Stay ahead of the sales evolution with a more efficient approach to everything
Hacking Sales helps you transform your sales process using the next generation of tools, tactics and strategies. Author Max Altschuler has dedicated his business to helping companies build modern, efficient, high tech sales processes that generate more revenue while using fewer resources. In this book, he shows you the most effective changes you can make, starting today, to evolve your sales and continually raise the bar. You’ll walk through the entire sales process from start to finish, learning critical hacks every step of the way. Find and capture your lowest-hanging fruit at the top of the funnel, build massive lead lists using ICP and TAM, utilize multiple prospecting strategies, perfect your follow-ups, nurture leads, outsource where advantageous, and much more. Build, refine, and enhance your pipeline over time, close deals faster, and use the right tools for the job—this book is your roadmap to fast and efficient revenue growth.
Without a reliable process, you’re disjointed, disorganized, and ultimately, underperforming. Whether you’re building a sales process from scratch or looking to become your company’s rock star, this book shows you how to make it happen.
- Identify your Ideal Customer and your Total Addressable Market
- Build massive lead lists and properly target your campaigns
- Learn effective hacks for messaging and social media outreach
- Overcome customer objections before they happen
The economy is evolving, the customer is evolving, and sales itself is evolving. Forty percent of the Fortune 500 from the year 2000 were absent from the Fortune 500 in the year 2015, precisely because they failed to evolve. Today’s sales environment is very much a “keep up or get left behind” paradigm, but you need to do better to excel. Hacking Sales shows you how to get ahead of everyone else with focused effort and the most effective approach to modern sales.
Table of Contents:
Author’s Note xi
Introduction xiii
Why Sales, Why Now? xiii
Who This Book Is For xiv
Where This Book Fits In xv
What This Book Is Not xv
Chapter 1 Developing Your Sales Stack 1
Where Do I Start? 1
Qualifying Leads 2
What’s Your Sales Stack? 4
Chapter 2 List Building: Part 1: Finding and Defining Your Ideal Customer Profile 7
Easy, Nontechnical Web Scraping 10
Deeper Insights into Your Competitors’ Customers 12
Targeting Key Executives, Influencers, and High-Potential Buyers 15
Chapter 3 List Building: Part 2: Defining Your Total Addressable Market (TAM) 17
Enrich Your Customers 18
Meet Your Future Customers 20
Make It Actionable 21
Refine and Optimize the Entire Process 22
Company Databases 22
Chapter 4 List Building: Part 3: Getting in the Door 27
Top-Down and Bottom-Up Targeting 27
Lean on Your Industry Allies 32
Using Twitter to Generate Warm Leads 33
Chapter 5 Uncovering Contact Information 35
Remove Duplicates Early On 35
Pulling Contact Information Directly from LinkedIn 37
E-mail Verification and Enrichment 38
Chapter 6 Lead Research 41
Trigger Event, Alerts, and Researching 43
LinkedIn Advanced Settings and Sales Navigator 44
Chapter 7 Segmenting 49
Where to Start Segmenting 50
But What about Whales? 52
Chapter 8 Outbound E-Mailing and Messaging 55
A/B Testing and Optimizing E-mails 56
Determining Your Perfect Cadence 59
The Services That Power Outbound Sales 61
Sales and Customer Success 68
Quick Tips on Messaging Psychology 68
Chapter 9 Sales Outsourcing 73
Preparing to Hire Virtual Assistants 74
Hiring Virtual Assistants 74
Strictly Sales Development Support 75
Training Your Virtual Assistants 80
Chapter 10 Customer Relationship Management Software 83
Integration Software 85
Chapter 11 Nurturing Leads and Sparking Engagement 89
Using Social Media to Trigger Buyer Activity 89
Make Sure to Follow Up 91
Reactivating Leads 91
Chapter 12 Preparing for and Holding Your First Sales Call 93
Getting and Staying Prepared 94
Properly Qualifying the Prospect 97
Scripting Calls 98
Forget PINs and Access Codes 100
Quick Tips in Sales Psychology 101
Set the Agenda and Stay in Control 102
Let the Passion Out 102
Chapter 13 Navigating the Buying Process and Closing the Deal 105
Rules of Negotiating 105
Creating Equality in Negotiations 106
Don’t Jump to Discounting 107
Handling Objections 108
Demos, Proposals, and Collateral 109
E-Signature Solutions 112
Chapter 14 Business Development 115
The Art of the Introduction 115
Asking for Referrals 120
Chapter 15 Bonus Sales Hacks 123
E-mail Signature 123
Out-of-Office Reply 124
Mix in Some Humor 125
Frenemies 126
Stay Relevant on Twitter and LinkedIn 126
Other Unique Solutions for Hacking Sales 127
Chapter 16 The Wrap-Up 131
Resources and Programs 135
Sales Hacker Programs 135
Suggested Reading for Sales Hackers 135
Acknowledgments 137
About the Author 139
Index 141
About the Author :
MAX ALTSCHULER is the CEO and founder of Sales Hacker, Inc. He’s always been fascinated with sales, psychology, technology, and entrepreneurship and considers himself an entrepreneur first and a salesman second. He was the first sales hire at Udemy, an online education company, and built the process that launched the instructor side of its marketplace.
