I have created such a list, and my list is unique to my own situation.  It may work for you, or you may need to modify it a little.  I formed my list by identifying one critical item first, and that item was, “making calls.”  I knew I needed to make a certain number of calls every week to find enough new prospects to sustain and grow my business.  Nearly all of the other elements listed below fell into line due to the realization of that single fact.

Take a look at the following list:

1. Understand what you sell and who your buyer is.
2. Create a profile that describes your customers from the most average (but is still profitable to work with) to the most above average.
3. Gather a list of qualified suspects or prospects that match your customer profile. [Sponsored Link - 100 Free Sales Leads! Find new customers & grow your sales with leads from infoUSA.com.]
4. Interact with your list and work to qualify and engage prospects who are either currently interested or may one day become interested.  Store the information you collect in a prospecting database [Psonsored Link - Act! By Sage 2010] Back-up your data often. [Sponsored Link - Carbonite offers unlimited online backup for your small business for only $54.95/year. Try it free!]
5. Mix your marketing media.  Use several means of outreach whenever possible – phone calls [Sponsored Link - Read the how-to prospecting book - Prospect Factory], mail, email [Sponsored Link - Email Marketing and Online Surveys by Constant Contact make it easy to connect with your customers. Try it FREE for 60-Days. ], blogs, youtube, seminars, networking, etc.  Try to “touch” prospects on a recurring and disciplined schedule (i.e. once every 60, 90, 120 days, etc.).
6. Refresh your list as time goes by.  Make it a priority to be constantly on the lookout for new, qualified names to add to your list.

In order to make calls, I needed to know who my buyers were and where they were located.  I needed an extensive list so I’d have enough names to call.  Interaction was inherent in calling, but the idea to capture information helped me to identify and follow-up with better quality prospects in the future.  Mixing media created a better chance of connecting with more prospects on a favorable basis.  Lastly, structuring and refreshing the system allowed me to continue outreach over the long term.

So, what are the half dozen critical factors involved in your prospecting?  Identifying the one critical item of “making calls” helped lead me to all of the other items on my list.  Take some time to think about and identify the critical half dozen things that you must do so that you can move forward with your prospcting.

Originally posted 2009-05-11 05:32:58.

As gently as possible I tried to introduce him to the possibility of looking into email marketing. I gave him a few quick reasons why, and I recommended that, at the very least, he go and get the book, E-Mail Marketing For Dummies, by John Arnold. As you may have heard me say before, the quality of Dummies books I’ve read recently has been top notch. This book is no exception. However he proceeds, he’ll really miss out if he overlooks what email marketing could be doing for his business.

Creating a Personal Connection with Email

It was interesting that this man’s fundamental objection to email marketing was based on a preconception that email was not personal enough. Perhaps if he had an email account, he would see the fallacy in this perspective. Email can feel extremely personal. It’s not just that you can merge data fields so easily with, Dear “first name,” etc. But, email can have an incredibly personal voice. There are a handful of folks I “know” in business whom I have never met, but it’s like we talk all the time. These folks have my permission to send me timely, pertinent information that I am interested in on a regular basis. They call me by my first name, and they communicate with me through my email box.

If you write email in a casual, first person manner, it can feel very personal. When I write a post like this, I am thinking you are sitting right across my desk from me, and we are carrying on a conversation. My hope is to help you know what I know. I have decades of experience in my areas of expertise and my goal is transfer some of that knowledge to you. Email provides me the opportunity to have a conversation with you that will bring you value. Through email we can more easily get to know each other and move our relationship forward. Ultimately, this leads to a better relationship between us and lays a foundation that leads to future business.

I use two different email service providers in my businesses currently. If you’d like to learn more, click on the links below:

For my “brick and mortar” business, I use Constant Contact.

[Sponsored Link - Email Marketing and Online Surveys by Constant Contact make it easy to connect with your customers. Try it FREE for 60-Days. ]

For my internet business, I use GetResponse.

[Sponsored Link - For more information on Get Response - click here! ]

Originally posted 2009-10-20 13:10:39.

