Category Archives: Strategy

Blogs under this category explore strategy in lead generation and the many marketing methods that fall under this term.

The truth about making a choice and why would you want to skin a cat anyway?

Many animal lovers hate the saying ‘there are many ways to skin a cat’ but if you actually check its origin you might be even more disturbed. According to Edward Brumley, Buddhist, Vegan and Atheist, ‘The phrase is just a more recent rendition of an older proverb that was expressed in many different ways, in which various animals were killed in diverse and sundry creative fashions. The earliest known version was recorded in 1678 in the second edition of John Ray’s collection of English proverbs, in which he gives it as “There are more ways to kill a dog than hanging… ‘

Let’s move on swiftly but stick with the idea that there is more than one way to achieve your goal. This notion is worth keeping in mind when it comes to your marketing even if it often looks like you have to choose. Well, let me break it to you gently, you don’t have to. To make things clearer, here are the main two choices you have when you consider your marketing strategy:

  • Outbound marketing: This term is used to describe pre-meditated activities you undertake to approach your target markets directly. These activities include tactics such as e-mail marketing, advertising and telemarketing.
  • Inbound Marketing: This term is used to describe the tools you create to help people approach your business when they are interested in your product and service. These tools include your website, referral marketing, content marketing and so on.

In addition, most marketing methods could be divided into the following categories:

  • Offline marketing which can be seen as old school by some, includes methods such as direct mail, leafleting, telemarketing and telesales
  • Online marketing which some will describe as all the rage, includes methods such as e-mail marketing, SEO, Social Media and ad words

Many companies feel they have to choose between the different options. This is sometimes the case due to budget limitations or the marketing company they work with. In my opinion, the choice needs to be down to the various target markets you are after. Here are a few examples to clarify what I mean:

  1. If your target market is stay at home mums who like to shop locally, you may choose to place targeted adverts in Facebook and use local groups. In this case, you will be utilising an inbound digital marketing campaign
  2. If you are targeting Estate Agents in Cardiff, you may choose a direct mail campaign which is followed up by telemarketing. In which case, you will be utilising outbound offline marketing campaign

Now, I am always for being as specific as you can when it comes to your target market. If you can narrow it down to people who only come out when it rains on a Sunday, that is great. However, our reality is made up of a very wide choice in nearly every walk of life, which means that even if you are specific, you still need to consider more than one approach to reach more people. By this, I mean that you need to adopt marketing campaigns that reach out to your contacts using a number of platforms. If you can e-mail, connect on LinkedIn and telephone them all in one campaign, you increase your chances of getting through to more people. Of course, you can choose to place some strategic Blogs alongside Ad Words and landing pages instead.  The point is that the choice is yours and should be based solely on your growth targets and marketing strategy.

As always, I am happy to discuss your specific questions further. In the meantime, you might find it useful to check out how our lead generation system works.

Selling in other countries: something to try on your next holiday

At the age of 47 I have finally made it to the USA and it was nothing like I expected it to be. I normally try not to form any specific expectations before I visit a new country, but America is so central to our world it is hard not to. What was the biggest broken myth for me? From a business perspective, I found their selling culture very different to what I had expected. As a country which believes in self-reliance and making money, I expected everyone to be very pushy. Whilst there are a lot more adverts everywhere, I found face to face selling was done in a very friendly and low-key manner. Yet it was at the heart of every operation we came across, from camp sites to service stations and restaurants, everyone had special offers and extra choices designed to get you to spend more money. To my mind, this combination made the sales process very effective, resulting in a much higher conversion rate.

Did I learn anything from this? Yes and no.  Of course, providing superb customer experience is key and certainly something we can always do better. However, the way you approach your customers is very much based on their culture and therefore the American approach may not work so well out side of the USA. In fact, if you have ever been on sales training or read sales materials from the US you may well have found them a little cringe worthy. Yet over there it works perfectly well which proves that if you wish to engage with a customer you need to understand their culture as well as their needs and requirements. Here are a few examples of how a sales process is affected by culture:

