Prospect Engagement Tactics

Prospects ghosting you? Here's the follow up strategy that brought back a dead $50K deal Quick back story: A prospect ghosted me for 8 weeks. Opened every email. Zero responses. Most reps panic and send "just checking in" messages until they get blocked. Here's what I did instead that revived that dead opportunity: Instead of begging for meetings, I became their unpaid consultant. Every 2 weeks, I sent content that solved their specific challenges: → Training video on scaling teams (their biggest pain point) → Hiring scorecard for sales talent (something they mentioned needing) → Custom playbook for their exact situation No sales pitches. No product demos. Just solutions to problems they told me about. Week 8 response: "Sorry it's been crazy here. I've watched everything you sent and it's been incredibly valuable. Can we hop on a call to get started?" The system that makes this scalable: 1. Document everything - Keep detailed notes on every problem discussed 2. Build a resource library - Categorize valuable content by challenge type 3. Play the long game - Nurture with value, not desperation 4. Track engagement - They're reading, even if not responding Pro tip: Create a Google Doc with 600+ resources organized by problem. When prospects go quiet, you have solutions ready to go. The difference between top performers and everyone else? They solve problems before they sell solutions. When you provide value first, ghosting becomes impossible. — Sales Leaders! Want even more systems and playbooks installed across your team? Let’s talk: https://lnkd.in/ghh8VCaf

I turned 10,000 dead CRM accounts into meetings using Clay workflows. The results were a 20% reply rate, over $200K in pipeline, and zero cold outreach. Most sales teams are sitting on a goldmine, yet they don't even know it. Here's how you can do the same: 1. TURN PAST CUSTOMERS INTO NEW OPPORTUNITIES Look for companies where your contract has ended or gone inactive. Import these accounts from your CRM into Clay. Find the original champion plus new decision-makers who've joined since. Then send targeted messages like: → "We worked with your sales team last year - wanted to share how we've solved the X challenge they mentioned" → "Since our last project with Acme Corp, we've added features specifically addressing your scaling issues." This approach feels like reconnecting, not cold outreach. 2. USE CHAMPIONS AS REFERENCE POINTS Find accounts where you had a strong champion in the past. Use Clay to verify if they still work there and in what capacity. Then reach out to new contacts in that account: → "Saw you work with Sarah, who implemented our solution for your marketing team last year." → "Your colleague Jason mentioned your team is facing challenges with X." Always verify employment status before sending these messages. 3. TARGET RENEWAL WINDOWS Pull contract end dates from your CRM into Clay. Create auto-updating lists that flag accounts 60-90 days before expiration. Find both original buyers and newly added stakeholders. Time your outreach perfectly by saying something like: → "Your current plan comes up for renewal in September - perfect timing to share what's new." This timing creates a natural sense of urgency without being pushy. 4. CONNECT THROUGH OFFICE LOCATION Import location data for your contacts from your CRM. Use Clay to find new prospects at the same physical office location. Verify if both your champion and new prospect work on-site. Write messages that reference the shared location: → "Noticed you work with Sarah in the Austin office - we helped her team last quarter with X" This creates immediate familiarity and leverages existing presence. 5. BUILD LOOKALIKE ACCOUNTS Take your best-performing customers from your CRM. Run them through Clay + Ocean.io to find similar accounts. Target these accounts with messaging that references success patterns: → "Companies like Apple, Tesla, and Spotify saw 43% faster sales cycles using our approach." → "Based on our work with similar X teams, we've found Y works well for them" This combines the credibility of social proof with personalization. _____ The real edge comes from maintaining good CRM hygiene and regularly updating data. Most teams are sitting on gold, but still use outdated or incomplete information. Start using what you already have instead of starting from scratch.

