Troy's Database

How to Use Value-Led Messaging to Start Conversations on LinkedIn:

Step 1: connect with your ideal prospects in all of your top accounts. I don't send a note with a connect request unless I was referred to chat with them. The note part is up to you.Step 2: Go to the Sales Nav dashboard and comment on their posts. I use these posts to make my face/name familiar and to gather prospecting nuggets that I collect on a master sheet. If you don't have Sales Nav, this will be difficult to do however you can click the bell on each prospects profile.Step 3: 2-3 days after being connected, send a message but offer them something with no ask. Here are two examples:Selling prospecting tools: "Hey Troy, would you mind if I send over new strategies sellers are using to increase pipeline? We have tons of data on what's helping sellers generate more opps."Selling UserEvidence, a tool that automates customer testiomonials: "Hey Troy, do you care if I send what your G2 reviews would look like as customer testimonials? Recently created them if you'd like"Step 4: If they respond saying yes, this is your time to understand their priorities: "Will do - any specific area you want me to send info on?" Chances are, their answer is the challenge. You can keep asking questions about this challenge, or help them out now.You can also create a "lay up" if you'd like and to do this you can say "Will do, would you rather me send info on [X challenge] or [Y challenge]? Would hate to send over irrelevant info"Step 5: This is your time to shine. Throw something helpful their way "Here's how people are increasing their reply rates by 9%. [USE CASE COMPANY] was able to do that in 90 days. I'll follow up to see what you thought about it next week.Here's an example of one of my conversations (with sensitive information left out). This is the exact conversation:

How to Use a Voice Note for the First Message:

A voice note is an amazing way to stand out in the LinkedIn inbox. People don't do this often and when they do, they typically do it wrong.You have to remember, they need to be in a spot where they can listen to a voice message. Many times this can be inconvenient for them.Here's a tactic I use for voice messages to pique their curiosity:Rules for voice messages:
- Try to keep it between 30-40 seconds. People won't finish a long voice message.
- Start with an observation
- Follow that with a value pitch
- Ask for time and/or an offerIt sounds like this:(Of course, tailor this with your messaging)"Hey Troy, saw you posted an open position which typically means you'll run into challenges with onboarding. Knowing you're fully remote you'll like hit [CHALLENGE]. [MY COMPANY] helps [THEIR POSITION] by [HOW YOU SOLVE].Would you be open to a quick chat or can I send over a use case?"As soon as I send the voice note, immediately send another message saying "Did the voice note work?"The Follow Up:A week later you can do one of two things:1. Send a message saying "What did you think of the voice note?"
2. Send a selfie and then a message saying "looking forward to hearing what you think".

Two Ways I Use Images and Selfies on LinkedIn:

You know what people rarely do on LinkedIn? Send a selfie or an image.You know what my highest response rate on LinkedIn includes? A selfie and/or an image.This is one of the easiest ways to stand out in LinkedIn messages.Here are the 2 ways I use images and selfies on LinkedIn:1. The Intro
I introduce myself with a selfie of me and whiteboard with their name + company logo on it. I use Photobooth on Mac to take the picture and just drag + drop it into the chat.The message I send with it: "appreciate the connection!"2. The No-ResponseIf I've been messaging people a few times and haven't gotten a response I click on the "attach" button in the Direct Message, click on GIF, and type in "sad walk". I send this GIF alone and it's gotten many people to respond to my messages:Here's what it looks like:

Try these two methods out if you're not doing it today and watch your responses skyrocket.

Three LinkedIn Follow Ups That Have Been Successful For Me:

There's no silver bullet here, but these three things have worked really well for me when I can't get people to respond on LinkedIn.Here are the 3 ways I use images and selfies on LinkedIn:1. Selfie with whiteboard:
I've realized that sending over a selfie holding a whiteboard with their name and company logo on it has created the most responses.Typically I send the image alone and then immediately type a message to them saying something alone the lines of this:"Hey [Name] - no hard feelings but is now not the right time to chat about [problem you solve]?2. Video with whiteboard:Set this up similarly to the selfie, make sure you're using a whiteboard with their name and company logo on it. If you can have proof in the background that it's personalized, this works great.For example:
- Have the background be their website
- Make the background a job posting of theirs
- Make a background one of their LinkedIn posts
- Make the background an article or podcast they were featured inThe more you show that this is specifically to them, the higher the response rate.3. The Sad Face or the Question Mark:This is exactly what it sounds like.Many times all I will send is a "?" or a ":(" and it will create a response.Sounds crazy, but it works.

