When it comes to getting the attention of your prospects, you need to consider leverage our creative sales outreach ideas to cut through the noise. Salespeople have all sorts of sales engagement tools, just check out this list of SalesLoft competitors to see how easy it is for SDRs and Business Development Representatives to fire off hundreds of emails at a time. This makes it hard to connect with your prospects. They’re inundated with emails and calls so standing out with a creative prospecting technique is critical to booking meetings.
Creative Sales Outreach Ideas #1 – Use Venmo
In a previous post we mentioned how using Venmo is a creative way to prospect. By sending a small amount of money, you’ll get the attention of your prospect. Since Venmo is a mobile app, your prospect will receive a notification on their phone. You’re able to include a message which can act as a touchpoint.
Of course there are drawbacks to using Venmo as a creative sales outreach idea. Some prospects do not use Venmo. Some will find it invasive because this is their personal account. But without any risk, there is no reward.
Creative Prospecting Idea #2 – Use Piñata Farms
Piñata Farm is an app that allows a user to easily create meme videos. These types of meme videos are almost never used in sales but this is going to be one of the top creative prospecting ideas for 2021. The reason this will work well is because 95% of prospecting outreach are emails and calls. They’re boring. They don’t stand out.
Piñata Farm enables someone who has no video editing skills to use their creativity to quickly and easily design a meme video. You can grab their face from their LinkedIn profile and add it to a video or a gif. Or you can use text based editing to more interestingly convey how you can help.
If your prospect has a sense of humor and you do this correctly, you’re going to stand out. If you stand out, you’ll have a better shot of booking a meeting.
Creative Sales Outreach Idea #3 – Use Reface
Like Pinata Farms, Reface makes it easy to create meme videos and gifs. Although this app was never intended to be a tool to for sales prospecting, it can used to cut through the noise. If your traditional methods of outreach are not working, you need to get creative.
Reface can be a tool that you add to a step in your outreach sequence when you’re not getting the results you want. It can be time consuming to find the right celebrity or gif to replace your prospect with. And it may be a bit unnerving to send this. However, if you can find the appropriate clip to use in your sales prospecting, it can be effective.
Creative Sales Prospecting Idea #4 Use A Picture Meme
The internet has been taken over by memes because they’re a quick way to convey a message. If you’re writing personalized emails, making calls, and need to find a way to get your message to your prospect, a standard meme can help you book a meeting. Like the other ideas, if your prospect is getting tons of text emails all day, you will stand out.
The challenge with a meme is it will fall flat if you’re not leveraging them properly for your creative sales outreach. Not everyone has the talent to make a text meme. Unlike Piñata Farms and Reface, image memes have less depth and some people will simply not understand what you’re trying to say. There are many free sites that make it easy to create memes.
The Best Creative Prospecting Idea #5 – Send A Cameo
If you’re not familiar with Cameo, it’s a marketplace where you can buy customized celebrity shoutouts. You can select a celebrity across a variety of categories from former professional athletes, to TV stars, to D list celebrities, and have them say something in a brief video clip. You’re then able to send this to a sales prospect. It’s probably the best creative sales prospecting idea because it’s customizable and personal.
If you do a little research on your prospect and figure out they like the Dallas Cowboys, you can find a former player and have them send a message on your behalf. Using sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, can help you figure out what your prospect likes. If it’s a top sales prospect and you can’t find anything, I would recommend you reach out to a direct report to see if you can gather any intel. The reason you need to do research is because Cameos are not cheap. They can range from $10 to hundreds of dollars. The other tools mentioned are free and can still be quite effective.
Another thing to remember about using Cameo is that there will be a lead time. unlike the other sales prospecting ideas that can be made in as little as five minutes, Cameo can take days to receive your finished video.
Gifting as a Creative Prospecting Idea
Although sending gifts is nothing new to help land meetings, be creative about the type of gifts you send. Check out this read on Sendoso competitors and alternatives if you’re looking for a sales tool to help you land more meetings.
What You Need To Remember About Creative Sales Outreach Ideas
These creative ways to prospect are all ideas that can work because you’re doing something different. When every other SDR you’re competing with is Zigging, you want to Zag. Standing out is critical. You may find that Venmo as a creative prospecting idea isn’t working, that doesn’t mean Cameo or Piñata Farms wont. Make sure to try them all. Like anything that’s different, you have to figure out what works for you.
Keep in mind that a lot of your success will be in researching your prospect so the creative prospecting technique is relevant. Finding something that is personal to your sales prospect and then connecting that to one of these creative sales outreach ideas is going to be key. And it’s going to take more time than it normally would to create a meme or use Reface than it would to write a cold email or make a cold call. Knowing this before you apply one of these outreach ideas will set the proper expectations for you and your manager.
When Should You Use a Creative Sales Prospecting Idea?
There’s no right or wrong answer and it will depend on your circumstances. If you’re not personalizing your outreach and getting good results, it’s probably not worth your time.
- If you have a high ACV, it’s worth trying if you’re not hitting your numbers. Given the time it can take and potential cost with something like Cameo, the ROI has to be there to justify this as a creative prospecting technique.
- If you’re using intent data and haven’t been able to connect with a hot prospect, it can be worth using if your intent data is marking a prospect for you to reach out.
- If you haven’t been able to get a reply from a prospect
- You’re in a competitive space and sell an undifferentiated product
- You’re missing your booked meeting numbers and your activity level with cold calls and emails is high enough
- A prospect has gone cold
Ranking the Creative Sales Prospecting Ideas
- Cameo – Most personal and unique. Can be expensive and time consuming.
- Piñata Farm – If you’re creative, it can be a fantastic way to get your prospect’s attention
- Meme – Easiest to create and tons of options.
- Reface – Similar to Piñata Farm but not as good.
- Venmo – Risky but will definitely stand out. It may be challenging to find your prospect.
