Automation has become the standard of B2B sales outreach. Everyone does it. If your outreach machine is not running, you’re missing out on opportunities. Well, that’s how it feels in most cases.

However, treating every prospect like they’re equal is a huge mistake. If you’re selling large enterprise deals or reaching a niche market with very specific buyers…every failed outreach is a lost opportunity that you may never be able to recover.

So if you really want to get a response, and I bet you do, here’s 3 sources of prospecting gold that you can use to craft a hyper-personalized outreach message that is sure to get a response.

Finding Context on Social

There’s a ton of data on social that you can leverage to learn more about your buyer. Twitter is probably one of the best sources of authentic info because it’s in real-time. If your buyer is on Twitter, you can quickly scan through their feed to find opportunities to make a connection:

• Did they recently attend a relevant event or conference?
• Have they shared content that you can comment on or find something related to share?
• Are they publishing their own content?
• Do they engage influencers that you also follow?

I guarantee you can find something in their feed to add context to your initial outreach. If they’re not on Twitter, checkout LinkedIn or Facebook for similar opportunities. Of course, don’t get too personal with your outreach.

The Best Access Point

One of the most common tactics among modern sales professionals is to leverage your network to get warm introductions. There’s a few ways you can do this.

• Mutual Connections - Every sales professional knows to look at their prospects LinkedIn profile to see if you have any mutual connections. Be cautious before you engage with this one. Just because someone is connected on LinkedIn, doesn’t mean they actually know the person.
• Relationship Strength - One of the biggest benefits of Nudge is taking mutual connections one step further by showing a value (Relationship Strength) to a connection between two people. You can do this by Collaborating on Nudge with anyone in your network and it’s totally free.

Collaborative selling works. Not only should you leverage your existing network, but you should be looking to see if anyone in your organization can provide access to your customers. According to Salesforce’s 2015 State of Sales report, top sales teams are 6x more likely to use cross-company collaboration than laggards.

Mentions in the News

Your prospects and their companies are in the news. It’s no surprise. However, it can be challenging to find these opportunities to engage unless you’re actively following their updates. There’s a few places you can turn to when looking for mentions as you’re crafting your outreach:

• LinkedIn - If you’re already connected to the prospect on LinkedIn, you’ll see their updates and be notified occasionally if they’re mentioned in the news. The same applies if you’re following their company page. This process works if your outreach isn’t time sensitive as it’s easy to miss these updates in your feed.
• Nudge - You can check out an individuals profile or company account on Nudge to see any mentions in the news. This is a great way to see all of their mentions in one place so that you can decide which is the most relevant to use for your outreach.
• Press Releases - As a last resort, you can search sites like PRNewswire or BusinessWire to find major company announcements on your accounts. You should also be able to find similar announcements on their company blog or news section.

Automation doesn’t build lasting customer relationships. If you want to engage your prospect, do it like a human being. You’ve got your sales pitch to a point of perfection, but need some help crafting an authentic outreach that your prospects will respond to. Get started by using some of the tips above!

What other prospecting tactics, tricks or tips do you use to authentically engage your buyer?