This one of the most powerful marketing strategies that we share with all of our clients early in the process of working together.
One of our clients (who is a pilot) remarked that “customers don’t come with approach plates.”
No, they don’t. You have to make up your own.
Unique Customers Require Unique Approaches.
One thing we recommend to our clients is that they keep a “top ten” list of customers they want to do business with. (Remember that prospects are people, not companies, so you need to identify the specific person, or at least the job title, of the person you think would make the purchase decision.)
Why Just Ten?
Why ten? Why not hundreds?
Because most people don’t have the time or energy to “approach” more than ten people intelligently.
Of course you can (and should, depending on your marketing objectives) send broadcasts of emails or postcards, and you can advertise in publications and reach thousands or hundreds of thousands of prospective customers; but if advertising is a shotgun, then approaching is a sniper rifle – much more targeted, and much more effective, particularly for situations where the targets are fewer and more difficult.
In addition to advertising, we also recommend spending personal attention on your “top ten” list as a disciplined business development activity.
Here’s why:
- Ten is a small enough number to make this a two-way street. You’re reaching out with the sincere interest of listening and learning.
- You can customize, tailor and craft marketing messages that are specifically compelling to this particular customer.
- You may find the person you thought was the ideal contact may not be the real decision-maker. This is something you would only learn by building relationships.
- Building these relationships over time offers more benefits than simply making this specific sale or closing this specific deal. You’re making friends for life and learning valuable insights that you can apply to the rest of your marketing.
- As sales close, or as you discover that one prospective customer on your list is NOT a good prospect for whatever reason, you can replace him or her with another. So your top ten list changes each week, each month, or each quarter, depending on the velocity of your sales cycle.
After some discussion, most of our clients agree that approaching (or “stalking”) their top ten prospects is a good strategy. The next question is this.
Prospect Approach Checklist
“So, what exactly should I be doing to ‘approach’ these prospects?”
Well, here’s what you don’t want to do:
- You don’t want to bombard them with communication
- You don’t want them to be uncomfortable about your level of attention. (You don’t want them to feel like you’re “stalking” them!)
Balance the activities listed below, and tailor them to the prospect and to the situation. Use restraint and be willing to spend as long as it takes to build trust. Here are some activities you could perform on a weekly basis:
- Look them up on Google. Find out what you can and look for things you have in common and ways to connect.
- Connect with them on social media.
- Go to an event that you know they will be attending.
- Look for opportunities to help them. If they ask a question in a forum or user group, offer a solution if you can.
- Comment on articles they write or updates they post, if you have something relevant to say.
- Cut out an article you find in a trade publication or magazine that you think might interest them, given their interests (again, the more you know, the better this works.) Drop it in the mail with a handwritten note, or (less effective) send them an email with a link.
- Send a card for their birthday, anniversary or congratulations for a special event.
- Meet and connect with their “influencers.” Extend your social network (online and in person) to others in their company and in their industry. Connect with their boss, their lawyer, their accountant, and anyone else they respect if you have a legitimate opportunity. The more connections you have within their network, the more “real” and credible you will seem in their experience.
We spend a couple of hours each Friday (we call this “Follow Friday”) to make it easy to remember to follow, connect with, comment on, and otherwise “follow” our Top Ten most desired customers.
One caveat – we don’t directly contact our “top ten” every single week; we may spend several weeks doing research for each actual connection. And we never use these “Follow Friday” activities for direct sales pitches. If a prospect indicates interest, fine; but we let the prospect drive the pace of the sales process.
My flight instructor used to say, “never rush an approach.”
That’s good advice for marketing strategy, as well. ABCI | All Rights Reserved | 1288 East 850 North Tooele UT 84074 | 702-987-1679 | [email protected] Privacy Policy