14 sales triggers that strengthen your offer

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A post from the POLISH YELLOW PAGES® blog (formerly DATABOT.PL), originally published on 09.11.2022. Some information (tools, prices, regulations) may have changed since then.

14 sales triggers that boost your offer

Have you ever heard the term sales trigger events? Do you know what it actually means? If not, this article will shed some light on it. Sales trigger events provide very useful information — especially if you work in B2Bsales. We will show you not only what sales triggers are and what they can do, but also the benefits of using them. Let’s go!

What is a sales trigger?

A sales trigger event is, roughly speaking, an event at a (target) company that represents a sales opportunity for you. Suppose you sell office equipment: every new office opening is the ultimate sales trigger event to contact those companies, right?

Sales trigger events are created on the basis of so-called trigger events. A trigger event is that one event at a company we have already mentioned – which can be positive or negative from the company’s point of view. For example, a company’s international expansion can be a trigger just as much as, say, layoffs due to falling revenue.

The term sales trigger is therefore relatively obvious: it is about using a trigger event as a hook to contact a prospect. 

On the one hand, sales triggers can be a way to reach completely new people or companies. On the other hand, sales triggers are also suitable as a reminder to nurture existing customer relationships more intensively and, for example, to congratulate an existing customer on an anniversary or the opening of a new location. 

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How sales triggers strengthen your B2B sales strategy

One thing is certain: your sales success in B2B always depends on many different factors. In addition to the individual customer-contact skills in your sales team, the right sales strategy is also decisive. But the best product, excellent marketing and sophisticated advertising have little chance of success if there is no demand from the prospect.

Business customers act much more rationally and are less inclined to be motivated by overly emotional advertising — even though we always address people, even in B2B! In B2B sales, however, timing is key. This applies both to specialised products and services that are bought only under special conditions and are usually associated with higher investment, and to offers for regular needs. With the latter you can often find a large number of competitors offering their product in comparable quality and on similar terms.

Put simply: if as a supplier you present your offer to a prospect at the right time, with the right presentation and the right sales arguments, you have the best chance of closing the deal. And guess what: a sales trigger provides exactly the ideal conversation starter and the ideal chances of selling your solution!

5 big advantages of sales triggers

We have already mentioned the advantages of using sales triggers. Nevertheless, we want to sum them all up briefly.

Advantage 1: personalised conversation openers

Probably the coolest benefit of using sales triggers in B2B is that they provide the most individual pitch and conversation starter!

Suppose you work at a recruitment agency and a sales trigger shows you that a company wants to fill many positions or that some positions have been open for a long time. With a sales trigger such as “job posting” you can find these companies and contact them to tell them about your service.

In your conversation starter you can then address exactly those new jobs. Your counterpart will be surprised how quickly and thoroughly you did your research!

Advantage 2: the perfect time to approach

In the same example, we can agree that the right timing is key to your success.

What happens if, for example, you approach a company that has no vacancies at all (and is therefore probably not looking for new staff)? In the worst case, your target company will find your offer disturbing and inappropriate. And that would be the exact opposite of what you want to achieve, right? With sales triggers you can be sure a trigger event has just happened at the company and you can contact them.

Suppose a company has expanded and needs to find office equipment and skilled staff, and you can offer both — then it is the right moment to contact them, while they are spreading the news of their expansion!

Advantage 3: up-selling and cross-selling potential

Cross-selling and upselling can also be accelerated with sales triggers. How? Imagine one of your existing customers receives an award. It is the perfect moment to get back in touch and start a conversation about the award. Or perhaps you hear about a customer’s new partnership, a successful end to the financial year and so on.

You can use all positive sales triggers with an existing customer to actively re-enter the conversation. Especially if the sales trigger gives positive news about the customer’s finances — more jobs, more customers on their side, a successful financial year, etc. — it is the ideal precondition for upselling and cross-selling !

Advantage 4: faster than competitors

“My offer is too cool, I don’t need to be faster than the competition” – is that really what you think? If a sales trigger alerts you and you are the first to contact the company to politely promote your services, you will remain anchored in your counterpart’s memory for ever.

If he or she has a need that is roughly in the direction of your offer, you will be remembered.

Companies often don’t have the time or energy to compare many suppliers, so it pays off doubly if you are quick thanks to the right sales trigger and put your offer right at the start. That way your counterpart doesn’t even need to search and may very willingly accept your offer.

Advantage 5: integration with your processes

In most cases sales triggers can be integrated into existing processes. For example, if you receive sales triggers from a sales intelligence tool such as Echobot, you can get an alert as an email directly in your inbox.

