We Immerse Ourselves In Your Business
In the most basic terms, we immerse ourselves in your business, map your market in each country, then bring you interested and qualified potential customers. With our support, you then close the deal.
How can we at Unlock LATAM improve your sales processes?
We remove all the cold outreach, localize, automate and optimize all the manual processes from new business prospecting, freeing up your sales and business development team to do what they do best: selling your offering in Latin America.
If advertising and inbound marketing could be described as “net fishing” for leads, our approach could be described as “spear fishing”.
You start by telling us the number of meetings you need to generate, with who and over what time period. We then build a bespoke programme and team to deliver exactly those results.
We cover all B2B segments and job titles in Latin America, with individual-level targeting to produce real leads.
We don’t just target companies, we engage specific professionals in those companies. We don’t just deliver you a list of contacts, we deliver you real business decision makers who have already, demonstrably shown they are interested in your company.
Our track record shows we typically deliver between 70-90% response rates from our clients’ target companies.
Immersion, market intelligence and mapping
we start by immersing ourselves in your business and offering, identifying the key features that will most engage your target prospects in each Latin American country, depending on job function and sector. We then conduct a rigorous mapping exercise, using a combination of technology tools to build a database of individuals in target, high-value companies or accounts, agreed with you in advance. We then test each contact’s email address for validity and deliverability. This mapping covers multiple personas in each target company (not only the ultimate decision maker, but also the “owners of the problem”), focusing specifically on who deals with the pain point within this company or department
Localisation of sales messaging, assets and literature
based on our analysis of the local market nuances, needs and demand for your offering, we then support you to localize your sales assets and literature, ensuring they are both effective and culturally appropriate for your target prospects and business segments, creating an attractive narrative set you apart from the competition
Technology set up, configuration and email cadence design
drawing on best practices of Outbound Prospecting, combining methodologies from industry leaders such as Aaron Ross, Lincoln Murphy and Stelly Efty, only “tropicalized” for the Latin American market, our specialist team will design effective one-to-one, natural-sounding message cadences, each optimized to generate maximum response rates from your ideal customers. Once these are approved, we then configure and set up messaging intervals and sequences using the most effective technology tools and team workflows to execute the campaign
Outbound prospecting and ongoing campaign execution and optimization
we initiate ongoing data-driven outreach campaigns to your pre-approved target prospects, continually monitoring live performance metrics and alerts to proactively engage the hottest leads through Y-Funnel strategy tactics (approaching highly-engaged prospects through more than one channel), taking advantage of short windows of interest and opportunity, working in close partnership with your sales or business development team. More immediate or urgent actions and results are sent to our clients in real time, so no opportunities are wasted
Reporting and counsel
we deliver detailed weekly reports showing metrics for all prospects engaged, including response temperature tagging (Hot lead, Neutral response and No Fit/Bad timing etc.), as well as learnings and optimisations to be applied in next steps, which are also the subject of our regular calls with clients
Background briefings, facilitation and translation support for sales meetings
we support you in scheduling meetings, providing background briefing materials on the parties and companies present as well as translation services if required
Closing
this part is normally down to you. Your sales or business development team takes over communication with the prospect to bring the deal to a conclusion. We can also provide sales representation support if required.
Financial consultancy and due diligence
our specialist finance team can then support you in conducting due diligence on potential partners and customers, offering risk management strategies, contracting advice, and comprehensive financial analysis to ensure informed decision-making. Additionally, we provide guidance on regulatory compliance, financial forecasting, and financial structuring for your outbound finance activities.
What we do
Core Services and Process
In the most basic terms, we immerse ourselves in your business, map your market in each country, then bring you interested and qualified potential customers. With our support, you then close the deal.
Our Ways of Working
We believe that strong consultancy/client relationships are built through a spirit of partnership, honesty and transparency, underlined by robust campaign management processes including:
- Genuinely Bilingual teams
- Shared messenger groups with clients
- Fortnightly update calls to drive activity forward
- Ongoing results monitoring and optimisation
- Weekly Activity, KPIs and Insights Reports
- Quarterly review meetings to assess progress against plan and long-term strategic objectives
Global best practices
The global picture of outbound prospecting has evolved significantly since Aaron Ross (part of Salesforce.com’s founding team) wrote the groundbreaking book “Predictable Revenue” in 2011 and “From Impossible to Inevitable” in 2016, but our experience shows that this is even more the case in Latin American markets.