  • According to the Freshtrax Blog, in Japan, sales are rarely closed in sales meetings. Corporate buying decisions are made behind the scenes in a series of meetings to which you will never be invited.  This is why Japanese sales staff carry a lot of documentation and prefer information-dense presentations which will later be used to discuss their product. Complicating matters further, even simple needs discovery can cause offence, since asking about your prospect’s problems, particularly in front of superiors and subordinates, implies that he does, in fact, have problems. This environment makes trying to sell directly challenging, so your best strategy is to identify your advocate within the organisation and teach them to sell your product.
  • According to Janis Chan, Cross Culture Trainer, group affiliation is the focus in China. It is a highly collectivist culture where people act in the interests of the group. There are small groups in a Chinese corporation where the opinions and votes are pre-determined by the strong and cohesive in-groups. This is the norm of corporate decisions, directions, and culture. Hence, in order to improve your chances of success you must talk with insiders to get a clear map of the organization chart with the direct lines and underlying dotted lines before you approach them.
  • When selling in Dubai, according to the Entrepreneur Blog, you need to think before you speak. Emiratis and other Middle Eastern business people working in Dubai love a good joke as much as anyone and can be uproariously funny. But profanity is a total no-no in the Muslim professional world, so avoid R-rated language and making disparaging comments on Islamic culture – a person could be fined, jailed or deported.

This is all very interesting but it’s important to remember that in many ways the world has become a smaller place these days and we therefore deal with diverse cultures and origins even when operating within the UK. The better you understand your client the closer you can get to them and increase your chances of success. This is true in general but understanding your prospect’s culture is a big part of it.  If you are unsure where to start, click here for more information or get in touch to discuss further.

How to make friends on your next flight- why do asking questions work?

If you were sad enough to type: ‘how to impress strangers?’ on Google, you will come up with a wealth of information. Read through it and almost all pieces agree that to get on with strangers you must:

  1. Smile
  2. Make it about them
  3. Ask open-ended questions

Carry on reading about open-ended questions and you might come across this interesting story; according to a study by psychologist Arthur Aron called ‘The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness you can make someone fall in love with you by asking them 36 open-ended questions designed to foster the atmosphere of mutual vulnerability and intimacy that a romantic relationship thrives on…

You might not be looking to meet strangers or make them fall in love with you at all. However, if like many of us you are going on holiday this summer, you might end up sitting next to a stranger for some time. This time, rather than putting your headphones on and watching Netflix throughout, try and ask your fellow passenger some open-ended questions and see what happens. If nothing else, you will be practising the most important sales skills: asking questions and listening to the answers.

There are many books about questions for selling from How to Persuade and Influence People by Phillip Hesketh through The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy to How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. They all provide good advice on asking questions when selling. So why is everyone so fixated on asking questions, you might ask?

Brad Sugars at ActionCoach explains it well through his formula for change, stating that in order to bring about change (in other words close the deal) pain has got to be greater than the resistance to change. I agree, though to understand their pain and ascertain how great it is, you need to ask a lot of questions and do plenty of listening. Yet, so many of us run to offer a solution as soon as we hear half a hint for a need. It is in our nature to want to help out and be able to offer advice, but the answer to increasing conversion, or falling in love if you like, is listening and asking more questions.

How about this quote as an ending: ‘What people think of as the moment of discovery is really the discovery of the question…’ Jonas Salk, American medical researcher and virologist

If you find that your sales team needs some help with asking better questions, get in touch.

Sales skills: How to create a winning sales team

A few weeks ago, I read about the old American TV show, The A Team, and how, whilst it was a great success with the viewers, the actual team of actors got on very badly behind the scenes bringing the show to an end. It made me consider team work and how important it is for long term success.

In my previous Blog this month, I wrote about sales profiles and how having the right profile for the right job is key to sales success. The Blog was useful in terms of outlining the differences between sales profiles and the consideration of each skill alongside your sales strategy.

But what about the sales team? Surely, to achieve success you must consider not only the sales profiles, styles and skills of each member but also how they will all work together in one team. Like any other recruitment process this can prove difficult, so I thought it might be helpful to put together some key considerations when putting together your sales team:

  1. Consider your sales strategy and key goals: Is your company planning to achieve growth through growing your clients’ spend or are you focusing in developing new markets? Most growing companies have a requirement for both and their sales targets will be a mix of new and existing business. This means you will need the right mix of sales profiles in your team to make this happen.
  2. Consider your sales process: So many Sales Managers miss the fact that in order to increase conversion and productivity, the team must adhere to a clear sales process. This is not just about how you many times you follow up and what agenda you follow in your meeting. An important part of this process is considering who in the team does what, based on their profiles and skill, to ensure maximum conversion is achieved.
  3. Consider what roles are required within the team: once you are clear on your strategy, goals and process, you can draw up the ideal sales roles you require to fulfil this most productively. Ideally, you would want to have the right number of Account Managers, New Business Development Managers, Telemarketing Consultants and Sales Support Managers.

