Sales trigger events and prospecting: Gain 5x more leads

Howdy partner.

Out here in the prospecting Wild West it’s those who are quick on the draw who make all the killer deals.

We’re about to show you how you can always have your finger on the trigger and bag five times as many leads when you do so.

But first, I must explain to you exactly what a sales trigger event is – because we don’t want you going off all half-cocked now, do we?

What is a sales trigger event?

A sales trigger event is any situation that will make your prospect more receptive to your solution. And it’s usually those who are first on the scene who will secure the deal.

Let’s lay down exactly what trigger event selling is, and then we’ll show you what triggers to look out for and how to find them.

Trigger event selling

Every salesperson worth their salt already knows about the importance of timing.

You know: the right product, for the right person, in the right place, at the right time. And I’m sure you also know this old chestnut: “Now just isn’t a good time for us”?

The sad truth is, try as we might, it’s nigh on impossible for us to manufacture a need, and that is why trigger event selling is so useful. It allows you to find that need as soon as it emerges, so you can approach a prospect exactly when the conditions are ripe for a sale.

What are these conditions?

I’ll start off the list and you can add to it, bearing in mind that some sectors have trigger events that are pretty unique to them.

Here’s your first three:

A new face in a key decision-making role
An old friend moving to a new company
A company expanding into new markets

All of the above could be favourable to you: but you’ll need to act fast to catch the ‘window of dissatisfaction’.

The three buyer’s modes

Don’t worry if we lost you there.

Here’s Craig Elias, the founding father of all things trigger, to explain what this ‘window of dissatisfaction’ is.

He breaks the buyer’s journey down into three different modes.

Most buyers are in a mode of ‘Status Quo’.

They may not be 100% happy with the way things are but they are also not shopping around for alternatives.

However, when that buyer does feel uncomfortable with the way things are, usually due to a shift in circumstances, they enter into the more active mode of ‘Searching for Alternatives’. They are now looking for solutions – usually by approaching a number of companies.

Between these two modes is your window. Here the buyer is interested but hasn’t already practically made up their mind.

This is called the ‘Window of Dissatisfaction’. It is this window that trigger event selling allows you to gain a clear view of.

And by monitoring different social media channels and news outlets for changes in circumstances you can always have your finger on the trigger.

How to monitor for trigger events

Here’s how you find those trigger events as they happen.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts allows you to receive the latest press releases, company news, management changes and projects by email.

LinkedIn posts and updates allow you to monitor things on a company=y level and an individual contact level.

CRM

Your CRM when cleansed can flag up when a contact has moved on or been promoted.

Social monitoring services or platforms allow you to monitor for interest in areas relevant to your business. This allows you to monitor for specific trigger events at scale and engage with prospects directly.

Hold your horses: do you have any results to back all this up?

The usual mantra and metric quoted by adherents is this: “First in wins five times more often”.

Forrester Research pretty much backed this up: they found that reaching out to appropriately motivated decision makers before your competition does will increase your odds of making the sale by up to 74%.

So, is your finger on the trigger?