90% believe this one lie that burns their valuable time: Posting alone is enough to generate inbound leads. The truth? Posting daily is powerful—but it’s just one piece of the puzzle. To turn attention into actual leads, you need content and strategic engagement. Here’s how to supercharge your efforts: 1) Personalized connection requests Don’t just hit “connect.” Mention their business, a recent post, or shared interest. Example: "Hey [Name], I saw your post on [topic]. It resonated because [reason]. Curious—how did you get started with [topic]?" 2) Engage meaningfully Your posts get seen—but your comments build relationships. Go beyond “Great post!” Share insights or ask thoughtful questions. 3) Send LinkedIn voice notes Stand out with a 30-second voice DM. Make it personal and ask a simple question. 4) Use polls to warm up leads Polls = engagement + DM fuel. After it ends, message voters: "Hey [Name], saw you voted for [option]. What’s been your biggest challenge with that?" 5) Comment where your clients hang out Engage on influencer posts your audience follows. You’ll boost visibility and authority. 6) Message profile viewers If they checked you out, they’re curious. Send: "Hey [Name], saw you visited my profile—anything specific catch your eye?" 7) Host a short virtual event A 30-minute Q&A or workshop shows authority and creates follow-up chances. Invite 5–10 prospects. Keep it interactive. 8) Share helpful resources No sales pitch—just solve a problem. Send guides, tools, or tips that hit their pain points. 9) Use LinkedIn stories Great for quick wins and behind-the-scenes. End with: “DM me if this resonates.” 10) Follow up with the 3-5-7 Rule • 3 days → Check if they saw your message • 5 days → Send a light check-in • 7 days → Final, casual follow-up Daily posting builds visibility. Engagement turns it into conversations. Want a system that turns content into clients? DM me LEADS and let’s talk. Thanks for reading. If this helped, follow Connor Bell and share it with someone who needs to see it.

After running paid media and outbound for dozens of B2B accounts, the single biggest unlock we've found is connecting three motions most teams run in isolation: organic LinkedIn content, paid thought leader ads, and personalized outbound. Here's how the full loop works. Step 1: Organic content from your founder or executives. Your CEO or subject matter expert posts consistently on LinkedIn. Thought leadership, hot takes, customer stories. Not corporate fluff from the company page. Real, opinionated content from a real person. Everything downstream depends on it. The content is what gets promoted. The person behind it is who the retargeting and outbound comes from. Step 2: Sponsor that content as Thought Leader Ads. Take posts performing well organically and put paid behind them. TLAs promote a post from someone's personal profile. It looks native, feels organic, and outperforms traditional sponsored content in every account we've managed. Run on an Engagement objective with manual CPC bidding. We consistently see 2x to 3x cheaper costs compared to automated bidding or Reach objectives. Target at your ICP and upload your target account list as a matched audience for ABM. You're building an engaged audience that becomes the fuel for everything else. Step 3: Retarget engagers with conversational ads from the same person. People who engaged with your TLAs are warm. They recognize the person. Hit them with a Conversation Ad from that same exec's profile offering something concrete. Conversation Ads are more like text adventures than actual conversations. Effective for qualifying intent, but not where real relationship building happens. Step 4: Capture the engagement and push to outbound. This is where it becomes a true allbound system. Push TLA engagers through Clay. Push contacts into HeyReach for LinkedIn sequences or Instantly for email. A personalized connection request from the same exec whose content they've been engaging with converts at a completely different rate than cold outbound. It doesn't feel cold because it isn't. Step 5: Fill the gaps with mid-funnel content. Turn blog posts into document ads the prospect reads in-feed. Cut podcast episodes into clips and run as video view campaigns. These audiences stack into retargeting layers that make conversion campaigns cheaper and higher quality. Why this works: Most B2B companies run organic with no paid amplification, ads with no connection to outbound, or cold outbound with no warming layer. Organic feeds paid. Paid builds retargeting audiences. Retargeting warms prospects. Warm prospects convert at higher rates on outbound. Closed deals become new content. The loop restarts. We've seen accounts cut cost per lead by 30%+ within 60 days by connecting the TLA retargeting funnel to conversation ads. Adding outbound on top accelerates pipeline because you're reaching the same people through multiple channels with a unified message.