Ever since the concept of outbound prospecting was first introduced here, our founding team has been on a long journey of discovery with a wide variety of clients. A journey that’s taken us to some surprising places.
While the basic tenets of predictable revenue strategy remain true, we have seen and learned first-hand that there are significant differences in its successful execution here, that are determined by different business cultures and market conditions.
We were in the right place at the right time to introduce and refine these practices from the start, and our approach continues to be one of carefully honing and applying these lessons to this day.
What Value do We Add?
Unlock goes beyond traditional lead generation services, offering a comprehensive range of prospecting and business development solutions designed to enhance your company’s growth and success. When you partner with us, you can expect the following value-added benefits:
Reduced Internal Costs
Our streamlined processes and expertise help minimize the internal costs associated with lead generation, allowing you to allocate resources more efficiently.
Greater Efficiencies and Focus for Your Business Development Team
By entrusting your lead generation efforts to us, your sales team can concentrate on core business activities (i.e. selling), maximizing productivity and achieving better outcomes.
Increased Leads and Predictable Sales
We employ proven strategic approaches and practices to generate high-quality leads and nurture them into predictable sales opportunities, ensuring a consistent revenue stream for your business.
Market Research and Analysis
Unlock can conduct market research and analysis specific to the LATAM region, helping companies understand the competitive landscape, customer behavior, market trends, and potential opportunities and challenges.
Sustained Growth
Our long-term strategies are designed to fuel sustained business growth, enabling you to expand your customer base and stay ahead of the competition.
Deep Local Market Expertise
Unlock has in-depth knowledge of the LATAM market, including cultural nuances, business practices, and regulatory requirements. We can provide valuable insights and guidance for companies looking to expand into this region.
Existing networks, relationships with key Partners
Leveraging our extensive network, we capitalize on our existing relationships with key partners, facilitating mutually beneficial collaborations that drive business growth.
Language and Communication
Language barriers can be a significant challenge when entering a new market. Unlock has completely bilingual teams that can bridge the communication gap, ensuring effective communication with local customers, suppliers, and partners.
Regulatory Compliance
Navigating complex regulatory frameworks can be challenging in foreign markets. Unlock can provide guidance on legal and regulatory compliance, ensuring companies meet local requirements and avoid costly mistakes.
Risk Mitigation
Expanding into a new market involves inherent risks. Unlock can help mitigate risks by providing market insights, conducting due diligence on potential partners or customers, and offering risk management strategies.
Our Philosophy To Business Prospecting
Our underlying philosophy to new business prospecting is based on international predictable revenue best practices, but with a distinctly “tropicalized” methodology for the Latin American context.
Localizing to the Latin American reality
Being sensitive to the local reality and business context is key. Traditional rules or concepts from the original Predictable Revenue playbook need to be altered, adapted or, in some cases, even eliminated in order to generate the best results in each country.
Trying to apply a prospecting model based on US market conditions in Brazil, for example, will not be effective, and in many cases can even generate negative results and backlash.
Some cultures demand a more fast, to-the-point approach. Others require a more explanatory tone. This also changes by sector, job function and persona.
Individual-level approaches
Alongside being sensitive to different markets’ cultures, we also need to be sensitive to the individuals involved. Our approach is based on one-to-one targeting and conversations, not one-to-many commercial or marketing messages. We need to show and prove that we understand and empathize with our target personas, communicating with them through sophisticated and multi-layered message cadences.
For more than six years, we have had the unique opportunity to apply, test and validate different strategies, for companies from all sectors with all kinds of target customers. It has been an experience that has revealed many insights and trends, backed up by performance data.
The numbers show that Brazil’s business culture, for example, has a higher requirement for more detailed and extended explanations about new offers or business models (or indeed, anything that is new to the market) than some other countries.
It typically needs a target persona to pay attention to a new company politely “knocking on their door” a few times, rather than singing (however tunefully) from outside. Different, extended sequences of emails and strategies are required to make the persona read enough content to feel genuinely inclined to let someone new enter that door.
This is why we deploy a bespoke multi-layered approach that allows our clients to create a narrative carefully designed for specific, individual personas, speaking directly to him or her.
These are supported by complementary influencer cadences, that target personas around the main decision maker, but with the objective of creating referral from within the company, along with retargeting cadences, reengagement cadences, among many other tactics.
Being human
Technology plays an essential role in our work, but we know we can’t rely on technology alone to produce results.
You can have the best tech on the market, but without a clear strategy, skilled consultants and communicators and, perhaps most importantly, a proactive and agile approach, it will not deliver the last mile in terms of responses.
