Latest / What is Business Development? / Episode 66: BD-BOK...Chapter 11 The Three Methods of Prospecting

Transcript

Episode 66: BD-BOK...Chapter 11 The Three Methods of Prospecting · What is Business Development?

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep dive. Today. We're diving deep into
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  Speaker 1: something absolutely fundamental for business growth prospecting. If you're in
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  Speaker 1: business development, you know this feeling. It's not always closing
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  Speaker 1: the deal that's hardest.
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  Speaker 2: No, often it's just starting the conversation, Isn't it getting
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  Speaker 2: that foot in the door.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly? It's that first step, that moment which kind of
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  Speaker 1: sets the stage for everything else. And we actually have
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  Speaker 1: some pretty stark data on this. Of Engrosso study found
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  Speaker 1: that a massive sixty nine percent of corporations globally say
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  Speaker 1: getting that first conversation is their single toughest activity.
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  Speaker 2: Sixty nine percent. That's well, it's a huge number and
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  Speaker 2: it really highlights the core problem we're tackling today.
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  Speaker 1: It really does. It's this bottleneck that just you know,
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  Speaker 1: strangles sales pipelines everywhere.
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  Speaker 2: And that figure, that's sixty nine percent, that's our jumping
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  Speaker 2: off point. It shows the pressure BDRs are under to
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  Speaker 2: find ways that are efficient, scalable, and crucially effective at
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  Speaker 2: breaking through. So our mission today is to give you
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  Speaker 2: the listener a bit of a shortcut. We're going to
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  Speaker 2: dissect the three main stream strategies active, passive and hybrid prospecting.
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  Speaker 1: We want you to walk away understanding the mechanics, the
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  Speaker 1: trade offs, and the key data behind each one.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you can figure out how to maximize your
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  Speaker 2: conversion pace, your probability of success without you know, wasting
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  Speaker 2: effort on the wrong approach for a particular lead.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, let's unpack this. Let's start with the method that
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  Speaker 1: really tries to tackle that sixty nine percent head on
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  Speaker 1: with force and precision.
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  Speaker 2: Active prospecting your traditional outbound, high touch approach.
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  Speaker 1: Right, it's designed specifically to speed up converting those really
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  Speaker 1: high quality, high value leads. But there's an immediate trade off,
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  Speaker 1: isn't there.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. It almost always demands the biggest chunk of your
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  Speaker 2: resources time, money, people.
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  Speaker 1: So let's not practicalities. How does a team actually justify
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  Speaker 1: spending all those resources when you know the conversion might
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  Speaker 1: be way down the line or maybe never even happen.
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  Speaker 2: That's the million dollar question. Really, you justify because active
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  Speaker 2: prospecting isn't just like sending out feelers. It's about actively
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  Speaker 2: taking control and gaining a competitive advantage. Those resources are
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  Speaker 2: aimed at specific activities that put you in a stronger
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  Speaker 2: position later on during the actual conversion phase. So first off,
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  Speaker 2: you're creating highly tailored content. We're not talking templates here.
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  Speaker 2: This is content customized based on deep research into that
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  Speaker 2: specific prospect's.
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  Speaker 1: Needs, really personalized exactly.
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  Speaker 2: And then there's something really powerful, requirements shaping. This is
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  Speaker 2: where you educate the prospect on your unique features so
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  Speaker 2: well that those features basically become requirements in their mind
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  Speaker 2: or even in their formal RFP. You're essentially defining the
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  Speaker 2: problem so that your solution looks like the perfect maybe
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  Speaker 2: even the only fit.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, so you're not just selling, you're kind of
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  Speaker 1: defining the game itself precisely.
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  Speaker 2: And that direct hands on engagement gives you another crucial edge,
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  Speaker 2: an information advantage. You gather intel that passive methods just
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  Speaker 2: can't capture, like real competitive data. Who are they really
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  Speaker 2: taught talking to? Which competitor names are actually serious contenders?
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  Speaker 2: What's their angle?
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  Speaker 1: That's gold dust later on when you're crafting a proposal.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely critical.
