Adding Value to Sales Calls with AI-Driven Lead Estimation

What would your SEM sales team be capable of doing if they had a crystal ball? Rather than talking to customers about what past clients have achieved, they would be able to predict the results of any new prospect’s campaign on the spot. What impact could that have on your organization’s bottom line?

Cold calling, warm calling, emailing, making sales and meeting monthly targets is the daily grind of salespeople – the lifeblood of any business. It’s a complex job that someone has to do and it’s not easy. It takes talent, training and tools to succeed.

Most sales tools focus on managing and organizing leads at different stages of the buyer’s funnel. They rarely help salespeople add value to their prospect’s unique situation. And when it comes to making or breaking a sale, it’s all about adding value. This article will prove that to you and unveil the latest AI addition at Acquisio that can help you add significant value when you’re selling SEM.

Survey: Prospects Speak Up About Sales Call Preferences

Getting a prospect engaged and on the phone is often the most difficult part of sales. A recent HubSpot survey reported that most people prefer not to engage with a salesperson at all during their buyer’s journey. However, 50% said they like to be called by a sales rep when they are ready to buy. But that critical moment on the phone can go in many different ways, even for ripe buyers.

For 75% of buyers the main reason they say yes to a sales person is because they have a need for their product or service. Budget is the second reason 64% of buyers say yes. Following closely, 63% of buyers said adding value is the third most important factor in whether or not they say yes to a salesperson.

There are a few ways salespeople and sales organizations can add value to their calls with prospects. It starts with a thorough understanding of the product and/or service they’re selling, combined with industry/market expertise and research into a prospect’s unique situation.

HubSpot explains:

What does “something of value” entail? …Primary research data relevant to their business was the most popular answer (69%), followed closely by descriptions of the provider’s capabilities (67%) and content 100% customized to our specific situation (67%). Reaching out to a C-level prospect? Bring your business case. A whopping 75% of them will take a call because of an ROI case (vs. 64% of directors and 59% of managers).

Assuming your sales team is already doing primary research on prospects and making a case for ROI, is there a way this dialogue could be improved?

Artificially Intelligent Lead Estimation at Acquisio

The latest addition to the Acquisio Turing™ suite of AI algorithms is a tool for sales teams that provides traffic and lead estimates as well as potential ROI calculations! Known as the Lead Estimator, the tool will predict the outcome of a prospect’s PPC campaign for your sales rep in real-time. Talk about adding serious value to sales calls!

The tool ingests unique data about a prospect’s location and services offered and combines it with market research and data to make conclusions. Sales reps selling SEM will understand instantly how many clicks and conversions a potential client would get from launching a campaign. If the sales rep is talking to a C-Level executive, the same tool would allow them to predict the ROI of the campaign as well.

Imagine you could set ROI expectations for your prospects and reassure them that SEM or PPC is a profitable marketing channel. However, not all prospects will have a profitable PPC campaign. There are a number of reasons for that, from low impression share and regional limitations to lack of budget or even an emerging product or service. Yet, your sales team may not realize that at first glance.

You may well know that the worst case scenario for a business selling SEM to SMBs is closing a sale with all the promise in the world, only to find that this new client is getting terrible results. The new lead estimator tool at Acquisio can be used to “weed-out” prospects who actually wouldn’t get great results from SEM so your sales team can focus on other opportunities that will keep your clients engaged and happy.

Wrapping it Up

Adding value to your sales calls is statistically one of the most important things reps can do to close more leads. There are a few ways to do that, one is by being able to speak to a prospect’s unique situation and being able to discuss ROI. For a demo of how Acquisio’s latest AI algorithm can help your team close more sales, get in touch with our sales team.

Image Credits

Feature Image: Unsplash/Arthur Ogleznev

Image 1: Screenshot by author. Taken August 2018 from Acquisio.