How To Prospect Local Clients For Your Web Services
All successful sales people know that their success is greatly
dependent on their ability to effectively prospect. In other
words, the "sale" begins here. 100% of all businesses are
prospects for you.
You can’t name a legitimate industry that is not a candidate for
your web services. Sales are based on numbers. The more
business owners you contact, the greater the odds of setting an
appointment to meet with them.
The business can be a manufacturer, retailer, wholesaler, lawyer,
home improvement contractor or hospital administrator they all
have their reasons for needing your web services.
This is why you should have no difficulty in coming up with at
least 100 fresh new leads on a weekly basis. It is best to
contact prospects on Monday mornings. The more your business
grows the more apt you are to begin receiving referrals from your
existing customers. That, however, still does not preclude
prospecting for new customers.
It’s important to create a prospect lead system. You can do that
the old-fashioned way by creating a manual card file using plain
3 x 5 index cards. Or, you can set up a contact management
program on your computer.
Whichever method you choose, follow this checklist:
1. Information you will want on each lead:
Name of the business
Address with zip code
Telephone Number
Name(s) of owner(s) with title(s) if available.
2. How to create your 100 leads weekly:
While out on the road, speak into a recorder, listing names of
business and other pertinent information that you see while
traveling.
Later, while listening to the recorder, transfer the information
to a card or your contact management program.
Using the yellow pages, create leads from a variety of
businesses.
Visit your local library and use either Contacts Influential,
Inside Contacts or any other printed directory and create leads
using the geographical section (by zip code) or the SIC (Standard
Industry Code) Section. SIC has all businesses grouped together
by type, i.e. plumbers, insurance, etc.
3. Newspapers are a terrific source for leads.
Begin to read the newspaper differently than you have in the
past. Make note of what businesses are advertising and what they
are advertising.
Read the business section for announcements of new businesses.
Read the legal section for listings of new incorporations.
4. Pick up every free print directory you can find. Usually you
will find these free papers located in stands outside of
frequently visited businesses, like grocery stores and
restaurants. They run the gamut by specialty industries like:
real estate, senior citizens, automobiles, etc. Quik Quarter and
PennySaver are two that come
to mind.
5. Stop throwing away your junk mail! There’s gold in there. Any
business who is already actively engaged in advertising is a
prospect for your directory. If they are using print media you
can be assured that they are accustomed to spending a great deal
of money on advertising.
6. Here is a list of additional sources for you. You can probably
come up with many more:
Magazines
Radio advertising
TV advertising
Chamber of Commerce Directories
Better Business Bureau Directories
Direct Mail Coupons
Billboards
Church Bulletins
Business cards displayed at
restaurants/laundromats/stores
Trade Shows
Visuals like drive bys and mobile units
Referrals
7. If you use a contact management system on your computer to
organize and track your leads, you will still want to have a card
file system to use for those leads you obtain from other
advertising. Cut out the newspaper ad or coupon and staple to an
index card. Organize these leads into a card file system that
parallels your contact schedule.
8. Remember to use logical calling times for the businesses you
contact. Typically, you would not want to contact a restaurant
during their "prime times" like breakfast, lunch or dinner and
remember our previous comments about contacting the construction
industries.
These are just a few of the resources you can put to work in
building your business locally.
Author
George Whitecraft
http://whitecraftshoppingmarketing.biz/tbp/The_Business_Professional.html
http://whitecraftshoppingmarketing.biz/pba/index.htm
posted by George @ 5:08 PM
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