Marketing Challenges

Despite the competitors in your market you don‘t lack opportunity to enjoy significant growth. Capitalizing on opportunity is your marketing challenge. That is what I’d like to talk about today.

In B2B selling, there are two general marketing approaches for generating additional business. One is asking for volunteers, the other is interviewing prospects and asking the ones that meet your criteria to do business with you. Here’s what I mean by that.

Advertising, trade shows, email campaigns, bill boards, the yellow pages, etc., all ask businesses to volunteer to become customers. In that sense, it’s passive. Each of these methods requires the prospect to initiate the sales process by contacting you.

What’s wrong with that? I can think of two things: if it really worked you wouldn’t have a marketshare problem, and you have no control over how many ideal customers you end up with.

If you are familiar with the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 Rule) you understand that results are not evenly distributed. Certain customers, about 20% of them, are more valuable than others because they provide 80% of your best business. These are your ideal customers. Think about it, the more ideal customers you have the more you make because you are maximizing revenues and minimizing cost of goods sold at the same time.

Now, consider this. If 20% of your existing customersare ideal, what would be the impact on profits, and the new worth of your business, if over the next few years you could grow your ideal customer base to 25% or 30%? You can do that and we can help.

If what you’re doing is working for you and your content, then stop reading. If you’d like more though, then why not read on.

If the 80/20 rule works for you, I’ll bet it works for you competition too. If you are willing to look at the possibility of modifying your marketing approach you can begin gathering up your competition’s ideal customers. Here’s how.

The process begins with defining exactly who your ideal customers are. That description can then be used to generate an ideal prospect list. Use the list to find, contact and prioritize your ideal customers. If it were me, I wouldn’t leave finding my ideal customers to chance. Sending out emails and elaborate sales advertisements will not motivate change. One and one contact does. Exactly how all of that happens can be flexible, but the next step isn’t. You absolutely must build a relationship with your customers and prospects. Why? Because although they may fit your ideal customer profile most will not be ready to buy from you the first time you talk to them. But,

The more contact they have with you,
The more you know about their buying and service needs,
The more you know about why they are dissatisfied with their current supplier,
The more comfortable they are with you,
The more you are in a position to step in when it is time to make the big sale.

The added effort puts you above most of your competition and makes you ideal to the customers you most want to reach.

Good business is built on good business relationships and those are people fueled not advertising fueled. You don’t need to attract all of the competition’s clientele. You only want to pick out the most ideal for your business and entice them to see you as their ideal as well. Give active marketing a try.

Your Prospect and Client Database

Once you have defined the demographics of your ideal prospect, you go about searching for prospects who fit that description. No matter how you gather your prospect information, it becomes essential that you organize the details in the most efficient manner. You need that information at your fingertips.

A properly maintained Marketing and Sales Database is an indispensable tool that you can sort or mine to concentrate of particular marketing segments. The information can also be copied or exported for a variety of marketing purposes such as a direct mail or any targeted marketing project.

Conversely, a poorly maintained Marketing and Sales Database will only lead to confusion. It is important, therefore, that a concise and well-organized Marketing and Sales Database be a high priority for your sales organization.

There are many, many different database and CRM programs available in the market. Perhaps the most important thing for you to know about any of them is that none is perfect! What ever program you select you will find it necessary to make compromises in what you’d like to accomplish or program them to meet your needs.

Here are some suggestions that may help you in selecting a program. There are a variety of web based programs available today and we recommend you take a close look at those. They offer the advantage of being available anywhere you have access to the internet. If you are a sole practitioner that may not be important to you, but if you have more than one person who will want to use the program, having it available through the web is a great option.

Here is another suggestion. Keep it simple! Buy something inexpensive and begin there. In our experience the chances of you hitting the right program the first or second time are slim to none. As you develop sophistication in using your database or CRM program you will find there are other things you would like it to do for you. So we recommend you let your solution grow with your experience.

Another big topic of conversation is: what information should you house in your database? Again, our recommendation is keep it simple and don’t put anything in your database that won’t make you money, especially if you expect your salespeople to input the data. You will find them motivated to collect and enter data that makes them money, but if it doesn’t do that, don’t expect a high level of compliance.

Most companies today still use either Outlook or Excel, or both, for their database. It’s all a matter of what you want to accomplish and how much you want to spend to accomplish it.

Another big issue that both we and our clients have run into to is the quality of the data entry work. You will find that some of your employees are comfortable with data entry and using a database or CRM package. But you will find others that are not, and often these will be your most senior sales reps. You will also find that many of your sales and customer service reps lack essential data entry skills. For instance, they may not be good spellers, aren’t careful about the accuracy of the data they collect, etc. In our case we found it necessary to have our databases routinely reviewed and corrected by skillful data entry specialists.

