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If you’ve ever sent out an outreach sequence, you’ve probably asked yourself these questions:
Is this the right time for me to contact these prospects? How can I be sure they’re really interested in my offer?
And you’re right. In fact, timing is a fundamental element of successful campaigns.
Unfortunately, it’s often very difficult to know what the right timing is. Fortunately, there’s a solution: rely on a sales trigger.
In this article, you’ll learn what a trigger is in sales, see its different variations, and how to integrate them into your sequences to make your results explode.
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La Growth Machine now allows you, with just one click, to target people who have interacted with content on LinkedIn, whether they:
- Follow your LinkedIn company page
- Liked or commented on posts (regardless of the source)
- Or participated in a LinkedIn Live event (not just the ones you organized)
These people are far more engaged and likely to convert than cold prospects you’d typically reach out to.
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What is a sales trigger?
A sales trigger is a signal, based on an event, an action, or the behavior of a prospect or their company, that informs us about the purchase intention or the relevance of our offer to a prospect.
Triggers are also sometimes called “Intents” for “Buyer Intent”.
Expert Tip 🧠
Here is a non-exhaustive list of possible sales triggers
- Recruitment in progress for a specific position
- Recent change of position
- Raising funds
- Reaction to a LinkedIn post (like or comment)
- A former user of your product has changed company
- Joining a LinkedIn group or a Slack community
- Participation in a trade show
- Participation in a webinar
- Obtain a prize, award or label for your company
- Tools or technology used
- Return from vacation
- Etc.
The power of sales triggers
Integrating a sales trigger into your outreach strategy comes with several benefits. Here are the key advantages:
1. A smaller, better-targeted audience
We have observed an inverse correlation between audience size and campaign performance.
Indeed, the smaller the audience, the higher the campaign performance.
So sales triggers, based on precise events, mechanically reduce the audience size.
Example 🔍
It’s easy to see that companies with between x and y employees AND that are recruiting for a specific position, will be less numerous than simply companies with between x and y employees.
2. Better timing for contact
Indeed, the nerve of outreach is to contact the prospect at the right time. The success of the same offer, with the same prospect, may depend solely on timing. As a reminder, sales triggers, based on specific events, provide us with information on the purchase intent and/or relevance of our offer to prospects.
Example 🔍
For example, if a prospect attends a webinar entitled “Which outreach tool should you choose for your prospecting?”, we can be sure that the timing is right to contact him and introduce him to La Growth Machine.
3. Having a reason for making contact enhances the impact of the message
Having a specific reason for contacting a prospect is a game-changer. Indeed, it gives the impression that the message is not (entirely) automated, that the person reaching out has done their research on the company or individual, and that there is a genuine interest in the prospect’s needs or challenges.
For example, the impact and effectiveness of the message are completely different in these two cases:
Message 1 (without trigger):
Hi Tim,
I’ve created {{productName}} a tool that reduces sales training time by 25% in two weeks.
Would you like to know more about it?
→ Unfortunately, Tim’s sales team has been working for the company for two years, it’s clear that lack of training isn’t the issue. Tim is unlikely to respond to your messages.
Message 2 (with trigger):
Hi Tim,
I see you’re in the process of recruiting a sales person for Apple.
I’ve just created {{productName}}, a tool that cuts sales training time by 25% in two weeks.
Would you like to know more about it?
→ Tim was just wondering about the best ways to train his new salespeople. Tim finds this message timely and responds. A call is scheduled.
Which situation do you prefer? The answer is obvious.
Sometimes, the situation even goes beyond the impact and effectiveness of the message:
Situation 1, no trigger:
No one has noticed that John has changed companies. No message will be sent, and an opportunity will be lost.
Situation 2, with trigger:
John, a user of La Growth Machine at Microsoft, has just joined Apple.
Hello John,
I saw that you recently joined Apple, congratulations!
As a former user of La Growth Machine at Microsoft, I was wondering if prospecting is also a topic at Apple?
If so, would you be interested in using La Growth Machine again at your new company?
4. Make copywriting easier
Everyone knows that the hook is decisive in prospecting. With sales triggers, there’s no need to spend hours racking your brain to find the right message: simply state it clearly at the start of the message, as indicated in the previous point. With the beginning of the message written down, it’s then easy to write the rest and present your solution.
How to integrate sales triggers into your outreach strategy?
Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty and put theory into practice. Here are the steps to follow:
Step 1: Define which sales trigger is most relevant to your sequence
The first step is to identify the trigger best suited to your solution. To do this, make a list of all the sales triggers (you can copy and paste the one at the beginning of this article).
