. Sales Prospecting - Prospecting
Causes of Leads
A lead is any way to obtain information that may be converted into a sale. Leads can be generated from both with your business and external in your business; these two areas are covered in the following:
Typical reasons for leads
Existing customers Trade directories Internal inquiries Print media Library resources Networking Internet
Existing customers
Referral selling techniques - Mainly underused because many organisations are scared to inquire about the million-dollar question - are you aware of other people who would be thinking about my services? Never feel embarrassed to question this, probably the most valuable question you could ever ask is made for the ability to get a referral. Ask the consumer when you can make use of them like a reference, using the customer like a reference usually decreases the perceived risk for potential future customers. Also some trust is instilled early with all the person (or business) that you have been described because of their connection to your overall customer.
Trade directories
Info on prospective customers could possibly be as industry newsletters and business CD directories. Create a system of subscribing (for free obviously) to relevant industry newsletters, local government newsletters, be aware of as numerous opportunities as you can for future business. Sign up for newsletters in e-mail format (preferably HTML since it is simpler to read) these will then conveniently drop in your in-box in the frequency you have requested. Spend a couple of minutes daily checking these; I really do this primary thing and very last thing everyday religiously, just to make sure that I'm not really missing out on any opportunities that I wouldn't otherwise learn about.
Internal inquiries
Referral selling techniques - Ensure you have a system in place that promotes leads, make certain customer feedback is given to the proper people. Have regular staff network meetings, I used to call these meetings BBS - office sessions, whereby every Monday morning key staff (who've direct customer contact) attended this meeting and contribute recalling the era of the prior week, customer contact items of interest, and general discussion focusing around every sales possibility inside business using their experiences over the past week. Also involving your team in most aspects of the business cannot help but foster team building events and also the development of a great harmonious working place, not forgetting the ability to grow the business from all of these meetings!
Print media
Slacking to learn your industry magazines or even better trade journals may offer results in followup which you hadn't looked at previously. Trade journals are a great supply of information since your marketplace would be reading, advertising as well as writing editorials in these types of publications. Municipality newsletters will also be an excellent source of information providing such information as opportunities to work with them and also better, every so often, the chance to tender or buy upcoming contract work or another similar opportunities. These would even be of a better value proposition for the business!
Another successful lead strategy which i followed in early stages of my opportunity was every week to endure all jobs in advertisements in the local paper. You will need to select the best day when most of the ads appear, with my case it was the Saturday edition. Sure there are lots of, many advertisers inside the paper and that i would only take a look at those advertisers who weren't employing a recruitment consultant (direct company advertising). I would further cull this by looking only at the advertisements for positions (jobs) that were in my specific areas of expertise, in other words my target market.
My strategy is always to cut each of these ads from the newspaper and paste them in to a scrap book, noting near the top of the page the date how the advertisement appeared. In carefully looking at each of these ads, you'd normally start to see the company name, the name of the person to answer inside the ad, sometimes the e-mail address and usually an unknown number. I'd then watch for maybe two months, maximum 90 days and then call the number from the ad and ask for the person because position (that was advertised) then prospect to this person using my elevator statement (see below).
Whilst this can be considered a bit of a long shot, it's nevertheless, another possibility to generate leads and gain some business in locations where your competitors may not have considered. You'll be surprised at the results, perhaps you might even get a job offer through your inspired research or like so what happened in my experience, be provided a lucrative consulting opportunity once i is at front of a prospect (I discovered through by using this process), I used to be asked to train all her sales staff during these prospecting techniques!
Now exactly how good is the fact that!
A lift statement can be a brief several minute pitch regarding your business. Utilizing your words economically fire in some statistics, no room for technology jargon here, provide a concise pitch by what it is you do, adding a convincer as to why the prospect should speak to you! Remember the elevator statement is like a CV it is designed to allow you to get a meeting (or an interview in the case of the CV).
Library resources
Sales prospecting video gives great sales training - In most local libraries there is often a helpful material which can be accessed to generate possible leads for the business. During my local library as an example there is a business database which can be accessed from the library and remotely on the internet using my library membership card number. Also just reading the local library notice board from time to time can be an opportunity to business.
And in my hometown Melbourne we have a State Library the industry wealth of information for businesses as well as the way of lead generation which I have utilised successfully since 2002. You may have to research to find out if there's an equivalent to circumstances library in your local area. My State library for instance offers a reference business database which helps me to interrogate and appearance the database according to any criteria I select.
For example:
Size of business, by turnover and employees. Location of business, by state, city/suburb, or postcode. Whether or not the company has a website. Whether or not the business enterprise is quality assured (e.g. ISO: 9001). Whether they export or not. Major product lines or services offered. Contact numbers and position titles of key senior staff.
This now enables me to execute searches on the forms of businesses (by industry segment) i experienced previous success with, or those businesses that present opportunities will be able to prospect to and begin the qualifying process. So for me personally each interrogation or search comes down to finding three main areas, these are:
Industry segment Size of economic Location of economic
After i input these 3 search criteria (and further refine each one of these areas as required) I will then see exactly what companies I ought to prospect to in excess of the subsequent period. Usually a lot of the library resources are free, you'd normally just pay for your printing with this material, as unfortunately in some instances you aren't in a position to download this information (i.e. in your USB stick).
Regardless of whether you have this sort of resource available to you or otherwise not, you should continually locate a way to research that will enhance your prospecting activities, focusing across the key regions of industry segment, size business, and location of economic. These key areas should ideally match with your previous experience (your previous employment), your skills, your abilities, your capacity to produce, your competition, and your location.
Networking
Networking could be the most cost-effective approach to grow your business, word-of-mouth marketing, referral marketing, are kinds of networking. Search for possibilities to meet people in your marketplace at:
Business breakfasts Seminars and events your local management institute Local government small-business seminars Local business and community events Exhibitions and trade events
Even take the possibility to perform a presentation on a particular subject round the industry and technology you may work with. We have performed this on many occasions particularly with my town where I have presented on the subject, then at the conclusion within the final slides, I provide a credentials along with a soft cost my particular services which i offer to businesses.
Look for the individual responsible for business (or small-business) in that particular municipality office and offer to do a free seminar based around a topical subject. Typically local governments are always pleased to find methods to assist businesses within their area and offer experts presenting on particular subjects frequently, usually monthly.
Of course after the sessions you will have the possibility to give out numerous business cards, brochures, as well as other documentation to solicit business opportunities after your presentation. And this is precisely why you're carrying this out.
Internet
Sources of leads via the Internet are available in great shape, this may originate from (as mentioned before) from e-mail newsletters you have enrolled in, listing opportunities with local governments for contract or tender work. Be selective and sign up to relevant newsletters from the industry what your location is kept informed and up-to-date on relevant issues, technology, trends, as well as other key information to maintain you across all there is certainly know about your changing market.
I sign up for maybe 20 or 30 newsletters each week, jetski from me informed and up-to-date, so when I'm before my prospects, I speak from a background of data, relevance, and understanding of my industry as well as the changes occurring within it which they should also be made aware of.