I hope you think the above considerations make sense, but you may well have a few further considerations:

  • What if you already have a team, perhaps even some decent sales people within it but it does not meet the profile you require?

I would imagine that this may well be the case with many companies and there are four key things to do in this situation:

  • Analise the current skills and profiles you have and identify the gaps
  • Train and skill your existing team where possible
  • Provide focus through plans and goals
  • Hold on to those who embrace the change and replace the ones who don’t

A full sales team require a myriad of roles and skills, should they all be provided in-house?

I think that the answer to this is absolutely not. Take follow up and telephone work for example; I have written before about the behaviour profile best suited for telemarketing and it is not a sales profile. It can also be hard to keep and motivate a Telemarketing Consultant in house.  My advice would be as follows:

  • Consider the roles in your team again and decide which would require specialist knowledge of your company’s products.
  • Consider which of the roles might not be specialist but would benefit from being managed in-house.
  • Outsource all other roles to a specialist company

If you view this page on our website, you may find that we are able to support your sales team with both of the scenarios above. Get in touch if we can be of further help.

 

Sales skills – typical sales profiles and why they matter

I have attended countless training sessions and read many self-help books and all of them agree on one thing: knowing your strengths and weaknesses is key to making a success of whatever it is you choose to do. Over the years I have found this to be very true yet so many people I meet could not actually tell me what their strengths and weaknesses were.

This is particularly apparent when it comes to ensuring you have the right sales person for the job you need them to do. Hiring, managing and motivating your sales staff is always a challenge, but it is even more so if you have the wrong person in the job. Many managers and business owners, who are not sales people themselves, might be confused by this idea of sales styles, just like so many tend to bundle all promotional activity under the banner of marketing.

Another challenge I come across, is in well established companies who may have long established sales people who have been in the role more than anyone can remember. The company may have acquired other companies which landed them with additional sales people. It might be a combination of all of the above, but the result is the same in many cases: you end up with the wrong sales profiles and that can have a devastating effect on your growth.

So, what are the different sales profiles you might ask. There are a few ways to look at it but put simply there are two main profiles to consider:

  1. Farmers: Just like real farmers, these sales people are skilful at looking after their land. In other words, they are good at looking after existing clients, ensuring they are satisfied and therefore continue to place business with the company.
  • Strength: nurturing relationships through loyalty and care
  • Weakness: Responding to rapid change, approaching unknown entities, working fast, thinking on their feet, spotting new opportunities
  1. Hunters: These sales people are skilful at identifying targets and approaching them. There is nothing that pleases them more than closing a new deal. They are very often demanding and controlling, sometimes fly by the seat of their pants and not known by their attention to detail.
  • Strength: Identifying strong opportunities and developing them into a sale
  • Weakness: Working to a plan, adhering to rules, compiling paperwork, listening

Of course, this is very black and white and there are many sales people, me included, who are a hybrid of the two. However, painting the two profiles in this way allows you to immediately see what I mean: if you require new business development and you have a team of farmers, they will struggle to deliver and vice versa, which is why considering this is so key to your teams’ success.

But what if you have inherited the team and they are what you have? I think that you can develop and hone different skills within your team. People are creatures of habit and often choose the path of least resistance. With the right training, some KPIs and support, you can deliver different results. With some rapid change affecting the UK market next March, it might be something to consider sooner rather than later.

Check this page on our website to see how we can help or get in touch to discuss in more detail.

 

 

Lead nurturing – what is it and where does it fit in your sales process?

The American philosopher Deepak Chopra once said: ‘It takes a little bit of mindfulness and a little bit of attention to others to be a good listener, which helps cultivate emotional nurturing and engagement…’  Without wishing to go too deep, I think it’s a great quote which demonstrates relationship creation very well.

I know many of you will be wondering what all of this has to do with lead generation. Well, as generating leads is a key part of sales, building relationships is part and parcel of it. In our business we meet many clients who would like to find a shortcut which will bypass all of the relationship stuff and get them straight to a sale. I am sorry to say that in all the years I have been selling, I am yet to find this type of shortcut. I am afraid that if you want to develop new business, you need to put in the time for creating a relationship first. This is particularly true when it comes to B2B high value sales.

