{"id":1996,"date":"2019-02-06T03:48:38","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T09:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.kmbrian.com\/?p=1996"},"modified":"2020-12-04T00:45:29","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T06:45:29","slug":"help-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/help-first\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Help-First Mindset Can Deliver Leads, Referrals, and Revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

When is a sale not about a sale?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a trick question: all<\/em> sales shouldn\u2019t be \u2018about\u2019 the sale. They should be about helping someone solve a problem, fulfill a need, or scratch an itch.<\/p>\n

When you go into a cold email<\/a>, a cold call, a meeting, a pitch, a follow-up<\/a>, or anything else with a help-first mindset<\/strong>, your prospects and customers can sense it. They\u2019ll respond to it. And that<\/em> results in more sales, better relationships, and higher retention.<\/p>\n

Customers aren\u2019t buying a product or service. They\u2019re buying you.<\/p>\n

66% of consumers<\/a> feel the experience is more important than the price. The number-one reason consumers switch to a rival brand is because they feel unappreciated<\/a>. Walker predicts that customer experience will surpass<\/a> both price and the product itself as the key differentiator by 2020. 86% of buyers<\/a> are happy to pay more for an exceptional customer experience, while 73% of them list it as an important factor in any purchase decision.<\/p>\n

The most exciting opportunity in 2019 according to a recent survey by Econsultancy? You guessed it: customer experience (CX).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n

Customer service or experience boils down to how your prospects and customers feel about how you treat them at every touch point. Are they individuals, or are they merely dollar signs?<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways keep in mind the old retail adage: Customers remember the service a lot longer than they remember the price<\/em>.\u201d ~Lauren Freedman<\/a>, President of the E-tailing Group<\/p>\n

Are you putting this all into practice in your outreach? Want to see an example of someone crushing it?<\/p>\n

Meet Royce Louden.<\/p>\n

Help-First in Action<\/h2>\n

As the Business Development Manager at BookWerks<\/a>, the main responsibility Royce Louden<\/a> is tasked with is to, well, develop the business. And that means a lot of outreach.<\/p>\n

The nearly-three-year-old company provides bookkeeping services<\/a> and advice for entrepreneurs and small businesses including tech startups, ecommerce, and craft breweries, amongst others.<\/p>\n

One of their most intriguing value propositions<\/a> is the quarterly analyses of campaigns and endeavors from an accountant\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a game-changer, being an innovator in a non-innovator industry<\/em>.\u201d ~Royce Louden<\/p>\n

Louden and the BookWerks team have been using Mailshake<\/a> as the engine for their restaurant outreach, having identified the entrepreneurs in that industry as prime candidates to benefit from their services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve also harnessed Mailshake\u2019s automation abilities to create network referral campaigns, as well as using it as a channel to strengthen LinkedIn connections in a more meaningful way.<\/p>\n

With a strictly educational, help-first approach, Louden is successfully using cold email to generate leads<\/a>, referrals<\/a>, and yes, sales.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how he\u2019s done it.<\/p>\n

Usage #1 \u2013 Restaurant Outreach<\/h2>\n

Restaurant owners and entrepreneurs are very operations-focused. They consider themselves craftsmen and women first and foremost, then businesspeople second, if at all.<\/p>\n

No one decides to open a restaurant or catering business because they want to do admin and paperwork all day. They want to create, cook, experiment, bake, and see people enjoying the fruits of that \u2018labor\u2019.<\/p>\n

BookWerks helps them triple down on what they\u2019re best at while taking everything else off of their plate (no pun intended). It restores the proper and desired allocation of their time: less hunched over a desk, and more in the kitchen or dining room.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a value prop that they\u2019d all love to hear.<\/p>\n

A few months ago, Louden launched a 90-day restaurant outreach campaign using Mailshake.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t about trying to sell them on BookWerks. Not even close. He was exclusively making connections, dropping seeds, and staying in touch.<\/p>\n

It was purely content \u2013 both original and curated \u2013 that he knew his recipients would find useful and interesting. He was providing value without asking for anything in return.<\/p>\n

Louden created 4-7 messages for an automated reply drip campaign. It was strictly all about them<\/em>, their<\/em> story, and their<\/em> pain points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI intentionally set it up with this help-first angle. The first message said something along the lines of \u2018Hey, I\u2019m a big fan of stories, and I\u2019d love to hear about you to see if there\u2019s anything I can do to help, whether it\u2019s related to bookkeeping or not.\u2019 That set the tone for the entire campaign.<\/em>\u201d ~Royce Louden<\/p>\n

The campaign\u2019s first message \u2013 with the beautifully simplistic yet compelling subject line<\/a> \u2018What\u2019s Your Story?\u2019 \u2013 went out to 327 recipients. It garnered a 55% open rate \u2013 well above the average of 37%<\/a> across all industries \u2013 and a 4% click-through rate.<\/p>\n

Follow-up messages sent every eight days delivered open rates of 52%, 39%, and 35%, respectively.<\/p>\n

Email messages later in the drip might ask a basic question like \u201cHey, are we connected on LinkedIn?\u201d in addition to the high-quality content and tips in order to increase exposure and gain traction with the recipient.<\/p>\n

The emails towards the end included some value prop dropping here and there, including existing clients, more about BookWerks, the digital interpretation of financials, and perhaps a screenflow of that interpretation, but none of it was aggressive nor the main focus of the email.<\/p>\n

The final email at the end of the drip was a friendly request to connect (or reconnect) via coffee or a call at their convenience.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt works so well, that I\u2019d love to personalize the messaging for other industries over time. That\u2019s the long-term goal.<\/em>\u201d ~Royce Louden<\/p>\n

Sales are more about the relationship and the customer experience than they are about the product. Help first, provide real value to them, and they\u2019ll want to buy from you and only you.<\/p>\n

Usage #2 \u2013 Network Referral<\/h2>\n

Acquisition via cold outreach and lead nurturing is obviously important to any business. But smart businesses recognize the equal significance of referrals, too. Consider:<\/p>\n