help you track trigger events more effectively. For example, if you're in the healthcare industry, you may want to consider using tools like FierceHealthcare or Modern Healthcare to track industry news and events.
- Review sites: Review sites like Glassdoor or Yelp can provide valuable insights into a company's culture, management, and reputation. By monitoring these sites, you can stay informed about trigger events like executive turnover or employee dissatisfaction.
- Webinars and events: Webinars and industry events are great opportunities to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and trigger events. By attending these events and following up with attendees, you can build valuable connections and stay ahead of the competition.
- Internal data sources: Don't forget to leverage your own data sources when it comes to identifying trigger events. For example, if you track customer satisfaction scores or product usage data, you may be able to identify trigger events like a spike in customer complaints or a sudden increase in usage.
In addition to these creative approaches, it's important to remember that technology is only one part of the equation. To truly leverage trigger events, you need to integrate technology into your sales process and use it strategically. Here are some additional tips for doing so:
- Focus on high-priority trigger events: With so much data available, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. Make sure to focus on the trigger events that are most relevant to your business and have the highest potential for driving sales.
- Automate your data collection: To save time and stay up-to-date on the latest trigger events, consider automating your data collection process. This may include using tools like Zapier or IFTTT to connect different data sources and trigger automated actions.
Here are 13 examples of not so obvious trigger events that can help boost your sales:
- Patent filings: When a company files a patent for a new product or technology, it can indicate upcoming releases or new innovations.
One tool that can notify you of patent filings for a particular company is PatentAlerts. It is an online service that allows you to monitor patent filings and applications for specific companies and keywords, and receive email alerts when new filings or publications are made. Another similar tool is PatSnap, which also provides real-time alerts and insights on patent data for competitive intelligence and R&D purposes.
- Company rebranding: When a company rebrands, it can signal changes in their target market, offerings, or overall strategy.
One tool can help you monitor a company's rebranding efforts is Brandwatch, which is a social media listening platform that allows you to track mentions and sentiment related to a brand across various social media channels. By monitoring conversations related to a brand, you can gain insights into how customers are responding to a rebranding effort and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.
- Expansion into new markets: When a company expands into a new market, it can signal growth and increased demand for their products or services.
There are several tools that can help you track a company's expansion into new markets, including business intelligence platforms such as Owler, Crunchbase, and ZoomInfo, which provide company profiles and news alerts. You can also use market research platforms such as MarketResearch.com to search for reports on specific industries or regions and track trends and growth opportunities. Additionally, free tools like Google Alerts allow you to set up alerts for specific keywords or phrases, including company names and industry-specific terms, to receive notifications via email or RSS feed whenever there are new search results related to new market expansion.
- New product or service offerings: When a company launches a new product or service, it can indicate a shift in focus or priorities, and present new sales opportunities.
- Job postings: When a company posts job openings for certain positions, it can indicate upcoming changes in their operations or priorities.
There are many sites inlcuding LinkedIn Jobs, Glassdoor, Indeed, Monster, , CareerBuilder, ZipRecruiter, Snagajob, FlexJobs, Dice, Hired, AngelList, CrunchBoard, GitHub Jobs, Stack Overflow Careers, Authentic Jobs, Remote.co, We Work Remotely, Jobspresso, Virtual Vocations, Seek (Australia), Reed.co.uk (UK), Naukri (India), Bayt (Middle East), 104 Job Bank (Taiwan), JobStreet (Southeast Asia), Zhaopin (China).
- Social media activity: Monitoring a company's social media activity can provide insights into their current initiatives, priorities, and engagement with their audience.
- Conference or event participation: Companies that participate in industry conferences or events may be actively seeking new partnerships, collaborations, or customers.
- Conference or event participation: Companies that participate in industry conferences or events may be actively seeking new partnerships, collaborations, or customers.
- Charitable donations: Companies that make large charitable donations may have a strong focus on social responsibility and ethical business practices
One tool is tool is GuideStar, which provides information on nonprofit organizations and their donors, including corporate donors
- New business partnerships: Companies that enter into new partnerships may have new needs or opportunities for your products or services.
- Economic indicators: Tracking economic indicators can provide insights into companies that may be experiencing growth or struggling
There are several free tools available for tracking economic indicators that can provide valuable insights for sales professionals. Some of these tools include the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which provides access to a wide range of economic data, including GDP, employment, and inflation rates. Another option is Trading Economics, which provides economic data for over 200 countries, including indicators such as consumer confidence, business confidence, and manufacturing data. Additionally, the World Bank's Open Data platform provides access to a range of economic indicators for countries around the world. By monitoring these economic indicators, sales professionals can gain a better understanding of the overall health of the economy and identify potential trigger events for their sales efforts.
- New Office Locations: Companies that open new offices may have new needs
One way to track new office locations is to use search engines like Google or Bing to search for recent news articles or press releases. Another option is to monitor the company's website or social media pages for announcements about new office locations. Additionally, using tools like ZoomInfo or LinkedIn Sales Navigator can help you to identify when a company has added new locations or is expanding their operations.
- Customer feedback: Keeping tabs on customer feedback of your target can help you uncover opportunities.
One of the best places to track customer feedback is on social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook. . Additionally, review sites like Yelp and Google Reviews can offer valuable insights into how customers feel about a company's products or services. Other places to look for customer feedback include industry-specific forums or discussion boards.
In conclusion, by identifying and leveraging trigger events, you can gain an edge over your competitors and become a more efficient and effective salesperson. Keep in mind that trigger events can be positive or negative, and it's essential to handle them appropriately to avoid wasting time and resources. With the help of technology and the best tools and practices, you can stay ahead of the game and take advantage of not so obvious trigger events that can help boost your sales. So, get out there and start identifying those trigger events - the possibilities for success are endless!
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