6 Effective Sales Cadence Strategies: Engage Your Customers and Drive Sales

In the world of sales, there are many strategies taken to ensure maximum customer engagement, lead generation, and revenue. One of these is sales cadence, an often-neglected process that helps develop relationships with prospective customers. If done right, sales cadence can close deals and create loyal, repeat customers.

In the simplest sense, sales cadence is a follow-up plan that begins after the first contact with a prospect. It’s how salespeople “chase” the customer and try to convince them to purchase their product or service. So how is it done, and what strategies are there to maximize its advantages? Read on to learn more about this process.

What is Sales Cadence and Why is it Important?

Most salespeople don’t have follow-up plans for a prospective customer. Typically, a prospect will need up to five follow-ups before they make a purchase. However, sales representatives typically only make a single follow-up attempt after the initial contact before moving on to the next prospect. Some stop here because they don’t want to come off as pushy, while others stop here because they simply don’t want to put in the additional effort.

However, opportunities could be leaking through the cracks if you don’t commit to follow-ups. Most people need repeated engagement and convincing to close a deal, and all of this is done after the first contact. This follow-up process is called sales cadence, a series of touchpoints that salespeople use to engage a prospect.

This sequence of interactions must be planned to remain organic. The last thing that a salesperson wants to do is pester the prospect with too many emails or calls, which will result in a lost customer at best. Sales cadence needs a strategic approach to create a good relationship with a prospect. So what can you do to enhance your sales cadence process?

Strategies for Effective Sales Cadence

Here are some things to consider when planning follow-ups with a prospective customer.

1. Develop Your List and Create a Customer Profile

It’s important to understand your target audience and find out their needs. While this step should be done before the first contact, it’s even more essential during sales cadence since it allows a salesperson to focus on key prospects. You don’t want to pour your effort on someone who absolutely has no use of your product — that is, unless you’re some gifted salesperson that can magically convince them otherwise.

So determine their demographics, which industries they belong to, and what possible pain points they have. It’s also helpful to know which platforms they use the most, whether they’re social media, emails, or phone calls. That way, you can communicate with them through their preferred channels.

2. Identify Channels of Communication

Knowing the preferred method of communication of a prospect is crucial. This is how a salesperson can maximize their contact with them. While it might look like an easy thing, the sheer number of ways that you can reach someone now — digitally or otherwise — make it difficult to find the most appropriate channel.

It will take a bit of research on your end, but the engagement you’ll get if you hit the right one will be worth it. One of the things you want to keep in mind is the prospect’s age group. Older demographics, surprisingly, tend to go online the most. The younger generation, on the other hand, prefers diverse platforms that depend on what they’re looking for.

3. Plan the Number of Contact Attempts

In most cases, at least five contact attempts are needed during sales cadence. However, most sales happen at seven attempts. It will take a bit of patience to reach this number, but a salesperson who can persist will be able to generate more leads and close more sales. Don’t give up after 7, since some customers might need up to 12 touchpoints before they’re finally convinced to buy your product. The most important thing to remember is to adjust your contact attempts depending on your previous interactions.

4. Know When to Send Attempts

Twelve touchpoints may seem like a lot, and it will be if a salesperson doesn’t know how to properly pace each contact attempt. You don’t want to seem too pushy by calling every now and then, and neither do you want a prospect to lose interest with wide gaps between each contact. Plan when to send your attempts to maximize engagement without wearing out the patience of your prospect.

5. Plan the Length of Time to Roll Out and Complete the Cadence

The sales cadence process shouldn’t go on indefinitely before a customer makes a purchase. In most cases, two to four weeks is enough for all the touchpoints. You can adjust this length depending on the prospect’s engagement. If you think you need to extend this because of a huge sale possibility, then feel free to do so.

6. Determine Your Message: What Are You Saying?

What you say to prospects can ultimately decide whether they’d make a purchase or not. So you need to determine if you’re communicating the right message during contact attempts. The channel can make a huge difference in what you can say as well. For example, a call requires on-the-spot improvisation while emails allow for more control. What’s important is for your message to remain intriguing and constructed to address their needs.

Implement, Test, and Adjust

Once you’ve created a sales cadence plan with the strategies above, it’s time to put it to work. No two prospects are the same, so it’s recommended to evaluate the contact attempts and see what worked and what didn’t. This way, you can make adjustments and adapt to the ever-changing needs of customers.

Key Takeaways

Sales cadence is one of the many strategies used in lead generation and growth marketing, and it starts after the first contact with a prospect. It’s the follow-up process that a salesperson takes to engage a potential customer and drive sales. There are a few ways to make this outreach method effective, from researching about the prospect to pacing contact attempts. If done right, sales cadence can secure a sale and increase revenue.

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Sources

• https://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/sales/sales-techniques-and-negotiations/why-you-must-follow-up-leads
• https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/channels-preferred-by-age-groups
• https://www.beeliked.com/blog/audience-engagement/marketing-to-different-age-demographics
• https://www.freshworks.com/crm/sales/sales-strategy/sales-cadence-blog/
• https://due.com/blog/follow-ups/
• https://sopro.io/added-value/blog/what-is-a-sales-cadence/
• https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-cadence-example

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