Drive prospect engagement by aligning to the attributes of high value offers. A primary function of the go-to-market team is to determine how best to engage prospects in order to progress deals and drive revenue. Organizations that have the most success in driving prospect engagement are those where cross-functional teams come together to create and execute offers that are so compelling and relevant that prospects consider it worth their time to engage. This gets the various teams acting together to make connections with targeted accounts rather than working in silos.

At every stage of the funnel, marketers and sellers are trying to connect with prospects. A typical email or voicemail messaged around your solution offering is often not enough to break through the noise. However, changing your messaging to reflect relevance to the prospect and their current challenges is just the start. TOPO has found that the “offer” or next best action you propose to talk with the prospect is what makes a difference. Only offers that are truly beneficial to the prospect can cause them to react and respond.

Definition: A high value offer is an interaction that provides such unique and timely business value that it compels a prospect to engage.

When creating high value offers, it is critical to consider what differentiates a high value offer from any other type of offer. In order for an offer to be truly prospect-centric, it must be an engaging interaction, unique, timely, and provide business value to the prospect.

In strong economic times, prospects might be more open to exploring new products, but in today’s challenging environment most prospects are reluctant to take any sales call or demo that doesn’t relate to their current organizational priorities. As a result, sales and marketing teams must now figure out what conversation is most valuable to their prospects based on what challenges they are trying to solve. A high value offer that aligns to those challenges will deliver business value and create engagement.

Create high value offers by understanding the objective of the offer

A high value offer for a target segment will be general enough to resonate with all accounts in that segment. They can also be used at the individual account level to help sales reps progress deals that have stalled or stopped responding.

When creating a high value offer, there are four key steps to follow:

1. Define the goal. This clarifies the outcome that the offer is expected to generate. For example, a high value offer can help to schedule a first meeting or advance an open opportunity.

2. Create potential offer ideas. The best way to come up with suggested high value offers is to hold a guided brainstorm session. The following questions will make sure that the ideas will resonate with targeted prospects.

• What are prospects trying to accomplish? What obstacles are keeping them for doing it?

• What processes, tools, or tactics have peers used to solve a similar challenge? Are there stories to share that explain that?

• What market or industry trends would appeal to prospects? What about insights that show a new market direction or industry vision?

3. Prioritize offers based on impact and effort. Rate each idea using a three-point scale to determine the impact and effort it will take to create. While high effort offers can be considered for large, strategic accounts, a lower effort one could be more appropriate for a sales rep to use for an individual prospect.

4. Consider the delivery format of the offer. Traditionally, these could be a presentation during an in-person meeting, an event, or some other kind of valuable experience that conveys educational information to the prospect. Today, most interactions are delivered in a digital or virtual format, so this makes the uniqueness and relevance of the content itself even more important than ever.

Key takeaways

• Leverage high value offers to secure a meeting with prospects. The most important part of advancing deals to the next stage is to get a prospect to agree to a meeting. In a time of reduced engagement, offers that provide extreme business value that the prospect cannot refuse is the best path to securing a meeting.

• Focus offer content around key prospect challenges. A successful high value offer presents timely information or an experience to a prospect that teaches them something highly relevant or helps them solve a business challenge.

• Bring together cross-functional teams from marketing, sales, and sales development to develop high value offers. Each functional team brings different elements of segment, persona, or prospect knowledge and what resonates with them in different stages of the funnel. Collaboration creates a more complete picture that improves high value offers.