Olympics 2024 just came to a wrap. What was your favorite moment? Personally, I am not that much into sports or athletics. But there are several inspiring stories from Steph Curry to Simone Biles or Yusuf Dikec. But my favorite part about this Olympics was the endurance shown by almost all the athletes! Some of the stories like Sifan Hassan winning the gold in the women’s marathon after winning the bronze in 5K and 10K earlier this week.
Her journey of ENDURANCE has taught me some fundamentals in marketing that I often overlook especially when I design champion job change leads follow-up campaigns for our customers.
#1 Endurance:
Most companies add champions that change jobs (Boomerang as I call it) to a 30-day sequence and expect 10-20% of them to convert into pipeline. But the reality is that <5% of them convert to pipeline in the first 90 days. So what can we do differently?
- Time-Endurance: Have a 12-month engagement strategy for job change leads with the right balance of sales-led, marketing-led, executive-led, gifting-led, or event-led touchpoints. Know that some of them may want to re-engage right after but some may need several months to figure out if you fit in. Stay in touch - consistently and automatically. Make them feel that you care beyond getting the sale.
- Relationship-Endurance: In most cases, your SDRs are not the best person to reach out to a Boomerang. Find who has had the best relationship with the job change lead at their previous company. Getting the first meeting doesn’t mean they are ready to buy from you immediately. Build the rapport and stay engaged.
- Channel-Endurance: Combine sequence-based outreach with ABM ads, field events, and Marketo nurture programs. All of them serve different roles in getting the Boomerang ready to re-engage at their new job.
- Messaging-Edurance: Knowing the context at the new company and customizing your account-based messaging to tap into that will let your champion know that you care. Don't expect them to buy from you again just because it worked well in the previous job. If anything, they expect more.
#2 Team-work:
While it is cliche to talk about teamwork in the context of SaaS GTM motions, how GTM teams collaborate is nowhere near the levels that teams or individuals who participate in the Olympics do. So what can we do differently?
- GTM teamwork: Many of us agree that pipeline generation is a team sport and not an SDR sport alone but very rarely do teams rally around SDRs to help break through the door like how we help salespeople. While SDRs can orchestrate the pipegen strategy for a particular account, executives have to chime in with 1:1 emails, marketing with relevant events, or sales with multi-threading support.
- Buyer teamwork: Traditional Boomerang playbooks are based on reaching out to just the Boomerang lead. But most CXOs or VPs work with 55-60 tools (at least) while at their previous job. The members reporting to your past contact are likely working on goals to support the new hire. Engaging and multi-threading them with relevant content will get us the foot in the door.
#3 Champion-led growth
I believe that the next phase of demand gen will be powered by REBOUND-led growth. While most competitors can replicate your Inbound and outbound strategies, your Rebound strategy is purely based on your unique USP - the relationships you have with your customers and partners. 15-20% of champions change jobs every month and they are great source of leads to go after to bulid pipeline. But can you get the remaining 85% to do 1 warm intro per year?
