Summary: By using custom merchandise and personalized swag boxes, businesses can effectively prospect for sales and get new clients by standing out from traditional digital outreach methods.
Your business is only as healthy as your sales pipeline is full. That’s why sales prospecting remains a strategic way to support your business. If you’re hunting for new approaches for how to prospect, you’re in the right place. This guide will detail key insights for using brand experience merchandise to keep your pipeline full.
Need to Skim? Key Takeaways
- Custom merchandise is a powerful tool for sales prospecting: The traditional methods of cold calling and emailing are evolving, and using personalized, tangible items like custom merchandise can differentiate your business and help you get new clients.
- A strategic, multi-step process is essential: Our five-step process for effective prospecting includes identifying high-value prospects, personalizing the outreach, choosing the right merchandise, sending a swag box with a story, and following up strategically.
- Thoughtful swag helps you stand out and convert leads: Sending the right swag can increase engagement by leveraging key psychological principles.
- Avoid generic items and focus on quality: The best way to attract new clients is to use strategic, thoughtful swag that aligns with your brand values and reinforces your investment in the relationship.
Table of Contents
- What is Sales Prospecting? (and Why It’s Evolving)
- How to Prospect for Sales Using Custom Swag
- Company Swag Ideas for Clients that Convert
- Why Swag Helps You Get New Clients
- The Best Way to Get New Clients in a Noisy Market
- Tips for Success
What is Sales Prospecting? (and Why It’s Evolving)
What is sales prospecting? It’s the process of identifying and engaging with potential customers. Traditional sales prospecting methods include cold calling, emailing, and LinkedIn outreach. However, there is a growing need for personalization and tangible brand experiences that truly reach people in innovative ways.
When exploring how to prospect for sales, introducing potential clients to the glimmering concept of swag boxes can be a powerful differentiator in a crowded market.
How to Prospect for Sales Using Custom Swag
Here is a step-by-step guide for how to get new clients using custom swag.
Step 1: Identify High-Value Prospects
It’s important to first know who your ideal points of contact are, in terms of key elements like budget, timing, and even purchasing authority. To identify qualifying prospects, Use intent data, lead scoring, or firmographics to select quality leads.
Step 2: Personalize the Outreach
Research the individual or company to find custom touchpoints.
Step 3: Choose the Right Company Swag
Match the swag to the industry, persona, or business pain point. For example, you might send productivity kits to tech companies or wellness gifts to HR leads.
Step 4: Send a Swag Box That Tells a Story
Include a personalized note and a QR code that links to a landing page or video. Position the swag not just as a gift, but as the beginning of a partnership.
Step 5: Follow Up Strategically
Reference the swag in your emails or calls. Use timing triggers, such as when the shipment is received, to start a conversation. This can seamlessly be achieved through a custom corporate gifting platform that tracks and manages all of these timing triggers for you!
Company Swag Ideas for Clients That Convert
While the custom merchandise may not be a revolutionary idea, knowing how to get new clients by leveraging merch requires some thought and strategy! Looking for creative company swag ideas for clients that drive engagement? Consider these options:
- Coffee kits for morning decision-makers
- Branded desk items with clever messaging
- Premium notebooks or pens featuring company mission quotes
- Creative packaging that reflects your brand voice
- Swag that ties into a digital campaign, such as LinkedIn ads targeting the same prospect list
Want more inspo? Explore a couple of our curated lists:
Why Swag Helps You Get New Clients
There are countless reasons why swag (or merch) is the best way to get new clients. For starters, sending swag helps your outreach stand out from the digital noise and can lead to a significant increase in response rates, meeting bookings, or demo participation.
Leveraging swag boxes for clients also targets psychological principles like reciprocity, surprise, and delight to form a quicker emotional bond between them and your brand. Read more about the value of promotional products.
The Best Way to Get New Clients in a Noisy Market
Standing out in a sea of brand advertisements is one of the greatest challenges in modern day marketing. How does anyone stand out anymore?
The best way to get new clients is to combine custom merchandise with a multi-channel approach so that your brand takes up prime real estate in consumers’ minds. Suppose you’re running an email marketing campaign alongside social media ads or an offline marketing push. Align your custom merchandise strategy with your overall marketing messaging! Reinforce your value proposition with every brand touchpoint. By sending thoughtful swag, you position your company as premium, thoughtful, and worth remembering. This perceived investment in the budding relationship is a powerful tool.
Once your relationship is established, read our guide on maintaining it!
Tips for Success
Remember, the goal is not to produce more clutter for desk tops and junk drawers. To succeed, remember to be strategic and avoid sending “stuff” for the sake of it. Steer clear of cheap or overly generic items. Always align your merchandise with your brand values so that the products tell a story about who you are.
Working with a vendor that offers fulfillment, personalization, and reporting can help streamline this process. At Imprint Engine, we not only generate high-quality, interesting, and functional company swag ideas for clients, we help you budget, strategize, and execute (and yes, that includes sourcing, production, fulfillment logistics, warehousing, reconciliation, and more.) Using our proven method for successful promotional brand experiences, your brand will make a memorable impression on everyone it reaches.
Read more about how we make it happen.
Build a brand experience that lives on.
