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The end of October already, which has me reflecting on the past year and beyond.
We’ve witnessed a pervasive challenge sweeping through the industry: Sales cycles growing longer and more arduous.
This pipeline slowdown calls for something other than ‘more of the same.’
It calls for extreme intentional in order to dislodge stuck deals and reinvigorate the pipeline – this week we’ve got you covered on core tactics that are working to move the needle.
Let’s get into it.
This week is brought to you by Demandbase: Hit Your Revenue Goal. Use Fewer Resources.
These are 6 tactics to get deals moving and make your pipeline hum 👇
- Let your customers do the talking
Whenever someone can hear from their peers – a trusted source – over hearing it from the sales team, it carries more weight.
Leverage those who are already trusted sources to create movement in a stuck deal.
Examples of ways to execute this:
- Direct ways.
- For example: Cross-reference your customers with their connections, and have your happy customers directly reach out to them.
- Indirect ways.
- For example: Invite them on a podcast or host a digital event with your prospects and customers mingling.
- Nicole Wojno Smith, VP of Marketing at Tackle successfully runs this playbook. She has hosted high-end virtual wine events for late stage prospects and had customers join to talk about their experiences with the challenges prospects are facing and how Tackle helped solve them. Prospects and customers were able to directly discuss their challenges and solutions.
- For example: Invite them on a podcast or host a digital event with your prospects and customers mingling.
- Change the level of engagement
Elevating the level of engagement to the executive team can play a crucial role in gaining deal movement.
It may be that there are already channels of communication open across executives if the deal was multithreaded. Even if that is the case:
Could they be better leveraged?
Are there other executives to reach out to who could have strategic impact?
Don’t be afraid to ask for support from the executive team 💪
- Invite them to an event (not just any event)
Nobody needs more time booked up on their calendar – inviting prospects to an event must add value to them.
Wes Yee, Head of Growth at Flex, notes that the standard of quality must be high.
Examples of ways to execute this:
- Invite the prospect to an event with a speaking opportunity for them.
- Invite the prospect to a game for a sport they enjoy watching (bonus points if it’s the team they support).
- Introduce the key stakeholder to someone interesting
The explanation of why you thought to introduce them to the person in question is important because this is where context is painted and the connection to thoughtfulness is made.
Examples of ways to execute this:
- Introduce the prospect to someone that they might want to meet relevant to a personal interest.
- Introduce the prospect to someone that they would likely enjoy networking with out of career interest.
- Send them something nice or unique
Good old snail mail for sending something physical. Again, thoughtfulness matters.
Examples of ways to execute this:
- Send something nice for their home (bonus points if their family can enjoy it too).
- Send something unique or a pattern disrupt. Justin Strackany, CEO of Fancy Robot, runs a playbook for this by sending socks with a handwritten note saying “just wanted you to have an extra pair for when we knock your socks off 🙂!”. This disrupts the usual follow up sequence with humor and delight, while providing an indirect way to follow up with the prospect – making sure they received the card.
- Plan an on-site visit
In person on-site visits build relationships and get buying teams together in rooms. While this may be more challenging considering remote team distributions, there are still those that are in the same city if not office. If distributed, there are opportunities to attach visits to events that teams are attending.
Examples of ways to execute this:
- Offer to run a strategy session for the greater team.
- Plan a meeting that would have occurred virtually in person instead.
Chuck Brotman, Co-Founder of Blueprint Expansion, notes that reps who came up through Covid years may be missing opportunities here.
It’s not just about doing these six tactics – it’s about doing them well.
→ Making an introduction? If it isn’t someone of meaningful value to them it could cause the opposite effect.
→ Mailing something? It must thoughtfully add value.
→ Going on-site? It’s the planning that will determine the outcome.
Lastly to note, while it’s important to unstick deals, it’s also important to know when to let go. Scott Brown, Partner, Head of Platform at Cervin advises: “have the courage to call an opportunity lost and remove it from your pipeline. Don’t become fixated on a potential deal to the detriment of developing the next batch of opportunities.”
🍿 GTMnow’s FIRST digital event:
Exciting news! We will be hosting monthly digital events, kicking off the series with none other than Lars Nilsson who coined the phrase account-based sales development himself. Save your seat by clicking the image 👇
👀 More for your eyeballs:
Enough hunch-based selling. At Demandbase, data wins every time. Their B2B sales intelligence platform delivers accurate company, contact, technographic, engagement, and intent data right in your CRM, browser, and more. Learn more about their Sales Intelligence platform today here!
👀👀 More for your eyeballs:
The AI hype continues! Check out this article that discusses the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs), like ChatGPT 3.5, to provide answers to a wide range of questions. It highlights the challenges of uncertainty and product design in using LLMs, as well as the need to find appropriate use cases and interfaces for this technology. Full article linked👇
👂 More for your eardrums:
Joined this week by the one and only…🥁🥁🥁
Zach Lawryk! Currently the Head of Global Solutions Consulting at Rippling, he has also worked at other incredible SaaS companies such as Slack, Salesforce, and Optimizely.
Tune in🎧
🚀 Start-ups to watch:
The AI revolution continues! AtlanAI, the first-ever copilot for data teams, is here. Check out our sneak peek and join the waitlist for early access👀
🔥Hottest GTM job of the week:
Director of Sales at Esper, more details here.
See more top GTM jobs here.
That’s it, that’s all.
Enjoy your weekend eating all your kids’ Halloween candy.
And if you don’t have kids? Take this as permission to go buy a discounted candy bag on the 31st – you deserve it.
I’ll leave you with a dad joke to share with the little ones in your life:
When do cows turn into werewolves?
During a full moooooon.
🐮
Barker ✌️