How to Become a Familiar Face to Prospects using LinkedIn:

I credit most of my LinkedIn success to being a familiar face. Most of my prospects are not on LinkedIn, yet most of my meetings have been booked because of LinkedIn.Do these things to be a familiar face on LinkedIn:- Like any and every post from prospects that have connected with you
- Send podcasts/articles/people looking for jobs to prospects to show you're providing value without an ask
- Tag prospects in posts that might be relevant to them
- Post a few times a week so your prospects can see your name if they're scrolling on Linkedin

Best Way to Structure Prospecting Videos:

I've tried over a dozen different 'video structures' and this one structure has yielded me the most results:- Start with something personalized
- Create a hook
- Tell a story about a start or case study
- The askWhen it's typed out, it'll look something like this:"Hey Troy, your posts about video prospecting have been really helpful however I noticed you're not leveraging videos on other channels.92% of LinkedIn creators can double their reach if they posted videos on two or more channels.I helped JC Pollard get his videos on different channels and in 27 days, he almost doubled his follower count.Got 15 minutes so I can bounce ideas off you?"Why this works:When you start of with a personalized opener it gets them to watch, then when you move into a hook that grabs their attention, it keeps them there.Notice how I never pitch the features or product here.I highlight a pain point, or in this example an area for growth, and share that I've helped someone similar accomplish thier goals.

Example of How I Create Prospecting Videos:

Watch this short video that shows how I go about sending a prospecting video and what mine sound like:

Three Things to Avoid in a Prospecting Video

Avoid these three video pitfalls at all costs:1. Starting off as Eminem.. "Hi my name is"Never start of your video saying "Hi [Name], My name is Troy Munson from XYZ Company.You'll never catch their attention with this.If you want to say your name, do it after the personalized intro and hook.That sounds like this:"Hey Troy, I'm part of your community and love the cold-email channel however, I noticed a few areas in which engagement is lacking. This is how 48% of communities fail.My name is Troy Munson and I've worked with [SIMILAR PERSONA]... etc.."2. Product PitchThis isn't show and tell. This is provide value and ask.DO. NOT. START. SAYING. THIS:"Hey Troy, I work for X company and our product does XYZ to help people similar to you"1. They smell the commission breath
2. You're not showing that you know shit about them3. This is not a movieSo don't record a long video to bore your prospect. Keep videos betwen 30 seconds and 1 minute max. I strongly urge you to keep videos under 45 seconds but sometimes the information and research you have on a company can make it go to the minute mark.

Three Things to Make Your Prospecting Videos Stand Out:

Here are three things that can increase your watch rate:1. Choosing the right backgroundIf you can make the background of your video something they're familiar with, there is a big chance they'll open your video.Here are some examples:
- A LinkedIn post of theirs
- Their company website
- A podcast they were featured on
- A blog they wrote..etcAnything you can do to have the background something they know well will help a lot.2. A whiteboard or text overlay thumbnailIf you can't tell, I'm a big advocate for the whiteboard. It separates yourself from the others and shows you care enough to make it personalized for them.Make the thumbnail a picture of you holding a whiteboard with their name on it. Do your best to draw their company logo if you want to increase conversions.If you don't have a whiteboard, use some sort of free video software to create an overlay on the video. You can use OBS studio for this.3. Prove you've done researchWhen you send a message with a video, the worst thing you can do is say "I made this video for you!"The idea is that you make them curious about the video before they even click it.The best way to do that is to prove you've done research and explain you wanted to share your thoughts.Here's how it sounds:"Hey Troy, read the blog you wrote in June and had a few opinions I wanted to share about it:"This is how to to increase your watch rate.