You can also receive news and sales triggers about customers and prospects directly in your CRM system, with which many sales intelligence tools provide an integration. Otherwise you can try connecting the two with Zapier.

You don’t have to register anywhere and think about sales triggers — on the contrary: your sales triggers think for you!

Popular sales triggers and how to use them for success in B2B sales

The nature of your offer indicates which sales triggers are important to you as a supplier in B2B. The task of B2B sales is to recognise where a prospect can benefit from your own offer.

1. A new start-up

Every year more than half a million new companies are founded, for example in Germany. Many of them start literally from scratch. This involves increased demand for all kinds of goods and services, from simple office equipment to highly specialised production plants and related services. Start-ups are therefore one of the most important sales triggers for many suppliers in B2B. Offers here often fall on fertile ground, because they don’t yet have to compete with established competitors.

Trigger: closely watching start-ups in the target industry is therefore a basic requirement of B2B sales.

2. Company relocation

At first glance, company moves are an everyday occurrence. There are many reasons why a company moves. Relocating for logistical reasons is as much a possibility here as an increased need for space due to expanded production or a larger workforce. News of a move, as a sales impulse, is therefore a reason for a more detailed analysis of the situation. On the other hand, it is in itself a starting point for sales.

Trigger: a company move always involves high demand for products and services, from the move itself to re-equipping the IT infrastructure and setting it up.

3. A new building

As with a move, the announcement of a new building has huge potential for closing deals. New construction projects are usually announced by companies well in advance, often before the actual planning phase begins.

For B2B sales this offers the opportunity to be active even before the first brick is laid and to offer products and services successfully at every stage of such a project. For existing customers, a new building also often involves personnel changes. Responsibilities may change both on the customer’s side and on your own sales team’s side.

Trigger: so a new building as a sales trigger is always a good opportunity to maintain existing contacts and thus generate long-term sales.

4. A change of personnel

Trigger events are more than a mere sign of demand from your target audience. You can regard them as potential sales catalysts! Here’s an example: suppose company X hires a new head of sales. Chances are company X has increased its budget! So a trigger event indicating a change of personnel can provide the right hook for making contact, and even a chance to reactivate “dead” contacts.

There isn’t always a rational reason why you can’t close a deal you thought might succeed. Sometimes the “chemistry” between you, your salespeople and the buyers at the company you are contacting is simply wrong, or the person responsible at the company has a personal preference for a competitor.

Trigger: in such cases, a change of personnel may allow a new employee to join the company.

5. A change in management

Depending on the company’s size and the level of investment, as a salesperson you won’t necessarily have contact with a manager at the target company, but a change of management can still bring fundamental changes in many areas of the company. A new management team may initiate changes in company strategy and signal a willingness to invest.

Trigger: in any case, it pays to establish and maintain contact with decision-makers at the company at an early stage.

6. Team expansions

The basic rule is: if a company grows, its demand for external products and services grows too. A sure sign of growth is an increase in staff. This is a certain development, but it may also indicate diversification, i.e. expanding the business into new areas. In the long term diversification can lead to a strong shift in demand for external products and services, to which B2B sales can respond accordingly.

Trigger: team expansion as a sales trigger signals an opportunity to resell already familiar products or adapt them to changed conditions through upselling. In addition, related sales activities can include companies that were not previously defined as part of the target group for particular offers.

7. Job postings

Job postings are also important sales triggers that provide relevant information about a specific company. If a company is looking for a new contact in connection with an old sales opportunity, sales triggers can be set to determine when specific roles are being offered at the company. In short, it gives you a chance to plan a new or different approach.

Trigger: job postings may also indicate a particular need. For staffing providers or recruiters, for example, they are a starting point for presenting and offering the relevant services.

8. Trade fair visits

Trade fairs offer a unique opportunity to interact personally with a large number of target customers with minimal logistical effort. Information about who is attending a particular fair is therefore a very important sales impulse.

Trigger: your sales team can take the opportunity to prepare intensively for the expected contacts and arrange meetings in advance.

9. International expansion

Entering new markets, especially foreign ones, usually involves enormous effort for companies. Even in an increasingly globalised world, companies face strategic, organisational and logistical challenges. The right products and services can make life much easier for growing companies. As a supplier of such tools and services, information about expansion plans is therefore an important sales impulse.

Trigger: it gives you the opportunity to make early contact with the target customer and offer support in a way that benefits both sides.

