The #1 thing to know when prospecting large accounts

(Including 3 ready-to-use templates)

Read time: 3 min

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Q: I’m a new enterprise rep. Should I focus only on the top-down approach or try the bottom-up approach?

Today, we've got Florin Tatulea to answer this, and to share the number one thing you need to know about prospecting into enterprise accounts.

LinkedIn is full of advice saying you should only go after C-level execs because they’re the decision-makers. But here’s the brutal truth: lots of these decision-makers don’t even bother responding to cold outreach.

2 real examples that show why you should rethink this approach.

He’s thrown in 3 ready-to-use templates to make it super practical. So if you’re new to enterprise prospecting or just starting an enterprise team, this mini-recipe is for you.

Florin is the Head of Sales Development at Common Room. Previously he was the director of sales at Barley and SDR leader at Plato and Loopio.

You can find him on LinkedIn, X, and in his newsletter: Prospecting from the Trenches newsletter.

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If you’ve taken my course or have been following my newsletter for long enough, you know that I talk about the importance of having different messaging for “Above vs. Below the line” personas.

Outbound Tip #3: Above vs. Below the Line

This continues to be a key to success in outbound. The main idea here is that people above and below the line care about vastly different things.

However, I recently came across one of Kevin Dorsey’s (KD) LinkedIn posts and it was one of the best posts I’ve ever seen (if you aren’t already you should follow him).

KD takes the above vs. below the line messaging to another level and it made me realize that something was missing from my explanation.

At the end of the day, you need executive buy-in to close deals.

But the challenge with executives is that they are the hardest people to outbound and book meetings with.

The only chance you have is to provide them with executive level insights and in most cases executive level insights that are relevant can only be found internally.

This is especially true the larger the account gets.

In order to engage these executives it’s important that you are hitting 3 levels of personas at an account. He calls it the 3 I’s:

1. Information

2. Insights

3. Influence

Translated to the Above vs. Below the line framework:

1. Low (Individual Contributors & Managers) - Gather Information

2. Middle (Sr. Managers / Directors) - Gather Insights

3. Above (Execs) - Influence

1. Low (Individual Contributors & Managers) - Gather Information

There are a lot of people in this category at most companies so getting a response from somebody here is usually easier.

KD uses this email template:

Hey X, I was thinking of reaching out to Y but didn’t want to waste their time… do y’all even have/do/work with _____?

I love it because it’s so simple and short. It breaks the pattern of the standard email from people.

Here’s a real example I use for this low level at Barley:

Hi {{first_name}},

I was going to reach out to {VP}, but I wanted to make sure I knew my stuff first. Most HR teams I speak to are usually doing 1-2 comp/merit review cycles per year.

I was curious how your team is currently managing those cycles. Are they still done manually in spreadsheets

Thought I should clarify. We’ve built a system that helps teams manage salary bands, reduce comp cycle time by 80% and gives data to managers to make fair but informed comp decisions in the process. 

Think this could help?

2. Middle (Sr. Managers / Directors) - Gather Insights:

KD says “This is where you can connect the dots between what you now know and some potential insights/ideas for the business.”

Here’s his template

I know y’all don’t have a routing tool in place, this could be causing x,y,x… if that sounds accurate, let’s talk

Here’s a real example I use for this middle level at Barley:

Subject Line: Spoke with Lisa

Hi James,

Understand from Lisa that you are already using some salary benchmark surveys through Radford/Pearl Meyer and have pay bands set up internally.

Most TR leaders I speak with usually have a number of systems they use to manage benchmarking, bands, comp reviews and total reward communication. Have you thought about unifying all of these data sources/workflows to get better data and save costs

Let me know if that’s worth exploring as you think through your 2024 plan.

Best,

3. High (Execs) - Influence:

This is where you can now really resonate with those hard to get executives and provide them with interesting insights that catches their attention.

Here’s his template:

Jenni, I’ve spoken with a,b,c. I know right now there is no routing tool in place which means you can’t send your best leads to the right people.

You’re getting 500 leads a month, so based on even a conservative 10% conversion lift by having more control, and sending to the reps with the highest conversions, you could potentially add $M in pipeline by making this switch.

Can I show you how easy this could be?

Final thoughts:

Does this take some time? Yes.

But this is what it takes to break into accounts right now.

This is the way.

Thanks, Florin!

Want more from Florin? Subscribe to his Prospecting from the Trenches newsletter and connect with him on LinkedIn and X.

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