Five Areas of Improvement & How to Fix Them. This is From Real Data:

Over 50 people sent me emails to revise. I read and revised them. Here are 5 areas of improvement + how to fix them:Areas of Improvement:1. EMAIL LENGTH: The average email length was 108 words. You want this to be 50-80.2. FILLER WORDS: Too many filler words. Things like "Reaching out just because" and "incredibly effective".3. THE USE OF I: The use of "I". Too many people talk about themselves.4. SUBJECT LINE LENGTH: The average from all emails was 5 words, we want this to be 2-3.5. CALL TO ACTION LENGTH: Here's a real example of a CTA: "To talk about this in more detail, how about we set up a quick conference call?"Here is how to fix this (in order):1. EMAIL LENGTH: Most emails I read had 3+ sentences explaining what their company does. You should be able to relay your company's impact in one sentence. Also, take out filler words!2. FILLER WORDS: Every email I read had too many filler words. These include:
- "just reaching out"
- "significantly better"
- "an incredible ROI"
- "I noticed that" (take out I and that.. get right to the point)There is no need for adjectives before the impact. To fix this, read your email before sending it and take out most adjectives as well as words like "like, just, because, only," etc..3. THE USE OF I: Many emails were talking about themselves by using different versions of "I". The "cheat" way to fix this is:
- "I'm reaching out" >> "Reaching out"
- "I noticed that..." >> "Noticed your.."4. SUBJECT LINE LENGTH: Most emails included 5-7 words in their subject line AND the name of the person they're sending it to. Unfortunately, this looks like spam. Here are examples I'd use for subject lines:
- cloud costs
- pipeline
- your research paper
- yesterday's news5. CALL TO ACTION LENGTH: Call to action length should not be a long run on sentence. Here are a few examples to steal:
- "Worth exploring?
- "Worth a chat?"
- "Sound interesting?"
- "Would it be a waste of time to chat?"
- "Any interest?"These are a few ways you can start writing more impactful emails today.

Two Email Strategies That Stand Out:

1.The Next Day Follow-UpI booked two meetings with multi-billion dollar companies with this method recently.My thought process is that executives are so busy, many times they gloss over emails they receive.Here's how this process looks:Email 1 (Day 1): This email has to be relevant and personalized. The more research you put into this email, the higher your chance is of getting a response.Email 2 (Day 2): "This probably got lost in your inbox yesterday, wanted to make sure you didn't miss it".That's it.Don't go for the pitch here.No reason for a pitch if they don't request something.2. The 7 Day FrameworkThis framework consists of 3 emails in 7 days.Here's how you do it:Day 1: Send a well written email that's relevant to the prospect based on your research. Make is 50-80 words.Day 4: Follow up on the same thread with a whiteboard selfie. Be sure to write their name and draw their logo on the white board.Day 7: Send another follow up on the same thread saying this:"Was my drawing really that bad [NAME]?Or is [PROBLEM YOU SOLVE] not a priority right now?"

Before & After Email Revisions:

How to Write Great Subject Lines:

I’ve sent and revised so many cold emails I can’t even count.Here’s what I’ve learned about subject lines:First, it’s very dependent on your industry/persona/pain you solve for.But here’s how I typically structure mine:
- 1-4 words
- lowercase (unless acronyms)
- make you curiousHere are examples for different industries:Employee Training Software
- your training costs
- employee’s product knowledge
- your training?Cloud Cost Optimization Software
- cloud costs
- AWS bill increasing
- your cloud billProspecting Software
- low conversion rates
- ghosted meetings
- your BDRs emailsThe goal is to make the reader think..“yes my cloud costs are high but what do you mean?"“wait, what about my BDRs emails?”These are great if you’d like to scale.But the subject lines that get the highest response rates for me?The personalized ones.It looks like this: you read an article about a company and the CEO mentions something interesting.Subject line:[CEO NAME]
or
[CEO NAME]’s statementThese two have my highest reply rate ^Important - I’m not saying other subject lines or longer subject lines don’t work.These kind work for me.

