follow-up strategy Archives - BCC Business Consulting

Tag: follow-up strategy

How to Sell to New Prospects

Posted on July 5, 2023July 13, 2023 by Amanda Bedell

We’ve all experienced the excitement and anticipation of attending a crucial industry networking event. With limited time to spare, we understand the importance of maximizing every opportunity to secure valuable customers. From meticulously selecting the perfect attire to ensuring your business cards are flawless, you leave no stone unturned. However, amidst all the preparations, the question lingers: How can you truly excel at making an outstanding first impression?

Let’s dig into this. Before you put together your approach, you’ve got to be crystal clear on who you want to work with. If you go in with a “spray and pray” approach, you won’t stand out to anyone. First, take a look at your notes and the research you’ve done about your prospects, your target audience. Then, decide which ideal prospect will be the easiest to approach for this event.

Position Your Business

A great way to start, and separate yourself form your competition is to make the first move by creating free educational content to teach your ideal avatar something that will get them out a pain point they have. Next, build trust by answering their questions and ask them to reach out to you with other questions on your contact form. This genuine relationship building is essential for your future success.

You can also create a free e-book or online course to offer to your leads. This gives them the information they need to solve a pain point from you, the expert. When you create this freebie and market your free giveaway, it should be easy and automated. But, most importantly, your freebie needs to get the person receiving this valuable information on your email list.

Compile Your Prospect List

Start with your lead generation of email leads you’ve made using your freebie giveaway. You’ll want to compile a list of companies you’ve been considering if you’re a B2B business. You never know who will need your service, so send out an offer to everyone on your list that has been identified as your avatar. Don’t overlook obvious choices, whether they are big or small. Even small companies could be big fish in the future.

Considerations on Who to Contact First

Once your list is narrowed down, you need to decide which is the best fish to start with. You need to consider a couple of things:

Which have the most purchasing resources to spend?
Does their company vision complement yours?
What are their employee incentive programs related to your products/services?
What’s the company’s real need for you?
Will the partnership lead you to new clients and prospects?

Steps to Selling to Your Prospective Clients

Now you should have a target in mind to start with. Then, it’s time to plan your approach and execute that plan. Here’s the step-by-step plan to help you make a good first impression:

Build and analyze your database. Divide your leads into three different categories: hot leads, great fits, and secondary leads.
Send introductory mailings to your target to introduce yourself, your company, services, products, and your vision. They need to be short, clean, and concise.
Follow up with your first phone call 2-3 days after they would have received the mailings. During the call, find out to whom you need to be speaking in the future and try to set up a meeting with the right person.
Follow up your phone call with another mailing that thanks them for speaking with you and offering more details about your products/services. Use this letter and the opportunity to set up a meeting to do a presentation.
Follow up the letter with another phone call a couple of days after they would have received the letter. This phone call will help you further develop your relationship with the prospective client. You should also be able to set up a presentation meeting with them.
Call again a week later if they haven’t agreed to a meeting or presentation. Ask if they received your creative letter and if they have a minute when you can stop by and introduce yourself in person.

Now, don’t be upset if you don’t seal the deal right away. Some people simply take a little longer to woo. This can all be a little intimidating at first, but you can’t go wrong when you know you are offering a quality product/service.

Once you’ve gone through this process and made first contact (and hopefully a good first impression), it’s time to put your best face forward, which means sending the right salesperson to seal the deal.

About Last Week’s Rookie Mistake

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Amanda Bedell

Last week, I inadvertently sent my weekly email to myself instead of addressing it to the people on my email list. It was an oversight from my adaptation to a new CRM, and I deeply regretted it as it caused confusion and seemed unprofessional.

The funny thing, and I think you’ll relate to this, is my assistant texted me the minute she saw it and promptly said, “Why don’t you have me handle these emails?!” It’s a valid point, and I could come up with countless excuses, but the truth is, I’m deeply committed to personally writing you each week, ensuring timely and relevant topics are addressed. However, there’s often little time between my desire to communicate with you and when I finish writing.

