Building Your Business Leads Bank, Part 3

Referrals, business networking leads, social networking leads and purchased leads have their strengths and drawbacks.  Now, I want to introduce you to leads that may not, at first, appear to be leads.  They are free, readily available, and don’t take much time initially, but require ingenuity and initiative on your part to gather and utilize.  First, you will need to have a good idea of your target market and the types of businesspeople you want to have as referral partners or mentors.  Once you have them clearly in mind, follow this three-step process.

Accumulate your leads (don’t spend much time on this, but be thorough)

1. Each day, make a quick pass through your junk mail.  Reject national companies or mail from those so unrelated to your business that you would never approach them.  Keep those that are “iffy.”
2. Keep all circulars and business publications in your mail or that you pick up.
3. When out and about, in one or two minutes assess any free brochures or circulars wherever you happen to be.  Take those that “might” be worthwhile.  These will be at the library, grocery store, doctor’s office waiting rooms, municipal buildings, community center, etc.  Be creative.
4. Local event announcements; keep all, unless definitely something you would not attend.
5. Stop by target businesses or businesses which you think your target clients would use.  Pick up business cards/brochures.

Assess your leads (keep it lighthearted, but focused)

1. Find a place near your TV chair to stack your “finds.”
2. Assemble a pen, scissors, highlighter, post-it notes, stapler and paper clips.
3. At least once a week, while you are watching TV, use the time during commercials to whittle down the leads.
4. Take a little bit longer to assess those leads that were “iffy.”  Ask yourself if you will really follow-up on them.  If you aren’t sure, toss them.  Don’t keep a stack of “maybe’s.”
5. Go through each circular and brochure and circle with your pen, cut out, tag or highlight businesses or people that you intend to contact.  Paperclip or staple contacts from the same source together so you can reference it when making contact.
6. Expect to get, at most, ten good leads a week using this method.  Exception: a business list or brochure with a list of people or businesses that you can target.

Act on your leads (be persistent and have fun with it)

1. Do a little research, e.g. LinkedIn, manta.com, listed business website.  This will help you toss, or keep, some of the “iffy” leads.
2. Contact the companies based on cost and time constraints, but try more than one method until you see what works best for you, e.g. letter, email, walk in.
3. Be consistent in the action(s) you take and give your chosen method(s) time to bring results.
4. Make no more than three attempts to establish contact, then toss them.

Of all the types of leads, these are least likely to lead to an immediate appointment but:

• Because it is unexpected, the person may not be on  guard and may appreciate your initiative.
• You will become more familiar with your chosen territory and can use that information when talking to other prospects.
• You can use the community information to build more complicated referral relationships, e.g. lawyer, accountant, financial advisor, reference librarian, community center director.

You will need to use a unique approach and have a specific objective, ideally a non-sale idea.  Give out a small item as a way to introduce yourself, or be direct and say you are looking for a referral partner.  Sometimes a market survey approach is the least threatening and can gather valuable information.  It is a good way to “test the waters.”  Results can take a long time, but will entrench you in the community.

I am interested to hear whether other entrepreneurs think this is a viable lead source, or a waste of time.  I’d also like to know if this three-part article has been informative.  Also, if you have used another process for acquiring leads, let me know.

Pablo Neruda, the Odiest Odeler

In 2004, I was unemployed for a few months.  Along with applying for jobs, I decided to keep busy rather than mope and become depressed.  I had seen a little of Pablo Neruda’s poetry in 2003, and decided to look further.  I read several of his books and decided that his odes were beautiful and unique.

An ode is a type of lyrical verse, an elaborately structured poem praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally.  See Wikipedia for more information.

In my opinion, Pablo Neruda perfected the art of the ode.  Neruda, originally Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto (1904-1973), was a poet and diplomat of Chile.  He also won the 1971 Nobel Prize for Literature. Neruda was a precocious and prolific poet.  His wrote his first poems when he was just ten years old.

