Tricks of the trade: How UJET’s Alex Palomino gets the highest open rates and the most responses — while sending the fewest emails on her team

GIFs

Using GIFs in prospecting, although not a new idea, remains a case- or vertical-specific tactic. Not every team can use them, as not every industry will respond to them. For example, if you sell to a conservative vertical, your prospects might not care to receive a funny GIF. In fact, it may make you look less-than-professional.

That is not the case with UJET’s market.

“I’m a big GIF user. But, there are a few good rules to follow when using them. Remember, this is always a judgement call — not everyone is going to want to get one,” says Alexandra.

“Don’t send a GIF in the first email, use it after a few touchpoints.”

A critical, yet often forgotten, element of using GIFs is the research that goes into choosing the right one. Not every GIF is created equal, and not every GIF should be sent to every prospect. You need to do your research, think creatively about what image you want to use, and send it at just the right time. If you can do that, you will make an impact.

A couple of the GIFs Alexandra has used to connect, and impress, her prospects are:

• Cardi B (the hip hop star was designing a clothing line for a company Alex was reaching out to, so she used her image in an email)
• The Kardashians (after checking out her prospect’s Twitter feed, Alexandra saw that a prospect has retweeted some Kardashian content. So, she used that bit of research to connect and show she has a genuine interest in her prospects)

“I didn’t get the meeting when I used the Kardashian GIF,” Alexandra says, with a laugh.

“But, I circled back with that account a few months later and got a meeting then.”

The calls

When it comes to cold calling, Alexandra follows a set of inspirational tactics to get pumped up to hit the phones. To set the mood, she put on some upbeat music, pulls up each prospect’s LinkedIn profile, organizes her leads by geography, and reads her emails as a script to make sure she’s being short and sweet when she gets the prospect’s on the phone.

Reading emails, a tactic Alexandra says she learned at her first SDR job at Everstring, is a very useful tool for cold calls — those emails should have very distilled versions of your company’s value prop and, assuming your emails are being read, re-using that language could help connect the dots and remind your prospect who you are.

“When I first had to make calls at Everstring, I wanted to cry. I thought I couldn’t do it. But, my team helped me. Showed me it was simple,” says Alexandra.

“I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. You need to get pumped up, and organize yourself.”

(Editor’s note: Matt Amundson, VP of Marketing at Everstring, was on the podcast a while back to chat all things outbound. You can listen to our interview here, or read about our chat here)

A cup of coffee…on us!

If all else fails, it’s time to send some gifts. Alexandra, and the rest of the UJET team, like using Sendoso, a platform for sending accounts and prospects gifts. Like her cold calling techniques, Alexandra was first introduced to Sendoso when she was an SDR at Everstring.

Let’s be honest, coffee cards go a long way (I mean, who doesn’t want a cup of coffee on the house?) and sometimes you have to bargain with the prospect to get time on their calendars. Give a little get a little, as they say.

This doesn’t have to be a big investment — UJET just sends $5 coffee cards. It’s the thought that counts and a small gift will get the attention of your prospects.

“It sweetens the deal, for sure. Sometimes prospects are bound by company policy, and they can’t accept it. But they will remember it,” says Alexandra.

And, really, that’s what prospecting is all about, isn’t it? Standing out amongst the crowd is paramount. If a few of these tactics can help you better stand out, as Alexandra is at UJET — then take what you can. And, of course, if you have any killer outbound tips that you want to share, we’d love to hear from you.

For more Alexandra’s thoughts on outbound — including a few stellar tips and tricks on leaving effective voicemails — check out the rest of her interview on The Predictable Revenue Podcast.

Have a look at these blog posts, too:

You can talk to us anytime about getting started with outbound.

Originally published at predictablerevenue.com on February 14, 2019.