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Strategic Guidance to Build Your Business
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Volume 1, Issue 2, November 2006
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"The Business Builder" is brought
to you by VSA, Inc. in collaboration with Rink
Consulting. VSA, Inc., founded by Valerie Schlitt,
builds and implements B2B prospecting programs for
businesses and professional service firms. VSA has a
team of professional telephone callers who open
doors to new business opportunities for VSA clients.
Linda Rink, president of Rink Consulting, specializes in
B2B and consumer marketing and research. Both
Wharton MBA graduates, Valerie and Linda often
team together to help clients identify and reach new
customers. In this newsletter, they share some of
their business development insights.
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Prospect List Predicts Success
by Valerie Schlitt, President of VSA, Inc.
Do you know what the biggest predictor of
success for your prospecting program is?
YOUR PROSPECT LIST!
Sales courses and sales writing – they’re of vital
importance. But, if you cannot reach the right
decision-maker, then these other tools are almost
wasted efforts – and money.
Here are two case studies – where the list made
all the difference between success and failure.
Client A is an established, successful firm who
really knows its market.
The executives know that the best prospects
for them are manufacturing firms primarily with male
employees of a certain age group. They know the
range of employee size, and the decision maker’s
title.
In the past year, this client has come to VSA several
times. At the client’s request, VSA ordered prospect
lists that fit the exact criteria our client wanted –
not an entirely quick task, but one well-worth the
effort. This kind of list can be ordered at virtually
any list broker, but requires asking the right
questions and scrutinizing the list delivered by the
vendor.
Then, the VSA calling team began dialing for Client
A.
- We spoke to a real human being at nearly each
prospect firm - a rarity in today's world of voicemail!
- Our rate of appointment-generation was
excellent.
Our client visited prospects and made multiple sales,
generating a significant return on investment.
Client B is a start-up firm, with no track
record.
This client had previously hired a west coast firm,
who didn’t quite understand the market, to help them
build a custom-list of prospects. This list was
comprised of businesses with recent property
damage because our client wanted to finance the
repairs. The list included the apparent decision-
makers’ names, telephone numbers, and addresses.
What more could we ask for?
The VSA team began dialing for Client B.
- We soon discovered something very
interesting.
- Because of the property damage, most telephone
numbers were disconnected, and few had forwarded
numbers.
- When we found a forwarded number, often it
was for the former business owner, and not to the
property owner.
- It turns out the property owner, who was
responsible for repairs, was the real decision-maker,
not the business owner whom we had dialed.
We made no qualified appointments for Client B.
VSA caller skillsets were identical for both calling
efforts. But Client A gained a financial profit. Client
B lost a financial investment.
The only difference was the quality of the list.
In the rush to acquire new clients, don’t also
rush
through the critical step of creating a prospecting list
that will enable you to deliver your message to the
right prospects.
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VSA. Inc.
414 Station Avenue
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
856-429-5078
valerie.schlitt@verizon.net
www.valerieschlitt.com
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Who Are Your Best Prospects?
by Linda Rink, President of RINK Consulting
One of the biggest marketing mistakes that
people can make is failing to define their target
prospects. Why is this important?
As a marketer or business owner, you may
think you know who your best prospects are –
after all, it’s your business! But before you
spend advertising or promotion money, doesn’t it
make sense to validate your “gut” instincts?
- Not only will you potentially save time and
money, you will boost the success of your marketing
campaign.
- And you may uncover some new targets
that you hadn't thought of before.
Eight Ways to Find Out!
But just how do you go about defining your target
prospects? There are many approaches; I’ve listed
eight areas to consider:
1. Who are your current customers?
Or better yet, who are your most valuable current
customers – the ones you’d like to clone? What do
they have in common? Why are they buying from
you? (Hint: apply the 80/20 rule – which customers
contribute to 80% of your profits?)
2. Who is your ideal customer?
If you are just starting out (or even if you’re
established), try to imagine who your ideal customer
is – you know, the one you had in mind when you
first developed your product / service / business.
3. Think about your company and its
capabilities.
Are there geographic limitations to the area that you
can serve? Do you have production, inventory, or
service constraints which impact the size or type of
customer you can handle?
4. Take a look at your competition.
What kinds of customers do they have? Would you
like to have similar customers?
5. Be knowledgeable about your industry.
What’s driving it? New technology? Are there
demographic or geographic shifts in the customer
base? Where are new customers likely to come
from? Then try to define the characteristics of these
new customers.
6. Look into the future.
Where do you see your company five years from
now? Would you still like to be dealing with the same
types of customers as today? If not, how do you
intend to evolve? Perhaps it’s time to try marketing
to someone with a different profile.
7. Go beyond demographics.
Keep in mind that defining your target – whether it’s
companies or consumers – can go beyond the usual
demographics.
- In consumer marketing, lifestyle attributes can be
a very important part of the target definition.
Hobbies, interests, purchase behavior, style sense,
political leanings - these can add dimension to
demographics.
- But even in the B2B arena, companies can be
defined in ways other than size and industry. A
company's philosophy or mission, history, image, who
their customers are - factors such as these often
determine your most likely prospects.
8. Do some research.
If you are still unsure of your audience, consider
doing some market research.
- You can “test drive” your marketing effort
with one or more target groups to measure results
before launching the entire campaign. Direct mail is
an especially effective testing vehicle to see if one
group is more receptive to your message than
another.
- Other ways to research include surveys,
interviews and focus groups.
Once you’ve nailed your target prospect, the rest of
the marketing plan should fall into place!
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RINK Consulting
1420 Locust Street, Suite 31N
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215-546-5863
lrink@lindarink.com
www.lindarink.com
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