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PART
4
Filling
your marketing pipeline
Imagine
for a moment that you were launching your first marketing newsletter,
and it was time to compile your mailing list. How many people who already
know you could you put on that list? To make your newsletter effective,
that number should be in the hundreds. This is one test that will quickly
tell you if your pipeline is sufficiently full.
Here are some others: If you sat down to call every lead you currently
have, would you be through before the end of the day? Have you already
called every prospect in your book within the last 30 days? Are you
not calling the prospects you have because you already know they don't
need you or can't afford you?
Or, if you're in a business where it's unethical or inappropriate to
call on prospective clients, how much is your phone ringing?
If it's clear to you after answering these questions that it's time
to concentrate some effort on pipeline-filling, here are some guidelines
to help you.
There are two broad categories of people and organizations you want
in your marketing pipeline: those who may someday be clients, and those
who can refer clients. To find people who are likely to become clients,
you will want to reach out to a target market that is a good match for
your service.
To find people who may never be clients, but could refer you business,
you will be reaching out to those who serve or interact with that target
market, sometimes called "referral partners."
When a person or group doesn't fall into one of these two categories,
they probably don't belong in your pipeline. While it's true that people
you meet in the course of doing business may become personal friends
or helpful resources, you don't want to use up your precious marketing
time by following up with folks who are neither likely to be clients
nor refer them.
Whenever you meet someone outside your target market who also doesn't
seem to have much contact with it, think twice before putting them in
your pipeline. Always concentrate your efforts on the most likely prospects
and referral partners. The way to win the marketing game is not to collect
the most names and phone numbers, but to make the most sales.
Filling your marketing pipeline with prospects, contacts, leads, and
referrals will be an ongoing process for as long as you are in business.
This means that whatever marketing strategies you decide on for filling
the pipeline, you should be willing to keep them up over an extended
period of time.
In marketing, more of the same works much better than a little of everything.
Ideally, your pipeline-filling activities should become automatic and
habitual. Even when you are busy, you should always allow time for making
new contacts, networking, speaking, or whatever your chosen strategies
are.
It's
natural to wonder whether the strategies you have selected are really
the best choices. You may find yourself wanting to switch around "just
to see" if something else might work better. Don't do this without cause.
The only way to know how well a particular strategy is working to fill
your pipeline is to track your results over time.
There are three statistics that will be very helpful to you in evaluating
the strategies you are using:
* How many prospects did each strategy generate?
* How many sales resulted from those prospects?
* What was the dollar value of each of those sales?
If you carefully note the exact source of each prospect you interact
with, you can easily track these statistics. If you keep tracking your
results for three months, six months, or a year, you will have a much
more accurate picture of which strategies work the best. Then if you
decide to make a change, choose only one new strategy at a time to try
out. And keep tracking.
Wishing you a full pipeline always,
C.J. Hayden, MCC
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Copyright
2001, C.J. Hayden. All rights reserved. Articles
from the Get Clients Now! E-Letter may be distributed or
reproduced as long as the copyright and URL are included.
Please forward a copy to your friends and associates!
To subscribe to the E-Letter, read back issues, or buy the
Get Clients Now! book, visit http://www.getclientsnow.com
or mailto:coachcj@getclientsnow.com
.
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