Booking a meeting with cold outreach has never been harder but using Venmo to book a meeting can be an easier method. There are tons of tools like SalesLoft and their competitors that provide sales reps with a way to supercharge their outreach. Decision makers receive dozens of cold emails plus the hundred or so internal emails on a daily basis. This creates a lot of competition for attention. In fact, as a salesperson trying to book a meeting, your main hurdle is cutting through the noise. To do that, you need to find a way to stand out. Here are a few non-traditional ways to book a meeting.
Using Venmo To Book A Meeting
Venmo is a mobile payment app that allows you to send money to another user of the app. The main goal with this method is to take a non traditional approach to booking a meeting by cutting through the noise. While every other salesperson is sending cold outreach to their inbox and spamming them on LinkedIn, you’ll go in a different, less crowded direction.
The reason Venmo can work for salespeople is that your prospect is not expecting to receive a message this way, they’re likely going to get a push notification to their mobile phone, and receive an email to their personal email address. You shouldn’t directly email a prospect’s personal email address but in this case, it’s an automatic email from Venmo.
Steps to Take When Using Venmo to Book a Meeting
First, download Venmo. The app is free to use but can take some time to set up your bank account to get money into it. Once you have money in it, you can get started right away.
Next, click the button on the bottom right that says “Pay or Request”
After you’ve done that, you’ll need to type in the name of your prospect. It’s likely that Venmo will auto-populate people who you’re connected with who share a similar name. You’ll need to click “see more results…” to find your prospect.
Disclosure: it’s possible that your prospect does not use Venmo. If they don’t, this isn’t going to work.
After you’ve found your prospect on Venmo, type in an amount you’ll send. Keep in mind that this isn’t supposed to be a bribe. Do not bribe your prospect. I would do one of two things when selecting an amount to use Venmo to book a meeting.
- Send them one cent. The goal of doing this is to get their attention, not pay them. With the minimum amount allowed, you can now send them a message.
- $5 or $10. Anymore than $5-$10 and it could come off as a bribe. The caveat here is to say “I’d like to buy you a coffee” or “buy you lunch” in your message.
With your amount entered, next you’ll need to type a brief message. Venmo provides an adequate amount of space to write a message. 50 characters per row with at least 13 rows available. That is plenty of space to write an effective Venmo message. When writing your Venmo message, you’ll need to consider the stage of outreach with your prospect.
When To Use Venmo As a Way To Book A Meeting
You can leverage Venmo for cold outreach at any stage of your outreach. It can fit into an outbound campaign as a follow up step or could be a message on it’s own.
If it’s part of an outbound sequence you’re running, you can reference an earlier message. If it’s the first message, you’ll need to customize it to your prospect. Adding an acknowledgement about using a non-traditional channel could break the ice in case they get thrown off. You could include it as a P.S. at the end of your message.
With your amount entered and your message written, select “Pay.” There’s no upside to making this public, so I’d send this as a private Venmo payment.
Remember, once you send a payment, it’s pretty much impossible to get a refund. Make sure you’re okay with giving this money away.
Pros Of Using Venmo To Book A Meeting
- It’s a unique channel that will get the attention of a prospect
- You will most likely send them a push notification directly on their mobile phone and an email about your message
- It’s unlikely any other salesperson will be competing for attention in this channel
- It’s memorable. Odds are, you’re not getting the meeting but if you follow up in a couple months, you can reference it so they have some familiarity with you.
Cons Of Using Venmo To Book A Meeting
- Not everyone has Venmo
- You can waste time searching for someone on Venmo
- Some prospects will feel this is a bribe
- Some prospects will find this unprofessional or invasive
- It’s possible you’re violating the ToS using Venmo this way
If this was a surefire method, salespeople would have ruined it by now. It does come with some risks but also some potential rewards. Booking a meeting using Venmo can work because you’re cutting through the noise and going in a different direction than every other salesperson.
Need help booking meetings? Check out our LinkedIn Guide To Booking Meetings