Neruda’s description of a variety of commonplace objects through odes, is a triumph of this art form.  While Neruda also wrote surrealist poems, historical epics, overtly political manifestos, a prose autobiography, and erotically-charged love poems, I think that his odes are the best because they are about simple objects used by everyone.   In a series of short phrases, he constructed odes to such unlikely objects as socks, fried potatoes, ironing, a lemon, olive oil and a piano.  He wrote several books containing only odes, i.e., Odes to Common Things and Odes to Opposites.   His passion for the object of an ode made you wish he was speaking about you.

Inspiring, and sometimes surprising, Neruda’s odes stretch the limits of our conceptions of the subjects.  Advancing from one ode to the next, it seems that there just can’t be any more adjectives left to describe an object, yet he did it again and again.

Neruda’s Ode to Salt will give you a new appreciation for this simple flavor enhancer.

Ode to Salt

This salt

in the salt cellar

I once saw in the salt mines.

I know

you won’t

believe me

but

it sings

salt sings, the skin

of the salt mines

sings

with a mouth smothered

by the earth.

I shivered in those

solitudes

when I heard

the voice

of

the salt

in the desert.

Near Antofagasta

the nitrous

pampa

resounds:

a

broken

voice,

a mournful

song.

In its caves

the salt moans, mountain

of buried light,

translucent cathedral,

crystal of the sea, oblivion

of the waves.

And then on every table

in the world,

salt,

we see your piquant

powder

sprinkling

vital light

upon

our food.

Preserver

of the ancient

holds of ships,

discoverer

on

the high seas,

earliest

sailor

of the unknown, shifting

byways of the foam.

Dust of the sea, in you

the tongue receives a kiss

from ocean night:

taste imparts to every seasoned

dish your ocean essence;

the smallest,

miniature

wave from the saltcellar

reveals to us

more than domestic whiteness;

in it, we taste finitude.

Pablo Neruda

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ode-to-salt/

Building Your Business Leads Bank, Part 2

In Part 1, I related my first formal networking experience.  Now, I’ll tell you the results.  Not surprisingly, now that I  have more experience, only one woman met me later.  She was one of the few I spent some time with.  As far as the emails, I only got two or three lukewarm responses and a few that were quite dismissive.  I have learned a lot since then about how to act at a networking event, as well as proper follow-up.

In this part, I will summarize four lead sources as a preliminary to Part 3, in which I will tell you about a lead source for which I created a process.  That lead source is free, readily available, and doesn’t take much time initially, but requires ingenuity and initiative on your part to gather and utilize.

Referrals from family, friends and satisfied customers/clients are the Mt. Everest of leads to which all salespeople aspire because they have the lowest cost and highest likelihood of success.  Referrals are hard to get when first starting out when you have no customer base.  Also, getting a referral depends on the strength of the referrer/referee connection and how well the referrer can explain why the referee should meet with you.  You don’t have any control over factor one, and may not have control over factor two, unless you can teach your family, friends and clients how to effectively refer you (there are several books and classes on just this point).  This takes effort, know-how and their willingness to learn.  A new entrepreneur is just learning how to present him or herself, much less teach others how to do so.

Business networking has two aspects; in-person and through social media.  It has moderate success in producing leads, and require consistent effort.  Both parties are eager to have an opportunity to make a presentation.  At a networking event, you can control how you present yourself, but must quickly and skillfully make a good impression.  This takes practice.  Also, you can only make a few quality connections at each networking event.  Through social media, you have limited exposure to prospects, unless you meet one-on-one.  The likelihood of direct sales with business networking contacts is low, but you will build a network of referral partners and mentors.  LinkedIn, Facebook and local organizations with periodic meetings fall into this category.  There are costs in time and money involved and it takes typically 6 to 12 months of sustained contact to get referrals.  Just as you want to only refer people you know, like and trust, the other party has the same concerns.