For this step, don’t limit yourself: if you have an idea for a trigger but don’t know whether it will work, write it down anyway and see later if you decide to use it.
Once you’ve made your list, select the most suitable trigger. If several are suitable, don’t hesitate to A/B test them in two sequences to see which works best.
Example 🔍
Here are a few examples:
- You sell a tool to facilitate the onboarding of sales reps ⇒ relevant trigger = recruitment of sales reps.
- Offline is a channel that works very well for you ⇒ relevant trigger = trade show participation.
- You sell a tool that offers a native connection with Hubspot ⇒ relevant trigger = the company uses Hubspot.
What tools can I use to identify sales triggers?
Numerous tools exist to capture sales triggers. Some of the best-known are:
- RB2B, with its person-level visitor identification feature, allows you to discover not only the companies but also the specific individuals visiting your website. It delivers real-time LinkedIn profiles directly to your team via Slack.
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- Clearbit (now acquired by HubSpot) via its “IP Intelligence” feature, which enables you to find out which companies have visited your website
- ZoomInfo via its “IP to Org Pairings” feature, which tracks the IP addresses of visitors to your site
- Sales Navigator via the “Spotlights” section, which provides access to 3 sales triggers: Fundraising over the last 12 months, Management changes over the last 3 months, Recruitment on LinkedIn
If you specifically target French companies 🇫🇷
- Pharow targets companies recruiting for specific positions, raising funds, or using specific technologies
- LoneScale, which identifies companies that have just posted job offers, or that have just recruited for a specific position
- SocieteInfo with its 49 events divided into 12 categories, provides detailed insights.
Step 2: Create your prospect list based on sales triggers
Now that you’ve identified the triggers you want to use and know which tools to use, let’s build a list of prospects together.
Example 1 🔍
In this example, let’s say we’re preparing to launch a tool on Product Hunt, targeting users of the platform.
The good news is we’ve found a LinkedIn group called “Product Hunt | Products | Discussions | Stories,” with over 3,000 members. We’ll use this group as our trigger.
To export these prospects, we’ll use Sales Navigator. Here are the following steps:
- Step 1 – In the “Leads” filters, simply enter the name of the LinkedIn group in the corresponding field.
- Step 2 – Next, import these leads into La Growth Machine. To do this, go to the “Leads” tab and create an audience which we’ll name “Audience Product Hunt”.
- Step 3 – Click on “Import Leads” and select “Import from LinkedIn” option.
- Step 4 – Select the Sales Navigator Search option, and paste the link to your Sales Navigator search:
- Step 5 : Select your previously created audience and voilà!
All your prospects will be added to the audience, and you can now launch your campaign to contact them.
Example 2 🔍
We’re creating a list of potential leads for a tool that helps rapidly train new Sales Reps. Our target audience is sales management roles, like Head of Sales, Sales Director, and similar positions. The main trigger for engagement will be companies that are actively recruiting for Sales roles. To create the list, we’ll use Pharow.
And it all happens in just a few clicks:
- Step 1 – In the “Targeting prospects” section, select “Sales Management” roles to focus on positions like Head of Sales, Sales Director, and VP of Sales.
- Step 2 – Next, in the “Targeting companies” section, click “Explore” to refine your search based on the companies hiring for sales positions.
Numerous filters are available, classified by category: activities, themes, NAF, and… magic filters (the ones we’re interested in here):
Step 3 – Once on “Magic filters”, click on the “In recruitment” section to display more filters. Then, select Recruitment by job type > Employee recruitment > Employee recruitment: Sales & Marketing > Employee recruitment: Business Development.
Step 4 – Indicate the desired location. Here, the department we’re interested in is Ile de France.
Step 5 – Finally, indicate the company size. In our case, we select 10 to 49 employees.
And voilà, we now have a highly targeted list aligned with our trigger!
You can even take it a step further to personalize your copywriting by clicking on “recruitments” to view the specific job offer and the site where it’s listed:
Step 3: How to integrate sales triggers in your copywriting?
Now that the list is ready, we can move on to the next step: writing the sequence. And mentioning the trigger couldn’t be simpler: just include it at the beginning of the first message in your sequence.
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As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, the trigger is the reason for initiating contact. It serves as an icebreaker, sparking the prospect’s interest and encouraging them to continue reading.
Here are a few examples of simple wording to mention the trigger.
