Swisspreneur Show EP #301 - Lars Mangelsdorf: B2B Sales Breakdown
Timestamps:
3:36 - Lead generating strategies
10:09 - Cultivating a relationship with your leads
12:29 - Creating a sense of urgency
18:58 - Special offers and free trials
26:44 - Favorite tools
About Lars Mangelsdorf:
Lars Mangelsdorf is the co-founder and CCO at Yokoy, a spending management software company which enables companies to automate their expense and credit card processes using artificial intelligence. He previously worked as Senior Account Executive at Beekeeper.
Back in Spring 2022, Yokoy raised a $80m series B round from Sequoia, and since then it seems like they can’t grow their team fast enough. They’ve also recently launched a prepaid Yokoy Mastercard. Lars currently leads his own sales team, and has over a decade of sales experience, during which he accumulated valuable insights. He shared some of these insights with us in this episode, and we’ve summarized them below.
How can you generate leads?
- If your company is already of a certain size, of course it helps to have your marketing team generates leads for you;
- Otherwise, Lars recommends a multiple channel approach: calling, email, LinkedIn, you name it. Calls and email still work well in Switzerland. All of this can of course be automated with the right tool, so that it doesn’t become a huge time-suck. When contacting your prospect, mentioning other channels you tried to reach them through is a good conversation starter: “Hey, I sent you an email a few days ago, not sure if you saw it…”
- Don’t reach out to a company when they have just raised funds. That’s when they’ll be at their busiest and most “popular”.
Once you have your lead, make sure to do proper lead qualification. You’ll want to have a checklist of things that need to happen for you to be willing to do a 1h demo call with them.
How can you create a sense of urgency?
- If you know the solution your prospect has in place will be discontinued, that’s like hitting the jackpot — but this is very rare;
- Start your pitch by showing your prospect that if they continue using their current solution, they’re gonna run into problems. Show them stats about talent retention, for instance, and urge them regarding the importance of attracting Gen Z talent;
- Ask them about timelines. It makes no sense to be talking to a prospect now if they only plan on closing the deal in 2024.
What are a buyer’s main motivations?
- Money: they want a solution that will make them more money, or that will save them money;
- Recognition: your prospect wants to be the greatest Chief HR Officer of all time; they want to change how their company works for the better.
If you can prove to your prospect that your solution will make them save money and gain recognition from their peers, it’s a done deal.
Resources Mentioned:
- GDPR-compliant lead lists on Fiverr
- Prospecting tools: Salesloft, Interseller
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
If you would like to listen to our previous conversations with Lars, check out episode 77 and 237.