If your discovery questions are producing vague answers, it's because they deserve vague answers. "What's your biggest challenge?" gets asked in every single disco call your prospect takes. It's lazy. It forces them to defend current state instead of designing a future state. And it produces the same rehearsed, defensive bullshit they've given the last 6 vendors. I know it's natural for a rep to want to REMOVE work from a prospects plate, but you should really start asking questions that make them do the math themselves. Here's how it could look in practice: Let's say your prospect says "Reps spend too much time on data entry." Now, you could nod and move to the next question. Instead, try climbing the consequence ladder. - "How much time weekly?" 10 hours per rep.  - "What could they do with those ten hours?" Selling.  - "How many more deals would that produce monthly?" 1-2.  - "At your average deal size, what's that annually?" Prospect pauses. Does the math. Lands somewhere around $2M. You just built the business case through their own words. THEY own that number now. Good luck unseating it. The reason this works is psychological. When YOU present an ROI number, it's a sales claim. When THEY calculate it themselves, it's a fact they discovered. Career impact questions are others that consistently surfaces political dynamics nobody else uncovers: "If we implement this and it works as planned, what happens for you at your next performance review?" Suddenly you're not talking about software. You're talking about promotions, visibility, whether this person looks like a gangster to their VP. THAT'S the real buying motivation. And once you know it, you can build your entire business case around making that outcome inevitable. A few other reframes that have worked for me: 1. Instead of "Is this a priority?" ask "Where does this fall in your mental stack rank right now?" Priority is binary and easy to bullshit. Stack rank forces specificity. If they say "top 3," you're in good shape. If they hesitate or say "top 10," you've got a pipeline quality problem you just identified in real time. 2. Instead of "Who else is involved in this decision?" ask "When deals like this die internally, who typically kills them and why?" That question has saved me months of wasted cycles. Prospects will literally tell you the political landmine you're about to step on. I've had buyers say things like "Legal always pushes back on data residency" or "Our CFO hates net-new vendors right now." That's intel you'd normally discover in month 4. Now you have it in week 1. 3. Instead of "What's your timeline?" ask "What happens if this isn't solved by Q2?" Timeline questions get you a date. Consequence questions get you urgency. And urgency is what actually moves deals through procurement. The prospects who can articulate their own future state close themselves. Your job is to hand them the pen.

CEO: "Matt, how do we reach out 5,000 people?" Me: "You don't. You build a infrastructure that does." CEO: "What's that mean exactly?" Today, we are designing outreach infrastructure for our 7th Vibe GTM client, I saw the pattern. Everyone's obsessed with "personalization at scale." Meanwhile, they're drowning in spreadsheets trying to manage 47 different touchpoints. Here's the deal: 20,000 touches per month isn't a volume game. It's an infrastructure game. Most teams think they need more people. They need better systems. THE MATH: 5,000 people × 4 touches per month = 20,000 total touches But here's what kills 89% of outreach: They treat each channel like a separate universe. Email team here. LinkedIn team there. Phone calls somewhere else. Direct mail in another silo and team. Chaos multiplied by volume equals expensive failure. We built something different. THE MULTI-MODAL MACHINE: Thread 1: Email (40% of touches) → 3-email sequence per contact → Value-first, no pitch until email 3 → Triggered by engagement signals Thread 2: LinkedIn (30% of touches) → Connection request + 2 messages → Comment on their content first → Message only after engagement Thread 3: Phone (20% of touches) → Only after digital engagement → Reference their content/challenges → 90 seconds max Thread 4: Physical (10% of touches) → Handwritten notes to hot prospects → Relevant book/resource sends → Unexpected, memorable, scalable But here's the key: UNIFIED ORCHESTRATION One prospect profile. One engagement history. One conversation thread. Four synchronized channels. Every touch knows about every other touch. Every channel feeds intelligence to the others. Every interaction compounds the relationship. No rep manages more than 250 active prospects. But each prospect feels like they're your only one. THE INFRASTRUCTURE STACK: Layer 1: Data Foundation → Enriched profiles with trigger events → Engagement scoring across channels → Intent signals from multiple sources Layer 2: Content Engine → 20 value pieces ready to deploy → Personalization variables that matter → A/B tests running constantly Layer 3: Automation Rules → If opens email → trigger LinkedIn → If visits pricing → trigger call → If ghosts → switch channels Layer 4: Human Moments → Reps jump in at peak interest → Handwritten notes at key moments → Voice messages when it matters Result? 37% reply rate. 12% meeting rate. 4.2x pipeline per rep. Same team size as before. The difference? Infrastructure that compounds. Not people who burn out. Stop hiring your way to scale. Start building systems that multiply. Your reps become conductors, not robots. Your prospects get value, not spam. Your pipeline grows without the chaos. The best outreach doesn't feel like outreach. It feels like the right message finding you at the right time. That's not luck. That's infrastructure. ~~~> ⚙️ Follow Matt Savarick for systems that compound ♻️ Share if you're ready to grow