As entrepreneurs, we tend to hold onto tasks, many of which, in retrospect, seem insignificant after a major mistake occurs.

This reminds me of a lesson I learned from my bakery business when I hired my first general manager. I used to come in around 9:30-10am, wash my hands, grab a cup of coffee from behind the counter, put on my gloves and then proceed to rearrange the display, adding pastries here and there to make it look fuller. This went on for months until the GM pulled me aside and asked, “Why do you rearrange the display when you come in?”… I replied, “To make it look more full.”… She responded, “After you’re done, it doesn’t look that different, and when you do that it undermines the work of the staff.”

That conversation was truly eye-opening for me. I realized that I didn’t want my actions to undermine the efforts of my staff, even though I disagreed with how the display looked after they handled it. From that enlightening discussion, we delved into my vision and the importance of a display that appeared abundantly stocked (as a person with Celiac, I understand the disappointment of seeing limited options). We explored the psychology of customers and their purchasing behavior. Together, we established parameters and designed a daily display plan, allowing me to let go of micromanaging.

So, while I won’t stop personally writing about timely topics that I believe will alleviate the chaos of running a business and bring you closer to profit and tranquility, I have decided to give my assistant the time to execute the email with her remarkable attention to detail and organizational skills.

Now, let’s turn this on you and your business. What tasks are you doing that someone else could do better? If you don’t know, start with my Time Audit sheet >>

Let me know what you discover!

Remember,

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper because he had “no good ideas”.

Abraham Lincoln lost eighteen elections before finally becoming president.

Thomas Edison endured 10,000 unsuccessful attempts before perfecting the incandescent light bulb.

And, there isn’t a record of a successful company history that was ever built by a single person.

Until our next communication, remember I’m only an email, text, DM, or phone call away.

Dedicated to your success!
Amanda

P.S.: I’m beta testing a new product, Flash Coaching, a unique, streamlined system designed with a busy schedule in mind. It’s a blend of self-paced learning (powered by a series of targeted videos you watch at your leisure) and unlimited high-impact 15-minute coaching sessions. This is a perfect way to dip your toe into what it would be like to have a business coach on your side. Intrigued? Let’s connect >>

McMinnville Business Mastery Lunch & Learn

Posted on January 4, 2022January 30, 2022 by Amanda Bedell

EVER FELT LIKE MARKETING, STAFFING, AND GROWING YOUR BUSINESS WAS LIKE NAVIGATING A DIFFICULT MAZE?

What if you could follow a proven and time-tested roadmap that provides you the EXACT steps to more cash flow and freedom?

At my Business Mastery Lunch & Learn events, join area business owners as we tackle the business challenges of the day. In each session, walk away with no-cost strategies that can be implemented immediately.

Lunch and beverages are provided but registration is required.

To register for an upcoming event, click on the date you want to attend:

January 25 – Topic: Finding & Keeping Employees

(POSTPONED) February 8 – Topic: Position Your Business for a Bank Loan

February 22 – Topic: Exit Your Way – Grow with the Exit In Mind

March 8 – Topic: Pricing Workshop (details coming soon)

March 22 – Topic: No Cost Conversions & Sales Strategies (details coming soon)

Past events included Non-traditional Ways to Find & Keep Superstar Employees, No-cost Lead Generation Strategies, Increase Conversions and Sales With Small Tweaks, and more!

What these events aren’t:

NOT a disguised sales pitch

NOT a boring presentation about buying ads that don’t result in new customers anyways

NOT a place for me to listen to my own voice for a whole 90-minutes 🙂

What you will get is:

REAL strategies that you can implement yourself

INSPIRATION that can only come from being in a room with like-minded business owners doing the same work at the same time

The PEACE OF MIND knowing that you’re focusing on the business activities that really make a difference so you can work smarter rather than harder.

30 Ways to Effectively Market Your Business

Posted on December 4, 2021 by Amanda Bedell

A step-by-step guide to creating and executing a successful advertising campaign

Have you spent thousands of dollars on radio or Facebook ads and seen zero sales from the advertising spend? Maybe you’ve been burned by a marketing consultant that promises the world only to fail to deliver results… today, I want to lift the veil on how to create a successful advertising campaign.

