7 Creative Sales Openers Using Personalization

Every closed deal starts with successful sales openers.

For a prospect, the sales experience starts much earlier than the initial meeting. BDRs and SDRs are often the first people to interact with potential customers.

However, buyer expectations are rising for salespeople trying to start conversations today.

When a cold intro is irrelevant or unproductive, reps risk losing the chance for a conversation. Even if a discussion does happen, a shaky introduction into the sales process can reduce the odds of an attended meeting or a closed deal.

To build buyer confidence in attending the first meeting, it’s important to create a compelling first impression and motivate prospects to engage in further interactions.

Here are 7 creative ways to use sales personalization in an opening line to start better conversations and create a more engaging sales experience.

1) Highlight Recent Accomplishments

Prospects are professionals, each with their own achievements and career aspirations.

People tend to enjoy talking about their accomplishments, so including this information in an opening line can help start more engaging conversations.

Personalization about a specific person can be a powerful way to build rapport and develop trust in an introductory conversation.

For example, a recent promotion, industry award, or new job are all noteworthy personal events that can begin the chat on a positive note.

By highlighting professional accomplishments, reps can keep interactions focused on the prospect and clearly show their preparedness.

2) Sales Openers & Sharing Competitive Intelligence

Salespeople often get a reputation for being irrelevant or unhelpful in cold outreach.

Today’s prospects are overwhelmed with sales touches, so they often prioritize their time on conversations that seem most valuable for them.

Actionable information about a direct or indirect competitor can help reps generate instant value for the prospect and create curiosity in an opening line.

There are a variety of ways to find relevant information about a prospect’s competitors without the need to be a secret spy:

• Social Media Conversations
• Recent News or Press Releases
• Product/Service Review Sites
• Comparing Market Positioning

Since competitors are usually something on a prospect’s radar, sharing this intel in a cold intro can be a compelling way to develop trust and incentivize a conversation.

3) Sales Openers Referencing Social

Social media is widely adopted among both consumers and professionals.

Digital platforms like LinkedIn have unlocked a new era of networking and personal branding for salespeople. Employees are browsing, interacting, and promoting themselves alongside their employers.

Endless posts, comments, and interactions on social platforms provide salespeople with a lot of intelligence they can use to start relevant conversations.

When someone at a target account creates a post or engages, this info can be used as personalization to provide context for an initial conversation.

One example might be a prospect getting tagged by a team member in an interesting post. Another could be gathering intel on social about a specific pain point to use in the opening line.

Information on social can be compelling personalization in a cold intro, helping to build rapport by showing that a rep is engaged in the prospect’s world.

4) Note a Prospect’s Recent Event or Podcast

Digital content is emerging as a huge part of professional life for training, personal branding, professional development, and networking.

Decision-makers commonly collaborate on content, either internally with their team or externally as a guest. Some professionals even manage their own podcasting or events.

By highlighting a recent digital event as personalization, reps can show appreciation for the prospect’s contribution to the content and use it as context for a conversation.

Even if a prospect doesn’t produce digital content, attending the same event or networking session can provide a rep with a shared experience to use in their introduction.

5) Mention New Team Members in the Opener

Teams and departments evolve over time.

Similar to when a buyer decides to purchase from a vendor, it’s usually a significant event when companies decide to grow their organization with new people.

Personnel changes provide important context about a team’s capabilities, limitations, needs, and capacity. Reps can use this information to their advantage when starting a conversation.

For example, a series of new sales hires often indicates a company is focused on generating more revenue. A leadership hire might indicate the company’s desire to reach a new level.

Not only does hiring behavior provide valuable intel on a target account, but it can also be used as personalization in a sales opener to show knowledge about a prospect’s world.

6) Sales Openers with Emerging Market News

Prospects crave valuable interactions with salespeople.

To stay relevant and grow trust with prospects, sales reps need to find a way to add value.

One easy way to add value in a conversation with a prospect is by sharing new information about their market environment.

Changes in industry best practices, major news events, or shifting market behaviors can all provide reps with personalization that provides immediate value in the opening line.

Even if a prospect isn’t in-market, being helpful in an opener builds rapport and can help reps plant the seeds for a future conversation.

7) Opening Lines Based on Software Usage

Technology is embedded in today’s professional world. Many teams depend on a suite of different software tools to help them work faster, smarter, and more efficiently.

Software usage can offer a lot of valuable information about a company’s current situation or the problems that prospects are trying to solve.

Technographic data can provide sales teams with visibility into a company’s budget and also be used as personalization to help reps start more relevant conversations.

Tools like SalesEngine.ai can provide real-time information on technologies used for a list of websites to make it easier for reps to access this intelligence.

Conclusion

It’s hard to start new sales conversations today.

Buyers are overwhelmed by salespeople and demand better sales experiences, all the way from an initial conversation and meeting to a closed deal.

With so much noise, it’s often difficult for BDRs and SDRs to consistently capture attention and convert conversations into meetings.

By using these 7 personalized sales openers, reps can generate better initial conversations and provide a more engaging sales experience to target prospects.