Marketing is always a numbers game, whether you’re looking to sell a product or license IP, and generating those numbers — or leads — is more difficult in a recession. Liz Jackson, founder and managing director of Great Guns Marketing, offers these 10 tips for generating leads in a recession:
- Define your customer. It is essential to define the profile of your ideal customer; do this by analyzing your current customers, based on how much profit you make from them. “Most companies discover that 80% of their [business] comes from 20% of their customers,” says Jackson. “If you can replicate that 20% of your customers, then you can double your profit while only increasing your workload by 20%.” Profile those 20% of your clients, she advises, and then use that profile to search for new prospects. Once you’ve done that, then you can go ahead and start building a database of relevant contacts.
- Create your database. Talk to one of the many prospect list providers and find one that can provide you with a list to match your ideal prospect as closely as possible. “You need a provider who can hone that list down to [those] prospects with whom you would have a meaningful discussion about what you can provide,” says Jackson. “These will be the companies that get close to your profile, and where the benefits of your product/service can address their business pressures.”
- Maintain your database. Once you have your prospect database set up, it is vital that you continually maintain and enhance your data.
- Don’t forget your existing customers. Current clients are far more inclined to buy from you than new ones, so every effort should be made to ensure they are included within your lead generation stream.
- Carefully plan your approach. To achieve the most targeted approach possible, it is essential to create a critical path, says Jackson. “It’s no use just calling people here, there and everywhere; you need a considered timescale detailing who you’re going to contact, when and how,” she suggests. “With the details plotted, there is no danger of over-contacting some people and never contacting others.”
- Mix and match communication. The most proactive approach to contacting your prospects is by telephone, says Jackson. “That’s the only real way to answer objections there and then,” she explains. “For maximum success, though, you need to use a range of marketing techniques and approaches all nicely coordinated to take your prospect on a journey from ‘I haven’t spoken to you before’ to ‘Yes, I’d like to sign.’”
- Tell them a story. “Before initiating contact, make sure you are 100% sure of what you want to say and how,” says Jackson. “Create a list of the five key points that you want to communicate and make sure you are clear on what you want the recipient to take away from it at the end. You need to clearly understand and clearly communicate the benefits of your service or product in a compelling way that clearly addresses the prospects’ business pressures.” Recent research, adds Jackson, indicates that the most common business pressures these days are ‘I want to save money,’ ‘I want to save time,’ and ‘I want more revenue.’
- Define your goals. How will you define and measure your success — is it by the number of new leads, the value of the new business, or perhaps the quality of the contacts? “It is essential that you outline these requirements before any approaches are made to ensure there is no mismatch in expectation versus achievements,” says Jackson.
- Approach, approach, approach. When it comes to the actual contact itself, Jackson notes, you need to ensure each time that you are building up the aforementioned story, adding new layers as you go. “With every phone call or e-mail, you need a message that adds to what you said previously, increasing your company’s credibility, building confidence, and therefore developing your relationship with the contact in question,” she says.
- Have a backup plan. If things don’t look like they’re going your way, it’s time to wheel out the backup plan, says Jackson. “Lead generation is not an exact science; there are a number of tacks to try,” she observes.
Source: Management Today
Posted November 24th, 2009 under Intellectual Property Marketing
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