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Everything You Should Know About Apollo.io

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The most valuable business resource is time. However, research shows that most business leaders don’t adopt sales automation tools that save time for their operations. Marketing models hold the future of any company seeking to increase its overall revenue and clientele. Unlike before, it is easy to monitor emails, analyze data, and maintain client relationships using automated tools.

Fortunately, Apollo.io is one of the top-notch sales automation tools that every business can consider using today. Yes! This impressive software offers many benefits, such as error-free communication and successful acquisition of prospective customers. Our comprehensive guide explains how to start using it for your marketing functions today.

How Apollo.io Can Help Automate Your Sales Operations

It may seem obvious, but automating sales without a perfect tool is impossible. That’s why you need Apollo.io in your sales and marketing operations.

Let’s discuss how the marketing team can benefit from this software at various stages:

Prospecting

Finding leads is one of the biggest marketing challenges. Reports show that about 69% of sales representatives find it their trickiest job function. However, Apollo.io is well-designed to work with your customer relationship strategy (CRM). These two communicate and exchange critical information. For instance, when an officer executes a sale in Apollo.io, it will instantly reflect in the CRM, further boosting overall productivity.

Additionally, an Apollo.io Chrome extension is effective in sales automation. This extension helps you to identify prospective customers precisely across other platforms in the market. You can use it to find qualified prospects, acquire contact information, and computerize engagements in a LinkedIn window.

Messaging

Apollo.io will help automate your messaging to newly acquired prospects. One of its features is the Rules Engine, which opens unlimited sales automation possibilities. This option allows you to create rules and allocate action-based triggers. Generally, you can program what you want to happen automatically on various occasions.

Below is an illustration of some possible triggers and their respective actions that you can configure:

·        Call Logged: Eliminate Account from List

·        Account Created: Wait

·        Contact Created: Add Contact to Sequence/Lists

·        Account Updated: Set Contact Field

·        Email Sent: Create Contact Task

·        Email Bounced: Set an Account Field

·        Contact Initiated the First Step in the Sequence: Complete Contact Sequence

If you want to enjoy the importance of sales automation, you can’t overlook this practical feature in Apollo.io. The Rules Engine can help you whether you intend to send emails automatically or assign tasks to sales reps. Stick around as we’ll discuss how to use Apollo.io in such functions.

Full Pipeline Management

A great CEO in a startup company continuously monitors leads, updates the progress of work, and tracks overall sales performance. Luckily, Apollo.io can perform all these functions!

Apollo.io has a Sequences tool that can manage and plan your sales cycle. It enables the sales team to access their outbound system from their end. They can configure timed steps (computerized phone calls, emails, and other action items), initiate triggers and functions for SDRs, and specify sequence permissions. Generally, this software supports painting management automation.

Additionally, you can receive updates when prospects and leads change their professional status through Apollo’s Job Change alert. This is significantly helpful when managing your painting company. For example, you can contact a lead in the first weeks of their job, which is profitable for selling time.

The Job Change Alerts feature updates of new sales engagement opportunities and keep the CRM accurate.

How to Set Up Apolo.io for Sales Functions

You are probably seeking to enjoy the benefits of using Apollo.io in sales and marketing operations. However, it’s crucial to understand the setup approach across various interfaces to maximize its benefits. In this section, we’ll explain the details of setting up this automation tool for different functions:

LinkedIn Prospecting

LinkedIn is a leading business networking website with a whopping one billion global users from over 200 states. You’ll find anyone you need from the platform, including esteemed executives and entry-level job seekers. In simple terms, LinkedIn is a paradise for reaching managers.

Apollo.io blends perfectly with LinkedIn. The Apollo.io dashboard allows you to survey the platform directly. Also, you can obtain LinkedIn features via Gmail. After locking in the prospects, you can:

Save to Apollo.io To save the contacts into your Apollo.io stored info.
Save to List To add the contact information to an existing list.
Add as Account Save the contacts like company accounts.

While it is super easy to do all these manually, a sales tool saves you a lot of time. It minimizes the hours you could have spent cracking various LinkedIn profiles, searching for contacts, grouping them, and exporting them as single files.

However, Apollo.io enables you to complete all these steps in a few minutes. You also don’t need to trace double entries as the software skips any contact in the database. Further, it instantly lets you acquire all the verified phone numbers and emails from your LinkedIn and load them to the CRM.

There’s also an option to access LinkedIn via Gmail. When you key in your prospect’s name in Gmail, their LinkedIn profile appears on the right-hand sidebar.

access LinkedIn via Gmail

Afterward, you can add the target prospect to a sequence or list. If a prospect wishes to opt out of your lead generation program, you simply select “do not contact,” and they’ll be exempted from your message list.

Apollo.io has an extra functionality: you can access its email templates in Gmail with a simple click of a button. Immediately after you provide a person’s email address, the software completes the email automatically and personalizes it.

You can also configure follow-up notifications to receive reminders after a specific duration. For instance, you can receive a reminder if your prospect doesn’t respond after one week and follow them up. Thus, Apollo.io ensures all your prospects receive notifications through follow-ups. Moreover, it tracks your emails and informs you of:

·        Anyone who opened your email

·        When they opened it

·        Their location

Creating a Campaign Using Apollo.io Prospector

Apollo.io contains a comprehensive prospect pool from which you can always fish. The tool can enable you to find contact information about people and business-related companies. This database finds over 10 million people and five million companies.

