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Networking Strategies / Joint
Ventures
Ok, I Found My Prospect Base Online- Now What?
By Nancy Roebke
Ok. You found 'em. You know what lists and newsgroups your prospect base
frequents. You found trade associations on the web. You have a great new
sig and you are reading everyone else's as well. You've gotten yourself 5
autoresponders. And you joined an on-line lead generation group. Now, how
do you make contact with them in a professional, courteous way so they will
respond to you AND perhaps do business with you?? We'll take each avenue
of contact separately and discuss contact methods for each arena.
1. Lists and newsgroups. These can be handled in pretty much the same way.
The philosophy of giving before receiving works best here. Read the interactions
going on and contribute positive, helpful information in the open forum.
You will be AMAZED at the people who contact you saying "I saw your post
on the microbiz list. How can your services help my firm?" And your post
wasn't even an advertisement ABOUT your firm. It was just help for someone.
Now, a quick editorial about lists and newsgroups. They are not all the same.
It is as important that you give as that you receive in return. But you MUST
receive or your list/newsgroup participation is a drain of your resources,
not a good source of new business for you. You should be able to tell which
is which within a brief period of time of participation on the forum. Sometimes
it is best to cut the losses and look for
other forums.
2. Trade associations appeal to a lot of people because of the volume of
businesses associated with the trade associations. Remember that EVERYBODY
feels that way about associations. EVERYBODY wants this BIG account. So what
do you do? Remember the WIIFM philosophy. What's in it for me? Your approach
to associations needs to revolve around what the Association will get as
a benefit from their relationship with you.
A helpful hint- once you have one association as a client, similar associations
are more likely to give you an audience. And one of the things associations
like MOST for their membership is information. If you have written an article
or published a booklet or book, these are a great start when working with
associations.
3. When it comes to YOUR sig, the addition of an autoresponder address will
SERIOUSLY increase the request for information about your firm. It is a way
for people to obtain information about your firm without you having to do
anything and without these prospects feeling any pressure to make a buying
decision. See #5 for how to respond to autoresponder inquiries.
4. When responding to other people's signatures, ask about their firms. Ask
how you would know that someone YOU were communicating with would be a good
client for them. Check out their websites and offer suggestions. Request
reciprocal links and tell them WHY you and they would be a good link match.
Ask for advice. Give advice. All these begin the relationship-
building process.
5. AUTORESPONDERS AUTORESPONDERS AUTORESPONDERS!! I can't say enough about
them!! I have 25 of them running right now and have had almost 200 requests
in the last 24 hours. What happens now? These people have requested information.
I will contact them to see if the information has answered all of their
questions. Others will be contacted with updates on the information THEY
requested. Some will be asked questions about how helpful the autoresponder
information was. Others will be offered a paying position with the company.
ALL of them will be contacted with a THANK YOU for their request.
6. On-Line lead generation groups designed JUST for lead generation are few
and far between. Look for one that has a lot of experienced personnel handling
the group. Be VERY specific in the group about your needs. And once you get
a referral, follow up on it IMMEDIATELY. Online resources are so plentiful,
leads vanish very quickly. Be sure to use the name of the person who referred
you and give enough information in your introduction so that people you are
contacting feel comfortable with you. Ask the person referring you to send
an introduction in advance of your contact.
Lesson 3
Copyright c 1998 Nancy Roebke
Nancy Roebke
Execdirector@Profnet.Org
http://www.profnet.org
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