It seems like sales experts always stress the importance of engaging prospects and delivering value to them first. Even though I read this about once a quarter I have yet to see a great list of ways to engage different types of prospects so I'm going to create one here for those 3 lucky people who read my blog.
Not all of these ideas will be right for you but they will get you thinking and hopefully help you connect with a few more prospects that weren't returning your phone calls. This list is far from complete so please comment with any additional ideas.
- Mail a cell phone to the executive you are trying to reach with a professional note saying that you have been trying to reach him but his phone must not be working so please use this one and give me 3 minutes of your time.
- Fax your resume or 1 page pitching piece over to your prospect. Not many people receive faxes these days so unless you target very large corporations your fax will almost certainly be noticed.
- Email anyone directly. Having a hard time connecting over the phone? Don't have someone's email address? Search the company domain name on Google by typing in @richardcwilson.com into the google search field. If you scroll down through the results for whatever company's website domain you are researching you will eventually find some examples of email addresses within their company. Note how they are formated and once you see a consistent pattern try guessing the email address of your top prospect or two at the firm and email them directly.
- Join them on a cab or limo ride next time they are heading to the airport. (Pursuit of Happyness style)
- Linkedin.com. - Join it and use it to connect with local business professionals who can help your business grow. Invite people from my contact list of almost 700 professionals. http://www.linkedin.com/in/richardcwilson
- Talk to the secretary of your prospect and ask for hints on when you should call back or how to best get in touch with the prospect
- Write 4 white papers that are valuable and useful to the prospect and send him one every month and then call and ask for a 10 minute meeting.
- Send 3 qualified leads to your top prospect first and then ask for 10 minutes of his time (a Jeffrey Gitomer gem. See Gitomer.com for 100's of more gems.)
- Mail your top prospect a trash can with your 1 page pitch page glued to the outside of it and have another one inside of it. Tell them that you know they were going through away your marketing materials anyways but you just wanted to save him some time, BUT if you ever are looking for our type of services please give me a ring and we can talk about how our firm can solve your pains (Another Gitomer.com gem.)
- Send your prospect the best 3 business books you have ever read
- Take two copies of your 1 page pitching piece or resume and roll them up. Now stuff each into two separate brand new expensive leather shoes. Mail these to your top two prospects that could help you break your sales record or give you your dream job.
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2 comments:
LOL I remember you talking about writing your resume on a giant shoe, then sending that in saying "now that I got my foot in the door..."
That's right. I forgot, I actually know someone who received a resume that was rolled up and stuff into a fancy leather dress shoe. Thanks for that reminder haha!
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