Description: Cox Business, the B2B division of Cox Communications, provides advanced voice, data and video products and services to small and medium sized businesses.
Challenge: The Cox Business sales team tried to get meetings with their top prospects for as much as a year. They needed a campaign that would get them noticed, open the door to a face-to-face meeting, and position Cox Business as a great technology partner.
North Star Solutions: North Star Marketing created a lead response campaign to entice these companies to meet with their local sales representative. The campaign included an A/B test, running one campaign for half of the prospect group and another campaign for the rest.
Campaign A: “It’s Easy” To help prospects overcome the fear and convey the ease of switching providers, North Star created a three-week campaign that used well-known clichés and food to raise awareness and create company excitement. Here’s how we did it:
-
Gift #1 - Easy as pie: The prospect receives a white box with an intriguing branded belly band. Inside the box? A freshly baked apple pie and a personalized insert describing the benefits of switching to Cox.
-
Gift #2 - Piece of cake: The prospect receives another white box with a cleverly branded belly band. This time the box contains a three layer chocolate cake and personalized insert detailing the reasons to switch to Cox.
-
Gift #3 - Let’s do lunch: The prospect receives a priority mail envelope containing a branded lunch bag with a message from the sales representative, offering to bring in a catered lunch for the prospect.
Campaign B: “Animal Cookies” While many people do not think fondly of their phone/internet provider, the thought of switching is a nightmare. Knowing this, North Star created a campaign that used creative play on words to get the point across that Cox Business can make the switch painless. Here’s how we did it:
-
Gift #1 - Get the monkey off your back: The prospect receives a box wrapped in a branded belly band with a clever message. Inside the box is a large frosted monkey cookie and a personalized insert describing the benefits of switching to Cox.
-
Gift #2 - Are they lion to you? The prospect receives another box wrapped in an inventive branded belly band. This time, the box contains a large frosted lion cookie and personalized insert detailing the reasons to switch to Cox.
-
Gift #3 - We’ll stick our neck out for you: The prospect receives a third box wrapped in a creative branded belly band. This box contains a large frosted giraffe cookie and personalized insert with a message from the sales representative, offering to bring in a catered lunch for the prospect and a team of ten.
In addition, North Star Marketing designed tracking boards for the sales team to track their results as the campaign progressed.
North Star Results: Much to the delight of Cox Business, this campaign produced an astounding 31% response rate. Each series of gifts made an impression on the prospects and got the word out about the benefits of switching to Cox and how easy swapping technology providers can be. The campaign and its success generated quite a buzz among the sales and marketing teams, as well as upper level management.
“I got a phone call from a big prospect right after the campaign. They had three services with our competitor that were up for bid and wanted me to quote them on this. YAY!”
-Jessica Kumar, Cox Business Sales Representative
“I finally scored a meeting with a prospect I’d been trying to get in with for over a year!”
-Mark Centracchio, Cox Business Sales Representative
“Many appointments were scheduled as a result of the campaign, and even weeks later our sales reps are continuing to close deals. The campaign definitely had the desired effect!”
-Suzette Roberts, Cox Business Marketing Manager
