When Being Last is First (or Less is More)

By Heather C. Conover
Conover + Company Communications

In New England we experience very short summers; this summer was certainly no exception. For many smaller companies, summer means putting sales and marketing activities on hold until the fall. Now that September is here, many firms are facing the last few months of their fiscal year and the need to improve qualified lead generation and increase sales to better ensure that target goals are met for the year.

One of the easiest and quickest activities starts with brushing the dust off your rolodex (or turning on your PDA): looking for meetings, conferences and trade shows to attend: and restarting your networking. Although more sales leads may come through cold calling, many companies have found that when the lead comes through networking or a referral, the size of their contracts are larger, the sales process is faster, and they are not competing against other vendors.

Begin by calling your A list, namely current and former clients and prospects, and others that might be able to refer business to you. With people having so many demands on their time, it’s important to stay in touch with these contacts on a regular basis. In fact, communicating with them every month is a good idea. Otherwise, one of your competitor’s is likely to be top of mind when your service is needed. As one colleague recently said to me, “The last in often ends up in first place.”

Clearly if you telephone every month with nothing new to say or offer, you can become a nuisance. Hence, varying your means of communication is vital. In addition to phone calls, activities such as e-mails, letters, newsletters, direct mail, attendance at conferences, and other face-to-face meetings are all beneficial means of holding the “last in” title. It’s also useful to provide your prospects with information or an idea that may be useful to them, such as an article, case study, or white paper you’ve written. You might also invite them to a free webinar or seminar in which you can showcase your experience and expertise.

Of course, this assumes that you have already defined your ideal customer. If not, you can be wasting your time networking with the wrong people at the wrong places or getting the wrong type of referrals from your colleagues. If you don’t know the type of company or person that can best help your company grow, take the time to list your best and worst clients. Then analyze the list to identify common needs, wants, and other characteristics. For example, is there a particular industry, size of company, growth stage, or geographic region that defines your best customers? Do you deal with the CEO or a department head? If you are selling to individual consumers, what age(s), sex, marital status, income, interests, and other pertinent characteristics describe your best customers? In looking at your past sales history, are there any seasonal or other trends that have affected your sales?

Finally, refine your existing list. While being last in may mean coming in first, simply amassing the most business cards is most likely to mean having the fewest real prospects.

Fall 2004 -Volume 14, Number 4

All articles are copyrighted by the authors in the year published.