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  Speaker 1: So, given all that effort, the shaping, the intel gathering,
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  Speaker 1: is there one piece of data that really seals the
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  Speaker 1: deal for active prospecting, assuming you have the resources?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? I think the Sales Benchmark Index SBI has the
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  Speaker 2: clearest number on this. Their research found that active prospecting
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  Speaker 2: gives you a fifty six percent better chance of hitting
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  Speaker 2: your sales goals compared to just relying on passive methods.
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  Speaker 1: Fifty six percent, it really is.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the payoff for the investment. And there's another
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  Speaker 2: benefit that constant contact creates, this vital marketing feedback loop.
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  Speaker 2: You get immediate feedback on what awareness content actually worked,
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  Speaker 2: what pain points are resonating right now.
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  Speaker 1: So you can adapt much faster, much faster. Okayf the
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  Speaker 1: effectiveness of active is clear. Now, let's swing to the
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  Speaker 1: other end. Passive prospecting your demand gen your inbound sometimes called.
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  Speaker 2: Tech touch, right, the complete opposite philosop really.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and so driving the conversation, you're more monitoring things, right,
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  Speaker 1: relying on intent signals, lead scores exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Passive really leans into this idea of the self service
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  Speaker 2: customer journey. You see this a lot now. Buyers doing
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  Speaker 2: their own research consuming your content.
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  Speaker 1: Online sometimes called DIY or D two C.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, exactly. They browse, they download, they compare, all
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  Speaker 2: on their own timeline until they decide they're ready to talk.
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  Speaker 2: And the whole process of providing that content for them
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  Speaker 2: that's often called buyer.
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  Speaker 1: Enablement, and how do you manage that without talking to them?
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  Speaker 2: Primarily through lead scoring. It's basically an algorithm that tracks
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  Speaker 2: behavior website visits, downloads, pricing, page views, and assigns of
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  Speaker 2: score based on how ready they seem.
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  Speaker 1: So when they hit a certain number, bingo, an.
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  Speaker 2: Alert goes off, maybe flags them for sales. The huge
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  Speaker 2: advantage here is resource efficiency. I mean, sometimes this whole
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  Speaker 2: monitoring process can be almost completely automated.
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  Speaker 1: And it's not just us pushing efficiency onto buyers. They
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  Speaker 1: seem to want this too sometimes.
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  Speaker 2: Oh definitely. The data back that up. A McKinsey study
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  Speaker 2: found nearly thirty four percent of customers actually prefer self service,
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  Speaker 2: especially early in the buying journey.
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  Speaker 1: Thirty four percent, so about a third of year prospects
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  Speaker 1: might actually prefer you don't call them right away exactly.
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  Speaker 2: They want to explore on their own terms first.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so this lays out the big conflict, doesn't it.
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  Speaker 1: Active is super effective that fifty six percent boost, but
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  Speaker 1: it's expensive. Passive is way more efficient. Caters to that
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  Speaker 1: thirty four percent who wants self service, but you lose control.
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  Speaker 1: That seems like a massive headache. For a BDR, how
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  Speaker 1: do you decide who gets the expensive high touch treatment
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  Speaker 1: and who gets well left to their own devices.
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  Speaker 2: And that tension. That's where good strategy really comes into play,
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  Speaker 2: because while passive looks more efficient on paper, the data
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  Speaker 2: heavily heavily favors having a human involved when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to building long term value creating advocates interesting, we know
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  Speaker 2: that seventy one percent of prospects actually want to hear
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  Speaker 2: from sellers early on. They might browse alone first, but
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  Speaker 2: they value guys. They don't want to be completely lost
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  Speaker 2: at sea with just content.
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  Speaker 1: Seventy one percent one contact, but thirty four percent prefers
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  Speaker 1: self service. So relying only on passive means you're potentially
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  Speaker 1: leaving the majority wanting just for efficiency's sake.
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  Speaker 2: That's a really sharp way to put it, and the
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  Speaker 2: long term payoff for engaging actively it's huge. HubSpot research
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  Speaker 2: found that customers who actually talk to a person during
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  Speaker 2: the sale are fifty eight percent more likely to become
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  Speaker 2: repeat customers, and maybe even more importantly, they're fifty one
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  Speaker 2: percent more likely to spread positive word of mouth.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, So that initial human touch really tas off down
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  Speaker 1: the line.