Old school marketing includes things like;

• direct mail
• printed coupons
• newspaper advertising
• radio
• television
• billboards
• referral and word of mouth prospecting

New school marketing, of course, is all about the Internet and technology based marketing.  It includes elements such as

• search engine optimization (i.e. SEO)
• social marketing websites
• chat rooms
• blogs
• Facebook
• Twitter
• pay-per-click advertising
• Adwords
• email marketing
• auto-responders, etc.

Today, in general, the most successful approach to marketing will be achieved using a mix of both old and new school marketing.  Promoting a website with SEO alone is one way to go, but if you can get a few ezine, magazine or newspaper articles published about your business that mention your website, you’ll have better success.

• It’s the mix of marketing that tends to generate the greatest marketing power.  If I make calls and send no mail, I’ll create only a limited amount of marketing success.  However, if I combine the two approaches, I can improve my odds greatly. 
• The whole subject of mixing media – particularly the mixing of old school and new school marketing - points toward the world of franchise marketing.  In many franchises you’ll see a strong nationwide or empirical marketing platform, but a shortfall in what has come to be known as  ”local store marketing.”  In such a situation, marketing is delivered across a wide arrayof markets all at once using large scale marketing mechanisms (i.e. television, radio, billboards, web presence, television, etc.). 
• The shortfall – or the opportunity, depending on how you look at it – comes at the local level.  If a franchisee can mix  marketing locally in conjunction with the big-picture marketing provided by the franchiser, the best marketing mix can be achieved.  Find the local high school, volunteer organization, or “race” for the local charity.  Reach out to churches, hospitals, civic organizations, etc.  Hand out local store coupons, help with fundraising, sponsor soft ball leagues, sports teams, festivals, community days, etc.  Collect email addresses from customers who want to hear about special promotions. Start a bring a friend campaign.  You get the idea!
• Local store marketing provides the hands on marketing on the local level that, when combined with marketing support from the franchiser, can propel a local franchisee to greater heights of success.

So, achieve the best success with your marketing by mixing marketing media.  Mix old school and new school marketing.  Mix between larger scale marketing  and local marketing. In doing so, you will move your business forward.

If you want to learn more about local store marketing as relates to franchise marketing, visit local store marketing guru, Scott Mader, at his website: www.intrimarketing.com

Originally posted 2009-06-09 04:37:16.

Instead of taking such a short term approach, try keeping track of unsold prospects and seek to build relationships with those prospects over time.  Whether a particular prospect is from a referral or from a more general prospecting list, when you contact a new prospect, have two goals in mind.  First, pursue the possibility that the prospect may become a buyer in the near term. But, second, begin to lay the foundation for continued contact with the prospect in the future.  Keep track of the prospect’s information in a contact management database and plan to stay in touch! [Sponsored Link - Database software -  Act! By Sage 2010]

Two types of future contact are called “directed” and “cyclic” contact. 

• Directed Contact: Directed contact is contact that hinges on a future follow-up date.  If a prospect says she wont be looking into the product or service you are selling until December, and you call back in December, you are engaging in directed contact.
• Cyclic Contact: Cyclic contact is undirected future contact that occurs on a predetermined and ongoing basis.  If you determine to send a prospecting letter every three months to each of your prospects regardless of any suggested follow-up dates, this is a form of cyclic contact.

Cyclic outreach should be informative and low pressure.  It should also be proactive so that anything you send should include a response prompt for current interest and some kind of reply section or link. [Sponsored Link - How to create and produce letters for direct mail - The One Pager Manual.] Use cyclic contact to teach prospects about the kinds of services you provide and how you can help them.  Inform prospects about new product options or improvements.  The possibilities for subject matter in cyclic outreach are endless.  But, the goal is always to inform prospects about how you can help and to ask prospects to reply if they are interested.

Engaging in ongoing contact with prospects over time will help prospects to know you better.  When a prospect begins learning more about what your products can do and how you can help, it lays a foundation for potential future business.  If a prospect does have a future need for what you sell, such ongoing contact will increase the likelihood that he or she will reach out to you for help.

[Sponsored Link - You will work hard to collect and grow your database. So be sure to back it up! Carbonite offers unlimited online backup for your small business for only $54.95/year. Try it free!]

Originally posted 2009-05-12 14:21:34.