Here’s a cold email that got a positive response. Plus the psychology behind why it worked, so you can apply it with your own prospects. The Cold Email: ______ Hey Josh, I watched a few of your YouTube videos and noticed you’re using Canva for your thumbnails. The challenge with YouTube is that thumbnails make or break CTR. Low CTR → the algorithm shows it less → fewer impressions → even great videos get buried. I’ve been creating thumbnails for 6 years and would like to offer to do yours. I put together a few (attached), along with a breakdown of the psychology behind them. Pay per thumbnail, so no commitment. Even if we never talk again, hopefully this gives you some ideas that might boost clicks on your videos. James ______ Why This Works: Personal Observation → Relevance You start with something specific (“noticed you’re using Canva for your thumbnails”). This makes it feel like you’ve paid attention, not blasted a template. The reader feels seen, which lowers their defenses. 2. Problem Before Solution → Attention By highlighting the thumbnail → CTR → algorithm → impressions chain, you frame the cost of the problem before offering anything. Humans are wired to pay more attention to potential losses than gains. 3. Value Up Front → Trust Instead of telling them you could help, you’ve already done work (thumbnails + psychology breakdown). This flips the script: you’re showing, not pitching. Trust is built by giving before asking. 4. No CTA. Without a CTA, the reader feels no pressure, just curiosity. If they like the work, they’ll naturally reply. This protects autonomy, which is critical people resist pressure but lean toward curiosity. 5. Objection Diffuser → Safety By addressing “No commitment. Pay as you go,” you preempt a common hidden objection (fear of being locked in). That makes it safer for them to engage, since there’s less perceived risk.

Sales teams are sitting on the most underused follow-up asset: Their CEO's LinkedIn posts. Your CEO posts 3x/week on LinkedIn. Your sales team never references it. That's a missed opportunity. I've been writing LinkedIn content for climate tech CEOs and founders for 2.5+ years. Companies that repurpose founder content for sales enablement shorten their 6-12 month B2B sales cycles. Here's how to write LinkedIn posts your sales team can actually use in follow-ups: Tip 1: Start posts with problems your prospects are facing right now. Open with the exact challenge your ideal customer is dealing with today. Use their language, not yours. For example: "Everyone's talking about scaling from $5M to $20M, but nobody talks about what breaks when you hit $10M." When your sales team follows up, they can say: "Saw our CEO wrote about the challenges at $10M ARR. Curious if you're experiencing any of that?" Instant warm conversation starter. Tip 2: Use the borrowed credibility format to create instant relevance. The format: "I met a [prospect's role] who [achieved impressive result]. Here's what they did differently..." Example: "I met a VP of Operations who cut their energy costs by 40% in 8 months." When your sales team reaches out to similar prospects, they can say, "Our CEO just shared a story about a VP Ops in a similar situation. Thought you'd find it relevant." Tip 3: Reference internal triggers that signal buying readiness. Call out the specific moments when companies realize they need a solution. Things like: "Growing past 5-6 crews," "Drowning in service tickets," "Hitting the limits of spreadsheets." These triggers tell prospects: we know exactly where you are. When sales follows up, they can ask: "Are you hitting any of these inflection points?" It naturally qualifies the prospect. Tip 4: Include real numbers and metrics from your experience. Don't just say "we helped a client save time." Say: "We helped a $25M company reduce their reporting time from 40 hours/month to 4 hours/month." Specific numbers establish credibility and give sales concrete data points to reference. When a prospect asks "can you quantify the impact?", your sales team points to the CEO's post. Tip 5: End with niche-relevant engagement questions that filter for qualified prospects. Don't ask generic questions like "What do you think?" Ask questions that only your ideal customer can meaningfully answer. Examples: • "What's the biggest bottleneck you're hitting between $10M and $20M?" • "CFOs: how are you currently tracking sustainability metrics?" When prospects comment, they're self-identifying as qualified leads. Your sales team can follow up directly with context. — Using CEO content for sales enablement is one of the most underrated tactics in B2B. Your sales team gets warm conversation starters. Your prospects feel understood, not sold to. Your CEO's content drives pipeline. — How often do you repurpose your CEO's LinkedIn content for sales?