To learn more about your available database options just go to your browser and type in “Databases”. You will find thousands of sources of information. There are even magazines devoted to the subject.

No matter which system you employee, the Marketing and Sales Database should be organized and formatted to make the process of prospecting easier and more efficient for you. Your goal is achieving a seamless call flow to ensure maximum calling opportunities. Information properly gathered, maintained, and stored is the key to a functional, accurate database. Over time, your database will prove to be a major business asset.

At a minimum you are going to want your database(s) to help in two broad areas:

(1) Prospecting, and

(2) Working with and selling more to your existing clients.

Because this blog is primarily about prospecting I will outline what we think the essential elements of a prospect database are.

After developing your marketing and sales plan, setting marketing goals and sales objectives is the next step. That process includes deciding what you want to know about your prospects and their need for your product and/or service. That necessitates creating a prospecting script to gather the information you require. If you follow that logic, then you will understand the need to have locations in your database to store the information you collect. Along with gathering information you also need to have some means of measuring and prioritizing it.

I can tell you how we solve these issues for ourselves, but I cannot tell you the best way for you to resolve them. On the other, we would be glad to provide whatever advice we can.

At a minimum you are going to want to be able to separate your suspects from your qualified decision makers and the companies that do not meet your qualifying criteria. You will also find that some portion of your prospect list contains bad telephone numbers and/or mailing addresses. I hope you can see that there is a lot of pre-planning that goes into developing any type of successful database.

I’ve not written any of this to discourage you just to help you understand the complexity of developing a database that will aid you in accomplishing your goals. Every question I have raised has a solution. If we can help, we are prepared to do what we can to point you in the right direction.

Your Prospecting List and List Broker

Once you’ve made up your mind to prospect the first step is determining exactly who you want to contact. As we’ve discussed, a good place to begin putting together a prospect list is deciding what your ideal client looks like.

How many employees do they have?

What are their annual sales?

What industry or industries are they in?

Developing your ideal list criteria is a high leverage activity. Minutes here will save hours and hours of non-productive prospecting later.

One you’ve developed your ideal list criteria, you are ready for the next step, selecting a List Broker. There is no “best” List Broker, but in our opinion, good List Brokers specialize. At Ekstrom & Associates we can offer recommendations for companies with proven track records. We think Farm Market Id has the best agricultural lists available. Dunn and Bradstreet are usually recognized as the List Broker with the best financial information. Suffice it to say that we would be glad to provide whatever insights we can in helping you come up with the ideal List Broker for your needs. You are welcome to leave a comment or email me privately with your questions. If I can’t answer them, I will pass them onto someone who can.

Over the years different systems have been developed to group similar types of businesses together. The most popular system is called the Standard Industrial Classification or SIC codes. Don’t be mislead by the word “industrial” in SIC codes. SIC codes contain an entire listing or breakdown of virtually every business type. Everything from wholesalers, to manufacturers, to all types of Federal, State and local government entities, retailers, banks and financial institutions of all types, farmers by crop, contractors by specialty, etc., etc, etc. There are over 12,000 SIC codes and they remind me a bit of the Dewey Decimal System used by libraries. SIC codes move from the general to the specific. It can seem overwhelming, but using these codes can provide greater accuracy in the resulting information. At Ekstrom & Associates we can help you navigate the SIC codes effectively. Again, if you have questions, please email me. I promise to respond in a timely manner.

What information can you expect a List Broker to provide? First, you should expect your List Broker to provide you a count of the number of businesses within the geography you select that match your criteria. This count should be free. Then, depending on their specialty and the criteria you defined, here is a general idea of the information a List Broker should provide:

• Both company and decision maker names
• Physical and mailing addresses
• Telephone numbers
• Employee sizes
• Annual sales
• Email addresses
• Fax numbers
• County information, etc.

The vast majority of List Brokers have a minimum order size. Whoever you work with, you want to know up front what their minimum order size is and how they price their lists. If you check around you will find there is little standard pricing among List Brokers. We know of List Brokers that charge less than 10 cents a name while another List Broker charges over 30 cents for exactly the same information. Watch it carefully. Ask questions and do your due diligence.

Also keep in mind that the more specific your list criteria are the smaller and less expensive your list will be. By changing the criteria even slightly you can open up more possibilities and add more names to your list. As you are deciding how many names you want, consider your future needs as well as your current needs. That way you can get a large enough list to draw from as your projects change.