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  Speaker 2: What's fascinating here is Yeah, the data is crystal clear.
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  Speaker 2: Short term efficiency doesn't always equal long term loyalty or advocacy.
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  Speaker 2: That upfront resource cost for active it can generate returns
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  Speaker 2: long after the first deal is closed.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So this conflict efficiency versus that human connection value,
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  Speaker 1: it almost forces us towards a middle ground, doesn't it.
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  Speaker 1: The solution isn't purely active.
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  Speaker 2: Or passive exactly, which brings us to the real potential
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  Speaker 2: game changer. Hybrid prospecting sometimes called low.
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  Speaker 1: Touch marketing hybrid, so mixing the two pretty much.
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  Speaker 2: It's about being strategic with your resources based on data.
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  Speaker 2: The core idea is you reserve that resource heavy active
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  Speaker 2: prospecting only for leads that cross a certain high threshold
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  Speaker 2: on their lead score.
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  Speaker 1: Your absolute top tier highest probability prospects.
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  Speaker 2: Correct, those are the ones who get the full personalized.
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  Speaker 1: Active treatment, and everyone else below that score.
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  Speaker 2: They stay on the self managed passive track. You keep
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  Speaker 2: monitoring them using buyer enablement principles, maybe automated nurturing, but
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  Speaker 2: you only engage actively if their score jumps up significantly
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  Speaker 2: or crucially if they reach out first.
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  Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense, especially with buyers doing
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  Speaker 1: more research independently.
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  Speaker 2: It aligns perfectly. There's another McKenzie study, this one from
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, showing that prospects are increasingly navigating almost
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  Speaker 2: the entire activation phase the research, the consideration before they
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  Speaker 2: even want to talk to a company rep respects that reality.
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  Speaker 1: The big win here seems to be flexibility. Then, adjusting
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  Speaker 1: resources based on real time signals huge flexibility.
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  Speaker 2: You're not locked in. You can avoid overinvesting in a
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  Speaker 2: lead that suddenly goes cold, or just as importantly, you
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  Speaker 2: avoid underinvesting in one that suddenly heats.
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  Speaker 1: Up, so you can shift them back and forth exactly.
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  Speaker 2: You can manage these shifts dynamically. A proactive to passive move.
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  Speaker 2: High scoring leads timeline slips or they go quiet. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: shift them back to passive nurturing save those expensive resources right.
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  Speaker 2: Or the opposite, a passive to proactive shift. A lower
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  Speaker 2: scoring lead suddenly downloads a Q white paper, requests a
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  Speaker 2: demo boom, Their score jumps, and you immediately elevate them
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  Speaker 2: to active high touch pursuit.
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  Speaker 1: Here's where it gets really interesting, though, because hybrid isn't
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  Speaker 1: just about switching lanes one after the other, is it?
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  Speaker 1: The source material mentioned more advanced ways to blend these paths.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, that's where it gets quite sophisticated. There are two
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  Speaker 2: main advanced models for blending. First is the serial.
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  Speaker 1: Path blends, meaning one after the other. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Sequential prospects move between active and passive stages based on
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  Speaker 2: hitting specific milestones or triggers. Like they hit score X,
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  Speaker 2: get an active outreach call no response, they automatically drop
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  Speaker 2: back into a passive nurture sequence until maybe they hit
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  Speaker 2: score Y or take another action. It's very controlled, focused
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  Speaker 2: on conserving resources at each step.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, that sounds logical. What's the other one?
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  Speaker 2: Parallel the parallel path blend, and yes, this one is
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  Speaker 2: definitely more demanding to manage.
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  Speaker 1: How that work here?
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  Speaker 2: A prospect might receive both types of engagement at the
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  Speaker 2: same time, so they might get a personalized proactive call
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  Speaker 2: from a BDR uh huh, while also receiving automated passive
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  Speaker 2: nurturing emails or targeted content ads. The idea is relentless
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  Speaker 2: multi channel engagement. You're trying to get that fifty six
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  Speaker 2: percent active boost and cater to the thirty four percent
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  Speaker 2: self service preference simultaneously.
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  Speaker 1: Rail basis trying.
