How to Book 20% More Meetings With Co-Prospecting

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What if I told you that you could increase your reply rates by up to 20% by having multiple reps working together as a team?

It's possible with co-prospecting.

It's just about sending your BDRs and AEs — and, if you're small enough, your CEO — after the same target accounts from different angles and warming them up for a demo.

What is Co-Prospecting?

Co-prospecting involves multiple team members — BDRs, AEs, and potentially execs — targeting a single account from different angles. Here's why you should consider it:

• Increased Booking Rates: Clari saw a 5-10% increase in reply and booking rates using co-prospecting. At Letterdrop, results were even more impressive with our reply rates hitting 20% when we co-prospected.
• Targeting from Multiple Angles: CEOs or sales leaders can target executive-level prospects at the account, while BDRs focus on research and lower-level contacts — you're able to cover all sides.

How to Implement Co-Prospecting

Step 1: Build a Strong Business Case

To get buy-in for co-prospecting from leadership, it's important to present a compelling case that highlights the potential results and clearly outlines the time commitment.

For example:

• Talk about results from Clari and Letterdrop. "Clari saw a 5-10% increase in reply and booking rates using co-prospecting. At Letterdrop, they initially saw LinkedIn reply rates reach nearly 50% when their CEO participated in outreach. This levelled out to about 20%."
• Talk about minimal time commitment. "Co-prospecting requires just 30 minutes to an hour per week from each team member, making it a manageable addition to our current workflow."

Step 2: Divide Responsibilities Between Your BDRs and AEs

Start by having your BDRs and AEs (or if you're a smaller team, even your CEO) collaborate on a joint outreach plan to "tag team" accounts.

Weekly 15-minute syncs is all that we need to execute on this successfully. In these syncs:

• Discuss accounts you are going after that week (keep it to a maximum of five at a time to keep it manageable)
• Review the tracking document for target IC and DM details at these target accounts (more on this later)

BDR Responsibilities

As a BDR, you'll be doing most the heavy lifting. You're responsible for account research and prep work. This includes understanding who the ICs and DMs are at target accounts, getting their details, and preparing scripts for you, your AEs, and execs to use in your designated outreach.

In his BDR's guide to social selling, Ryan outlines his outreach methods in detail — but here is the basic OPPs framework he uses for outbound:

1. Observation: Build credibility by making a specific observation about their business — this level of personalization dramatically increases chances of getting a response.
   1. Example: "Noticed you're using X technology, often indicating Y goal. Is this the case?"
2. Process: Prioritize listening and understanding the person's current processes to identify areas where your solution can add value without pitching.
3. Problem: Highlight potential issues faced by by the prospect, mentioning how you talk to lots of people facing the same problem.
   1. Example: "Typically, strategies like yours face X difficulties — I've seen it with a company like Y. Are you experiencing this?"
4. Solution: Introduce the possibility of chatting further only after identifying agreed-upon problems.
   1. Example: "I've got some other ideas for when it comes to solving X — want to set up a meeting so we can chat about it further?"
   2. Example: "Maybe you could show me how you tackled this?"

When you do your own outreach, your primary focus will be on below-the-line ICs at target accounts — for example, when targeting content teams, Ryan goes after content writers and content marketers.

AE or Exec Responsibilities

The primary focus for AEs and execs will be on above-the-line DMs at target accounts. For example, Zach and I will focus on VPs of Marketing if the target account is a content team.

This is because AEs and execs generally have a more established presence.

We are responsible for:

• Connecting to designated DMs at least a week before reaching out to them
• Recording scripted, one-minute videos for outreach to these DMs later

Step 3: Create Shared Tracking Documents

Use shared documents to manage accounts, prospects, and outreach efforts across teams and make sure that everyone is on the same page.

We have two:

1. A tracking document that includes account names, contact details, who is responsible for each contact, and the status of outreach ("sent", "follow-up", and "replied")
2. A document that includes scripts and a talking track for recording personalized videos later

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Step 4: Email Together

After initial outreach from his own email account, Ryan will follow-up with a personalized email from me to add weight and credibility to the thread.

We use Apollo to do this.

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Avoid gimmicks, like forwarding an email from your CEO asking the BDR or SDR to reach out. Keep it simple and authentic.

Step 5: Engage Online as a Team to Surround the Prospect

In the week leading up to direct contact, make sure that everyone in the co-prospecting effort engages authentically with prospects on platforms like LinkedIn. Like, comment on, and share their content.

This builds familiarity and credibility, ultimately surrounding the prospect with multiple touchpoints.

We use Letterdrop to automate likes and comments on posts from relevant team accounts — all done safely through LinkedIn's APIs.

Step 6: Block Off Time for Personalized Outreach

Your AEs and execs only need to block out about an hour each week for recording and sending personalized videos or voice notes to target DMs.

Remember to keep the scripts you prepare for them to a maximum of one minute long.

Step 7: Measuring and Analyzing Results

You want to make sure you can monitor the effectiveness of your co-prospecting campaigns, which will help you manage your time better and get continuous buy-in from leadership.

Some metrics to track include:

• Reply Rates: Track the percentage of replies received over time
• Booking Rates: Monitor the number of meetings you manage to book
• Engagement Metrics: Use engagement on LinkedIn posts and emails as a way to understand directional success

Co-Prospecting is a Viable Way Forward for GTM

By leveraging the strengths of different team members and approaching prospects from multiple angles, you can increase your chances of booking meetings and closing deals.

We can help you and your automatically surround and track prospect engagement on LinkedIn. Reach out for more information.