Posted By Industrial Web Solutions Marketing Team on October 5, 2009

There still exists among many business owners and industrial marketers the unrealistic expectation that once a single initiative is implemented it is somehow the magic bullet that will cause a deluge of prospects ready to buy to make contact immediately. “Oh my goodness,” as Shirley Temple would say. If you are one of those of whom I speak, I hate to burst your bubble but if I don’t you run the danger of floating away within it!

May I suggest as an alternative to wishful thinking and magical enterprises that you consider prospecting as an on-going, multi-stage cycle. Instead of spending the bulk of your budget on a single initiative that you are counting on turning things around, consider a strategy that includes the following stages, each of which may have a number of initiatives designed to fulfill the specific objective:

1. Get your company on the mind of your target prospects: This doesn’t necessarily have to cost you lots of money. Publish an article, a blog post, tweet on twitter, run naked in front of your building and get yourself on the news (just kidding!), send an email, run a special, sponsor an event or a team – the list of possibilities here is endless. This is something you can be doing every day on some level to keep your name fresh in the minds of your prospects.
2. Reach out to prospects in a non-pressure way by offering them something of value at no cost: Whether you use your website, direct mail, email, advertising channel, or networking, provide a solution, give a sample, share a relevant case study or white paper, or anything truly valued by your prospects that they can effectively use right away that will demonstrate a) you understand what they need and b) you are a valued resource when they are ready to move forward (which may be 6 months from now so that’s why your efforts have to be on-going!!)
3. Request a phone call or in-person meeting to discuss something you know to be important to them. Don’t try to sell at this point. Just share your insights and plant the seeds for further discussion.
4. Follow up whether you had the call/meeting or not. If you were not successful getting a call or meeting the first time then start at Stage 1 again and keep your company on your prospect’s mind. Keep reaching out, in one to two week intervals. If you are truly offering something of value your prospects will appreciate hearing from you. As long as the prospect is viable, the relationship you build will help you to close the sale eventually.

Develop initiatives for each stage of the prospecting cycle. Keep in mind that things change. Let your prospects know that you understand that things change and you want to be considered when they do. Prospects aren’t necessarily buyers right away. So your first conversion challenge is really to change their thinking to put them in a buying mode. As long as a prospect’s company is in business it will need the products and services you offer at some point. Make sure you are there when they do!

Categories: Websites, email marketing, industrial marketing, networking, online marketing
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