Tool Box
Issue No. 13 - October/November 2003
Using the Post to Develop Sales Leads for your Business
Low Cost Promotional Ideas to Grow Your Business
by Craig Stubing
A major challenge for most SMEs, especially those in the B2B market, is that of developing and maintaining a flow of prospective customers that is strong enough to deliver the sales activity levels the business needs.
If you recognise this challenge, read on.
A low—stress process you can use to connect with additional sales prospects involves your telephone and the postal service. This process has some significant advantages because it:
- lets you be proactive—you retain control of the process. You can turn it on or off as your requirements dictate
- doesn’t require a huge investment to get it started and is comparatively inexpensive to maintain
- enables you to build a mailing list for future marketing initiatives.
The steps in the process are:
Step 1 – Select a group of target businesses that you wish to approach. Perhaps you can select companies in industry categories that interest you by studying a business directory such as Yellow Pages or Australia on Disc. When selecting industry categories, base your selection on categories where you have enjoyed success previously or areas that you suspect may lead to success. Consider targeting your efforts geographically to save time and make it easier to provide after—sales service.
Step 2 – Make some ‘gleaning’ phone calls – this involves phoning the target businesses, introducing yourself and Your Business Pty Ltd very briefly and asking for the name and title of the ‘right’ person to whom you can “post some introductory information on us and the services we provide”.
It doesn’t matter who answers the phone; your objective is to obtain the name and title of the right person at Their Business Pty Ltd.
In most cases the right person is the business owner (or manager) because you want your entry point to Their Business to be as close to the top as possible. The reason for this is that it is much more product...
