It’s a hard knock life for a sales development rep, especially in the SaaS industry. With a market that’s exploding with new technologies by the second, SDRs need to be creative, competitive, and sometimes, a little strategic with how, when, and where they reach their prospects.
Between all of the calls and the emails and the endless conferences and networking opportunities, prospects are inundated with eager sales development reps trying to convince them why their service is the right solution for them. So how do the top SDRs stand out?
We’re kicking off this Sales Development Confessions series with a story from Roger Wood over at ListenLoop. His team was able to book over 50 demos on the floor at our Rainmaker conference last year. When we asked him how they did it, here was his confession:
We used an Apple Watch raffle to set more demos on the floor.
A raffle! It’s a simple concept — we see them at conferences everywhere, but usually just as a way to get contact information from prospects at events. Give us your name and email and enter to win a trip of a lifetime! But what if you took it one step further, like ListenLoop, and used that raffle to set demos THAT DAY?
They set up a booth at Rainmaker 2015 and raffled off an Apple Watch to a prospect who booked a demo with them right then and there. Through youcanbook.me, a booking software that integrates with Google Calendar, the ListenLoop team used iPads to secure those appointments right away, rather than waiting for a post-conference follow-up email. By enticing the prospects with a raffle, and then reeling them in while they were still hot, they were able to set over 50 demos that day.
Combine [easy booking] with a little hustle (and a raffle!), and you should be able to increase your on-site booked demos and conversions. -Roger Wood
When dealing with prospects, the key is to think outside of the box and then ACT on the results. The longer you wait to follow up after an in-person meeting, the more time you give the prospect to cool down and lose interest in your solution. Take a tip from ListenLoop: be creative, give incentive, and act fast.
Check out this post to learn more ways to set more demos on the floor at events.