10. A big order

Depending on the type of offer, companies live from selling their goods and services to as many customers as possible, or from large order volumes with fewer active customers. For most companies a big order or winning a big customer is the reward for intensive effort. At the same time, signing a contract with a large customer usually leads to a sharp rise in demand for products and services, which must be covered as quickly as possible to meet contractual obligations.

Trigger: as soon as such a big order is announced at a target customer, the B2B sales department is called on to make contact and offer support.

11. Profit growth

For obvious reasons, every sales rep wants a customer who has sufficient financial resources and can make a purchasing decision without worry. In addition, profits in most cases increase the basic propensity to invest. It usually makes more sense for companies to reinvest profits early.

Trigger: profit growth is particularly attractive as a sales stimulus, because it significantly lowers the entry threshold in sales negotiations and leads to the assumption that prospects are more willing to buy.

Looking for new customers and sales opportunities?

Finding new prospects is hard. But how about a tool that delivers qualified B2B leads right to your door?

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12. A good quarter / a bad quarter

Both cases can help you present your product and close the deal. A company is having a really good quarter? That probably means there is more budget left, which can benefit you as a sales rep. You can also turn it to your advantage, because your product may increase the company’s success even further.

A company is losing a lot of money or struggling with other problems resulting in a below-par quarter? Maybe your product is the solution to their problem, or can at least help them survive a difficult time.

13. Awards

Your target company wins an award in its field or receives a prize for one of its products? Let them know you noticed and offer your services! Make sure they know you can be the edge that leaves their competitors far behind.

14. The competition

Speaking of competitors… do you know what your competitors are doing right now? Perhaps you know prospects who are dissatisfied with their current supplier. Have they posted on social media looking for advice on a specific topic? Speak up and offer your support!

Perhaps your prospects have to deal with extensive competition themselves – it is your turn to show them they can succeed in their market using your solutions and products!

How to recognise sales triggers early?

Why and how sales triggers can contribute to your success in B2B sales is easy to understand from the examples above. The question remains, however, where the sales department actually gets the necessary information.

In principle, none of the events mentioned above are secrets available only as internal information. Outsiders can easily obtain such information.

Of course, when such events signal positive business developments, companies have a vital interest in communicating them to the outside world, because in most cases they help build a positive image.

Information about sales triggers can therefore be found in these companies’ reports, on their own corporate websites, in independent reports and on social media. Legal information, from the announcement of a new company, mergers, changes of address and balance sheets, can also in many cases be found in publicly available company directories and registers, to which the relevant changes must be reported, for example in Germany.

The real challenge for everyone responsible for sales, however, is to filter out the information that points to sales triggers from the flood of data available online every day. Manual research is often not one of sales staff’s core competencies – it requires resources that must be provided in addition to the actual sales work. While it is still possible to “monitor” individual target customers in this way, it is not possible to keep constant track of an extensive base of leads and existing customers.

Digital systems that automatically monitor and analyse online sources and identify relevant sales triggers using artificial intelligence promise a remedy.

Looking for new customers and sales opportunities?

Finding new prospects is hard. But how about a tool that delivers qualified B2B leads right to your door?

FIND OUT MORE

The solution: recognise and monitor sales triggers with sales intelligence

The challenge for sales reps is to recognise trigger events without wasting time. Manual research is very time-consuming and should be avoided at all costs. Who would want to spend ages looking for specific information when they could be calling and contacting prospects instead? Right. Nobody.

But what is the alternative? Hire an intern to do the research? Just kidding, please don’t do that. As a sales rep or as a whole sales team, you may find sales intelligence tools very interesting. Such tools help save an enormous amount of time and money by delivering high-quality leads and information. Sounds too good to be true?

Other options for detecting sales trigger events may include:

LinkedIn and Google: follow your prospects and existing customers and don’t miss any news
Newsletters and reports: subscribe to your target audience’s newsletters and read their annual reports or any kind of reports they publish. Knowing whether your target is having a good or bad quarter also offers new opportunities!

Summary: selling based on sales triggers is worth it!

Sales trigger events can clearly increase success in B2B sales. Approaching the target customer at the right time, with the right message and offer content, significantly reduces wasted reach compared with rather “classic” methods.

But remember: don’t waste valuable time on intensive research when you could actually be contacting people and interacting with prospects. Time is money! Set up alerts, follow companies on social media, or even get a sales intelligence tool to help you increase the number of sales calls… and, in the end, even revenue!

Mariusz Biniak – creator of the POLISH YELLOW PAGES® brand (formerly DATABOT.PL) and author of a blog on B2B sales. Disclosure: the author is connected with the publisher of THE BUSINESS TIME.

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Source

• POLISH YELLOW PAGES® (databot.pl) – original blog post

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