Archive for prospecting
Getting to your Perfect Client via your Networks
Posted by: | CommentsI am constantly amazed at the resources that are available for those of us who work in the area of Business Development. In the last few weeks I’ve used the following resources to narrow down potential clients and potential target markets given my ‘Perfect Client Profile’. If you are taking or have taken one of our Business Development Intensives, you may find these resources invaluable.
ReferenceUSA – This database is available at your public library. If you are not a member, go to www.scottsdalelibrary.org and sign up for a card. It will allow you access to their databases.
Reference USA is an InfoUSA company. You can drill down on local businesses by multiple criteria (which we talk about in our classes) and pull up a list of companies and contact info for those companies. It’s a great way to begin to narrow your search for your perfect client.
LinkedIn – Now that you know what companies to target, you can go to your LinkedIn network and see who you know or who knows someone who you need to meet. It is likely that there is a pathway into these companies that will get you introduced to the right person THROUGH someone you know. Can you cold call? Sure. If you have trouble cold calling, check out my friend Connie Kadansky from Exceptional Sales Performance. Her programs get you out of the headgame you play with yourself. I highly recommend her. However, if you prefer to be introduced, LinkedIn provides a fantastic resorce to do that.
Furthermore, you can begin to do some research when you find the right people. The old Axiom "Birds of a Feather Flock Together" applies here. What groups do they belong to? Where do they hang out? Where might you "bump into" them or other folks like them? This is where social media gets interesting. You not only learn about the people you know, but you can learn about their companies, their interests, and as you aggregate this info across prospects/potential clients, you get some pretty serious intelligence about your markets. This leads you to get ENGAGED with your markets.
Remember, from the Cluetrain Manifesto, "Markets are conversations". If you learn the conversations in the environment they are happening, you are positioned to deliver the the correct message into the correct context. It’s like learning a foreing language – listen, repeat, learn, create.
These are a few of the concepts we cover in our Business Development Intensive. If you fit our ‘Perfect Client Profile’, please consider having a conversation with me about how it could dramatically improve your results!
Raymond Chip Lambert
Network 2 Networth
Deep Business Development
The Magical, Wholistic Nature of Social Networks
Posted by: | CommentsThose of you who subscribe to my blog know that I am as strong believer in building solid, strategic, well-thought out networks. Further, I am a HUGE proponent of LinkedIn (that’s why I teach courses on getting started with LinkedIn) because we spend the majority of our lives engaged in our professions – and the social falls out of that.
I got an email and a request to forward and introduction today that I thought I would share with you. It illustrates the magical, wholistic nature of networks. The introduction request looked like this:
Hi Chip, you’ve inspired me to explore LinkedIn in more depth! See my note to XXXX. This is a CLASSIC example how this power here.
A—-A—- R—’s note to XXXX:
Hello XXXX,
I found your profile today when I was doing a search for Bob Proctor. I love his work and get his Daily Insight email. Then, your profile shows that we have a contact in common, Chip Lambert. I also noticed that you have a Nikken site. My good friend J– W—’s wife is really into Nikken here in Arizona. You two should talk!Gotta love how LinkedIn works!
And it was quickly followed by an email to both myself and J–:
Just wanted to share this experience I have with LinkedIn this am. You and Chip have inspired me to explore it further, so I was doing some searches for people I know and admire. I typed in Bob Proctor to see what I could find. At the top of the list was a woman named XXXX. She must work for Bob’s coaching organization. Then, I saw that Chip was one of her connections! In reading here profile I saw that she is a NIKKEN rep! I contacted her and told her about (your wife) and that the two should talk.
This illustrates the power here! Literally one blind search connected several dots with people I know. (emphasis mine)
A—
While names here are withheld to protect privacy, this illustrates the power of networks. Especially online SOCIAL networks. The technology unlocks the true potential of your network because it connects the dot for HUMAN BEINGS.
We are social creatures. Our friends – social. Our colleagues – social. Our prospects – social? Our customers – social? You betcha. And if you miss that point, you are missing the opportunity of a lifetime.
Why do you think 18 million people use LinkedIn?
Why do you think the blogosphere is so enormous?
I suggest that we are in the middle of a revolution in our capacity to relate. And revolutions cause chaos, confusion, misunderstanding, uncomfortableness, skeptics, zealots, humbugs, and millionaires.
Which are you?
Jump in. The water is profitable.
Raymond Chip Lambert
Network 2 Networth
Deep Business Development
Social Networks and Prospecting
Posted by: | CommentsA good friend and colleague of mine, Michael Goodman, posted this question in LinkedIn Answers this week:
"Wtih all the social media available, including linked in, Blogs, twitter, plaxo, second life, et al, what is the best way to utilize all this stuff, stay ahead of the techno-bleeding edge, and really, just find another customer to tell my story to?
I can’t keep up with all the social media, web 2.0 marketing movement. Really, all I want to do is find the next customer. I am hoping someone has figured out the magical answer to taking advantage of technology and simply find new people interested in what I have to offer. Anyone?"
Now what you need to understand is that Michael is a brilliant man. In fact he’s a fantastic resource for the Sales Community as founder of the International Sales Pros Association.
His question, I posit, goes to a fundamental misunderstanding of Social Media, Social Networking and its relationship to sales.
Remember, these tools are there to help you tell your story when you are NOT able to be in front of a prospect. They help your potential prospects have somewhere to go to find out more about you than you will ever be able to disclose to them. Social media tools are a way to "tell your story" not only to the prospects you do know, but the ones you’d never be able to get to in a million years of calling on people.
