According to a study by Grandview Research, the marketing automation software industry will be worth 7.63 billion dollars by 2025. 

Clearly, outbound automation is no longer for well-established multinational corporations, with most businesses incorporating AI into their marketing and sales framework at an exponential rate. 

Automation has been linked with a higher Return on Investment (ROI) in several studies, but it’s necessary to keep in mind that this reward is only reaped when automation tools are correctly integrated and implemented.

This article will explain in detail what outbound automation entails, and how you can get the most out of it, so that your company sees tangible returns!

Let’s start by examining what outbound sales automation actually is.

What is Outbound Sales Automation?

Outbound sales automation aims to evolve the process of outbound sales and optimize outbound sales teams by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI). It entails automating various sales tasks that would otherwise be prone to human error. These tasks mainly include

  • Lead Generation,
  • Lead Tracking, and
  • Lead Follow Up.

Depending on your company’s size, your industry benchmarks, and the resources at hand, you can toggle the level of outbound automation you incorporate. 

For instance, if your business is small, it would be prudent to begin by automating lead generation processes and focus on company growth instead, whereas a well-established business might benefit more by automating customer outreach and follow up processes. 

Outbound sales automation enables the effective management of your salesforce’s valuable time, helping them hit more targets in a shorter time frame. 

By automating repetitive tasks, your skilled sales team can focus on the human elements of a successful sales strategy, such as building rapport and closing deals.

Not convinced yet? Read on for more details on why you should automate your outbound sales efforts.

Why Should You Automate Your Outbound Sales Process?

The most obvious benefits of automating your outbound sales process are that there is a marked improvement in data accuracy and time saved. Additionally, automation technology is quite convenient to incorporate and easily accessible in today’s digitally driven Saas world!

However, there are other reasons why automating your outbound sales process is a good idea too. Automated outbound sales processes help businesses

1. Attract and Convert Leads Faster

Under automation, your lead generation and tracking processes can easily be standardized. The consistency of outreach makes lead conversion and attraction a more likely outcome than the inconsistency of human-driven interaction. 

Among the business experts that incorporate automation in their sales process, 35 percent use it for the primary purpose of generating potential leads. Research shows that adopting automation can boost lead conversion rates by a whopping 77 percent when compared to businesses that stick to manual outbound sales processes. 

2. Integrate Marketing and Sales

Automated outbound sales processes is the first step to integrating your marketing and sales strategy. This is a powerful way to 

  • Unify your customer journey by shared data across marketing and sales channels,
  • Ensure efficient lead handoff, reducing the gap between lead follow ups, thus minimizing the risk of cold leads,
  • Align your marketing and sales goals and metrics through shared presentation of key performance indicators, and
  • Ensure closed-loop feedback based on shared actionable insights provided by automation tools.

3. Improve Cost Efficiency

Many outbound sales automation tools have inbuilt features that collect and process large amounts of data. The actionable insights yielded by such tools are not only more accurate than data processed by people, but also generated at a faster pace. 

Thus, the saved time and resources, both in terms of manpower and work hours, prove to be more cost effective for your business in the long run!

Now that you know the benefits of integrating automation in your sales process, let’s identify areas in the process that could use this AI intervention!

Which Areas of the Outbound Sales Process Can You Automate?

Multiple points in the sales funnel can benefit from automation. Some key processes that are made easier and more efficient through automation include:

1. Lead Generation

Lead generation marks the beginning of the sales process. It involves the identification of potential customers and the cultivation of their interest in your product. Without a strong lead generation mechanism in place, your company may not be able to close as many deals confidently. 

When it comes to lead generation, data processing is the name of the game. By incorporating automation, sifting through massive amounts of data to identify viable leads becomes much easier. AI tools are notoriously faster and more efficient at

  • Lead scraping

AI tools can automatically extract valuable data from websites in the public domain to compile a list of names and other identifying information such as home and work addresses, contact numbers, and more. 