How I Use Each Channel for Prospecting

My prospecting success comes from using a multi-channel approach. This is exactly how I use each channel:LinkedIn:
- connect with every relevant person in my accounts
- comment on all of their posts (this is easy with salesnav)
- first message sent days after accepted connection request
- first message is value led “would it be okay if I shared malicious threats we’re catching so you can get out in front of it?”Twitter:
- use this for personalization prospecting nuggets. if they have a Twitter you can learn a lot about them here.Cold email:
- I've closed my largest deals from this (I'm talking 6 and 7 figure deals)
- know their business and connect the dots as to how your solution can help. Learn how to articulate this clearlyCold calls:
- I have a list of all valid numbers in my ICP.
- I focus more on tone than any type of frameworkNetwork:
- If I see someone connected to a key prospect, I ask for an intro and ghostwrite an intro for them. Then I send a gift card after the intro. I do this out of good faith, I don't tell them beforehand.Current customers:
- I ask for referrals like this “Hey Troy, I know this is a really big ask so a no won’t hurt my feelings. Would you be able to introduce me to X at Y company, think we may be able to help them.”In-Person Drop By's:
- cookie and lunch drop offs have my highest conversion rate to a meeting at 70+%.
- most times all I write on the cookie box is “This is for COMPANY security team. Enjoy! Troy @ Proofpoint (cell #)
- if I include a hand written note, it’s addressed to one person and includes research. “Hey Troy, looks like you’re working XYZ projects this year.. good luck, I know that can be a lot of work”Hope this helps!

Four Examples of Meetings Booked With Enterprise Accounts:

Here's how I booked 4 meetings in multibillion dollar accounts recently:Number 1
Persona: C-Level
Source: Google
How I got the meeting: I googled their name and their previous company. Several articles popped up, one being a 22 page research paper he wrote. I read most of the research paper and emailed him my opinions and tied it back to value I can provide. The subject line was the name of the research paper.Number 2
Persona: VP
Source: LinkedIn
How I got the meeting: This person posted one of his security training recordings on LinkedIn. It was an hour long. I listened to all of it and emailed him what I learned from the training. I asked if he'd be open to learning what we had to offer. I responded to the email thread the day after saying "bubbling this up in case you missed it" and this booked the meeting.Number 3
Persona: C-Level
Source: LinkedIn
How I got the meeting: The CIO wrote about how he was a sports fanatic on LinkedIn. I emailed him inviting him to an NFL game. He declined but intro'd me to the correct C-Level executive I needed to talk to (who didn't respond to any of my emails for months). We booked a meeting within 2 weeks.Number 4:
Persona: Senior Director
Source: Marketing
How I got the meeting: I invited her to a "Women Who Cyber" event that our company hosted. She went and said it was an incredible event. This then led to us emailing back and forth and meeting up for lunch to discuss their 2024 plans.There is no silver bullet.You need to be doing research.You need to be standing out.One thing you can do to increase conversions is make your writing clear and simple.There are many ways to book a meeting, you just have to do the dirty work and find the right way for the right person.

The Exact Process of a 208k Deal I Closed That Started From Cold Outbound:

Here's a summary of a 208k deal I closed last year:1. Sent a linkedin message (a Loom video) to the end user of what's possible for him and showed how his life would be easier.2. A week later I responded with "What did you think of the video?"3. He was intrigued and asked to see the platform.4. It took two calls with him before he introduced us to the manager, one was discovery/understanding his pain. The other was a demo of how it would be if he were using it tomorrow5. It took another several weeks and 3 more calls with the manager and end user. Two of these were demos and getting into the weeds about their unique use case. Also, we highlighted the yellow flags.6. We were introduced to the VP/Decision Maker and had 3 more calls with him and his leadership team. We built a business case as to why us vs. the competitor as well as us vs. doing nothing.7. Flew out to South Carolina to enjoy lunch with the decision maker.8. Continued to provide valuable emails to the team as they were internally building the case. This was key - they went quiet for a bit but one article I shared was extremely helpful for them. This included podcasts, new articles that they'd find valuable, etc..9. We had a few more calls with their operations team and demand generation team to make sure all three teams were on the same page.10. A couple of weeks later we got the go ahead and it took 5 business days to go through procurement.It takes a lot of steps.Tons of trust has to be built.Value needs to be delivered consistently.If your deal is stalling, ask what's preventing them from moving forward.

