| Keep connected
It pays to stay in
touch with prospects who don't buy today
by Art Sobczak
When
talking about prospects, I always urge sales reps to “move them
forward, or move them out.” If prospects aren’t moving closer to
purchasing each time you speak, they’re taking up your valuable
time. But that doesn’t mean you should completely write them off.
We all can share
experiences in which we’ve been pleasantly surprised by a prospect
we thought we’d never do business with. He’s the one who calls and
says, “I’m ready now.” To make this happen more often, you
should have a personal marketing strategy for staying in contact with
your higher-potential prospects.
Prospects fall into two
groups:
1) The ones who are not
great prospects for you today (too small, not qualified) but could
very well be in the future. Although you likely won’t have them in
your regular rotation of calls, you want to be sure they think of you
if and when situations change at the company.
2) Those who are
qualified but choose not to do business with you. It’s in your best
interest not to write them off. Why?
First, let’s look at
four reasons why prospects won’t buy from you today: 1) no need, 2)
no interest, 3) no money, 4) no hurry.
Those are the basic
reasons you see in every sales book. Let’s break the “no hurry”
reason down even further: They’re lazy. Buying from you would
involve some work. They procrastinate. Who doesn’t? They are too
busy with more pressing activities. (This also could fall in the “no
need” category.)
What you should do
Stay in contact with selected high-potential prospects through methods
that don’t require much of your time. Use the mail and send faxes or
e-mails. Consider putting together a brief newsletter that provides
valuable information they can use, not just puffery about your company
and products.
For example, include tips
and tidbits to help them with their jobs. Of course, the suggestions
should include the use of your product or service, but that’s not
the main reason for the communication.
| Your personal
“stay in touch” marketing program
1)
Define your categories
Determine who to
place into your system. For example, anyone now spending over
a certain dollar level with a competitor could be a category,
or people with a project planned out two years in the future.
2) Get
computerized
Contact-management
programs make this a snap. Otherwise, getting organized may
become a nightmare, taking you away from your selling time.
3) Plan and
execute
Decide how
you’ll communicate with your prospects and how often. Here
are the ideas that I mentioned earlier: Newsletters, special
reports or other articles that provide useful content with an
underlying sales message. Postcards. Articles you clip that
would be of interest. Free samples of your product. Fax
broadcasts (these are relatively easy to do with most
contact-management computer programs). Handwritten notes.
Birthday cards. Other holiday cards or even cards for no
particular reason. Special items for select prospects (I’ve
sent prospects books on topics unrelated to what I sell but
that I knew they were interested in).
4) Follow up
Keep your list
clean, stay in touch and have something of value every time
you call. It’s a long process, but well worth the effort. |
You might send out a
piece on “10 Ways to Reduce Transaction Costs.” (See the box at
right for more ideas.) The return on this type of marketing
communication could be huge. And here’s the simple reason: things
change.
Situations at companies
change every day. Think about the changes at your company over the
past three months. If changes involve new needs and requirements,
potential buyers will likely turn to what is familiar. When you’re
in touch with them, your company could be the first one they think of
when new needs develop. Plus, through repetitiveness, you build
credibility in their minds.
The more they see your
name, the more familiar and credible it becomes. Mix in a little smart
marketing with your selling, and you’ll maximize the return on your
time investment.
Art Sobczak helps
salespeople use the
phone to prospect, sell
and manage accounts more successfully.
Call (800) 326-7721 or reach him via e-mail at arts@businessbyphone.com.
This article originally appeared in the
January/February 2000 issue of
Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2000.
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