I recently had a conversation with the marketing communications manager of a prospective client about following up future prospects effectively. By the end of the conversation it had struck me how little emphasis most small and medium sized businesses place in this area. While most do a good job following up hot leads, relatively few have the systems and procedures in place to insure that future prospects receive the ongoing attention necessary to turn them into customers.
The value of qualified future prospects is undeniable. By definition, they have good applications and are motivated to learn more about you and your products. They are generally at a stage where they’re still open to suggestions, and where strong relationships can be formed. As such they present a great opportunity for you to add value and create competitive advantage. They can be a source of your most profitable customers.
Future prospect follow-up typically incorporates a mix of mailings and telephone calls. It performs the dual functions of identifying sales opportunities that have become active and creating front of mind presence for a company’s products. Following are seven ideas to improve your follow-up effectiveness.
1. Develop a system. Most companies have far too many future prospects to be handled informally. Use contact management or CRM software to record the details of all contacts and schedule future mailings and calls.
2. Make follow-up a primary responsibility. Frequent regular contact is critical to successful follow-up. Doing it “when you have the time” severely diminishes effectiveness.
3. Avoid using your sales force. Properly structured, follow-up is a low to moderate skill activity that can be staffed for a fraction of the cost of an outside sales person. What’s more, most territories have too many future prospects for the sales person to be able to monitor them in a timely fashion.
4. Avoid sales literature “overexposure”. Make sure that mailings contain information that will be useful to the prospect. A steady diet of company sales literature quickly becomes an annoyance. Instead establish yourself as a valuable resource by sending informative materials about the use and application of your products, design tips, industry news and trends, and similar subjects that will help prospects do their jobs better.
5. Make regular phone contact. Call prospects periodically to stay abreast of their plans with regard to your products. Use callers with good basic product knowledge and solid telephone skills. Structure calls to a) requalify, b) identify those prospects with immediate needs that should be turned over to sales, and c) identify additional buying influences.
6. Get rid of the dead wood. Keep mailing costs and manpower requirements in check by removing companies that no longer meet your criteria from the active list.
7. Monitor the process. Establish procedures to monitor lead yields and overall program effectiveness. Fine tune as indicated.
John Grant is the founder of Take Aim, a marketing consultancy specializing in new business development for small and medium sized B-B marketers (www.targetedmarket.com). He also publishes On Target, a bi-monthly newsletter focusing on issues related to lead generation and management (see past issues and subscribe at http://www.targetedmarket.com/newsletter.htm).
