How many channels does your company depend on for sales? Chances are, you’re already selling across at least 2-3 different channels, but what’s critical is consistency in your sales approach. A multi-channel sales program can help with this.
Multi-Channel Sales Definition
Multi-channel sales involves reaching potential customers through multiple communication channels, including email, social media, your website, phone calls, and in-person meetings. This method helps B2B companies connect with leads at multiple touchpoints and improves their chances of closing deals.
But it can feel overwhelming creating a structured multi-channel sales program from scratch that aligns with your business objectives and customer preferences. That’s why we put together this step-by-step guide to walk you through how to build an effective multi-channel sales strategy in 6 steps.
1. Define Your Sales Goals and Target Audience
Before launching a multi-channel sales strategy, get clear on what you want to achieve. For example, you might want to:
- Increase brand awareness
- Generate more leads
- Improve conversion rate
Your goals will guide your channel selection and tactics. The more specific and measurable they are, the better.
Next, identify your target audience. Segment your prospects based on industry, company size, role, or specific pain points to help you personalize your approach. Make sure you do your research and understand where your prospects spend time—whether it’s LinkedIn for networking or email for business communication—to help guide your channel choices. Creating an ideal customer profile (ICP) and implementing an ICP marketing program to complement your sales efforts can help.
Say your marketing agency targets tech startups, you might focus more on digital channels like social media (LinkedIn and X) and webinars, while traditional channels like phone calls may be secondary.
2. Choose Your Sales Channels
Investing in the right channels is critical for reaching your target audience and maximizing your outreach efforts. Make your selection based on:
- Your goals
- Audience behavior
- The types of products or services you offer
Let’s dive deeper into each major sales channel and how you can use them effectively.
Email Marketing
Email is still one of the most effective B2B sales channels, with a median ROI of 122%—over four times higher than other marketing formats like social media or paid search. To make email marketing work, focus on delivering valuable content that helps educate and build trust instead of pushing hard sales right out of the gate.
Follow ICP marketing best practices by segmenting your email lists based on buyer personas, company size, or previous engagement levels. And make sure to tailor your messages to address the specific pain points of each segment.
Here are some tips for using email effectively:
- Personalize your emails beyond just using the recipient’s name. Use data to send content relevant to the recipient’s industry, recent downloads, or previous interactions.
- Implement automated email workflows that respond to triggers, like signing up for a webinar, visiting a pricing page, or not opening a series of emails. This approach keeps prospects engaged at different stages in the sales funnel.
- Use A/B testing to optimize subject lines, content length, and calls-to-action (CTAs).
Social Media
LinkedIn is often the go-to social platform for B2B sales, but don’t overlook the potential of other networks like X and Facebook, depending on your target audience. Social media platforms allow sales teams to engage with prospects in a less formal manner. It’s a great channel for sharing valuable content, joining relevant discussions, and conducting social selling.
Use social media to your advantage by:
- Joining and actively participating in industry-specific LinkedIn groups to expand your network and demonstrate expertise.
- Sharing a mix of content types, including company news, industry insights, client testimonials, and thought leadership pieces to keep followers engaged.
- Using social listening tools like Brandwatch or BuzzSumo to monitor discussions about relevant topics, industry pain points, or even your competitors. This can give you valuable insights into what your prospects care about so you can personalize your outreach accordingly.
Phone Calls
Even though digital channels have grown in popularity, phone calls still have a place in B2B sales, especially for complex sales cycles. Phone outreach can be used to follow up on email campaigns, confirm attendance for events, or close deals when a more personal touch is needed.
Make the most of phone calls by:
- Never relying on cold calls alone. Warm calls, where you have some prior engagement or context with the prospect, tend to be more successful.
- Using phone outreach as part of a multi-step process. For example, send an introductory email or LinkedIn message before calling.
- Being prepared to leave a persuasive voicemail. If you can’t reach the prospect, an informative and engaging voicemail can prompt them to call you back.
In-Person Meetings and Events
Meetings or events held in person still play an important role in B2B sales, especially for account-based marketing (ABM) efforts and high-value contracts. Trade shows, conferences, and networking events give you the opportunity to build trust and discuss deals face-to-face.
Some strategies for in-person opportunities include:
- Prepare in advance by identifying key contacts you want to meet and scheduling meetings ahead of the event.
- Follow up promptly after the event with a personalized email or LinkedIn message to keep the conversation going.
- Bring value by offering a resource or scheduling a product demo that was discussed during the meeting.
Webinars and Virtual Events
Online events like webinars offer a cost-effective way to engage prospects by providing educational content while also promoting your product or service. Webinars work well for demonstrating expertise, generating leads, and moving prospects further down the sales funnel.
Run more effective webinars by following these tips:
- Choose topics that address your audience’s pain points or current industry trends to attract the right attendees.
- Invite subject matter experts who can provide unique insights and increase the credibility of your event.
- Record the webinar and use it as a follow-up lead magnet or asset, sharing it with attendees who missed it or using clips for social media content.
3. Integrate Your Channels for a Cohesive Strategy
A true multi-channel sales approach involves making sure all of your channels work together seamlessly. Here’s how to integrate them effectively:
- Create a unified brand message that adapts to each channel’s unique characteristics while maintaining a consistent brand voice.
- Coordinate timing so that each channel builds on the others. For example, send a follow-up email after a LinkedIn connection or use social media to remind attendees about an upcoming webinar.