Social networking organizations and events are great ways to meet people, but you don’t want to appear to be there solely in order to make a sale.  Choose only those social networking groups which you would join even if you weren’t in sales.  It will take a lot of time for the relationship to build before you ask for an appointment or referrals. It’s not surprising to take from 12 to 18 months to build useful contacts. because contact is sporadic.  However, you may find a helpful mentor through social networking.  If you do make a viable sales contact it can be huge, because once one person wants what you have to sell, the rest are more likely to follow.  Facebook and community-based groups fall into this category.

Purchased leads cost money that may be scarce when starting your business.  You can tailor the lead list to the appropriate demographics and purchase only as much as you can afford.  They are great for making cold calls, or for sending a mass mailing followed by a phone call.   It is imperative that you have a great opening phrase to grab the prospect’s attention; otherwise  the letter will go in the garbage or the next sound you hear will be silence.  The return on investment is typically 2-4%, but purchased leads will get you started prospecting when you need the practice, don’t have much business, or want to prospect in a new territory.

If you have any other lead sources, or comments about any of these sources, please comment.

Building Your Business Leads Bank, Part 1

There are two essential pieces to having a thriving business; being able to effectively promote your product or service, and having someone who will listen to your presentation.  You may have a great product and the skill to make a sale, but without someone in front of you, you can’t close the deal.  You need a good lead, one that results in an opportunity to present your product or service to a prospect.  Business leads come from many sources and vary in the investment of time and cost, and the likelihood of a return on investment.  There are plenty of books and classes that teach about lead sources, but I will be sharing tips about what I have learned “in the trenches.”

Before I tell you what I have learned about lead sources, I want to relate my first formal networking experience:

A newly-hired sales representative who had just moved back to Pittsburgh from Tennessee, I didn’t have many contacts.  My manager told me to find and go to networking events to meet prospects.  He made it sound simple.  To him, a room full of people was a roomful of prospective clients.

I researched Pittsburgh for networking opportunities using www.PittsburghBusinessCalendar.org, signed up electronically, mapped out the location and put it on my calendar.  On the day of the event, I told my manager where I was going and he sent me off with a thumbs-up gesture and a smile, encouraging me to go out and conquer.  Having been informed beforehand that there would be thirty-five women at the event, I made sure to take a large stack of business cards.

Arriving at an upscale restaurant, I was pleased to see a large room in sufficiently muted tones to promote conversation.  Being one of the first to arrive, I cased the room for the best seating location.  Pulling out my business cards, I laid a small stack next to my beautifully-laid place setting at a table for eight.  When one or two women came up to the table, I introduced myself in a few words and offered my business card, confidently expecting one in return.   I became impatient at the slowness of this process, and set out on the hunt.  Interrupting people at the next table, I quickly gave my name and thrust my card into their hands, demanding their business cards.  Pleading a wish not to interrupt further, I moved on to further victims.

In this way, over the course of a ten-minute introductory period planned for attendees to talk and get to know each other, I acquired over twenty business cards.  Once seated, I continued my kamikaze tactics and extracted business cards from the rest of my tablemates.  Each person was given a 30-45 seconds to give what I later learned was an elevator speech.  Hardly caring what I ate, I listened attentively and marked down those that I particularly wanted to contact after the event, all the while planning what I would say for my first elevator speech.  I cannot recall the exact words, but I am sure it was a self-serving speech that boasted of what I could provide for them and offering to meet, designed to make each woman rush up to me after lunch to make an appointment.

Returning to work, I reviewed my treasures.  Despite my best efforts, I had only obtained twenty-eight business cards and a few business brochures, sometimes duplicates.  As I had been taught, I proceeded to follow-up with everyone.  After creating a tempting email letter in which I explained that I was looking for referral partners and wanted to meet and learn more about their business, I sent it out in a mass email.  Then I sat back and waited for responses so that I could “reel” in new clients.

How many women came up to me after the lunch and wanted to make an appointment with me?  How many emails responses did I get?  Those of you in sales, probably know the answer.  In Part 2, I’ll tell you what happened, or didn’t.