28 Oct 2023
From GTMFund newsletter:
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.
- 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.
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Invite the prospect to a game for a sport they enjoy watching (bonus points if it’s the team they support).
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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.
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Introduce the prospect to someone that they would likely enjoy networking with out of career interest.
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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).
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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.
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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.