How We Built $700K in Sales Pipeline Using One Simple Strategy

 

Sales pipeline growth strategies are always a top business priority, as research shows time and again. So how do you approach your leads in a way that guarantees success? A winning strategy for building sales pipeline doesn’t have to be overly complicated or time-consuming. Joey Wood, Field Enterprise Sales Director at XANT, shared an incredible account-based sales tactic that got him $700K in pipeline and took just two weeks to put together.

Building Sales Pipeline With the Coffee Play 

Using “The Coffee Play”, a select strategy for account-based sales, Joey Wood managed to get exclusive one-on-one time with decision-makers. Joey did his homework ahead of time and carefully selected his accounts. He started with just a list of ten accounts and had three people within each account that might have been decision makers. He sent a unique hand-written note and a small gift to each of these.

“I wanted to find something that was unique to the local geography that had a high perceived value, so when they received it they believed ‘Hey this guy spent some money on us, I feel like I should give him at least 15, 20 minutes of my time.’ So I sent a hand-written note with a few sentences of personalized messaging, a $10 gift card to Starbucks and roughly a $30-$40 coffee Yeti tumbler and my business card,” recounts Joey.

The Amazing Results of a Hand-Written Note

Almost immediately, the calls started rolling in. Joey managed to rack up some amazing results:

• 42% of contacts accepted a meeting
• $700,000 in sales pipeline
• $147,000 in sales

Over a three month period, the meetings he set after sending the notes got him around $150,000 in actual sales. Joey points out that the tactic does take some budget to begin with. However, if you focus on high-value accounts and top executives, it yields an impressive return. “You have to be strategic with your funds and the accounts you’re going after. The only reason you should be hesitant is if you’re a small company and funds are scarce,” adds Joey Wood.

The hand-written note strategy might be feel outdated, in the age of electronic communication; however, it works well precisely because it stands out in the crowd of unsolicited emails, texts and all the noise people deal with on a daily basis. It shows someone put time and thought into their outreach.

 

One Sales Strategy To Rule Them All

The hand-written note strategy is incredibly effective when working on high-value deals, with long closing cycles. It does raise concerns about budget, time and planning.  Watch the entire webinar with Gabe Larsen, VP of XANT Labs, and Joey Wood, Field Enterprise Sales Director, to find out more about:

• Using hand-written notes and small gifts in your sales strategy
• How automation can help the outreach process
• What you should use for your follow-up: social media, email, phone calls or texts?
• How to perfectly time your follow-ups for best results
• How you can get buy-in from your boss on the budget

 

 

XANT offers the sales industry’s first comprehensive sales acceleration platform that creates high-performance sales teams with breakthrough technology. InsideSales webinars include prestigious guests from the sales industry. They cover topics like lead prospecting, pipeline management or forecasting and best practices in the sales field.