etailinsights eCommerce Data and Sales Blog
Sales Hack: Use the iPhone "VIP" Setting
posted by Darren Pierce
"Can I talk to Floyd?"
Las Vegas used to have a popular nightclub known as “Jet.” My friends and I were standing in line to enter Jet when a massive entourage approached. I noticed a short, bald man in the middle, but couldn’t see him. Then, baldy stepped onto a small stage with a pre-hung background and began posing for photos. Immediately I recognized him, the greatest pound-for-pound boxer of all time - Floyd Mayweather.
I love Floyd. I understand he has a troubled past, but the truth is - I love winners. I find winners intoxicating and irresistible to admire. Floyd is not simply a winner, he’s the winningest winner of all time, he has NEVER lost. Not ever.
As a Mayweather fan, I was very excited to learn that he was going to be at Jet for his birthday celebration. He had his own VIP section reserved. The Money Team security guards defended each entrance of this section, managing long lines of admirers hoping to meet Floyd. I patiently waited my turn to enter his birthday VIP section, by myself, surrounded by loads of attractive ladies. In fact, I seemed to be the only male waiting for entry. My friends were off in our own little section, having fun, laughing at me, displaying no interest in the winningest winner.
At long last, it was my turn. I climbed the 3 steps, and asked the TMT guard, “Can I talk to Floyd?”
He looked at me, presumably noticed I was not a female or anyone of importance, and then replied with a boisterous:
“HA! BUAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHA.”
Then, still chuckling, he let a couple of ladies in who was standing behind me.
Message received, but at least I gave it a shot. I don’t blame the guard for doing his job. Floyd was focused on having fun and he didn’t want to be bothered on that night by a starstruck fan. In other words, I was not a “VIP.”
Sales Hack: The iPhone "VIP" Setting
I’m an Apple person. Apple’s iPhone has the ability for you to designate specific contacts as “VIP.” And then you can set an ‘alert’ when you receive emails from these VIPs. You can set a custom ring tone, (mine is a song I like that I downloaded from iTunes), and it will play immediately. Here are some uses you might consider:
- If you use a contract signature product, set up their email address as a contact (Echosign@Echosign.com).
- If you catch inbound leads, set up the email address that forwards them to you, such as SalesforceLeads@salesforce.com. This will allow you to respond immediately to an inbound lead.
- If you have a top prospect and you want to jump on all of their emails as soon as they arrive (not recommended).
- If you have support responsibility, add support@emailaddress.com as a VIP.
- Floyd Mayweather
Remember Floyd’s birthday party? He was focused on having fun and didn’t want distractions. And, the focus is key in successful SaaS sales. We can’t keep checking our email inbox when we are focused on other initiatives. Using the VIP alerts allows you to ignore email for a few hours.
Give it a try and have fun setting up custom ring tones that make you laugh (“Yoda, Laugh” is a fav of mine).