For example, in prospecting there is:

1. Defining your market. [Sponsored Link - Read the how to prospect book - Prospect Factory.]
2. Acquiring a list. [Sponsored Link -100 Free Sales Leads! Find new customers & grow your sales with leads from infoUSA.com.]
3. Categorizing outreach (i.e. what kinds of interactive outreach – calls, letters, email, ezine, blogs, Youtube, Facebook, seminars, trade shows, networking, etc.). [Sponsored Link - Email Communication Experts - Email Marketing, RSS, Surveys, and Autoresponders. Free Trial of iContact]
4. Database creation. [Sponsored Link - Contact management database software - Act! By Sage 2010]
5. Development and production of marketing material/collateral. [Sponsored Link - Learn to write sales prospecting letters - The One Pager Manual.]
6. Data collection.
7. Systematic outreach.
8. Review and adjustments.

Once you have found an interested prospect via the process above, next comes the elements of follow-up:

1. Proposal generation.
2. Quoting.
3. Scheduling.
4. Presentation.
5. Presentation follow-up.
6. Closing.
7. Assembly.
8. Shipping and delivery.
9. Ongoing follow-up.

At first it may seem tedious and time consuming to try and create a process for everything you do!  However, make a process where you can.  Identify the steps involved so you can focus on improving those steps and create greater overall efficiency.  For instance, you can’t make a presentation without making a proposal first.  You can’t make calls without a list.  You can’t create a useful list without defining your market, etc.  Avoid “ready-fire-aim” scenarios by properly aligning the steps you go through to make things happen.

• When I first started identifying the steps I was going through in order to prospect, my prospecting “system” came to life.
• Once I had the prospecting system down, I focused on other areas of my business -such as sales follow-up. 
• I went on to create more systems by outlining and aligning the processes involved in various areas.
• Because I was able to generate a high volume of sales leads, follow-up became  more difficult for me to manage.  However, once I designated the steps involved with follow-up, it became like hitting baseballs in a batting cage.  The business could handle much more volume and do an even better job of execution.

A final point about processes and systems is that they create opportunities for leverage.  If a recipe is in my head, I’m the only one who can do the cooking.  However, if I write the recipe down, then I can have someone else do the cooking for me.  Companies like McDonald’s have taken this concept to the maximum.  As others have noted, most folks can make a better hamburger than McDonald’s, but can you make a better system?  It’s the system that makes all the difference!  It was the focus on systems that brought the era of franchises to life.

So, where you can, break down whatever you are doing into steps and create a process.  You will become more efficient, better aligned, and better able to apply leverage.

[Sponsored Link - Databases are a big part of prospecting.  They represent hours and hours of your hard work. Be sure you have a reliable way to back up your data. - Carbonite offers unlimited online backup for your small business for only $54.95/year. Try it free!]

Originally posted 2009-05-12 13:36:21.

1. A website needs to be “index-able” by the major Internet search engines. This means that when someone types into a search engine either; your name, a partial site name, or keywords on the subject matter pertaining to your site; the search engine will be able to find you.
2. Second, a website must be easily “malleable.” This means it must be easy for you to manage and change the site’s content. A good website must be tended to regularly in order to stay current and grow. It can’t be like a coat in a closet – where you have a web developer create five pages for you – and then it just gets “hanged” out there on the web. Instead, your website must be something you can work with and build from day to day and week to week.

I spent thousands of dollars on the subject and far too much time reading and learning about the elements of websites before settling on an approach that works. I even took on the task of learning web design (I read through several web design software books – one of them over a thousand pages). I didn’t do this because I was being cheap or controlling, I did it because I wanted to be able to personally build the best site I could. After learning about a variety of approaches, the answer finally materialized: Create a blog site.

Creating a Website from a Blog

The word “blog” if you didn’t know it, is short for the words “web log.” Blogs from the major blog originators like Blogspot or WordPress meet both of the requirements outlined above. You can have one up and running in about ten minutes, they are very inexpensive (if not free at first), they can be “themed” to look just like a regular website, they are easily indexed by search engines (in fact, some feel that search engines prefer blogs in some cases), and they are extremely easy to manipulate in terms of content.

Search through blogs on various subjects and you’ll see that others have discovered this approach, too. Many blog sites are very well established and include excellent and varied content. Check it out! If you have been struggling with your web approach, a properly themed blog may be just the answer you are looking for. If you didn’t realize it already, you are looking at such a site right now!

