Perhaps the most difficult part of the sales job is to locate customers. After all, they rarely introduce or announce themselves to you as potential customers without your having prompted the discussion in some way.
The first thing to do is to separate out how to classify or categorize customers so that we can begin to understand how to approach them:
• First level of identification is SUSPECT. A suspect is someone who shares common characteristics with your target customer group, or perhaps existing customers. So, if you sold something that was well received by one particular kind of customer, say, for instance a physician bought your billing software – then you might consider all physicians or medical providers as suspects. The other medical practitioners have expressed no interest in you or your product or service, but you suspect they might have use for what you sell if you could just get in front of them. The best way to approach these people is through:
1. Advertising in specific journals or websites or other media where you know they are likely to see it.
2. Website or email campaigns if appropriate based on the product or service and direct mail in other instances.
3. Writing articles in those same publications.
4. Attending trade shows if that is practical.
5. Ask current satisfied customers for introductions to others in same industry.
• The next level of identification is a PROSPECT. A prospect is someone who has responded back to you with interest in your company's capabilities or products and services. The best way to approach them is through:
1. Telephone contact to follow up on what their needs and objectives are in pursuing the product or service.
2. Face to face meeting to accomplish the same thing if either local or a big enough deal to warrant the expense of a face to face visit.
3. Email, though if it is truly a prospect with interest, this is a rather tepid response back that does not demonstrate much interest in pursuing the prospect's business.
4. Direct mail or website contact highlighting specific points of interest to the prospect, but here too, this seems less engaging than a more personal contact.
• The level after that is CUSTOMER. This is someone who recently or is currently buying from your company and the best way to maintain that relationship is through constant contact of telephone, email, face to face, sending of articles of interest from newspapers or journals, etc.
• The last level is FORMER CUSTOMER and represents those that previously bought from you but no longer do. Using your rolodex or list of customers that you collected when they were doing business with you, and you did remember to collect their contact information when you worked with them – connect with them again to inquire what has changed, what new needs they have, why they no longer buy your product or service and try to re-engage with them again. Use any or all of the following methods to do that:
1. Email
2. Telephone
3. Face-to-face contact
4. Direct mail or website surveys
With a little planning and some forethought, potential customers are all around you as an entrepreneur; your task is to lasso them into becoming current customers for you and your company.
David Zahn is a two-time author addressing the issues of entrepreneurship and consulting ("How To Succeed As An Independent Consultant, 4th Ed." and "The Quntessential Guide To Using Consultants") as well as being a frequent interviewee and contributor to articles in publications like, "BusinessWeekOnline, Entrepreneur, BrandWeek, Training & Development, CTPostOnline, and others. For a free "business readiness assessment," please click on http://www.startupbuilder.com. |
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