3 Strategies for Sending Throughout the Sales Cycle

Revenue teams have been asked to do more with less, and as the digital world becomes more saturated, programs that bring back the feel of in-person experiences have grown more important. This is why we have brought together Sendoso experts from across all departments to share creative ways we have maximized sales and marketing ROI in this new climate.

Across 4 unique sessions, we share proven strategies for driving revenue growth, how to achieve measurable results from sending, and maximizing ROI. Whether you’re in sales, marketing, or customer success, these insights will bring success to your team.

In the noise of the digital marketing space, the most successful SDRs are getting through to prospects by creating meaningful connections that go beyond ads and email campaigns. These top producers use the power of sending to break through the commonplace to reach their prospects in a more meaningful way.

The payoff of investing in your prospects is robust. Sales teams that utilize sending see better response rates, more consistent pipeline progression, and accelerated growth. But what strategies can best help your SDRs create these experiences the right way, at scale?

The Sendoso sales team recently sat down to conduct a roundtable to share their top strategies for creating impact with their sends. These top three tactics enabled the outcomes they were looking for in less time, with maximum ROI.

Build a Strong Sending Playbook

Sending doesn’t begin with a recipient list or a gift idea; to take advantage of gifting at scale, you need to start by building a reliable, repeatable process. By giving your SDRs a solid game-plan for integrating direct mail and/or eGifts as touchpoints, they’ll make the best use of campaigns and budgets, while realizing up to 20% better ROI for their efforts.

The sending playbook should empower your teams to take action with their gifting budgets. This includes:

• Knowing what to send (value and items)
• Knowing when (and how) to send it
• Having a multi-step plan to follow up
• Tracking the ROI of the effort

While the first two bullets require research, the process occuring after the delivery notification is what truly drives revenue. “Follow-up is key,” says VP of Inside Sales, Joe Venuti. “You’ve spent the budget to execute a send. Now what? This is where you need to have a follow-up sequence in place.” A dedicated multi-touch plan keeps you in front of your prospect, in order to move them closer to conversion.

Know Your Segments

No gift fits every application, so it pays to know how to budget your sends. Depending upon the account’s value, lifecycle stage, or campaign directive, you’ll need to adjust the type and value of your gift.

This can range from a simple token such as an eGift card to thank a webinar attendee, or a highly personalized, high-value item sent to a single key stakeholder. Building off your Sending Playbook, having well-defined segments will allow you to move them through the pipeline by addressing each prospect at the right time, in the most effective way.

Your sends will fall into one of three camps, ideally evolving:

One to many: An effective, economically-budgeted item perfect for early touchpoints.

One to few: More personalization and somewhat higher value for mid-funnel contacts.

One to one: A highly personalized, meaningful gift that encourages prospects toward the close.

“You really want to work prospects up the funnel,” says Director of Sales Development, Andrea Lydon, explaining the natural progression of prospects from one-to-many and one-to-few, into one-to-one if you still haven’t converted them. This final touchpoint can solidify the relationship and build the rapport necessary to move them successfully into closed-won.

Get Creative and Send Smarter

Sending a timely and relevant gift requires effective research, but getting creative ensures that your campaigns really land with recipients. By getting to know your recipient’s role, personal/professional interests, or reading up on a recent milestone or event, you can make an impression and open the door to new opportunities.

The Sendoso and RingDNA teams have recently put this principle to work in their own campaigns:

• Andrea, who loves the power of the one-to-one send, developed an “April showers brings May Flowers” campaign for key accounts, simply acknowledging the rough going in the early months of COVID. The team used a bouquet of fresh flowers as a direct mail touchpoint in a larger multi-channel campaign. Scott Logan,
• RingDNA Head of Demand Generation Scott Logan knows that even without in-person events, a bit of much-appreciated swag (complete with some fun items for the kids) is always welcomed. His team made a one-to-few connection with prospects by sending the booth experience right to their mailbox after they visited RingDNA’s virtual tradeshow booth, “[creating] interaction by re-creating what they’re missing out on.”
• Sendoso Director of Sales Nick Casale’s team recently created a win-back campaign to 150 stalled accounts, sending their prospects branded fortune cookies with customer success stories inside. The campaign influenced $3M+ in pipeline, and over 25% of the deals progressed in stage post-send.

Creating tailored experiences like these based on your recipient(s) specific needs, likes, or experiences can signal your commitment to a partnership, and strengthen their affinity for your brand and products.

Start Your Sending Playbook

To gain more insights on the full-funnel approach to sending—including more high-impact send ideas and ways to enable your teams—register to watch the Sales Playbook: Full Funnel Sending Strategies session on-demand.