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Never Make Another Cold Call
If your diary is looking empty - and not just because of the typical lull around
the Christmas period - it might be tempting to start an out-bound marketing
campaign. You might hire telemarketers, or call existing clients out of the
blue, or spend money on advertising, or do any number of other things.
The problem with these marketing techniques is that they don't suit the
mentality of an information expertise business. Most clients don't buy a speaker,
trainer, consultant or coach from a cold call, a magazine advertisement,
or a direct marketing sales letter.
The trouble is that your expertise is not a commodity. Contrast this with
telemarketers asking you to switch your long-distance telephone provider.
Although many people despise receiving these calls, they obviously do work.
And they work because changing a telephone provider is something that
a consumer might do on the spur of the moment.
However, it's unlikely that they would make the same decision to book you.
That would be like a doctor trying to drum up business by phoning all her patients to find out who's sick
today.
This leads to a low return on investment.
Although you might get the occasional bite, and possibly even a successful
booking, this form of marketing rarely pays big dividends.
Instead, you'll end up wasting most of your time, effort and money. Even
worse, if you're relying on this marketing to generate leads, you might
be neglecting other - more effective - forms of marketing.
But what if you could turn this around?
On the other hand, imagine your business if potential clients called
you, rather than the other way around.
You never have to make another cold call, because every incoming call
is from at least a "warm" prospect.
You don't have to waste time and money on expensive advertising
campaigns.
You don't have to play the numbers game, relying on a 1-2% conversion
rate of viewers to real leads.
Most importantly, you're no longer an unwelcome pest in the client's
life. In fact, because they contact you, they are motivated - or
at the very least, interested.
How do you generate these incoming leads?
The secret is to offer real value, not just advertising, in your
marketing efforts.
For example, if you publish a free e-mail newsletter with high-value
content in every issue:
- You keep in touch with existing clients;
- You develop a relationship with potential clients; and
- You increase the chance of readers forwarding your information to friends and colleagues.
Similarly, if you write a free e-book and give it away, with
permission for readers to also give it away to others, you
again offer valuable information, and increase your potential network.
Use our Fast Forward package
Our Fast Forward Web site package includes many
tools for offering valuable information to your network, including:
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