What Is Sales?

Sales is Problem Solving at its core. 

Good salespeople approach others because they believe their solution is what the potential client is looking for. If it is indeed, then a good relationship is made that benefits both parties. 

This mutual benefit is what drew me into sales. If I understand my product and the problems well, then I can seek people who need my help. A shame that our general impression of salespeople says otherwise! And as part of my whimsical nature, I figured researching problems and leads might work well for me. 

From the Buyer’s Perspective

Before we get into how Sales teams work, why don’t we think about how the Buying Process looks like? In one way or another, most of us are familiar with it. 

The Buyer’s Journey can be divided into three steps: 

1. Awareness of a Problem. Knowing that something could be better is the start. This can be anything from noting you’re spending too much on the electrical bill to feeling hungry and needing to buy lunch. You should also know that you can very well make it better. Maybe you want to switch appliances or stop by your favorite restaurant close to home. 

2. Consideration. At this step, you are weighing your options. You already know the problem can be solved. But how will you do it? What are the pros and cons of each choice? Is there another option you haven’t considered? Continuing the example from above: Which energy efficient dishwasher is right for me? Which meal should I have for lunch? 

3. Decision. You have narrowed down and solidified your list of solutions. At most, you have to clear through any doubts that stick in your mind. 

And though The Buyer’s Journey may be finished, there is still more afterwards. Some products and services are long term. That’s what Customer Success teams are for. Of course, the same company may also bring up another one of their products to you too. 

Into the Seller’s Shoes

Now, what does Sales look like from the Seller’s point of view? The Sales Team members of a business still follow the buyers throughout their journeys.

Let me demonstrate for you how a sequence might work. I chose to work with a product that I use daily: Toast POS Systems.

Toast specializes in Point of Sales Systems for restaurants specifically. They offer different hardware solutions. This varies from stationary POS to handhelds to even Kitchen Display Screens. Toast users can also apply software add-ons or integrations for an experience that will suit them better. The Toast team is familiar with running restaurants, so their mission is to streamline the process. 

Leads

With our company and product now decided, it is time to find those who could use a new and improved POS.

When searching for leads, Know your audience. Like how it is not wise or helpful to send out applications blindly, it is not wise to reach out to people blindly. For success in sales, research is required. Who are we selling to? What kind of companies are they a part of? What is their role? This requires looking into past customers. 

What businesses would benefit most from Toast? According to the testimonies that Toast put on their website, they would typically be… 

• Small Restaurants, especially new (11-50 members)

• Medium Sized Restaurants (51-200)

• Fast-Casual

• Food Trucks

• Bars 

• Bakeries

• Cafes 

And who in those businesses do I reach out to?

• Owners

• General Managers

• Operations Managers

With an idea of who to search for, I began my search for leads. Since LinkedIn was not a viable option to my current account, I opted to search through hunter.io. Nonetheless, I still made use of LeadIQ to search for the rest of the information. Afterall, hunter.io provided a name and an email domain. Plug that information into LeadIQ, and it will fill in the blanks for you. 

I thus transcribed the information and put it all into the sheet below. The email addresses highlighted mean that those are LeadIQ’s best guesses, and they have not been confirmed.  (Contact Information and Last Names Blurred Out for Privacy.)

I was not as efficient as I could have been during the process. Rather than sweating the details about whether this specifics of each lead as I go, it is better to cast a bigger net. Then I can sort out the potential leads. 

What I mean is this: Rather than be worried if a fancy restaurant is in need of a POS system, you should ask: If they happen to, do you have their contact information here? Do you have a specific lead from this restaurant in the first place? If not, move on. Spend your energy on those that you might be able to help. 

The Sequence Itself

Sequence: The Plan of Approach

Depending on your audience and your product, your sales sequence will vary. Some sequences are designed for people who have never heard of your product. Others are encouraging them to get a paid product or service in addition to a free one. (One I am all too familiar with on the buyer’s end.) Yet other approaches are for reaching out to those who have put looking into your product aside or have chosen a competitor instead. 

How then, was my sequence structured?

The mission was to approach leads with 7-10 touch points over 21 days. 