16 Blunt Questions to Ask to Get the Answers You Need:

1. If we land on a price, what needs to happen on your end to get a signature?2. What's preventing you from signing this week?3. If we miss your timeline, what happens?4. Who ultimately signs the paper and why would they say no?5. Sounds like things are fine... why do you need to do something now?6. Have you quantified the problem? What does that look like?7. If [pain] continues for the next 6 months, who's on the hook?8. What are we competing against?9. How would you justify this internally to leadership?10. What do you like about X competitor? What are they missing? Why haven't you decided to go with them?11. What's the overall business initiative our solution would solve for?12. What needs to happen for you to feel comfortable moving forward?13. How is [pain] impacting the business? Would the executives agree?14. Who can shoot down this project at the drop of a pen?15. Why do you think [your solution] is the best fit?16. What have you done already to try and solve this?

The Sales Process Behind a 208k Deal:

Here's a summary of a 208k deal I closed last year:1. Sent a linkedin message (a Loom video) to the end user of what's possible for him and showed how his life would be easier.2. A week later I responded with "What did you think of the video?"3. He was intrigued and asked to see the platform.4. It took two calls with him before he introduced us to the manager, one was discovery/understanding his pain. The other was a demo of how it would be if he were using it tomorrow5. It took another several weeks and 3 more calls with the manager and end user. Two of these were demos and getting into the weeds about their unique use case. Also, we highlighted the yellow flags.6. We were introduced to the VP/Decision Maker and had 3 more calls with him and his leadership team. We built a business case as to why us vs. the competitor as well as us vs. doing nothing.7. Flew out to South Carolina to enjoy lunch with the decision maker.8. Continued to provide valuable emails to the team as they were internally building the case. This was key - they went quiet for a bit but one article I shared was extremely helpful for them. This included podcasts, new articles that they'd find valuable, etc..9. We had a few more calls with their operations team and demand generation team to make sure all three teams were on the same page.10. A couple of weeks later we got the go ahead and it took 5 business days to go through procurement.It takes a lot of steps.Tons of trust has to be built.Value needs to be delivered consistently.If your deal is stalling, ask what's preventing them from moving forward.

How I used a Digital Sales Room to hit 568% in One Quarter:

There are many incredible digital sales room tools on the market. To name a few:
- Trumpet
- Paage.io
- AlignedHowever, the one I've been using since my company pays for it is Seismic. It's a bit legacy, but it works.Here's how I use it:- I put together customized company pages
- Added assets of our differentiators vs. competitors they were looking at
- Added a link to our infosec page to streamline the security process
- Added blogs, articles, and content after each call that was relevant to their pain and questions
- Added use cases from similar companies
- Added the business case/doc from our calls for them to refer back toThis resulted in:- Being able to see every click and the exact asset/page they were looking at
- Knowing what they were focused on outside of our calls
- Knowing what information was actually important to them
- Was able to create a hypothesis as to how we're stack ranking against competitors and which differentiators resonated
- Armed me with information to bring to the next calls
- Knowing WHO cared about WHATUsing one of these gets everyone on the same page, helps buyers sell internally, and keeps you up to date with what's going on outside of the room.

Three General Tips to Close More Deals:

1. Get on a text-level relationshipThis might be the biggest tip I can give you.When you get on a text-level relationship with your prospect, deals flow much more smoothly.Here's how I ask to text my prospects:“Hey Name, most people I work with prefer texting because their inbox gets flooded with noise. Would you be against me sending any important info over text?”So far, I've never gotten a no.2. Leverage the Breadcrumb follow up methodThis has been a KEY part of my sales process.It immediately increased my win rate.I call it the breadcrumb method.Old way:On the same day I would send all of the material they asked for. Case studies, integration attachments, a summary of the call, different ways to solve their problems, etc..New way:When a prospect sees value and has a need but wants to follow up in a few weeks/month, they're not getting everything.On the same day I provide a summary/action items/next steps.The next week I provide more information on what they were interested in and any documentation they needed.The next week I provide use cases that would be relevant to them.Now look…in the span of 3 weeks you provided lots of value and remained top of mind. (because news flash, when they jump on the call they don't think about you too often).You're losing or winning deals in the follow up.3. Constantly provide valueThis sounds obvious but you need to provide value constantly.Within 5 days of a prospect jumping off a call with you, they'll remember less than 10% of what you told them.After the first call you'll learn a ton