This saves hours of manual tasks such as lead hunting and enables your sales team to focus on customer interaction and follow through.

  • Lead qualification

AI tools can effectively analyze your potential client’s social media activity and browsing history, and thus better qualify leads according to their digital footprint. 

With all the behind the scenes work done, all your sales team has to focus on is interaction with the prospective buyer! 

  • Predictive sales

Automated predictive sales tools can analyze your lead’s purchase behavior and history in context of your key demographic and buyer persona. 

Thus, leads which are most likely to convert can be identified easily according to how suited they are for your product or service.

2. Lead Tracking

Lead tracking is the process of keeping close tabs on your lead’s action and progress as they move through your sales pipeline. This helps in identifying the right time for your sales team to engage in a more direct manner. Automating lead tracking can help you with:

  • Lead management

AI tools can coordinate with your sales team to automatically update your established lead’s contact information, study their activity history and engagement, and identify the status of your leads as they advance in the sales cycle.

This ensures that your sales team has only the most relevant and up to date data to base their sales tactics on!

  • Lead routing

Automating your lead tracking process not only helps you get more information on your leads, but also directs qualified leads through the entire sales process.

By analyzing categorical factors such as lead source, lead score, and the availability of sales reps in your company, AI tools can assign leads to those best suited to engage with them, thus boosting user experience and streamlining your sales funnel!

  • Customer churn prediction

AI tools can also access purchase history, customer behavior, and other personalized data that you feed into it to keep tabs on when your customers are about to churn.

These tools can then intimate your sales reps, thus increasing the chances of re-integrating at-risk customers and accounts.

In addition to these, automation tools can also help optimize your sales team’s performance by tracking their individual performance indicators and identifying sales reps that require more training to effectively increase their sales!

3. Prospecting

Outbound sales automation ensures faster and more efficient prospecting. 

Prospecting is the process of reaching out to your identified leads and getting them interested in what your company has to offer. In the above mentioned lead tracking and generation processes, the data collected and analyzed by AI tools goes a long way in ensuring that your sales team knows how and when to approach a client.

AI tools can narrow down your leads by making sure that your prospect

  • needs your product,
  • falls within a demographic that can afford your product,
  • has the authority to buy your product, and
  • is ready to make a purchase,

thus identifying the best time for your sales personnel to make a move!

4. Cold Outreach Copywriting

Considering that cold outreach does not always guarantee client engagement, it is best relegated to AI tools.

Most cold emails have a standard script and frequency, and automation tools have the flexibility to incorporate your company’s personalized templates for reaching out to potential clients.

With the data gathered in the lead generation and tracking processes, AI writing assistants can effectively write copy faster and save your team hours of work!

5. Scheduling Meetings and Appointment Setting

Time consuming and monotonous tasks such as making sure your meetings and appointments are booked and scheduled at the right time without any overlaps or clashes can easily be outsourced to AI tools.

These tools can keep up with changes in synced calendars across multiple client accounts, thus eliminating the needless back and forth that your sales assistants might have to engage in to just book one meeting.

6. Conducting Demos

Conducting demos is an important way to explain to the client why your company’s product or service is the right fit for their needs. A good demo

  • explains how your product works,
  • showcases its best features,
  • and demonstrates how these will solve the prospect’s issue.

Automating demos through a sales engagement platform can enable you to reach a wider audience globally, without the hassle of coordinating manual schedules for video engagement. 

By directly interacting with your AI tool, your clients can get a better idea of the kind of product or service they’re signing up for, without feeling like they’re being pandered to by salespeople!

7. Drafting Contracts

Drafting a good contract is the cornerstone of closing deals. The extremely technical and time consuming work of framing terms and conditions marks the successful culmination of the outbound sales process. 

In the initial stage, it is a given that the drafted contract will see a few revisions, based on the prospect’s input and feedback. However, the very first draft has a fairly clear cut agenda, that is, to successfully put across your terms to the client. 

