Creating and accelerating pipeline is never an easy task. No matter how many years go by there is never a single silver bullet that magically opens opportunities and moves deals along.
Hitting prospects with calls and emails is probably still going to be most sales professionals’ bread and butter. However, if you’re looking for something extra to turbo charge your prospecting, eGifting could be the right fit.
You might be asking yourself “what can I send?”. “When do I send it?”. “Is it appropriate?”
Here’s 5 eGifting plays that you can implement to help open conversations, move deals down the line or even get you that close.
The Amazon Rainmaker
If you’ve found a common interest on a prospect’s profile or a sport they like to do outside of work You can take personalization to a new level! This is perfect for breaking through to key decision makers in target accounts you are prospecting.
Why not tie this into your messaging to grab their attention in their inbox? It can be an amazingly effective tactic to open conversations with a high-value prospect and shows that not only do you care about winning their business you actually care about them as a person too. If they don’t want to claim the gift, you can offer them the chance to donate the value to charity instead.
Ideal for outbound sales teams and can be scaled by adding the Rainmaker into your sales engagement platform or planned out into a doc that is shared across the team as part of your regular outreach, regularly.
Meeting maker
We all get ghosted by prospects. We have also all been kicked into the long-grass and received a response via email, or told to get back in touch in 3 months. This is where the power of reciprocity comes in!
By honing into a personal interest or the season you can reignite the excitement of your prospect and get that meeting sooner! Now’s your chance to get creative, tapping into your playful side will give your prospect a reason to have the meeting sooner and also ensure it isn’t boring for them.
This can be scaled by having meeting campaigns based on the season, holidays and landmarks. At Reachdesk, we’re fans of using “Fun Holiday” calendars such as https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/fun/ to riff off holidays such as “Grilled Cheese Day” on April 12th or Pizza Party Day on May 21st.
Here’s one for the Summer months...
Coffee shopper
You finally book in that important meeting that dream account you’ve been chasing for months. Next thing you know, they don’t show up to the meeting. Prospects are busy and they are in constant meetings or inundated with requests. Give them a reason to show without asking anything from them- plus if you’re meeting your prospect in person, surely you’d offer them a coffee!
A little token gesture like this really can set you apart from other people trying to get your prospect’s attention. Don’t be generic with a templated and automated email, send them something that's going to make your meeting mean more to them. It’s also a powerful, and surprisingly easy, way to stand out from the competition.
Lunch & learn
You get a message from your Marketing team...
One of your key accounts has just attended a webinar and is asking all the right questions.
Now what?
Don’t just wait for the recording email to be automated out. Grab the bull by the horns. This is your chance to offer something valuable as well a means of rewarding your prospect’s valuable time.
Taking the burden of getting lunch ready, especially in a remote environment, off your prospect is definitely going to get you in their good books and gives you and the prospect the perfect opportunity to discuss how you can help them. A lunch meeting has always been a part of business and using it in conjunction with a webinar they attended allows you to really stand out.
Proposal pro
You’ve done all you can on your end. Your champion has the proposal and you’ve just gotten off the call with the decision-maker. A great way to thank them is sending over a giftcard after the call embedded right in the “Thank You for Your Time” email.
Not only does this help build more positive sentiment towards you from your prospect but it in turn truly shows them you are thankful for their time. It can also help speed up the process of them making a decision on your solution as you remain top of mind.
Try pulling this into your organic, direct communication to your prospect and be sure to mention it on the call too!
And there you have it! 5 easy ways to use digital gifting to create and accelerate pipeline.
Hopefully these 5 examples can help you create meaningful connections, stand out from your competitors and help you achieve your targets this quarter and beyond! It’s definitely more fun than you standard outreach and surprising & delighting your prospects can give you an edge that puts a smile on their face.