Where do your prospects like to be touched? Not in the creepy way. In the marketing way. Most teams mistake “touches” for impact. They blast impressions across channels, recycle the same content everywhere, and hope something sticks. That’s not strategy. That’s guessing. The reality is… your prospects are already telling you exactly where and how they want to engage. Every digital move they make leaves behind a signal: A pricing page visit that screams bottom-of-funnel interest A repeat ad click from a Director who’s clearly warming up A LinkedIn post comment where they reveal pain points in their own words A webinar signup that shows topic-level intent CRM data on accounts that suddenly light up The teams that win don’t force-feed campaigns into one channel — they align activation with those signals. So what does that look like in practice? 👉 If they’re consuming your thought-leadership posts on LinkedIn, retarget them with a case study ad instead of hammering them with a cold ebook. 👉 If they’ve visited your pricing page twice, don’t waste time showing them generic top-of-funnel ads. Hit them with a direct offer — demo, calculator, or comparison guide. 👉 If CRM shows dormant accounts are engaging again, sync LinkedIn + Google campaigns to surround them with contextually relevant messages while SDRs follow up. 👉 If multiple stakeholders from one company are poking around your content, that’s not a coincidence — it’s an account-level buying committee heating up. Saturate them with middle-of-funnel creative. This is signal-led marketing. It’s about listening before you touch. The payoff? Less wasted budget on noise More meaningful touches that actually move pipeline A cross-channel motion that compounds impact instead of scattering it That’s why we built DemandSense — to surface the right signals and trigger the right activation, whether that’s LinkedIn, Google, nurture, or retargeting. Stop guessing. Start listening. Your prospects are literally telling you how to market to them. Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

Are We Skipping Crucial Steps in the Sales Cycle? (Here’s how slowing down might actually accelerate your sales 🚀) In today’s world, it seems like everyone is focused on shortening the sales cycle—rushing from introduction to purchase at lightning speed. But with the pressure to "book that demo," "schedule that discovery call," or "convert visitors to buyers," it’s easy to overlook two critical stages in the buyer's journey: Awareness and Consideration. (Have we forgotten how our buyers actually navigate through these stages?) Let’s pause for a moment. What if instead of rushing, we helped buyers move through their journey in a more organized and supportive way? Here’s a breakdown, stage by stage: 1. Top of the Funnel (Awareness) Persona Identification: Identify the pain points and needs of each persona. Content Strategy: Focus on educational content—blogs, videos, and social media posts that inform and engage, rather than sell. Engagement Tactics: Use targeted ads and SEO to reach your personas where they’re actively seeking solutions. 2. Middle of the Funnel (Consideration) Persona Differentiation: Understand how each persona evaluates options. What are their criteria? What objections do they have? Content Strategy: Offer in-depth resources—whitepapers, case studies, webinars—that speak to their specific evaluation criteria. Engagement Tactics: Use email campaigns and remarketing to stay top of mind as they weigh their options. 3. Bottom of the Funnel (Conversion) Persona Focus: Now that they’re ready to decide, align your messaging with their final concerns—pricing, ROI, and implementation ease. Content Strategy: Deliver clear CTAs, personalized offers, and detailed product info. Offer live demos or trials to give them that final push. Engagement Tactics: Follow up promptly with tailored messaging that makes it easy for them to say "yes." Conclusion: Rushing prospects through the funnel can lead to missed opportunities and lost sales. But by understanding and guiding each persona through awareness, consideration, and conversion, we create a smoother, more effective buyer journey—one that naturally leads to conversions. ♻️ If you found this helpful, consider resharing to help others slow down for better results. Thank you!