I’m sure you have heard the old adage about measuring twice and cutting once. Putting your list criteria together is a great example of how true that adage is. This is why it is so important to begin your list search with a clear sense of your project purpose and ideal client.

Once that you have your prospect list, you will next want to consider several other essential steps in formatting your Marketing & Sales Database. I’ll talk about these steps in my next blog.

What Are You Really Looking For?

One of the first things you’ll need to do in order to set up an effective prospecting system is clearly identify your goals. When you look for new prospects, exactly who do you want to find? It’s not enough just to find new prospects; they have to be the right kind of prospect. For instance, does the prospect need to be Sales Ready? Efficient prospecting means that based on your criteria, you can:

• find all the qualified prospects in your territory

• prioritize them, based on any criteria you want to select

• introduce your company and your services

• make a great first impression

If you don’t have clearly defined goals when you begin your prospecting activities you’re likely to attract the wrong types of prospects and never develop the contacts that would have been truly valuable. If it isn’t going to expand your business in a high quality manner, if it isn’t going to maximize your income, it simply isn’t worth your time and effort. As Steven Covey would say: begin with the end in mind. (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Steven R. Covey Free Press; 15th Anniversary edition (November 9, 2004) pg. 95)

As I’ve indicated before, one of the best places to start any prospecting effort is from wherever you are right now. It’s that first step beyond the status quo that will determine where you will find yourself 90 days or 90 months from now.

Begin by making sure you deliver the right marketing message. What is your brand? Why should customers do business with you rather than your competition? Make sure you, and everyone else in your company, understand the answers to the “W” and “H” questions your English teacher was so fond of. Can you accurately identify: who you want to attract, what you expect them to buy, why you are the most qualified business to provide this service, the when and where goals of timing, and lastly, how you will present this information to a Highly Qualified Prospect. Remember, part of what creates a Highly Qualified Prospect is the understanding that the client and the business are well-suited to each other and ready to work productively together.

Next, look at your existing clients once again. We have discussed the prospecting efforts you can consider within your known pool of clients that will help generate additional sales revenues and strengthen those relationships. Let’s investigate this even further. What have you learned about your clients? What kind of information do you keep on file about them? If you haven’t done so already, take the time to at least create a complete spreadsheet of your current customer information. You are looking for trends and patterns, both good and bad.

Here are some of the things to consider:

Industry

Number of employees

Type of business

Geographic scope of business

Revenue levels

Growth trends

Purchase patterns

Previous sales encounters

Don’t forget to include “Business Friendly” traits such as:

Easy to work with

Pays on time

Amount of credit approved for

Understand and values your services

These may not seem quite so pertinent at the moment, but they make a big difference down the road by creating a productive and satisfying work atmosphere. During this exercise you are likely to discover (or automatically thought of) that one certain customer who, no matter how much you nurture the relationship, makes everyone they deal with in your company miserable. Retaining or attracting clients who do not value you rarely leads to a satisfying end; monetarily or personally. If you can identify the factors surrounding these unfortunate business relationships they are easier to avoid when you are seriously looking for prospects who are true Wanters.

Now, set your parameters. If you could wave a magic wand and produce the ideal client for your business, what would they be like? Take what you know about your business, your goals, and your current client base. Then, don’t be afraid to make concrete statements. You want to clearly understand both angles. Identify what both the client and business will bring to the table. What should ultimately result from your relationship?

Of course, ideal customers do not magically appear. But, when you have defined your parameters, and gauged your prospecting accordingly, you’re on the right track. If you can define the demographics and traits of your “best clients” you can use that information as the criteria for putting your prospect list together. The results of your prospecting efforts are going to be much closer to Prince Charming relationships rather than blind dates worthy of the horror hall of fame.

About Ekstrom & Associates

Welcome!

Our wish for your business is the same as yours. We want your business to prosper, to become increasingly more profitable, and to be the dominate business of its type in your sales territory.

Ekstrom & Associates provides professional, business-to-business prospecting. We are the prospecting people and prospecting always works! We are expert at assembling focused prospecting lists. We know…

• How to contact
• How to get past the attack receptionist to the right decision maker
• How to make a great first impression
• How to get answers to the questions you want asked

With our service, you will know which prospects are active in the market, what their purchase plans are and what their timing is. We have been helping businesses grow their profits for almost 20 years and we know how and what to do to help you realize your growth objectives. If you really want to grow your business, why not talk with us about it.

To have that discussion all you need to do is click here right now and complete the form you will find there.