ZVRK

Enterprise Account Executive

Should I get my CEO to send "Holidays greetings" emails to my accounts?

Hi fellas,

Bit of context first: I`m working at an approx. 100 ppl startup, selling HRTech SaaS to mostly enterprise accounts (5,000 employee plus). With the Holidays season in full swing (Easter, Orthodox Easter, Eid Al Fitr), I`m thinking of having my CEO reach out to some of my key accounts contacts with a Seasons Greetings type of email, with me in cc.

Might sound cheesy, but I think some of my contacts will actually appreciate it , especially my contacts in the Middle East where relationships really matter :)

CEO`s pretty hands on with sales, so no doubt he`ll go for it, I`ll just need to provide the contacts and the copy maybe.

My question is, have you done something like this before? Do you think it`s a good idea or maybe a dumb one and should abort mission :D

🧠 Advice

19 comments

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SalesBeast

Politicker

Sales Leader

Before I absolutely destroy your idea.. what’s the hope or logic behind it? More sales? Being friendly? Build rapport?

ZVRK

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

All of the above i guess, just more visibility. Maybe coming from the CEO (the greetings) will be seen as a gesture, bit different (and better) than just me, the AE, sending them a happy holidays email..

SalesBeast

Politicker

Sales Leader

I will be polite in my response and say that if you do this.. I would wait for the actual holiday season. Not weeks after Easter. And I would anticipate 0.00 sales or anything other than a simple ‘oh this guys CEO is sending out generic emails thanking people’ as what they would think about it. Or a simple delete.
If it’s customers they should get a ‘thank you’ once a year probably towards end of year as that is true holiday season for all.
If it’s prospects, they will see through the BS real fast and honestly probably not care so much. Can’t hurt I guess, but if it in anyway is an attempt to try and sell more I would not waste over 3 seconds on this ..

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Director, Revenue Enablement

Are you prepared to do this every year?

Are you going to do the same for Juneteenth or Memorial Day, or 4th of July?

If this action is to have any meaning it should be repeatable, scalable, and meaningful.

End of the year is more normal. If you are looking for an additional touch point why not send one out at their renewal thanking them for business or on your main contact’s birthday?

GreenSide

Politicker

Sales manager

@Revenue_Rambo I’m guessing there is a difference in geography here. You just listed 3 purely American holidays when @ZVRK specifically called out the Middle East.

I genuinely don’t know but I wonder if maybe end of year isn’t that normal for his target market.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Director, Revenue Enablement

I see what you're saying. Were the holidays I pointed out American and not middle eastern? Yes.

However, the bigger point I was trying to make is that you don't know how your contacts align to various seasons (especially religion specific days). In the US the end of year became "Happy Holidays" instead of Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah for the purpose of not offending anyone.

What is consistent with your customers and prospects though is BUSINESS. Events around their business (ie renewal, anniversary, milestones, etc) are easy to recognize year after year, and pose nearly a 0% chance offending someone in the case that their race, religion, political affiliation does not align with your message.

This is not to say that the suggested approach is wrong or wouldn't work, I just believe it entails a lot of potential risk.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

It is absolutely never cliche to thank someone for their business.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Completely agree bb 💯

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

As a buyer with absolutely no religious ties, I’d trash that email immediately.

unclespacejam

Politicker

ur dad’s brother

Strong agree here. Feels hokey at best.

If you’re wanting to go for proper Thank You’s I’d just send one out with a gift, would go a lot further

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

We snail mail out greetings cards, but our customers are all local, and many of the cards personally signed . An email seems generic , try to personalize the greetings if you do something. Even a quick email you write up for each of your customers might go a longer way than some mass sent CEO greetings.

Retired Sales Professional

I believe that's something you should do!

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

I think that you know your region best. So go for it. Only thing I would advise is maybe try and organize an event or ask if CEO is having any events where you could invite the customer

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

You can or can not; It is possible that it doesn't add any revenue but might help in building relations.
There's no harm in doing it but at the same time, don't expect much. It's more Marketing than Sales I'd say.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

If the end goal is to get executive warm and fuzzy going I wouldn't recommend holiday outreach tied to religion because you don't know what people do or don't believe in unless you stalked them online in which case they may just find it creepy. You can certainly have your execs reach out, however the messaging should be constructed around the deep attention that is clearly being paid to the account with the CEO being involved in the outreach.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Opinions are divided...

I think there's no harm, if it's timely. Especially for the Middle East.

It's definitely marketing though.

FoodForSales

Politicker

it never hurts to be nice, as long as its sincere

ZVRK

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Thank you everyone for the comments :) in the end, I decided to send these emails and messages myself, as I do every year. I`ll leave the CEO out of this :D

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

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ZVRK

Should I get my CEO to send "Holidays greetings" emails to my accounts?

19 comments

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