How I Booked a C-Level Meeting at a Multibillion Dollar Company:

I booked a C-Level meeting with a $1B+ company recently.Here's how (quite the turn of events):For starters, it took me 9 months to get this meeting.Let that sink in.I did all of your typical things in the beginning:u
- cold calls
- personalized videos
- cold emails
- linkedin messages... literally nothing.They weren't having it.~5 months in I said screw it, drove up to their corporate headquarters and dropped off a handwritten note to two executives.Sat and waited... nothing.What a shame.I continued doing research, sending out emails, doing my calls, and couldn't move the needle.Three months later, I got a call....."Hey, this is C-LEVEL from COMPANY. I recently left the company but wanted to say I received everything you sent, even the card. I admire how persistent and polite you were with your outreach and wanted to know if you'd like to come lead sales at my startup?"I let him know that I wasn't in a position to leave my current position and asked "who do I need to talk to over there?"He gave me several names to talk to, the org chart breakdown, and even introduced me to one of them via text.Two days after that call I drove back up to the headquarters and dropped off cookies (second to last day of December) with a personal note on the box.A week later, the person he introduced me to and I worked together to get the C-Level on board and we got that on the calendar last week.What's the point of this story?Prospecting is way more than just cold calls and emails. It's being resourceful and finding anything you can to move the needle. It also shows that just because you're doing the right things doesn't mean you'll book a meeting.

The Process of How to Land an Interview:

Here's a step-by-step way to stand out among other applicants today:1. Use LinkedIn to find the right people to reach out to. Get 3-5 contacts you want to get in front of at each company you're applying for.2. Get their emails from a free tool like Apollo, Seamless, or ExactBuyer. You can also google search "Company Name + email format" and this will help.3. Research the company. Make sure you know these 5 things:
- What they do
- Who they sell to
- How they make money
- Growth & Market Presence
- Why you want to work for them4. AT A MINIMUM, USE A PICTURE/VIDEO TO STAND OUT. Right now, people are building entire landing pages to stand out. This will show how much you want the job.5. Follow up. Follow up. Follow up.If you don't hear back in a few days, follow back up with them. Chances are, your hiring manager is busy. Plus, deals are won in the follow up. Same goes with jobs you're proactively going after.Below is the EXACT email I sent to 3 different hiring managers to land my job at Proofpoint. Here are 4 things I did:1. First thing you see when opening the email is me and a personalized white board drawing.
2. The first sentence is from recent news. It shows I did research.
3. I linked the open position.
4. I included an attachment that proves my success. I screenshot every single time someone compliments me on my outreach/how it is working with me.

Using Cold Calls to Land an Interview:

Here's a step-by-step way to land an interview from cold calls + a script you can use:1. Use LinkedIn to find the right people to reach out to. Get 3-5 contacts you want to get in front of at each company you're applying for.2. Get their emails from a free tool like Apollo, Seamless, or ExactBuyer. You can also google search "Company Name + email format" and this will help.3. Research the company. Make sure you know these 5 things:
- What they do
- Who they sell to
- How they make money
- Growth & Market Presence
- Why you want to work for them4. AT A MINIMUM, USE A PICTURE/VIDEO TO STAND OUT. Right now, people are building entire landing pages to stand out. This will show how much you want the job.5. Follow up. Follow up. Follow up.If you don't hear back in a few days, follow back up with them. Chances are, your hiring manager is busy. Plus, deals are won in the follow up. Same goes with jobs you're proactively going after.Below is the EXACT email I sent to 3 different hiring managers to land my job at Proofpoint. Here are 4 things I did:1. First thing you see when opening the email is me and a personalized white board drawing.
2. The first sentence is from recent news. It shows I did research.
3. I linked the open position.
4. I included an attachment that proves my success. I screenshot every single time someone compliments me on my outreach/how it is working with me.