Taking a bit of inspiration from different suggested sequences, I opted for a general sequence that can provide value. This was because I had not found any information about these businesses' POS systems. Besides, these different leads vary in terms of their positions. Some restaurants who really benefited from Toast have been running for a long time on a small team and were improved by Toast. Others had just started and grew massively with Toast.

Therefore, I primarily focused on Emails. There were other touch points scheduled, such as cold calls and LinkedIn interactions. But for now, I will present to you the cold emails. 

Emails.

When writing the different cold emails for the 21 day campaign, I leaned into Toast POS background and existing resources when writing up the emails. Toast offers an impressive amount of free content in their blogs! Not to mention, Toast had already produced and collected content that would work well for an email campaign. 

What is in the campaign I wrote? Here’s a summary of the content in the sequence. The only thing that Toast didn’t prepare was a full survey. (There was, however, a bit of a survey on their comparison sheet download page.)

• Survey on POS Systems

• Comparison Spreadsheet to fill out

• Toast Blogs

• Video Demos

• 3rd Party Rankings

• Customer Testimonials 

Most of the emails offer a call or a meeting as the CTA. Though they are the same kind of CTA, I do adjust it according to the rest of the email.

Below is an example email. It is the fifth email in the sequence.

Here are my thoughts that went into each email. You can read the original email drafts here. 

Email 1: More likely than not, if I am looking for existing restaurants, they likely have some kind of POS system in place. So in turn, I offered a quick survey after giving good wishes for the work our leads’ teams do. This would help give us a better idea of who out of our leads would be more interested.

Email 2: Follow Up + Downloadable Comparison Tool

This was just a simple follow up to the first email. This time however, there’s a downloadable POS tool. This free tool can help whether the lead had filled the previous survey or not. 

Email 3: Helpful Blogs from Toast

Here was more of a light and general email. There wasn’t a strong call to action here, just an encouragement to read through blog posts on toast.com. 

Email 4: Video Demo– One feature

The demo here is simply how adding items works on Toast to demonstrate its simplicity. In a way, the CTA expands on the demos by offering to explore any feature during a scheduled 30 minute demo. 

Email 5: Toast Rankings

In order to build credibility, this email contains external links to show Toast’s successes. I used this credit as leverage and encouraged the receivers to learn more. 

Email 6: Video Testimony

This testimony features a video of a successful customer. After the video itself, the email gives a light recap of it. It finally transitions into a CTA of “We can help you too”. 

Email 7: Video Demo and CTA: Meeting 

The video demo here is meant to give that last push for setting up a meeting. In this case, the demo shows off a powerful add-on. 

Email 8: Close for No Response 

This email, in a way, can be set up for a reinvigorating sequence. It is a gentle close that is still open for the lead should they change their mind.

Final Thoughts

In all honesty, there was something of a curve in learning sales. Though the ideas made sense to me, it was a matter of getting used to the different tools and building something of my own. I definitely would need more practice. But I feel as if there’s potential for me in sales.

Were I to start again, here’s what I would keep in mind:

• First Principles:

• Always think of ways you can provide value. Some methods are free. Others are paid. But offer them up. 

• With timelines in mind, be sure to lean into each step the potential clients take. 

• To Keep the Same:

• Make use of the resources you do have. Tap into the resources that showcase your solution’s results. If you find a great formula for writing emails, use it!

• If one tool doesn’t work, use another or use multiple. It may not be as easy as it seemed, but it will net great results.

• Feel free to use both templates and customize them. Writing the emails does not have to be one or another. As long as it gets the message across in a fitting manner, it will work. 

• To Change:

• Know your solution as well as you can, and lean into it. What makes it special? What makes it better than its rival solutions?

• Try focusing on a specific subgroup of leads. What particular struggles do they have in their group? (e.g., food trucks and space, bars and POS resistance to liquid damage, etc.) See what you can do for them. 

Of course, the only way to get better at sales is to practice. I’ll have to try this again and see how much I can provide for both a company and its potential clients. 

If you have an idea of where I can put my budding sales and writing skills to good use, feel free to reach out to me at the link below.