Converting Business Leads Into Clients
Posted: Monday, March 02, 2009
by Maurice Aguirre
JITL
A major part of keeping profitable and growing your business is maintaining a focus on business development. Even when you've got the right mix of work, clients and employees it's essential to keep an eye on what new opportunities are surfacing. To do this, without taking your focus off existing clients (although this can apply to them too), it can help to set up a simple process that will assist you to identify these opportunities, research them and keep a record of the information you've found. This process helps you manage new business opportunities in a cost-and time-effective manner.
Generate leads
Identify the types of companies you want to work with and a realistic number of companies you want to target over a given period of time. For example: an accountant with experience in the marketing industry might decide to target five opportunities per month focussed on marketing consultancies.
Finding potential clients and identifying new opportunities can be done through networking events, tenders listed in newspapers and industry magazines, headlines in newspapers about new projects and industry seminars. Keeping an eye on your industry and being aware of new business opportunities is essential. Events and notes should be tracked in Outlook and Excel.
Keep track of the companies you approach in a database in Excel or Access. Tracking should cover company name, address, numbers, contact, when contacted, how contacted, what was discussed, potential works, actions, when next to contact and general notes. Actions and follow up tasks should be put into Outlook as well as the company contact details.
2.
Qualify the leads
Once you have a list of identified companies you must review them to ensure they are realistic opportunities. Some areas to think about include:
Do you have the right contacts to get in the door?
Do you have the right services to offer them?
What information is on their Web site that can help you to understand them better?
Do you have any conflicts of interest in pursuing this company?
Does this client have growth potential or would it be a quick job?
Who makes the decisions? How can you reach them?
3.
Raise your business profile
By raising your company profile (no matter how small you are) you'll be able to generate new business with less effort. You should find prospects come to you due to the company profile you have established as being a leader in your industry. Some examples of activities you can undertake to raise your company profile include: banners on building sites, advertisements in industry magazines, sponsoring a seminar, and generating media coverage. Depending on the size, location and target market of your business this will dictate what medium and areas to cover, eg. local, regional, city or national.
4.
Show them what you're made of
Where possible start to reach your qualified opportunities by showcasing the wares of your company. For example send them a brochure or a copy of any newsletters you produce and invite them to join; examples of your work; or relevant and interesting media articles. NB: Before you enact any direct marketing activities you should ensure you are not in breach of privacy laws.
Develop standard template letters in Word to send to potential clients to accompany your credentials/brochures. Ensure you link to your database (Excel, Access or Outlook) when merging the letters and envelopes to ensure you don't have to re-enter details.
There is no specified time for this courting process if there is no immediately identified opportunity - so be patient. You could be courting a company for six months before anything comes to fruition.
5.
Set a meeting time
So you're in the door now you need to sell yourself. Aim to tailor the meeting to suit the way you operate as a business, ie. either as a PowerPoint presentation or an informal discussion. You may have no choice for the style of the meeting, but make sure you are comfortable and well prepared for whatever happens. During this meeting, make sure you demonstrate the knowledge you have developed in the previous stages.
6.
Follow up
Whilst you've presented your capabilities and what you can do for the company you shouldn't stop there follow up is essential. This is a major part of the process and should be taken just as seriously as the other steps. It's likely discussions during the meeting would have brought up topics that can be further elaborated or you might find an interesting/relevant article or statistics you could send them to re-open discussion. Even if you don't have anything to send, it's worth thanking them for the opportunity. This can be done by phone or e-mail, depending on the circumstances and what you feel is appropriate. Good luck!
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