In spite of all the recent advances in AI, our campaign data and experience prove that if you want to elicit the best responses in Latin America, you still need the human touch.
Over six years of testing, we have learned and developed a methodology that achieves best possible results possible in our markets. We use elements of original predictable revenue theory, but with many unique and customized criteria that can reach places that would be unthinkable with a normally programmed outbound cadence. We strive to deliver the essence of “spear fishing” (as Aaron Ross would put it) in outbound marketing, but always applied in
proven, practical terms that fit our local markets.
Seeing ourselves through local eyes
Unlike other consultancies in the region, we specialize in supporting international clients. Our team is itself international, having spent years working abroad, is bi-lingual and highly experienced and sensitive to the unique requirements and unique qualities of international businesses operating in Latin America. We have feet on both sides of the fence.
What does that mean? Most importantly, we are sensitive to the way international companies can be received and perceived in our markets.
The qualities and features (and even pain points) that might stand out to decision makers in the USA, Asia or Europe will not necessarily be the same in Latin America. To be successful, we need to constantly check the pulse of these target personas.
We see our clients’ international offerings through uniquely Latin American eyes.
True consultancy, planning and strategic partnership
As a consultancy, our whole business model is based on long-term client relationships. It is in our professional DNA never to be satisfied. Our clients’ success is our success, and our data-driven way of working demands that we are honest and continually look for performance enhancements. The numbers clearly show when we are doing well or not, so we always look to go the extra mile. “Good enough” is never good enough in our methodology.
A key part of this is planning. To be able to run a prospecting program that will stand out, it’s critical we first have a deep understanding of our client’s business, sector, the product or service offered and competition (local and international) as well as the personas we are targeting
This foundation allows us to determine key campaign factors, such as number of stages, narrative and timing required, as well as make agile and real-time adjustments to programs to ensure we can capitalize on each window of opportunity that presents itself.
Timing is everything
For all our focus on performance and outcomes, our work is a marathon and not a sprint. We deliver an optimized process, narrative and conversations that lead to real revenue growth, but timing, patience and faith in the system is everything.
Unlike an email marketing campaign, our prospecting campaigns are not “one shot” events. Responses over the course of the cadence are what we’re looking for, not initial open rates. Most targets will not read or even open the first email they receive. But that’s ok. Regardless of market or sector, we need to work to earn the right to speak with new companies, and earn the trust of our target personas.
Just like waiting for buses at the terminal, regardless of longer campaign plans or schedules, the nature of outbound cadences is that results come in different waves, which is why we plan KPIs and track back over an extended monthly period.
The narrative is the key point in the campaign. It is the very tip of the “fishing spear”, however the reality is that this spear always takes time to land. Usually, a targeted persona (normally a manager or director at the C-Level) takes time to truly absorb the story. Even more so if it is coming from a new company or person that they’ve never spoken to before.
This is why we deploy different cadences with varied rhythms and intervals for different personas, and also different verticals. In some cases, a persona that has been included in the campaign since the start will only respond at the very end of a message cadence – but this result will only happen as a product of the entire narrative cycle. In fact, our data shows that in some markets, the last message is statistically the most likely to generate a reply.
We need to supply the right percentage of information, in the right way to earn a response.
Being proactive about being reactive
While thorough planning sets up for success, agility is what guarantees it.
Each of our target personas needs to know that we have taken time to understand both them and their company.
The whole outbound marketing concept is based on the fact that you are approaching someone in a professional context (i.e. you are not personal friends or acquaintances) but that you have a right to reach out to them, providing you follow the standards of professional etiquette appropriate to the country and culture you are operating in.
For this reason, it’s essential the narrative you use be wrapped into an educational and appropriate corporate tone: it must never be overtly commercial or disingenuously familiar.
This approach ensures the recipient will remain open to future messages from you, without having already made a quick judgment that they don’t want to hear any more. Even if the target has not had the time or inclination to reply to your initial contacts, the door is still open to you.
At this moment, the reactive “Y-Funnel” strategy comes into its own. This is a protocol where we handpick target personas, based on their realtime behavioral metrics, and connect with them via an additional channel (i.e. Linkedin, Whatsapp etc.) to maximize response rates.
Our team daily monitors key metrics, such as open rates and open timings, to configure and trigger alerts that let us know when a person is statistically most open and respond to us (1 hour windows) and, working in partnership with your sales team, compose and deliver an additional approach to maximize results.