The power of the OOO message

Prospecting tips for the holiday week(end)

DEAR STAGE 2: It’s the start of a holiday weekend, we’re heading into the first week of Q3 and a lot of my team is out of the office (and so are our buyers!). What can we do to avoid losing a week and hit the ground running in the back half of the year? Any clever ideas on how to make the most of these short holiday weeks? ~Building momentum

DEAR BUILDING MOMENTUM: For those of us in the US, we’re heading into a mid-week 4th of July. Many companies have Monday and Tuesday off and plenty of employees are taking the week. It’s the kick off to summer so I’ll keep this short and sweet. 

As a seller, or a sales manager, a holiday week does NOT need to be a lost week, but you need to make it work for you. 

How?

The out of office (OOO) message. 

First, your Prospects’ OOO messages.

Jump in that cadence/sequence tool and set up a quick message. Wish your contacts a happy holiday — be brief, be genuine, be brief (yes, needed to be said 2x). You want to get this message scheduled to catch the OOO replies so that you can gather intel and fill in the blanks in your prospecting strategy:

• Contact info/phone number: Many people put their phone numbers in their out of office messages. Those numbers are gold! And while we’re here… what other CRM fields can you verify/update? New title? 

• New influential contacts: OOO messages often redirect to other contacts in an organization. Mine these messages for new contacts and their details — title, role/responsibilities, contact info, etc…

• Actionable intel: When is your contact returning? Where was he/she traveling? Are there relatable details you can reference when you next speak or in your next message? Heck, maybe you can send a restaurant, coffee, or hike recommendation that makes his/her trip!

Second, your own OOO message.

Obviously these are context and role/level specific, but for any customer facing role there is a huge amount of opportunity that most sellers leave on the table. This is yet another touchpoint with your prospect/customer and you should use it to standout. Yes, you should make sure to include the basics — return date, another POC for urgent issues, a phone number (I hesitate to include this because I don’t personally do this… if you don’t already have my cell, I can guarantee this ‘emergency’ can wait 3 days. BUT, I know many people do). So use this opportunity!:

• Be human/personal

  • Do away with the pre-populated template and tell prospects what you are up to, where you are traveling or what book you’re reading this week — people buy from people; be real

  • Sign your name — the name you like to be called, not just your signature block

  • Customize the subject line (I know you can in Gmail, but has anyone found a way to do that in Outlook yet?!)

• Add value: 

  • Include a quick product or new feature tip

  • Link to your best performing marketing asset

  • Embed a video of a customer testimonial

• Advance the sale:

  • Plug your freemium or free trial offering

  • Include a product tour or demo video 

  • Share your next marketing event/webinar/etc…

  • Include your Calendly so they can book time with you when you return 

And I want to leave you with 2 final tips before you head to your cookout:

For the week after the 4th: Schedule a OOO follow-up blitz for next week NOW. A 90-120 min block for your entire team to ensure they have pulled all of the OOO contacts and are acting on this great intel while it’s fresh and timely — update cadences, make a quick call, add a personalized touch point, etc… make it a team activity to capitalize on these learnings. 

For those team members who are in the office working this week: This is the ideal week for prep. With many of your buyers and team members on vacation, it’s a notoriously quiet week. Don’t waste it! Set yourself up for a strong start to H2 by reviewing accounts from the past year to see if there are any to prioritize reaching back out to, revising prospecting lists, cleaning out your pipeline so you can forecast for the rest of the year, etc… take advantage of the light call/meeting week so you are ready to go next week!

These sure aren’t closing tips, but it feels a whole lot better to come back from a few days OOO to an inbox of intel and a jump start on H2!

See you next week!