We all love our furry little friends, but did you know they can help generate more meetings and connections? In general, man’s best friend knows how to break down barriers, and as Tom Hopkins highlights, sales is all about how quickly you can do that. The best way we’ve found to do that is by giving our prospects highly personalized and REAL information. People want to know they’re talking to other humans, and a few extra minutes spent personalizing a message can go a long way. 

There are many different approaches on how to conduct research on your prospects. Funnel Clarity teaches a process for collecting and using pre-call research; our team at Insightpool has taken that approach and built on it. Simply doing research is not enough. Adding in a layer of humor and wit through videos, GIF’s and pictures truly adds fuel to the fire. Now, I know you’ve all been wondering where puppy videos come into play, so here it goes. In our "extremely scientific" research, we’ve found a lot of people like cute puppies, wine, sports, music, food, newborn babies, and a slew of other things (shocker, huh?). So what do we do with all of this information, you ask? We personalize our outbound emails of course! And the process and response couldn’t be more fun and engaging. 

Below I have provided some quick bullet points on our process and approach. Also included are some of my favorite emails sent and responses we’ve received. 

• Our team uses a variety of tools for identifying ideal companies and prospects. Anything from our own solution to Data.com, to Salesloft, and even HubSpot Signals for look-a-like companies.

• Social Media: all of our research comes from scanning Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, etc. Actually analyzing what each prospect is posting and who they are following can tell you a lot about them. 

• Certain key personalization areas: college (undergrad), hobbies, and puppies of course! 

• Once you’ve gathered the necessary information find a funny video, picture, or GIF and embed into your email. 

• Send away. 

Example #1 

Hey Grace-- thought you might enjoy this adorable puppy video...because why not, it's Wednesday. 

Was going through my personal Twitter stream and landed upon Company X and noticed you're the mind behind the madness for social.  Thought it would be relevant for you to check out what Insightpool is up to.  We help companies find and proactively engage the audiences that matter most to them, driving their success in share of voice as well as having CTRs of over 100%. 

Would love to talk with you about Company X's social initiatives! My schedule is open Thursday/Friday afternoon later this week (EST).

Here is Grace’s reply:

Hi Danny – That was probably one of the more unique introductions I’ve seen. But you got my attention :) 

We use a number of tools for social listening and engagement but the one min video was compelling and I’d like to learn more about the tool. 

Here’s another example: 

Hey Julie,

Thanks for the LinkedIn connection! Also, saw you like wine and puppies, so I have attached a gif combining both a puppy and wine....quite the combo if you ask me! :) 

Anyways, landed upon Company X and noticed you're behind the social media efforts.  Thought it would be relevant for you to check out what Insightpool is up to. We help companies leverage their digital channels to identify and engage the right people and hidden advocates to drive greater CTR'S, downloads, engagement, etc. Essentially feeding and integrating with your current social media management systems and marketing automation. 

Curious if you'd at least want to chat about this. How does Wednesday or Thursday afternoon look for 10 minutes?

And Julie’s response….

Hi Jason, 

You hit straight to my heart with the email title and GIF :) Bravo.

Let’s make time for next Friday AM? Happy to look through any material prior.

Talk soon!

So now the secret is out. What are your thoughts? Do you do something similar? What have you seen as effective with your team?