- Use data and tools to track engagement across channels. Tools like CRM systems can consolidate data from multiple channels to provide a 360-degree view of your prospects.
Say a prospect opens your email but doesn’t respond; your sales team could follow up with a LinkedIn message or a phone call to try to engage them further.
4. Build a Content Strategy to Support Your Multi-Channel Approach
Content is the backbone of a multi-channel sales strategy. It should be tailored to each stage of the sales funnel, from awareness to decision-making.
- Awareness Stage: Blog articles, social media content, and infographics address your audience’s pain points when they’re still at the top of the funnel.
- Consideration Stage: As prospects begin considering specific solutions, case studies, webinars, and whitepapers showcase how your product or service solves their problems.
- Decision Stage: Personalized email sequences, product demos, and free trials can help you seal the deal.
Suppose you’re a software company targeting manufacturing firms. For the awareness stage, you could share LinkedIn posts about industry trends affecting manufacturing. For the consideration stage, offer a webinar about how automation software can optimize production workflows. Then provide a free trial option for the final decision stage.
5. Use Data to Personalize and Automate Outreach
Data-driven personalization can make a huge difference for engaging B2B buyers considering that 80% of customers are more likely to purchase from companies that offer personalized experiences. Use customer data to tailor your messaging based on factors like previous interactions, website activity based on insights from a website visitor tracking tool like LeadLander, and buyer persona.
Use marketing automation tools to send targeted messages based on triggers like website visits, email opens, or event attendance. And make sure to A/B test your messaging across different channels to continually optimize performance.
6. Monitor Your Success
Tracking the performance of your multi-channel sales program will help you continue to improve it over time. Monitor metrics like:
- Conversion rates: Are your efforts turning leads into customers?
- Engagement metrics: How often are prospects interacting with your content across channels?
- Attribution modeling: Which channels are most effective in driving conversions?
Tools like Google Analytics, social media dashboards, visitor identification platforms, and CRM reports can help measure these metrics.
For example, if your email campaigns have high open rates but low click-through rates, this could mean that the subject lines grab attention but the content in the body of the email isn’t compelling enough. So you work on refining your call-to-action or content format.
Best Practices for Implementing a Multi-Channel Sales Approach
It can be helpful to start with a pilot program to test different channels, messaging, and tactics on a smaller scale before committing significant resources. This step will help you identify which channels resonate most with your audience and fine-tune your approach.
How to pilot effectively:
- Select a specific segment of your audience to test your multi-channel sales approach. Choose a segment that represents your broader target market.
- Limit your pilot to 2-3 channels initially, and track performance metrics closely to identify what’s working.
- Solicit feedback from your sales team on what’s resonating with prospects and what needs improvement.
Maintain Consistent Communication
Consistency across channels is essential to create a seamless experience for prospects. While each platform may have its nuances, your overall message should align and reinforce the same core value propositions.
How to ensure consistency:
- Develop a content calendar to organize messaging across channels. This helps ensure that each touchpoint builds on the previous one without repetition.
- Train your sales and marketing teams to align their language and tone of communication. This minimizes discrepancies between marketing materials and direct sales outreach.
- Use a style guide that outlines brand messaging, tone, and visual elements to keep all content and communications aligned.
Align Sales and Marketing Teams
For a multi-channel strategy to succeed, your sales and marketing teams need to work in sync. Marketing generates leads and engages prospects, while sales follows up and closes deals. Close collaboration makes for a more seamless handoff between these teams and maximizes the chances of converting leads.
Here’s how to align teams effectively:
- Hold regular weekly or bi-weekly meetings between sales and marketing to share insights on lead quality, messaging effectiveness, and conversion rates.
- If you don’t have one already, implement a shared CRM system to give both teams visibility into customer interactions across channels.
- Establish shared goals and KPIs that both teams are accountable for, including revenue targets or conversion metrics.
Regularly Update Your Strategy
Your business is constantly evolving, and so should your multi-channel sales strategy. Regular updates keep your strategy relevant to your audience’s changing needs and market conditions.
Work to keep your strategy current by:
- Setting quarterly or bi-annual review sessions to assess performance across channels and adjust tactics based on the latest data.
- Staying informed about emerging channels or technologies that could benefit your strategy. For example, with AI tools becoming more integrated into sales processes, consider how you can use them to improve personalization.
- Listen to feedback from your sales team about changing prospect behavior or industry trends that could impact your multi-channel sales strategy.
Use Technology for Enhanced Integration and Insights
Integrating technology helps to automate workflows, track customer interactions across multiple channels, and measure campaign effectiveness.
Make the most out of your technology by:
- Using marketing automation tools like Marketo Engage and HubSpot to handle repetitive tasks like sending follow-up emails or regular social media posting.
- Consider using AI-driven tools for predictive analytics, lead scoring, or chatbots to enhance engagement and optimize your strategy further.
Put Your Multi-Channel Sales Program into Action
Developing a multi-channel sales program from scratch may seem daunting, but by following the six steps we’ve outlined here, you can build a program that effectively engages prospects and consistently drives revenue. When executed well, a multi-channel sales approach reaches the right leads with the right message at the right time.
Are you ready to start building your multi-channel sales strategy? Begin with one channel and expand gradually, measuring your results along the way. Your next big sale could be just one touchpoint away.