| Before you ever get on the telephone,
send a marketing piece or set up
an appointment with a potential customer, you must first identify
whom
that customer might be. To do that, you will need to create
an "ideal
customer profile"—a profile of who would be the
best possible prospect
for you and whatever you are selling.
Be very specific. You are creating the model to which you
will match
all prospects. The more specific you are, the easier it will
be to find
those prospects. Look at the entire demographics, location
or target
region, revenues, number of employees, specific industries
and,
especially, the title of the decision-maker. If you are in
the consumer
market, look at age, income level, marital status, interests...
whatever might be relevant.
Once you have an ideal customer profile (and, by the way—you
could have
several different ideal customer profiles with a different
approach for
each), go to the library and tell the librarian exactly what
you are
looking for. She can probably tell you exactly where to find
it—for
free. At the library they have association directories, trade
journals,
business directories…
You can also join associations in related industries where
you might
find prospects. This will provide you with valuable networking
opportunities, along with a membership directory. If you do
not want to
join an association, contact them anyway; sometimes associations
sell
their membership directories. You can do the same thing with
trade
publications in related industries. They sometimes sell their
subscriber lists.
Your local chamber of commerce is also a good place to look
for leads.
And one of my favorite resources is the telephone book! Looking
for
prospects in a particular industry in your neighborhood? Open
up the
business yellow pages. There are online resources as well,
such as
http://www.hoovers.com, although there is generally a fee
associated
with these.
The last resource for finding leads is to rent a list. Find
a broker
with whom you are comfortable—someone who listens to
your needs, is
knowledgeable and helpful. And be specific about your parameters.
The
list broker acts as a liaison between you and the list owner.
The
broker works for you. You can also rent lists from list owners
(i.e.,
companies or organizations that own their own in-house lists)
or from
list managers who are hired by list owners to manage and market
their
lists. Lists are generally rented on a one-time basis. If
you rent a
list and turn a prospect into a client, that client then becomes
part
of your in-house list or database (which, later, you can rent
out!).
Because I almost never rent lists, I have asked Amanda Puppo,
CEO of
MarketReach, Inc., a New Jersey–based company focusing
on appointment
setting, list qualification and surveys, to give us her advice
on
renting a list. Amanda says:
1. Shop competitively on price, but remember that you want
a source
that will deliver what's promised and a broker that will be
resourceful
in helping you target your list.
2. You should (affordably) get the following "selects"
on each
"record": owner/president, address, phone number,
fax number and often
the staff size and sales volume, if you are going after businesses.
If
you are targeting individuals, you can get information like
homeowner/renter status, marital status and income.
3. A good list company updates their lists at least once
a quarter. The
best ones do so once a month. People move. Companies go out
of
business. Situations change. A good list allows you to spend
your time
productively on qualified information. A company that only
updates
records once a year (especially in the personal/individual
market) may
not have the most recent information, which will limit your
success.
4. The good news is that a targeted list of approximately
500 companies
should cost no more than a few hundred dollars. The more records
you
purchase, the less the cost of each individual record. Each
record will
cost you between 15 and 90 cents, depending on how comprehensive
the
information.
You can reach Amanda by email at Amanda@marketreach.biz
or by phone at (609) 448-6364.
Happy hunting!
Editors Note: Wendy Weiss is known as The Queen of Cold Calling.
She can be reached by email wendy@wendyweiss.com.
www.wendyweiss.com
February
2004
|
