By: Mike DeCorso, Vice President of Sales at Thnks
A one-size fits all sales approach isn’t going to work in today’s interconnected world. There is more competition than ever and sales teams are striving to implement creative ways to stand out amongst the crowd. At Thnks, we focus on the need for individualization and authentic selling – providing a solution to a problem while respecting the prospective customer’s time.
That being said, there are times where a level of cold outreach is necessary. Without a proper strategy, however, sales teams can find themselves wasting time and money with little to no ROI.
The temptation to use a platform like Thnks to increase responses by gifting when cold prospecting can be alluring. At its core, Thnks is designed to help people build better business relationships with personalized gestures of appreciation. It’s difficult to make something personal if you don’t know who you are working with. In this post, we’ll explore best practices for adding gratitude to your prospecting efforts.
I am a firm believer in account based marketing (sometimes better known as ABM). According to mrpfd.com, ABM is a type of marketing that helps companies to deploy B2B marketing and sales strategies using a highly targeted, clearly defined set of target accounts.The goal is to find out what they are looking for, why they are looking for it, if they are ready to buy, and if there is a potential to convert. With the right research on tools like LinkedIn, you can send a gesture that’s personal as a first touchpoint and create a shared experience. According to an ITSMA survey, “84% of companies that engaged in ABM say the ROI is higher than for other types of marketing and about the same number say that it is already a key aspect of their marketing strategy and that its importance continues to grow.”
As the leader of a sales org, something I focus on regularly with my team is being urgently curious. Outside of qualifying questions, learning more about our prospects is paramount to building a lasting business relationship with them. People like to do business with people they like. Sending thoughtful and relevant gestures over time will result in a higher likelihood of that person (whether in their current role or any future role) answering your phone call, responding to your email, and doing business with YOU. The ROI on that is immeasurable.
Once you have established the initial contact with a new prospect, the Thnks platform will help you continue to grow the relationship with the prospect through the sales funnel and ultimately as they become a client.
Here are some great examples of ways you can show a contact your appreciation while you are still in the prospecting phase for any industry. Some of my favorite examples include:
- Sending a prospect a coffee break prior to a demo to thank them in advance for taking the time to consider your solution
- Sending a bottle of wine to a top prospect who recently received a promotion
- Sending a Let’s Taco Soon lunch for a prospect who’s been difficult to get a hold of and has been super busy
These are all personal and effective ways of starting a business relationship off on the right foot. My team and I certainly practice what we preach by sending Thnks throughout the sales process.
While cold outreach sometimes feels inevitable, taking the time to foster a relationship is crucial to sustained success in selling. Thnks will help add a high level of personalization and efficiency to this process, resulting in more engaged prospects and higher conversion rates.
To learn more tactics to help improve your sales game, download our ebook, 7 Tactics to Move Prospects Through Your Pipeline Faster with Gratitude, and see how Pure Storage used Thnks as their most powerful sales tool. Interested in learning more? Sign up for a demo, or click here to learn more about expressing gratitude in business!
