Reply Blog on allbound sales automation

The robots are taking over.

You can’t read the news without seeing some article about how automation is going to destroy the workforce or AI is going to soon realise it doesn’t need us anymore.

Whether you think advances in automation are fantastic news or the beginning of the end, there’s no denying they’re having a real effect on businesses today. What do these developments mean for businesses like yours? How can you take full advantage, whether you’re a new business or a well-established company?

Every company would love to have more inbound sales.

They represent a steady stream of prospects coming directly to you, signing up and entering your sales funnel, all with the goal of them ultimately becoming loyal, happy customers.

Beyond just sales, they are also a good indicator of a company’s performance and serve as an effective forecast for the health of your business. By checking on the inbound leads coming in, you get a picture of how many deals you can expect to close, what companies you’re attracting, and the revenue you can expect to make in any given month.

But how can you make the most of those leads? I’m going to share with you some of the inbound sales strategies that bring in over 1,000 inbound leads every month to Reply, along with the mistakes you need to avoid.

At Reply.io, we take your security and privacy seriously.

To comply with the upcoming GDPR, we’re committed to ensuring that we and our customers adjust to the scope of the changes by being transparent about our practices and how we protect data and privacy.

To improve security safeguards and support needed processes, we have already implemented (or will complete implementation by May 25, 2018) multiple changes to our services.

If you are a Software-as-A-Service company, no matter what industry you are in, there is a good chance you have an affiliate program.

And in most cases when your affiliate program is starting out, you are very reactive with it, letting affiliates signup on their own if they are interested.

This is fine and dandy until you meet a crossroad where your affiliate program has the potential to be a channel of growth for your company and bring in quality customers through qualified affiliate partners.

But how do you successfully pitch these qualified affiliate partners?

Have sales left you feeling overwhelmed and burned out?

It used to seem so simple. Now there are hundreds of millions of potential clients, along with millions of competitors vying for their attention.

The world of sales is moving faster than anyone can keep track of, leaving only one thing for certain: If you’re using the same methods and tools you were using a few years ago, you’re going to be left behind.

If you’ve spent any time with us at Reply, you’ll know we’re big fans of automation. We’re constantly looking for ways to take care of all the boring or repetitive tasks in sales and marketing, so you can focus on what matters most.

New sales automation tools are released every day, which is another challenge. Some of those apps will make your life easier, while others will waste your time and money.

How are you meant to keep up with it all? We have a solution.

At Reply, we aspire to work and live at our maximum potential. From brainstorming ideas on new product features to building the team and keeping ourselves motivated – we believe there are no limits in what we can do.

So, why should you limit yourself to a single option for getting leads for your email outreach campaigns?

That’s why we’ve created the Reply Data marketplace – one place where one can find various lead generation and data enrichment options, available within your Reply accounts.

You’ve been waiting for it for so long.

We’ve been working on it for three months, spent over 5,500 man hours (just think of this number!) on its development, testing, fixing and polishing.

And now it is here – the long-awaited Reply Team Edition functionality is available for all subscription types at no additional cost.

Team Edition Overview

The feature is designed to get your team to act together in Reply and effectively collaborate on the outreach / communication process steps: campaigns, prospects lists, schedules, email templates, campaign templates, and manage overall access and visibility.

Team owners gain simple tools to manage the workload and responsibilities within teams, assign prospects and campaigns, manage team members, etc.

And last but not least, with Team Edition functionality you’re able to perform account-based selling and collaborate on prospect and company levels for better outreach.

You’re ready to take your business to the next level and you know exactly what you need; the latest cold email software. It looks great, ticks all your boxes, and has the potential to skyrocket your sales faster than Elon Musk with a Tesla.

With great anticipation, you hand over your hard earned money, and then… it all fizzles out.

You can’t find your leads, trying to access the emails crashes the system and your sales team have nothing but complaints. You’re in a worse position than ever before while paying for the privilege of useless software. If you’ve never been through a software switch that hasn’t ended in literal tears, you’re one of the fortunate few.

However, if you’re like most of us, you have the first-hand experience of just how painful switching software can be.

Setting up a cold email solution with follow ups sent automatically can be a huge benefit to your business, but if you’re worried about making the switch then check out our handy guide.

Spring is almost here and it’s another great opportunity to re-engage and connect with your customers. This new season is not relevant only for shoe and clothing brands, as many people think. Every niche can use effective spring email campaigns to increase sales.

In this article, I’ll help you find inspiring ideas for this season’s email campaigns and explain how to implement them. Just follow popular spring themes and use your creativity.

So let’s start!

Cupid has sharpened his arrows and Valentine’s Day is here! Whether you’re looking forward to a candlelit dinner for two or you’re spending February 14th with a microwave meal for one, online salespeople can learn a lot from the dating game. Check out these 9 Reply dating rules to romance your next sales email campaign off its feet.

Rule #1 – Make sure your ‘little black book’ is up-to-date

Back in the days before Tinder, it wasn’t uncommon to keep a little black book of prospective romantic interests, the ones you could call to make sure you weren’t alone on Valentine’s Day. Of course, today it’s usually a section in your smartphone contacts. Now, while playing the field can drop you in a whole world of trouble, no salesperson in their right mind is putting all their efforts into just one prospect.

Whether you buy a list or build your own, you want to make sure your ‘little black book’ of prospects is always full of new leads and up-to-date. This means having a decent CRM system that meets your needs. For example, Reply has all the tools you’ll need to create and manage your contact lists, along with all the information on what your contacts are up to. That way you’re never left wondering where your next sale is coming from.

It’s also a good idea to validate your emails with a service like Name2Email or Hunter.io to make sure you’re sending your emails to the right address and not getting hard bounces. After all, there’s nothing worse than using the wrong name, either in sales or dating).

Rule #2 – Know the line between personal and creepy

Everyone likes the personal touch, and when dating it can stop you from making embarrassing mistakes.