- I saw that
- I noticed that
- I’m writing to you because
- I’m contacting you because
- I saw you at the trade show
Expert advice 🧠
After mentioning the trigger, I advise you to continue writing with the following structure
- Problem: Clearly identify and explain the problem that your prospect is facing
- Value proposition: Present how your tool/service addresses this problem, highlighting its unique value
- Benefits: Showcase the quantified benefits that stem from your value proposition. Include links to relevant resources (such as customer case studies, blog articles, or testimonials, etc.)
- Social Proof: Highlight well-known customers using your solution or share compelling data (e.g., number of users, customer satisfaction rates) to establish credibility
- CTA: End with a soft call to action that encourages engagement, such as confirming if the prospect is experiencing the problem you mentioned
Example of a sales sequence with a relevant sales trigger:
We created this campaign for Leexi, a great conversational intelligence tool that uses artificial intelligence to transcribe, analyze, and summarize calls and videoconferences.
Leexi is particularly well-suited to onboarding Sales Reps, as it allows them to listen to past calls and review them for training purposes. The tool also provides detailed statistics, helping sales teams understand why certain calls are more successful than others.
Our target audience is as follows:
- Heads of Sales at tech companies with 50 to 200 employees who are actively recruiting salespeople
To build the prospect lists, we used LinkedIn Sales Navigator, a tool that helps identify companies currently recruiting.
We then created a multi-channel campaign to contact all prospects and optimize the response rate. Here it is:
Two main branches make up the sequence:
- A mail and LinkedIn messages branch, when the professional mail is found
- A LinkedIn-only branch, when the mail is not found
Let’s start with the email branch:
Email #1
Subject: Onboarding commerciaux
Hello {{gender}} {{lastname}},
II noticed you’re currently recruiting sales staff.
Post-hire training is crucial but often complex and time-consuming.
Leexi simplifies call recording and replay for more effective coaching.
With our call library, you can streamline the onboarding process, reducing onboarding time by 40% and accelerating skill development, leading to a 20-50% increase in conversion rates.
Fnac Darty, Efficy and many others trust us.
You can find the link to our platform in my signature below.
Would you like to learn more?
Email #2
Subject: Notes & meetings
Hello {{gender}} {{lastname}},
Have you had a chance to check out the platform?
Using AI, we help you train your sales team more efficiently.
No need to split your focus—an automatic summary of calls and video conferences is sent directly to your management software or CRM.
Here’s a video showcasing these features: {{identity.video}}
To try out the platform, simply click on the link in my signature below.
Have a great day,
LinkedIn Contact Request #1:
Hello {{firstname}},
I tried to contact you by email (via {{proEmail}}).
Did you receive it?
First LinkedIn Message:
Hello {{firstname}},
I hope you’re doing well. As I haven’t heard back, I wanted to check in one last time.
Perhaps you’re not the right person to contact at {{companyName}}? If that’s the case, could you kindly point me in the right direction?
Thank you for your help!
Have a great day,
Second LinkedIn Message:
Hello {{firstname}},
I hope you’re doing well. As I haven’t heard back, I wanted to check in one last time.
Perhaps you’re not the right person to contact at {{companyName}}? If that’s the case, could you kindly point me in the right direction?
Thank you for your help!
Have a great day,
Let’s take a look at the LinkedIn Only branch:
Message #1
Hello {{firstname}},
Have you had a chance to explore the platform yet?
Message #2
Hello {{firstname}},
Have you had a chance to explore the platform yet?
Using AI, we help you train your sales team more efficiently.
With Leexi, you no longer need to split your focus. An automatic summary of your calls and video meetings is seamlessly sent to your management software or CRM.
Here’s a video showcasing these features: {{identity.video}}
To test the platform, click here: {{identity.link}}
Have a great day,
Message #3
Hello {{firstname}},
I thought you might be interested in seeing what the platform looks like in action.
Here’s a video that introduces all its features: {{identity.link}}
Have a great day,
Message #4
Hello {{firstname}},
I haven’t heard back from you, so I wanted to check in one last time.
Is it possible that you’re not the right person to contact at {{companyName}}? If so, could you kindly point me in the right direction?
Thank you for your help!
Have a great day,
Conclusion
In today’s world, with the widespread use of cold outreach (via email and LinkedIn), people are receiving more prospecting messages than ever. And let’s be honest—the quality and relevance of these messages often leave much to be desired.
Leveraging sales triggers gives you a real chance to stand out. By providing insights into a prospect’s buying intent, behavior, or key events, sales triggers allow you to reach out at just the right time with a message that truly resonates.
If you have any questions about incorporating sales triggers into your sequences, feel free to reach out to us on LinkedIn. we’d be happy to help!
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