So now that we have all agreed that relationship creation is essential to a successful sale, let’s spend some time talking about lead nurturing;

  1. What is it then? It’s an overall term covering the numerous times you will need to follow up in order to turn a suspect into a prospect and then a client
  2. Why is it important? I have written before about buying styles and how they affect decision making. It transpires that only 15% of the population can make decisions fast, which means that you have to follow up a lot before you get an answer. If you are doing it right, you will be nurturing the relationship in the process, thus making a sale more likely.
  3. Where does it fit in your sales process? A business colleague of mine once told me that in his opinion, in between an enquiry coming in and a sale being made, a whole desert exists… I could not agree more, so, lead nurturing fits all the way through from when the lead is generated, to when a sale is made.
  4. Who should be charged with nurturing leads? Normally this is done by your sales function, be it you or your team. In my opinion, long term lead nurturing is better off being assigned to a skilled telemarketing team either in-house or outsourced. This will free up sales to deal with hot opportunities whilst ensuring that leads are not forgotten.

I hope you found this helpful. If you are one of those people who understand better through pictures, check out this infographic. You can also check out our lead nurturing service here. Do get in touch if you wish to discuss this further.

B2B E-mail marketing the right way, what and how?

If this image resonates with you, you may well be one of those people who cannot wait for GDPR to take hold, hoping that their inbox will considerably shrink as a result.  Well, I am sure it will, particularly from a private e-mail perspective but not so much when it comes to your business e-mails.

Why is that I hear you cry? In my latest Blog I talked about the future of B2B e-mail marketing and you can read all about the differentiation made by the regulations between corporate and private data. If you are past that stage and have decided to carry on using e-mail marketing with corporate date on a legitimate interest basis, you will need to consider a number of things.

Using legitimate interest as your legal basis to send marketing e-mails is not a licence to carry on spamming.  On the contrary, it puts you on the spot and gives you an extra responsibility to make sure you are compliant and respectful of people’s data and inboxes.  What does this mean? you might ask, well here are some examples:

  1. Carry out an analysis for each campaign you are planning, to determine the following:
  • Is the campaign absolutely necessary?
  • Is there a less intrusive way in which you could do this?
  • Will this seriously undermine your recipients privacy?
  • This questionnaire might help you out with your assessment
  1. Update your privacy policy notice on your website and add a link to it at the bottom of your e-mail
  2. Tell people why you are writing to them and ensure there is a clear and easy link to unsubscribe
  3. Include your company name and contact details so your readers know who it came from you
  4. Use a proper e-mail marketing software (like Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor). These ensure that unsubscribing is done properly, and you cannot write to these again.

All of the above is important and relatively easy to achieve but the key factor to consider is the content. The main point that GDPR is making is that people do not want to get unsolicited sales e-mails that are all about you and what you can do for them. They are a lot more likely to interact with you if you think about them and what they are likely to be interested in.  So, here are a few things to consider when it comes to making your content more compelling:

  1. Consider your target markets and ensure your lists are segmented to allow you to send tailored e-mails
  2. Create a campaign and content plan, ensuring you are sending out focused communications based on target market interests
  3. Make your e-mail template pleasant to look at and connected to your brand and website
  4. Blend your e-mail marketing campaigns with Blog pots, articles, guides and other useful materials
  5. Keep the e-mail message simple and include relevant links for people to find out more
  6. Don’t bombard people with communications; we are all busy and even useful e-mails can become a nuisance if overdone
  7. Don’t forget to analyse the data and follow up

I hope you found this useful. I read the other day that only 40% of UK business are ready for GDPR and truly hope that you are. If you are doing your own e-mail marketing and looking for some support, have a look on our website or get in touch.

 

 

How to use e-mail marketing post GDPR?

If like me, you use e-mail marketing as part of your overall marketing strategy, you are probably worried about being able to carry on using it post GDPR. You are right to be concerned about it, as the new regulations were set specifically to stop unsolicited electronic communication of all sorts and will make it harder to use e-mails on a large scale.

The two key reasons we like to use e-mail marketing, are cost and data analysis,

  • In comparison to other methods such as direct mail, e-mail campaigns are relatively easy to set up, design and it costs a lot less.
  • If sent using a proper platform, data analysis is readily available, allowing you to get a good understanding of how relevant your recipients thought your e-mail was.