You can use Apollo.io to search for:

1. People

A fantastic feature that saves you from the hassle of finding suitable prospects for a persona.

prospects for a persona with Apollo.ai

You can locate them based on their title, industry, department, and other information. Using the job title, you can also select the seniority of your prospects, such as CEO, Manager, intern, and employee. This top-notch targeting helps you find the appropriate prospects who later become leads.

2. Companies

Targeting plays a significant role when campaigning. Identify the right companies that meet your campaign needs. You can select companies with these details:

·        Job Openings

·        Company size

·        Market/Industry

·        Alexa rank

·        Revenue

·        The number of employees

·        The applied technology

·        Keywords

Apollo.io has over 50 data attributes you can utilize to get a company you are interested in. Thus, you can use it for fast and accurate targeting.

Setting Up the Mailbox

Emails determine the success of an outreach campaign. Your campaigns will become unfruitful without a responsive email tool. Learning to configure your mailbox is crucial to succeed in your campaigns. The Apollo.io innovative feature lets you send emails that fulfill the best marketing strategies.

You can ascertain:

1. Daily Sending Limit in 24 Hours

Apollo.io allows you to limit the number of emails you are willing to send in 24 hours. It recommends setting a range of 100 to 400. Depending on the number of Google accounts you use, your limit can lie within this threshold or decrease.

2. Maximum Number of Emails to Send per Hour

You can also control the number of emails you send every 60 minutes. Apollo.io advises users to send only 100 emails per hour. This is because sending a higher number will trigger the spam filters and block your emails.

3. Delay Between Emails in Seconds

Apollo.io has automatically set emails to follow each other in 30-second intervals. However, you can change this setting if you wish.

Note that these tips help you start with Apollo.io, and you can try more in the future. For instance, you can gradually increase your Gmail sending limit to 1,000+ emails daily. Interestingly, the tool is rich in resources that guide you on how to use it.

Apollo.io also has an email signature available on other leading mailboxes. You can create a new one or acquire it from your Gmail account. However, always avoid inserting excess links when using signatures, as emails may appear to be spam content.

Creating Sequences in Apollo

An email sequence is a proven way to engage prospects and maintain them in your funnel. Here is how you can create it in Apollo.io:

I. Create from the Beginning: Build an extremely new sequence from the first to the last step.

II. Use Pre-built Templates: Use Apollo-designed templates that match your context.

III. Edit an Existing Sequence: Customize an existing sequence to craft a new one.

The most crucial aspect of email sequencing is incorporating the rules engine. Otherwise, you will email the wrong recipient and destroy your prospects.

Rules Engine

The automation triggers and rules greatly determine the success of email sequences. Apollo.io allows you to design cross-object laws that guide your sequences. You can set rules based on custom stages, fields, triggers, activities at the lead, or various accounts. Also, you can design filters depending on the industry, persona, account stage, and funding.

CRM Integration

The CRM is the backbone of your customer data management interface. Using Apollo.io, you can push your list directly into HubSpot or Salesforce. You can also download your contacts as a CSV file.

This automated tool keeps your CRM constantly updated. It gives you access to over 65 detailed data points about your leads, contacts, and account profiles. Using this in-depth data about your sales strategy will make a significant difference.

Sales Operations Analytics

In addition to helping you attain a considerable lead base, Apollo.io can supply you with data-rich insights. The tool customizes reports and dashboards that explain the behavior and demographic information. It works with Salesforce and produces in-depth reports that explain:

·        Opportunity win rates

·        Call connect rates

·        Meeting conversion rates

·        Deal size per industry or company size

·        The steps conversion rates for sequences

There are also other crucial factors that you can determine, understand, and design your strategy.

Integrating Apollo.io with Other Tools

Although Apollo.io is remarkable, it needs some tools to run your operations entirely. You can power up your Apollo by merging it with existing tools in your tech store. Connect it easily with:

Tool Purpose
LinkedIn Find verified phone numbers and email addresses to insert them into your CRM seamlessly.
Salesforce Update and upgrade your Salesforce contact information.
HubSpot Incorporate over 210 million business addresses from Apollo to convert your HubSpot into a stable marketing engine.
Gmail Give your Gmail power to work with your CRM: Acquire templates from Apollo.io and track clicks and opens.
SendGrid Initiate SendGrid business emails using Apollo.
Marketo Acquire over 65 fields to promote your lead routing and scoring.

How to Create an Account with Apollo.io

Considering that Apollo.io offers incredible benefits, it will be great to incorporate it into your sales automation functions. However, you need a user account to easily create within a few steps. Here is the step-by-step procedure:

  1. Sign up for an account at www.apollo.io using your business email address.
  2. Fill in the required details on the website and consult your team’s administrator if necessary.
  3. Integrate Apollo.io with your CRM system, like Salesforce or HubSpot, to ensure seamless data synchronization between platforms.
  4. Set up user roles and permissions based on individual responsibilities within the team.
  5. Customize settings such as time zone preferences, notification alerts, and tracking options according to your requirements.

Apollo.io is a well-priced tool that can boost your sales leads and elevate your business to the next level. It simplifies your work and performs roles beyond your perfection. Any SDR looking for fruitful endeavors should consider it as a must-have tool. So, if you are seeking data-driven engagement and outreach software, try your hands on Apollo.io today.

Elad Itzkovitch, CEO of CMO’vate, excels in B2B International Marketing and Growth Strategy, with expertise in diverse areas like SEO and CRM optimization. His hands-on approach and deep integration into client teams set him apart, allowing tailored solutions to unique business challenges.

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