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  Speaker 2: To yes, It aims for the highest possible efficiency and
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  Speaker 2: the highest impact together, and.
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  Speaker 1: This feels like a big butt. The complexity must be
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  Speaker 1: huge managing both tracks simultaneously for potentially thousands of leads.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's the catch. While hybrid, especially parallel hybrid, offers
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  Speaker 2: the biggest potential payoff in theory, it comes with a
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  Speaker 2: massive operational requirement discipline. It demands the most rigorous, disciplined
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  Speaker 2: monitoring and management of your resources. You need systems and
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  Speaker 2: processes to track scores constantly, interpret signals accurately, and shift
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  Speaker 2: resources immediately.
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  Speaker 1: And if you don't have that discipline, then the whole.
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  Speaker 2: Thing can fall apart. You end up spending more effort
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  Speaker 2: just trying to manage the complexity then you gain inefficiency
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  Speaker 2: or effectiveness. It requires real operational rigor.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so we've covered a lot of ground, active, passive,
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  Speaker 1: the stats, the hybrid complexity. Let's boil it down. What
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  Speaker 1: does this all mean for you, the business developer listening
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  Speaker 1: right now trying to hit your numbers efficiently.
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  Speaker 2: I think there are three really critical takeaways from all
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  Speaker 2: this data. First, prioritize the conversation. Never forget that ven
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  Speaker 2: Grosso number sixty nine percent find getting that first conversation
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  Speaker 2: the hardest part.
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  Speaker 1: Everything needs to serve that goal.
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  Speaker 2: Everything, every strategy, every tactic, every piece of tech should
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  Speaker 2: ultimately be judged on whether it helps break that specific
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  Speaker 2: barrier and start a meaningful dialogue. If it doesn't, it's probably.
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  Speaker 1: Noise makes sense. Takeaway number two.
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  Speaker 2: Number two, recognize the loyalty multiplayer active prospecting is expensive, yes,
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  Speaker 2: but don't be afraid to use it strategically where it counts,
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  Speaker 2: because the long term payoff is real.
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  Speaker 1: That HubSpot data exactly.
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  Speaker 2: That fifty eight percent increase and repeat business from human
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  Speaker 2: interaction justifies targeted investment. Use that high touch approach not
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  Speaker 2: just to close a deal, but to build long term advocates.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, and the third takeaway.
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  Speaker 2: Third, the hybrid imperative demands discipline. Hybrid isn't magic, it's managed.
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  Speaker 2: It lets you target that fifty six percent attainment boost
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  Speaker 2: from SBI on your best leads while still efficiently serving
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  Speaker 2: the thirty four percent McKinsey, who.
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  Speaker 1: Prefers self service if you manage it well.
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  Speaker 2: If you manage it with absolute discipline. It's about active management,
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  Speaker 2: not just having two systems running side by side.
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  Speaker 1: Which really brings us full circle back to that core
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  Speaker 1: challenge of resource management. We've seen active works but costs,
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  Speaker 1: passive saves but relinquishes control, and hybrid offers the best
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  Speaker 1: theoretical blend, but only with flawless execution. So the final
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  Speaker 1: question for any BDR or sales leader listening isn't just
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  Speaker 1: active or passive. It's something deeper, isn't it?
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  Speaker 2: I think it is. It boils down to this, are
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  Speaker 2: you truly ready organizationally and operationally to actively manage a
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  Speaker 2: hybrid prospecting strategy?
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  Speaker 1: Because passively having a hybrid system isn't the same thing,
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  Speaker 1: not at all.
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  Speaker 2: If you're not managing it actively with discipline, you're likely
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  Speaker 2: just wasting resources in a more complicated way. The efficiency
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  Speaker 2: and impact only come when the management is rigorous and intentional.
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  Speaker 1: A really powerful challenge to end on. Well, thank you
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  Speaker 1: for joining us on this deep dive into the nuances
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  Speaker 1: of prospecting. We hope breaking down these strategies and the
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  Speaker 1: data behind them helps you refine your approach.
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  Speaker 2: Hope it helps you maximize those conversions and use your
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  Speaker 2: valuable time effectively.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, thanks for listening, and we'll catch you on the
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  Speaker 1: next dptive.