This makes e-mail marketing a key B2B strategy, which will not be easily replaced using more compliant methods.  So, the question is what you do at this stage and it’s an important question which should concern your entire marketing strategy.  However, should you decide to carry on using e-mail marketing, here are a few considerations as to how to do it in a GDPR compliant way:

  1. Be clear on whether you are marketing to businesses or consumers. This is because GDPR differentiates between corporate and individuals’ data. Here are the definitions:
  • Corporate data includes limited companies, public companies, corporates and public-sector organisations
  • Individual’s data include private individuals as well as partnerships and sole traders

This is very important to understand because under GDPR you will not be able to send e-mails to individuals unless you have their consent to do so. Corporate data however has been given some additional options for now which will be discussed below.

  1. Decide which legal framework you will be using to justify your e-mail campaigns; GDPR allows for six legal grounds for processing private data of which only three are relevant for marketing:
  • CONSENT: the individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose. If you are using individuals’ data, this is your only option.
  • LEGITIMATE INTEREST: the processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party. If you are marketing with corporate data, you can use this legally, but this is not a license to spam. Here are more details on things to consider
  • CONTRACT: your list is made up of your current clients who are aware you are marketing to them and can easily opt out from the e-mails.
  1. Review your marketing list: Once you are clear on your target market, make sure you review any existing marketing databases you are using. Check for the following:
  • Any individual’s contact details you might have (such as Gmail and Yahoo e-mail addresses). This often happen if you have used contact details of LinkedIn connections for your list.
  • Any partnerships or sole traders you may have included in the database.
  • If this is a client list, ensure there is no historical data of people you have not worked with for over 18 months.
  • Consider how old is the data you are using overall as GDPR requires you to use accurate and up to date data.
  1. Make sure you are compliant with all other elements of GDPR and data protection. Marketing is only a small part of the GDPR piece. Whether you chose to carry on with e-mail marketing or not, make sure you investigate what is required in further details if you have not already done so. Here are just a few examples:
  • Check your website privacy and Cookie policies are up to date
  • Make sure you have a data protection, use and breach policy
  • Consider your data storage, back up and overall systems security

I hope you found this useful, I read the other day that only 40% of UK business are ready for GDPR and truly hope that you are. If you are doing your own e-mail marketing and looking for some support, have a look on our website or get in touch.

Lead generation: Six B2B tools to consider

I love this quote from author CS Lewis: ‘You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream’. Still, sometimes the reason for setting new goals and dreams is out of hands. GDPR is one of these situations; making sure your business is compliant is an absolute pain in the backside, but it forces you to review many key processes in your business which is never a bad thing.

Going through this joy myself in the past few weeks has made me consider lead generation methods we use in the business, for clients and ourselves. This lead me to some research for different ideas that fitted well with our lead generation system and new ways of using current methods. As my much-appreciated readers, I am sharing my thinking with you in the form of the top tools to use in B2B marketing à la Your Business Development Team:

  • Offline methods:
  1. Direct Mail: Or lumpy mail in marketing speak, is making a come back in post GDPR marketing as it is one of the methods you can use with prospect companies as long as they have not asked you to stop. In these days of e-mail, a letter has become a bit of a novelty and you can use to your advantage.

How to use it: I would suggest using it in conjunction with other campaigns; using a variety of platforms ensures that you are appealing to all of your prospects. Due to cost, it is probably worth making a long-term plan so that you are designing multi-use materials and printing in bulk where possible.

  1. Networking/ referral partners: Referrals are by far the best way to gain new business. Firstly, you start the relationship much further ahead, knowing your prospect requires your services. More importantly, your conversion rate is likely to be much higher with referrals as the trust is there from the start.

How to use it: This would very much depend on the stage of your business, how much time you have and your personal preference. There are many versions of networking groups out there to suit everyone. If your business is new, you tend to network more. Mature businesses tend to settle into referral affiliations with their clients and suppliers. I think any arrangements is fine as long as you are benefiting from this key tool.

  • Online methods:
  1. LinkedIn: Many of my younger colleagues dismiss LinkedIn as it seems very corporate in comparison with hipper Social Media channels. In my opinion, it is the most relevant Social Media tool to use for B2B as people who use it expect to talk and read about business topics. It is also the best place to connect and find your prospects’ most up to date details.

