Just about any salesperson will tell you that cold outreach is their least favorite part of the job. It takes a lot of effort to engage prospects enough times to turn them into sales qualified leads.
Warming up prospects with an email is preferred by B2B reps, with 43% saying that email is the most effective sales channel, according to HubSpot.
Even so, Gartner reports that only 23.9% of all sales emails are opened, while another survey reveals that only 8.5% of cold emails receive a response.
Of course, it takes more than an email to close a sale. On average, it takes eight touches to generate a conversion, although top performers may need only five.
So how do these top performers turn prospects into sales qualified leads in fewer touches? For starters, they offer clear value propositions that incentivize prospects to take action throughout the sales journey.
Making digital rewards part of your value proposition can help your cold outreach warm up prospects faster. Here are the best ways to weave attractive incentives into your sales strategy.
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Chances are, your prospect’s inbox is already crammed with emails, so if you want to stand out, you should take advantage of the valuable real estate located in the subject line.
Keep your offer — a digital reward for scheduling a discovery call, for example — front and center. Be sure to lead with the incentive you’re offering, not your sales pitch. And the shorter your subject line, the better, since you don’t want your message to be cut off on mobile devices.
To give you an idea of where to get started, here are some strong subject lines to model yours on:
Getting prospects to attend a product demo or sales webinar can be challenging. Even if they RSVP yes, it’s common to bail at the last minute. The right kind of incentive will encourage them to clear their schedule and log on during the appointed time.
For this kind of touchpoint, offering a virtual prepaid Mastercard or Visa for attending the entire pitch is a great idea. Rewards that can be spent wherever the recipient chooses are always popular and allow you to target a wide range of tastes and interests.
Sometimes sales qualified leads may be no further than your existing customer list. Whether they have a friend at another company or just a colleague in another department who could benefit from your products or services, offering a digital reward for their referral can bring in more prospects.
For big companies with multiple lines of business, internal referrals are another source worth rewarding. Reps never want to turn over sales qualified leads to a colleague and lose the chance to win the commission themselves, but by incentivizing the referral, you can both give them credit for the initial outreach and make sure the prospect gets the right information about the most appropriate product or service.
Finally, when you send digital rewards to sales qualified leads, the delivery email is another important touchpoint. Including a personalized message to the recipient is a terrific way to encourage further engagement that will help move them along in the buying process.
BHN Rewards empowers your teams to bring in more sales qualified leads, thanks to our integrations with CRM systems including Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365! See the full list here.
BHN Rewards puts the power of digital rewards to work for marketers, researchers, and HR managers. Don't forget to check out all the great content in our Resources section!
BHN Rewards puts the power of digital rewards to work for marketers, researchers, and HR managers. Don't forget to check out all the great content in our Resources section!
