|
Looking for Leads in All the Wrong Places by Maria Gracia If you're having difficulties finding sales leads--especially qualified sales leads--for your business, perhaps you're looking in the wrong places. Here are a few possibilities. 1. APPEARING IN PUBLICATIONS THAT YOUR TARGET DOESN'T READ. Whether you're running ads, submitting articles or sending out press releases, if you or your company gets a mention in a publication that your target isn't reading, you're going to get few, if any, qualified leads. For instance, someone selling a time management program, once tried to run an ad in a travel magazine. He got zero responses to his offer. Why? Think about it. People who read travel magazines are looking for travel information--not time management seminars. Be sure you target publications that your main target audience reads. Also, be sure your offer is appropriate for that particular target. 2. MARKETING TO THE WORLD, BUT SELLING LOCAL. If you're selling a service only to people in your local area, it would be in your best interest to focus on the local area you're selling to. For instance, perhaps you have a great offer which you include in your ad, and you run your ad in an Internet publication that goes out to 100,000 subscribers--all over the globe--and you get some leads. Unfortunately, many of those leads will come from outside your local area, and will therefore be unqualified. The chances of people who live in your area seeing this ad, are extremely slim. You would be much better off directly contacting people who live in the area you're selling your services to. 3. PROSPECTING AT THE WRONG SELLING EVENT. Summerfest is a huge summer music festival that is held in Watertown, WI each year. My husband and I attended last year, and there was a person at a booth attempting to sell insurance services. Apparently, the agent felt that he'd get tons of leads since there were tons of people attending the festival, and tons of booths selling stuff. Even though people were buying lots of things--beer, hot dogs, T-shirts, CDs, etc.--nobody was buying insurance. This agent didn't generate one prospect that day. People were eating, drinking, listening to music and riding the sky ride. Insurance was definitely the last thing on their minds. The same is true when you're prospecting for your business. Don't expect to get tons of qualified leads at places where your prospects are not in the right frame of mind to ask about such services or products. 4. DISPLAYING YOUR OFFERS IN OBSCURE PLACES. Our supermarket offers ad space, in glass display cases on the walls when you walk in the door. Perhaps your supermarket offers a similar type of service? If so, stand in the ad area for a little while the next time you go shopping, and count how many people actually stop to read the ads. I can practically guarantee you that it's going to be very, very few, if any at all. People are looking to buy groceries when they go into a supermarket. They're looking for a cart when they walk in the door--not offers in display cases--especially offers that are unrelated to food. The same is true with restaurants. People don't usually stop to read all of the business cards scattered all over the restaurant bulletin board. Putting your card here on a bulletin board, surrounded by hundreds of other cards, is not an effective way to market. In places like these, your ad will be invisible to most people. 5. PROSPECTING AT A NON-BUSINESS SOCIAL GATHERING. If you're attending a Chamber meeting or a networking meeting, it's perfectly fine to talk to people about your business, ask for referrals, and exchange business cards. After all, that's the purpose of such a function. I was once at a baby shower, and a friend of the mom-to-be came by, introduced herself, and proceeded to tell me about her gift basket business. After 10 minutes, I politely told her it was nice to meet her and excused myself. Not even 5 minutes later, she was handing her business card to another attendee at the party. As you can imagine, I was annoyed. And I'm sure all of the other people who were approached by this woman, felt the same way. This was a party; not a trade show. A non-business social function is a totally inappropriate place for a business owner to sell his or her wares. It's a good way to lose friends. Plus, this person can bet on NOT receiving an invitation to the next social gathering. Click to Return to Article Index 
Click Here for Contact InformationCopyright 1998 - 2008 Effective Business Systems Get Organized Now!™ 611 Arlington Way Watertown, WI 53094 |
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZERS NEWSLETTER We respect your privacy. Your e-mail address will never be shared with or sold to anyone.
|