How to use it:  The three key elements on LinkedIn are:

  • Create a decent profile
  • Constantly grow your following
  • Represent your business through posts and article sharing

If you have not used it before, I strongly recommend having some training on it as it will improve what you can get out of it.

  1. Content Marketing: This is a tool which is relevant to a number of marketing platforms such as Social Media, E-mail Marketing and your website. Many businesses already use Content Marketing Though GDPR enforces the importance of getting it right. This is because it focuses you on your expertise and how to best share them with clients and prospects thus attracting interested parties the right way.

How to use it: Content Marketing is a good way to grow brand awareness, but it is not a quick win. For it to work, it needs consistency and time so create a monthly plan including Blogs, posts and e-mail campaigns and stick to it. Make sure you consider how you use e-mail marketing in the light of GDPR, ensuring you are compliant. Note that the digital space allows you to use many and varied tools so get some advice from a good digital agency.

  1. Landing Pages: This is not a new tool but I think it takes centre stage in list-creation post GDPR allowing you to reach prospects who have already expressed an interest in your product. So, what is it? The definition of it according to Unbounce is: ‘a standalone web page, created specifically for the purposes of a marketing or advertising campaign. These pages are designed with a single focused objective – known as a ‘Call to Action’.

How to use it: To use Landing Pages effectively you need to be specific and to do this you must understand your market well. I would suggest creating pages for specific campaigns and specific target markets. To work well, these need to form a part of a well thought out marketing strategy. Although there is plenty of free and helpful software for creating Landing Pages, it might be useful to use a digital agency to help you create them, at least initially.

I hope you found this useful for your post GDPR consideration. Whatever you do, don’t forget to follow up which is where the sixth top lead generation tool comes into play, the telephone…

Always happy to support your thinking so get in touch if you think we might be able to help.

The lead generation funnel, how does it work?

I recently came across a great quote from the author Samuel Johnson: ‘Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance’.  This is true of many things but it’s particularly important with lead generation work. This is because successful lead generation involves a meticulous process and takes a lot of patience and resilience to see it through to results.

You might say that it is therefore not for everyone and you will be right. I have written before about the level of confidence you need to have in your product to engage in lead generation. This Blog is, however, written for people who want to run successful lead generation campaigns in their businesses.

Having spoken to a few people about this recently, I realised that the word funnel is misleading because it suggests that anyone that comes into your lead generation funnel will inevitably become a customer.  Even if we allow for an unlimited amount of time to pass, the reality is that some will fall out, which is actually the point of the qualifying process. However you choose to picture the process, it is key to understand how it works in your business.  If you don’t, you could get caught in a fruitless search for the magic method which is both costly and pointless.  Here are the key stages of a lead generation processes:

  1. Generating interest through sending out communications appealing to your target markets’ problems and needs. This can be done with a variety of marketing tools, including Social Media, e-mail marketing, advertising, buying data lists and so on. This stage is also known as identifying suspects.
  2. Identifying specific interest within the group of suspects through making direct contact. This is often done by e-mail or telephone follow up. This stage is also known as identifying leads and can take a while to move on to the next stage.
  3. Developing further knowledge of the leads identified to understand their problem and circumstances. This can be done via a telephone or face to face appointment. This is a key stage as a sale will not happen if there isn’t sufficient desire to change. This stage is also known as identifying prospects or opportunities.
  4. Providing a solution and closing the sale. Whilst this sounds very straight forward, it can take time to get a result and often your proposal is just the beginning of a lengthy follow up process. Still, if you managed to uncover some pain in the previous stage, you should be able to use it to press on.  This stage is also known as creating customers or getting paid 😊

I hope this helps in terms of your campaign plan. Here is what’s also important to remember:

  1. Your initial communications need to be tailored and specific to attract the right leads.
  2. It is vital to follow up with every interest shown in stage 2 as it is key to building up a relationship and moving you forward.
  3. The more you speak with your prospects, the more you have an opportunity to understand their problem. This in turn will provide you with the opportunity to provide the best solution and make a sale.
  4. This is not a quick process normally, it requires lots of follow up as well as kissing some frogs. The clearer you are on your goals, budget and the length of time required, the better.

Your Business Development Team can help you with stages 1 & 2 as well as continuous follow up to support your efforts. Read more about it here and give us a call to find out more.