Suspects to Prospects
A suspect could be anyone.
A prospect is someone who has asked for an estimate.
A customer is someone who has given you a job.
A client is someone who has given you a couple of jobs over some defined time period.
A book of business is a community of clients for whom you are the trusted go-to person when they need to make a printing decision.
First some assumptions. If you agree with what I'm seeing as the problem, continue to read the solution.
Assumptions
1. Every firm and sales person needs a sustainable flow of new prospects.
2. Since salespeople are paid by commissions on jobs they bring in, they don't make the time to identify suspects or prospects.
3. Printing is not sold. It is bought. "Do you have something to estimate?" never results in anyone saying "What a good idea. I should print something."
4.The trick is for the sales person to be "top of mind" when the printing event is about to happen.
5. The paradox is that repeated sales calls - either in person, email or printed pieces - are often irritating to suspects/prospects. Instead of building a brand, they can undermine it.
6. The best "data mining" comes from active listening in a conversation, either on the phone or in person.
The Solution: Micro Marketing Wave Mail/Call Campaign
Each potential suspect gets three pieces of mail and a phone call. No action after three times, off the list.
Pre Step one: Salesperson decides how many follow up phone calls they can make in a week. Usually it's about 1 or 2 hours once or twice a week.
Pre Step two: Choose a list of suspects.
This could be an inactive customer list, or a list of all new business formations within 5 miles of the plant, or a particular industry or job title.
Step One: On Monday of week 1, mail piece number one to 48 suspects.
The trick is to not mail to anyone to whom the salesperson will not have time to make a follow- up phone call. (Rule of thumb - one hour = 12 calls. Need time off for coffee to take notes and think about the conversations. 48 assumes 4 hours per week.)
Step Two: Call every person who received a mailing piece.
The first call is something like,
"Hi I am X from abc printing. I sent you a postcard and just wanted to confirm it got to X. If you don't mind I am going to send you a mailing piece once a week for the next couple of weeks to let you know some things that our company might be able to help you with."
If the answer is "no thank you" good. Cross them off the list. Don't send any more postcards.
If the answer is ok or fine, make good on your promise and keep sending. Every once in a long while, you'll get lucky and the response will be something like "I'm so glad you got in touch. I have a project coming up in a couple of weeks that I could use some help with."
Step three: Send out 48 pieces total of mailing piece no 2. Note : Replace the "no thank you's" with new suspects. But keep the quantity at 48 to stay within the four hour call commitment.
Step four: Go back to step one and repeat.
For those getting their second mailing the conversation might be opened with " Hi abc (you probably learned the gatekeeper's name in the first call), just wanted to make sure X got my postcard. If it goes some place naturally, follow it. If not, "thank you" and off the phone.
To the first time mailee's the conversation is that same as before:
"Hi I am X from abc printing. I sent you a postcard and just wanted to confirm it got to X. If you don't mind I am going to send you a mailing piece once a week for the next couple of weeks to let you know some things that our company might be able to help you with."
Then repeat 1,2,3 as necessary.
Making it work:
Someone in authority has to look at and sign the call sheets every week. Everything else are production and design details. If you have a VDP tool like Xmpie, it's that much easier.
Why it works:
Because creating a `sustainable flow of sales is a definable process. Once defined it can be measured. Once measured it can be managed. read more here
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