SDRs generate $2 million in influenced pipeline through personalized experiences

Everyone is doing the same thing in sales development today. How do you differentiate yourself from everyone else? If the gift for an hour call isn't worth an hour of my salary or commission, it's not worth my time. But if you can personalize the gift and treat someone in a unique fashion-because I can customize what to send based on your background-you slingshot to the top of the list really quickly.

Venafi plays a key role in securing the connections between the digital devices that help enterprises work faster and smarter. The company provides both public- and private-sector organizations with what Gartner calls “machine identity management.”

It’s a particularly technical topic, with SDRs targeting decision-makers in InfoSec and DevSecOps as well as CISOs and CIOs. That means Venafi’s Head of Global Sales Development, James Barton, has to create unique strategies to get a lead’s attention.

When James first joined Venafi, a sending platform was already in place. Right away, he was frustrated by the lack of transparency regarding ROI and pipeline influence. “There was no way for me to check other than asking the account manager and waiting for a response,” he said.

During his first year with the company, James noticed that SDRs were using the platform to secure meetings infrequently. He felt creating a more personalized experience for leads would drive better results. Plus, he simply didn’t feel prioritized by the platform’s account manager or support, saying, “I felt like a number.” When he’d ask how to set up a feature or integration, they would send him anecdotes of what other companies had done rather than providing relevant, hands-on help.

James was on a call with the platform’s team when the contract was up for renewal. The conversation was dismissive, according to James, and they informed him the new agreement would be more expensive than the last. “As soon as I hung up the phone, I called Sendoso.”

Everything that I would want from a vendor to create a positive experience for a potential customer was done. And everyone is still as responsive today.

James had received gifts through Sendoso from vendors while working at past employers and knew colleagues using the platform, so he was familiar with the company. After that first call, the Sendoso team walked him through demos, detailed the Amazon and Salesforce integration, and explained how the platform’s security features aligned with Venafi’s mission.

Between the technical capabilities, client-first and results-oriented mentality, and personalized experiences, James was all-in on Sendoso. “Buying a vendor’s product is an emotional moment for a buyer—sticking your neck out there, possibly replacing something a predecessor put into place,” he said. “It’s all an emotional experience. Sendoso having your back makes it much easier.”

He spearheaded a “wake the dead” campaign by sending personalized gifts to leads Venafi SDRs had spoken to before, but that had gone cold. Because the SDRs knew a little bit about the leads, James could customize a send to reflect the lead’s favorite sports team, alma mater, or hobby, so it would really resonate. “It’s making your company, your SDR, your message that much more unique—showing appreciation by having a more customized gift than other vendors,” he said.

Customization was one of the big differentiators between the former solution and Sendoso. James found it difficult to customize gifts in the former platform, and it would take a month for them to be printed, shipped, and delivered. “With other sending platforms, it takes too long to be worth doing,” he said. With Sendoso, it was as easy as sending any other item.

As far as I’m concerned, we’re just scratching the surface of all the use cases we’re planning on adding as we gain momentum.

The four-month “wake the dead” campaign was a big success for Venafi, and sending customized experiences with Sendoso was an important part of James’s strategy.

To him, the difference between the organization’s previous solution and Sendoso was like night and day. “In 12 months, we had $1.5 million in influenced pipeline,” he said of the former platform. After just four months of using Sendoso, his team has already exceeded that number, reaching $2 million in influenced pipeline.

With this campaign serving as a proof of concept for a sending strategy, James plans on making a big push to talk to CXOs. “I want to lean in on the experience side,” he said.

James also foresees creating personalized experiences for client contacts who have moved onto other organizations. Once a contact has spent some time at a new company, he’ll send out a customized gift and ask for an introduction.

In the meantime, he’s learning how to get more out of deeper Sendoso features and appreciates how quickly he can get the information he needs to set up new dashboards and integrations.

Although he loves the platform’s customization, security features, and transparency, James has a hard time picking his favorite aspect of using Sendoso. “It’s the full experience. It’s the whole journey,” he said. “I feel like Sendoso is on our side.”