This process can benefit greatly from automation which reduces human error especially when it comes to quoting figures and framing legally and grammatically sound sentences.

8. Analyzing Results

In addition to the aforementioned points, automating your outbound sales process has another key area of function. The massive amounts of data gathered throughout the sales process can be put to use even after deals have been closed, to identify 

  • areas of improvement,
  • the best sales reps on your team, and
  • model your sales strategy accordingly.

Automated analytical tools can greatly help your sales team learn from their mistakes and continue to better their performance!

Now that we have identified areas for implementing outbound sales automation, let’s delve into the mechanics of how it all actually works!

Lead Generation, Lead Tracking and Lead Follow Up: How to Implement Outbound Sales Automation Across All?

In the B2B Saas landscape, lead generation, lead tracking, and lead follow up are crucial to successfully closing a deal. The process is a lot more complex than identifying individual customers for a tangible product that they can use at home. 

Because you’re dealing with other businesses in a professional capacity, your groundwork has to be impeccable. The following points show how AI can be implemented across all three stages in the sales process quite seamlessly.

  • Automated tools with features such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) integration allow you to export data in bulk and run large-scale outbound campaigns. 
    By using tools such as Adapt, you gain access to advanced search filters spanning various locations, industries, and departments, that identify accurate and viable decision maker data. 

    Thus, your company expands its Total Addressable Market (TAM) and has access to a larger pool of information for lead generation purposes.

  • Once leads have been qualified, automated tools can implement Account Based Marketing (ABM) strategies, focusing on quality outreach and tracking. 
    For instance, Adapt has a ‘company search’ feature that enables the tracking of multiple stakeholders from a specific company. It also allows the further narrowing down of viable prospects by using departmental subfilters. 

    Features such as ‘available updates’ also notify you when your prospect switches jobs or fields, gets promoted or transferred, ensuring that you only have to consider relevant information while engaging with them!

  • Following up on a specific lead gets significantly easier with automation. Targeted outreach involves the crafting of a hyper-personalized outbound campaign according to your prospect’s needs. 
    When a qualified lead is too important, tools such as Adapt Prospector can unearth all the relevant information from the public domain. 
  • Furthermore, email verification and validation tools that can be utilized to enhance the effectiveness of your email outreach and communication. Adapt has partnered with Zerobounce, a tool that provides access to verified contacts, enabling you to segment your leads according to the priority of follow up!

Common Challenges Faced in Outbound Automation and How to Overcome Them

Any significant transition brings with it some difficulties, some wrinkles that need smoothing. Here are some common challenges faced while implementing outbound sales automation, with advice on how to correct for them!

1. Employee Resistance to Automation

Employees might understandably resist automation since it renders them defunct in some areas of the sales funnel. In such a case, it is best to set the record straight from the get go.

Outbound sales automation will never fully replace the need for human interaction. Rather, it works to effectively streamline and supplement the same. 

When addressing your employees, it is important to stress on upskilling and diversifying their portfolio so they develop the skills to manage new softwares as and when they’re incorporated!

2. Lack of Flexibility

Automation software can prove to be clunky and unequipped to deal with the multifaceted nature of the sales process. Some might be good at lead generation, but not designed to nurture those leads. This can create difficulties and make you purchase unnecessary extensions that can needlessly overheat your hardware.

To avoid such issues, it is best to find an AI tool that is holistic and well integrated with your existing software. 

For instance, an outbound sales automation tool with integrated CRM and copywriting features is ideal for not only streamlining the process of sales, but also for integrating the actions of sales and marketing teams, and will ensure that leads are segmented and prioritized accordingly!

3. Not Enough Data

Since automation software is designed to process large amounts of data, they are actually time inefficient with small chunks of information. Analyze your chosen automated tool and ensure that your company needs lead generation and qualification on a large enough scale. 

A suitable option for small businesses is to stick to one CRM software to track leads and analyze consumer data, instead of purchasing a bulky integrated AI package!