Hosting by BlueHost: (Sponsored Link: Bluehost.com)

Originally posted 2009-06-23 05:10:34.

• The clients he chooses have a greater chance of benefitting from his services because he prescreens them in advance.
• The success he has with those clients feeds his reputation even more and causes the cycle to repeat itself.
• More new potential clients hear about how good he is, then more new potential clients reach out to him.

It is remarkable to behold! 

How can a less well established person hope to create such a cycle in his or her own career?  One way is to apply the principle of prescreening or filtering to your day-to-day business.  Start first by knowing your typical customer.

• Ask yourself, “In general, what kind of person puys the products and services I sell?”
• What kind of buyer would be your dream client?
• What kind of buyer would be your more average client?
• Where are these prospects located geographically?

Until you become well established, try to understand the characteristics of both ideal and average prospective clients. The answers to these questions will help you create some basic customer profiles.

• Take these profiles and apply them to list sources, directories, indexes, trade publications, trade organizations, internet, libraries, etc. [Sponsored Link - 100 Free Sales Leads! Find new customers & grow your sales with leads from infoUSA.com.]
• Use the profiles to identify prospects that have a better potential to become customers. 
• Set up a prospect database using a contact management system and make it a goal to collect a large list of these better potential prospects. [Sponsored Link - prospecting database software - Act! By Sage 2010]
• You will be spending years and years of hard work on developing your database, be sure to back it up often. [Sponsored Link - Carbonite offers unlimited online backup for your small business for only $54.95/year. Try it free!]
• Stay in touch with the prospect on your list over time.  Mix your outreach using methods suach as telephone prospecting [Sponsored Link - Learn about telephone prospecting, read the book Prospect Factory.]  [Sponsored Link - Learn how to write proactive direct mail with The One Pager Manual.]  [Sponsored Link - Learn more about permisson email marketing.  Email Marketing and Online Surveys by Constant Contact make it easy to connect with your customers. Try it FREE for 60-Days. ]
• In the future, stay on constant lookout for more high quality prospects to add to your database.

Setting up a system that emphasises identifying and collecting better quality prospects, changes your outlook on prospecting.  It puts you in constant prospect qualification mode.  In general, he or she who develops the best contacts over time, will have the most success.  No doubt, years spent seeking out, identifying and interacting with the most qualified prospects you can find, will improve your chances of success.

Originally posted 2009-05-19 04:01:07.

A minimum qualification standard is simply a definition or description of the minimum quality prospect you are willing to work with and yet still make a reasonable profit.  Some sales training programs emphasise formulating an idea of what your ideal prospect looks like before beginning prospecting.  I will not dispute that understanding the characteristics of your ideal prospects can be very useful.  But, once you are past the richest or the best prospects in your market, you will want to know who comes next.

• It is beneficial to determine who is the minimum quality prospect you are willing to do business with for a variety of reasons.  For example, you would not want to engage in business that causes you to lose money.
• Also, how high or low you set this standard can have a dramatic impact on the size of your market.  Generally, the more upscale your prospects are, the fewer of them there will be.  Conversely, the more average your prospects are, the more of them there will be.
• Set the standard so you can make a profit, yet still give yourself a reasonable market size.

As far as your highest level prospects are concerned, generally setting up a separate marketing campaign that relates to the high level group has some merit.  Higher level prospects may (or may not) need your marketing message to be presented in a different form.  The problem for newer salespeople or newer businesses is that if they are unable to land the “big” account on a timely enough basis, the new salesperson or business may not survive the wait. 

Strike a Balance

A mixed approach that puts energy into both markets simultaneously provides a sustainable balance.  In time, premium level prospects may become customers.  In the shorter term, more average level customers will help pay the bills and sustain the business.  The longer the business is sustained, the better the chance of closing larger deals.  Strike a balance, understand and reach out toward both high level and average level customers.  In doing so, you will increase your likelihood of achieving long-term success throughout all of your buyer groups.

Originally posted 2009-05-27 04:14:09.

• focusing on what you are selling,
• defining what types of persons or businesses buy your products, and
• determining where they are located.

We also talked about primary research as a tool for identifying potential prospects. We noted that a list collected over time through personal research is a very valuable one-time-opportunity and cannot be purchased in the future!

