Here are 5 simple plays using personalized direct mail and gifting that can put a stop to your pipeline going on holiday.
How BDRs can use direct mail to stand out from the crowd
1. Sales navigator triggers
It’s always a challenge to find a compelling reason to start a conversation within key accounts. Luckily Sales Navigator recently announced a CSV upload which, for all of us who aren’t using Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics, is a great way to upload your account book in a few clicks. Simply upload your key accounts, enter your search preferences and see who of your key personas are celebrating job changes or funding.
Whilst every other BDR will be reaching out for their attention with some generic copy - help me if I see another:
“Congratulations on the new job, here is my calendar”.
Instead celebrate with them. Send an engraved bottle of their favourite drink to wish them well and join in on the celebrations. Don’t be unseen at the party, create the party!
2. InMail surprise & delight
Too often people are confused with how to surprise and delight when you can’t send gifts to people working in offices. InMail is a great way to differentiate whilst you are assured to land a message in your prospects inbox. We say something like:
“Although we might not be able to meet in person if we did I’d buy you a coffee. To caffeinate this intro here is a coffee on me to enjoy at home. Let me know when it arrives and I’ll be in touch soon”.
Now this doesn’t just have to be a coffee it could be a pint, a gin and tonic, or even cocktail kit! This also works great for online events or Slack channels.
3. Finishing line brownies
“Thanks for your email sounds interesting”
“Great outreach but I haven’t got time”.
Sound familiar? You’ve done an amazing job at getting a reply from your prospect only to fear they could quickly go cold again. Don’t let it happen! Thank them for their reply, offer them a sweet treat to sweeten the start of your new relationship and say you will give them a call once they arrive. My personal favourite is Bears Brownies - they come in 12 or 24 and can be shared with the whole family. Once you’ve created a moment that matters this is the time you can have a warm conversation over a cuppa to find out more.
4. Reward your champions
It’s okay not to get a decision maker's attention when you have a whole team surrounding them. Don’t know about you but accessing people at work from different departments internationally has never been easier.
I know where people are all the time and they are only a slack message away. Leverage conversations with end users to find the pain and help them present a solution to the DM. Offer a lunch voucher and some times so they can run a lunch and learn to get interest from the buying committee. Help them help you. Once it all comes together don’t forget to thank your champion with a personalised gift that moves them from champion to advocate and you become the trusted advisor.
5. Seasonal kicks
Taking a targeted approach to seasonal direct mail using some pretty punny messaging has been my favourite over the years. Whether that’s a ‘Halloween Ghosting’ campaign, ‘We Still Love You Valentines list, for closed-lost opportunities or an Easter ‘Nurture Hop Over the Line’ send, I’ve done them all. This April Fools Day we took it to the limits and jokingly “broke” 100 Marketers websites with the only option to reach prospects....direct mail.
This was for a list of accounts that had never replied after multiple attempts. The results were mixed but we got a response finally and they enjoyed a cocktail kit at home to take the edge off of the scare.
Want to know how to run a killer direct mail campaign? Read our gifting campaign ideas guide
Wrapping up
Direct mail isn’t a stand alone channel. We need digital to use direct mail and we need direct mail to increase responses on digital. I challenge you to get creative today and find a new way to unlock this channel, humanise your approach and join the offline revolution.
If you'd like to learn more about how you can use direct mail and e-gifting as part of your prospecting strategy, get in contact at hello@reachdesk.com