Before you get started on automating outbound efforts, here are some tips to help you along the way.

Tips for Outbound Sales Automation

1. Research Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Your Ideal Customer Profile or ICP benefits greatly from being well-researched. An ICP builds a semi-fictional template for the kind of customer you wish to attract. This customer is the perfect fit for your product or service and would benefit greatly from using it. 

An in-depth understanding of your ICP not only helps you define business goals better, but also provides your outbound sales automation tool with meaningful data to enact sales outreach.

Many prospecting, tracking, and lead generation decisions can be taken on the basis of the ICP, and automation tools can craft better cold email campaigns that really speak to your target demographic!

2. Use a Prospecting Tool

Once you know your ICP, you can input its details, such as industry, designation, age, etc, in the prospector tool, and quickly receive a list of high-quality leads and their contact information as well.

B2B prospecting tools have access to vast amounts of information and yield highly targeted lists. Not only are they simple to use, but they also provide verified information about potential buyers. 

Top tier automation tools such as Adapt also offer features such as suppression lists, which can help reduce duplicate contacts across multiple sources and exclude unwanted domains from your prospecting lists.

3. Automate Lead Follow Ups

As explained earlier, outbound sales automation tools can generate effective follow ups to lead interaction through integrated CRM. 

AI software has evolved to the point where automated filling of your prospect’s job title is possible, along with the generation of a personalized cold email template according to your lead segmentation and prioritization.

Automating follow up emails also helps balance quality and quantity. Keeping in mind that only 1 to 5 percent of cold emails receive a reply, automating this aspect can save your team hours of effort and frustration!

4. Manage Your Leads

Automated tools with integrated CRM can help you track leads, segment them, and route them to relevant sales reps, with little to no manual input necessary.

These tools allow you to set up a lead scoring system that use your ICP to rank leads by 

  • how much they overlap with your ICP and
  • how likely they are to make a purchase,

after which they can be routed to sales reps best suited to deal with them.

Thus, high quality leads are prioritized, and low quality leads are assigned accordingly.

5. Learn from Past Client Interactions

Nothing provides your team with better empirical data than past client interactions. 

When it comes to outreach emailing or cold calling, using a sales automation platform to analyze your sales team’s interactions with prospects is a foolproof way of learning from your mistakes. 

Such tools can also tell you which behaviors affected the interaction positively, so you can replicate your results and ensure that your cold calling skills don’t lead to cold leads!

Key Takeaways

  • Automated outbound sales processes are fast becoming a ubiquitous way for businesses to see higher return on investment (ROI) and close more deals.
  • Lead generation, Lead tracking, and Lead follow up are all processes that can be effectively automated to an extent and save your sales team’s time and resources to be better utilized for more complex sales tasks. For instance, booking meetings, conducting demos, and monitoring sales interactions are all tasks that are easily outsourced to AI tools.
  • Outbound sales automation can be integrated by businesses of all sizes, as long as the nature of the integration is adjusted to suit your business model.
  • Most challenges faced in the integration of AI can usually be solved by ensuring that your automation tool is well integrated with the existing company software.
  • It’s imperative to have a well defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) so that your automation tool knows the objective of processing large amounts of data.
  • Keep analyzing tangible results and learning along the way!

FAQs

Although there are some overlaps in the functions of automated sales software and CRMs, the primary difference is that a sales automation software focuses on the optimization of your sales team. CRM tools deal more heavily with client information and contact history, and can be doubly effective when integrated into your sales automation software!

Any aspect of the sales process that requires repetition can essentially be automated. Lead segmentation and tracking, generating reports and sales alerts are some common tasks that are widely automated. Look into the features of your chosen automation tool to know the kind of flexibility and personalization they offer.

The size of your business does not disqualify you from integrating AI into your sales process. Identify the capacity of your shortlisted automation tools and ensure that the scale of your data processing needs are large enough to need that level of automation, and you’re good to go!