In this lesson, we discuss interaction with the prospects on your list and the value of information.

Though there are many elements to successful prospecting, one area that is often overlooked is the importance of collecting information. We have alluded to this a little already when we opened the idea of collecting primary research. One reason why so many salespeople do not focus on collecting information is that they are uncertain what they would do with such information if they had it. Most data collected by salespeople is only used in the short term context of either closing or not closing an immediate sale. If the sale is not closed, qualifying information is discarded. You must, however, make it an ongoing priority to collect pertinent, qualifying facts about potential prospects in your market.

Originally posted 2009-06-12 04:40:53.

First, prospecting starts with identifying what you sell and who buys what you sell. With this information you will create a buyer description. With a buyer description in hand, you can apply it as a “filter” against the universe of prospects. You do this in order to determine which prospects you encounter match up favorably with the profile of your typical buyer. The universe of prospects includes prospects you derive from scouring list sources:

• directories
• internet
• Chambers of Commerce
• prospects you meet via personal contact
• trade shows
• seminars
• surveys
• clubs
• round tables
• personal observation and more!

Next, create and maintain a contact database [Sponsored Link - contact management software - Act! By Sage 2010] of such prospects. Design your database so it is able to be sorted for useful criteria – such as prior contact dates and future follow-up dates. Seek ways to differentiate between your less well known prospects and your better qualified prospects. In doing so, you can create a Plus List. Systematically reach out through scheduled contact and systematic mailings (i.e. One Pagers) to your Plus Listings. Maintain your list over time by adding new names as they become available and by removing disqualified names.

So now, assuming you’ve done all this work and put your system in place, where are all the prospects? Let’s answer that question now, in Lesson Five!

Originally posted 2009-06-12 04:20:02.

I heard somewhere recently that roughly 60% of major purchases today are first researched via the Internet, but are then purchased locally. Whether we are talking about big screen TV’s or accounting services, this is not a statistic to ignore! You must take the time to describe in words what you are about and post such information on your website. (See Post: Creating a Website that Works). Once your website is in place – and it sufficiently and professionally tells your story, you’ll need to draw folks to the site. There are many ways to do so, one very important way is using email.

Permission Based Email Marketing

Essentially, permission based email marketing refers to marketing emails that (in general) include links back to your website. All such email must be sent with the direct permission of the recipient. This practice is regulated by something called the CAN-SPAM Act. The best way to get started is to hook up with an email service provider or ESP. Reputable ESP’s will help you learn best practices and how to comply with the law when it comes to email marketing.

Many ESP’s will allow you to try their services for free initially. Spend some time perusing their websites! I remember the first time I sent emails to some of my clients, I was amazed at how terrific the service was. My ESP provided me with statistics about who opened my emails and who clicked through to various links to my website. It showed me who was interested and in what. They provided me with fantastic research for follow-up. The next step I took was to create and send survey’s to clients and prospects. The same story was true. I learned who was happy, who was not and what kinds of new products current customers were interested in hearing about.

Here are some Sponsored Links to email service providers:

• Email Marketing and Online Surveys by Constant Contact make it easy to connect with your customers. Try it FREE for 60-Days.
• Email Communication Experts – Email Marketing, RSS, Surveys, and Autoresponders. Free Trial of iContact
• Email Marketing from Get Response.

Other Resources

A great book on email marketing is, [Sponsored link - E-Mail Marketing For Dummies], by John Arnold. At first, I was not the biggest fan of the Dummies books, but every one of their books I have read recently has been outstanding.  Arnold’s book is no exception – check it out!

Originally posted 2009-06-25 04:15:03.

• It is key to try to understand and identify who your better prospects are over time.
• In general, the prospects with whom you have had the highest amount of interaction are most likely to be your better prospects.
• Therefore, when it comes to engaging in future follow-up, it is a good idea to sort through your follow-up list in order to determine “who-is-who” on the list.
• If you have a follow-up list for a particular month that has 60 listings, find out which ones you have met with before or are former buyers, etc.  Put the most familiar names first.
• Have pertinent data that you collected from these prospects in the past at you fingertips so you can access it, if necessary.  Are some of the prospects of a similar type?  If so, filter those prospects by type prior to following up.  If I talk to all of my “left hand” widget buyers at once, it helps me improve my focus as I work through the follow-up list.

