This article is inspired by the workshop with Camille Gras, Growth Marketer at Germinal, whom we invited to answer the problem...
Growth Hacking to get customers
What is Growth Hacking?
How can it be linked to Sales & Business Development? Growth hacking is the use of tools, ideally simple (e.g. without code) and at a lower cost to activate the growth of a company in a fast and powerful way: email, prospecting on LinkedIn, by telephone, etc. A Business Developer, especially in a young startup, will be required to do so.
We talk about it a lot about the Akimbo Bootcamp to become a Business Developer!
The difference with other prospecting methods
Growth hacking differs from other prospecting methods by iteration, a process of continuous testing to try new approaches. Every week, we try to increase the results. The goal is to always go further and to recover the most qualified leads (potential customers, prospects) possible with a low budget.
The tools and channels used in Growth Hacking
During this workshop, Camille focused on two very effective channels:
- Emailing
To illustrate his presentation, he relies on two projects carried out by the Germinal team: Broceliande and Linking-Influence. We are going to study the tools and methods used, which can be used by all types of businesses, regardless of their size. Objective? Achieve at least 15% conversion in prospecting.
Validate your B2B business idea
Observe the demand for your business idea
Let's start by validating a business idea. Before you even start prospecting, you need to do some searches, make market studies, exchange with people who correspond to your target to be sure that the project is likely to work. Ideally, you will find your first customers by doing so. In fact, it's ideal: sell before you even have a product. It is also necessary to remain critical of the opinions collected and put them into context. We understand that art is difficult: to gather as much information as possible while maintaining a critical mind.
Create the landing page to definitively validate your idea
When you are sure that the project holds up, Camille recommends creating a Landing page : a web page that presents the offer to attract prospects. Upstream research is very important in order to be able to build this landing page as best as possible, complete and effective.
Our two software recommendations for creating landing pages:
- Webflow : very customizable but a bit complicated to handle.
- Landen : super simple and intuitive.
The purpose of the landing page? Collect emails and contact information from prospects. We can then start prospecting.
Prospecting on LinkedIn
The Broceliande case
One of the first businesses set up by Germinal was called Broceliande. The idea is simple: a lot of people do prospecting on LinkedIn, for example with ProspectIn or Phantombuster, which are tools forautomation. It's sometimes a bit complicated to properly target people, write the right messages, and find the time to manage and analyze automation. Broceliande therefore proposes to automate prospecting more simply, with an all-in-one product.
How did they prospect on LinkedIn to find customers for Broceliande? First, it is necessary to determine the target : sales managers.
To search for this target, they used Linkedin Sales Navigator.
It is necessary to:
- use the maximum number of fields to end up with an audience of 1,000 to 2,000 people maximum.
- exclude keywords.
- Refine the search to get the most perfect audience possible
The more specific the target, the more numerous and positive the returns will be. We then suggest using Phantombuster, a tool that automates a lot of tasks, to send invitations. Be careful not to send too many or you will get your account blocked by LinkedIn!
We will then write the message to be sent to prospect. It will be adapted to the size of the company, to its image, to its discourse. We always start with a reason: (ex: “I was on the profile of one of my customers and I came across you”), to introduce yourself more effectively.
You can then save time by mentioning your offering directly, the product. Messages can only be 300 characters long, so you have to go to thegist to capture the attention of the prospect!
Of all the invitations sent, some will be accepted with a response to the message, in this case the lead (= prospect) is treated directly. Some will not be accepted and the prospect will be lost. Some will be accepted but will not be answered. We can contact the person again later.
The next day, for the people who have accepted the invitation, we send a message, this time longer (no character limit), where we better explain what we are offering. We share the landing page, we present the details of the offer using a Flagship argument, and we propose a call for the discovery of needs.
It is a process that is ultimately very simple but gives results in a few days.
Prospecting by email
The Linking-influence case
For prospecting by email, Camille relies on another Germinal project called Linking-Influence. The aim of the service was to connect businesses with influencers ready to work with them. For this product, they chose prospecting by email.
By engaging in the favorite hobby of growth hackers, the Scraping of data (automated collection of customer data), the team built up a database of prospects. They then moved on to writing the emails:
- Again, we start with a “reason” to justify making contact;
- Then you can explain the activity of your company by presenting 1 or 2 major selling points;
- We suggest a next step: preferably a call since it is the most effective.
The subject of the email is also very important, since the opening rate of the email will be a highly regarded KPI (Key Performance Indicator). For example, you can put only one word in relation to what you are proposing to arouse curiosity.
We avoid leaving 3 days without email so that the person does not forget us, and we do not give up after 2 reminders because the Prospect Maybe he just doesn't have time to be interested in us right now. If the person does not respond after 4 or 5 emails, we can ask them to put us in relationship with someone from the company who might be interested in what we're offering.
To automate these campaigns, there are several tools such as Lemlist or Datanas.
With this technique, Germinal got 5 first customers in one month, for a smaller budget and less work time.
Little Bonus Tips
Make multi-points of contact! Contact a person on LinkedIn and then by email to show that you are determined to communicate with your prospect. This will allow the person not to forget you or miss your message. The results will be much better!