LinkedIn is especially valuable. Because not only are you putting yourself out there and giving people a chance to check you out, but you have advanced search tools to do some serious targeted prospecting – AND finding a way into said prospect via referral or introduction.
Most sales people who use LinkedIn do not have any true understanding of this. Precisely because they are focused on the next transaction. I spoke about this in a different post.
Network Building, positioning, marketing, and such activities are not Sales. But done well, they position us in front of our perfect client so our likelihood of having a sales conversation goes up dramatically. And, again, when done well, it removes a lot of the barriers that sales people experience when they cold call.
Network development is a medium to long term strategy. Prospecting for sales is something that MUST be done to meet quotas. I don’t argue that either is more or less important.
The important thing here is to have a keen understanding about what you are trying to accomplish with social media, and then go to work building that – via blog, twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.
As a sales person, you will always need to tell your story to another potential client. The point with social media is can they relate to you and interact with you both before and after the sale in a way that is meaningful to them.
That’s the formula for a long-term clientele that grows virally!
Raymond Chip Lambert
Network2Networth
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The Missed Opportunity – The Danger of a Sales Only Mindset
Posted by: | CommentsDriving in my car this week, I received a phone call from someone who had me on one of their lists. I didn’t recognize the phone number and I was on another call, so I let it go to voicemail and checked it when I was fininshed.
It was a firm out of Kentucky that does business coaching for franchises. I thought, hey, this is a great opportunity for both of us – they do setup and sales and I teach long term business development. So I returned the call almost immediately.
Turns out they were working a conference list for an upcoming event and I was on the list (how – I do not know). He was prospecting me for attending their sales pitch at the event. I told him that I would not be at the event. I proposed, however, that there might be an opportunity for us to refer business back and forth (being the Business Developer that I am).
He shut off. He couldn’t even hear me. He was so focused on pre-selling conference attendees that he couldn’t hear an opportunity for business that was right in front of him.
He hurridly tried to get me off the phone so he could get to his next call and I obliged him.
As I hung up, it struck me how blind people can be to the opportunities that are in front of them at all times.
I invite those of you who are reading this to consider that there are so many opportunities to create relationships that could send you more business than you could handle, but that you are unprepared to see them.
Take the blinders off.
Get into conversations with people who have a similar client base and see if you can create a win-win relationship with people who deliver value that you do not. It could be the beginning of a business relationship that will transform your operation.
See you next post!
Raymond Chip Lambert
chip@network2networth.com
www.network2networth.com
The Fundamental Misunderstanding
Posted by: | CommentsI met with a person from my network yesterday that saw me speak at the Scottsdale Chamber. She is working on launching her management consulting business after a successful engagement with a previous employer.
Obviously she is very good at what she does – or she wouldn’t be stepping into the world of small business.
What I shared with her that I share with nearly everyone I sit down with is that there is a fundamental difference between sales and business development.
One of the most important pieces of any business is revenue generation. Pure sales is the most important activity one can engage in – yet most people I talk with are not comfortable with the process. “It’s so uncomfortable” is the refrain I hear most often.
While sales may be uncomfortable, there are a few things that you can do to make the likelihood of a sale more emminent:
- Be crystal clear about who your perfect client is and is not – Sales people make this mistake all the time. They spend time trying to sell to the wrong people – people without a budget; people who are not decision makers; people who are simply not a prospect. Knowing the characteristics of your perfect client makes your job much easier as you can qualify the people you are talking to. Disqualifying someone is almost as valuable as qualifying them because you don’t waste your time.
- Figure out where your perfect client comes together on a regular basis and be there – there is an old maxim in business: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. Just being where your perfect client comes together can do wonders for your sales results. You not only get exposed to prospects, you also can do some important fact finding: what are the issues that your product or service REALLY solves; what does that solution MEAN to your prospects. When you figure this out, you can get into harmony with your prospects and speak their language – not yours. Try it – it works!
- Talk to the clients you already have – It never ceases to amaze me how transaction oriented sales people can be. I learned this the hard way: when you are transaction oriented, you come off like a mercenary. People are wary of mercenaries. Get into relationship with your clients. If you’ve done a good job for them, they are happy to talk with you about growing your business. Don’t wait and hope that they will refer you – educate them about HOW they can refer you.
Business Development on the other hand is a completely different mindset. Not better, not more important – just different.
Sales people miss Business Development opportunities all the time because they are so transaction focused. A caveat here – sales people need to be transaction focused because often they are operating under a quota or goal – I’m not advocating that they stop. What I am advocating is that they begin to develop a parallel mindset of Business Development.
How one approaches Business Development is a bit like the steps above – but with an added eye to creating strategic relationships. Instead of only going for the transaction of the sale, you are looking for introductions to people who could consistently refer to your perfect client. You are also looking for people who could fill holes in your various networks.
Think about this – what would happen if you found three or four key people who could refer you on a consistent basis to your perfect client? What would your business look like if there were no holes in your support system – meaning you could handle more business without dropping the ball? That to me is the beauty of Business Development. It takes a little extra effort and an expanded mindset, but the dividends are remarkable.
Back to the person I was talking with – when we looked, she actually already had people in her network that she could approach to help her grow. I recommended that she book an appointment and ASK for very specific things that would position her to close more business.
I encourage you to do the same.
Now, there is a lot more to this conversation. I’ll be writing more on it as we go.
For now, I encourage you to, at the very least, expand your looking zone.
Raymond Chip Lambert
chip@network2networth.com