If you only have a few names to follow-up with during a given month, sorting through your follow-up list may not seem very helpful.  If that’s you, then try to apply these principles to your greater prospecting list.  The more you can segment a list by subject and familiarity, the better your focus will be as you work through the list.  The better your focus, the better your results will tend to be.

Originally posted 2009-05-26 03:39:04.

For years I have backed up my databases via external file copies (i.e. saved to discs, ZIP drives, flash drives, CDs, etc.). I am so cautious about it, I have two external USB hard drives connected to my main computer where I routinely backup critical files manually at the end of each day. Also, I have a shadow program that backs up my computer at night to one of my external drives. Lastly, I use an online backup service to backup my computer to a remote location.

Carbonite Online Backup Service

Online backup is one of the most important backups I do. It was an IT person years ago who first made me see that a “backup plan” that left all of the data in the same building wasn’t a very good backup plan at all. Before online backups came on the scene, I rotated two external hard drives in and out of the office each week. In such case, I could still lose a week of data in the event of a disaster. What’s more, it was a huge pain in the neck!

There are many excellent services that can provide you with online backup of your computer files. I currently use and am most familiar with Carbonite. [Sponsored Link - Carbonite offers unlimited online backup for your small business for only $54.95/year. Try it free!] Carbonite installs a small application on your computer that operates in the background and, after an initial backup is completed, this application looks for and backs up any subsequent file changes you make. When a new file is created or an older file is modified, Carbonite detects it and backs up the file remotely. Carbonite “sleeps” when you are actively using your computer so it doesn’t slow down your Internet connection.

Data Security

As with any backup system, you must concern yourself about the issue of security – particularly in the case of online backup. Carbonite encrypts data twice before it sends the files from your computer, and your files remain encrypted at Carbonite’s data centers allowing only you to see them. If somehow you lose your data, all you need to do is login to their website to retrieve it. If your computer actually gets destroyed due to a catastrophic event like a crashed hard drive or a fire, simply login using another computer with an Internet connection, and you can begin retrieving your files in minutes. I must say, it is an extremely helpful service. All for less than $60 a year, too!

Originally posted 2009-10-23 12:56:59.

Also, when composing a marketing message, don’t limit yourself to writing  product driven copy.  Make it a goal to teach prospects about your company and the overall services you provide.  This means teaching prospects the solutions you can provide all across your product mix.  Too often businesses that are able to effectively provide many services, only promote one or two parts of their business with strength.

One type of marketing letter I have had a great deal of success with, I call the “one-pager.”  I define the one-pager as a one page letter that includes:

• A specific message about a product or service that you provide.
• A brief, general description of your business.
• A prompt for current interest.
• A reply section.
• Your complete contact information.

One-pagers are inexpensive and easy to use.  They are turn-key and send ready.  They are deliverable to any prospect, via any means, at a moment’s notice.

Pre-written messages, within a well conceived overall plan of marketing, assure that you will more effectively get  your message out.  Product focused messages are important, but don’t forget to promote your business’ overall capabilities, as well.  In time, your prospects will come to learn more about you and what you can do for them.  In such case, they will have a greater likelihood to turn to you when they have a need for the kind of help you can provide.

Other Resources:

• [Sponsored Link - Manage mailing lists and postage expoense with - My Mail List and Postage Saver.]
• [Sponsored Link - Learn how to write and produce letters for direct mail with - The One Pager Manual.]
• [Sponsored Link - Get a competitive quote for online color printing - Send professional-looking mailers to 500+ customers, printed full-color on both sides. PrintingForLess.com]
• [Sponsored Link - Back up your work! Carbonite offers unlimited online backup for your small business for only $54.95/year. Try it free!]
• [Sponsored Link - Learn more about email marketing! - Email Communication Experts - Email Marketing, RSS, Surveys, and Autoresponders. Free Trial of iContact]

Originally posted 2009-05-18 03:53:59.

As we lay out a roadmap for prospecting, keep in mind that your unique approach is important! Take what works for you from ideas presented here and try to make them your own. However, hand-in-hand with the goal of creating your own unique approach to prospecting is the importance of recognizing when to use a road map in order to protect yourself from running out of time!

So, let’s get started!

Originally posted 2009-06-12 04:50:31.