To do that, first, we must understand why people buy products or services. Every purchase is an emotional response. People always buy a higher emotional state. They’re buying for one of three reasons

to solve a problem or stop pain
an experience that feels good
for certainty

To develop emotion and a call to action, the majority of successful professionals use a succession of information-based commercials. What we find is that information-based advertising is much more effective compared to usual brand-based advertisements.

Here, I want to share with you that the principles used to put together high-impact (and oftentimes, high-priced) ads can be adapted to fit your needs and offer you similar results.

Here are some ideas for creating and executing a successful advertising campaign:

Put together a short report that you’ll automatically send to prospects when they contact you. This should include a short description of your business and what you specialize in. Don’t forget to include case studies, samples, or other proof of your success.
Develop value-oriented “yellow page” like ads.
Consider newsletters as a way of educating and informing customers about your industry and the services offered.
Offer a free lecture or webinar to raise awareness of your business, but make sure the content is relevant to your target market and that the presenters are well-known in the field.
Buy an existing business, improve marketing and grow this new business faster than a “from scratch” business.
Always test different versions of your ads to determine which ones are the most effective.
Use direct mail marketing to grow your business.
Put together a database of previous customers and send them new information.
Offer incentives such as frequent purchasing benefits, loyalty programs, or referral programs.
Approach large firms who may need your services and negotiate a deal to be their exclusive expert in your field.
Offer a 24-hour information line with a regularly updated recorded message. Make this available to all current and prospective customers/clients.
Donate time or materials to local charities to show support in your area.
Offer public clinics for the general public to come along and discuss what they need that’s free and approachable.
Organize seminars your customers/clients can pay to attend by putting together a high-perception value package.
Approach local newspapers by offering to write a weekly column about your area of expertise. Don’t ask for a payment, just a byline, and bio.
Develop a weekend or other destination seminar for customers/clients, not only does this give you an action-packed weekend with the most important people, it gives them a tax-deductible business adventure.
Take a good seminar and turn it into written form as a home study, member site program, audio, or video program.
Approach large companies and offer to give seminars to their employees, investors, or management.
Be proactive with your marketing plan.
Trade for your marketing. Offer products or services instead of payment.
Be willing to bring in new clients, even if at an initial loss because it will likely pay off later.
Adjust your marketing budget to maximize the potential income from them for the following year, and try to postpone advertising costs for the following year to offset your expenses.
Make offers to target markets or target market businesses to pay them for referrals or shared databases.
Offer loaner products to replace equipment that’s being repaired or refurbished.
Give away something free to everyone who brings in a print version of your advertisement. This is a great way to see which ads are giving you the most bang for your buck.
Continually consider what new products/services you can offer to current customers/clients.
Develop a mail order division of your company.
Offer a proposition to your competitors to trade customers/clients you were both unsuccessful in selling to.
Use different marketing tactics as an excuse to attract new customers/clients with new offers and goodies.
Offer a “you-pick-a-price” program. This is especially good for products you just can’t seem to sell.

So now you have it: 30 ways to market to other professionals and businesses. Other great ways to get your name out there for little or no money are as follows:

Get engaged in your community-volunteer, donate to local events, etc.
Join your local Chamber of Commerce and attend networking and other activities throughout the year.
Join local, state, or regional professional associates for further networking opportunities.
Become a board member of a local organization.

Advertising should never be your only method of marketing strategy, there are numerous ways to get your name out there in a way that feels personal to potential customers/clients.

“Many companies have forgotten they sell to actual people. Humans care about the entire experience, not just the marketing or sales or service. To really win in the modern age, you must solve for humans.” – Dharmesh Shah, CTO & Co-founder of Hubspot.

If you’re not sure where you start with your marketing plan or how to reach out to your local community, competitors, customers/clients, and others who could influence your business in a highly positive way try our GUIDED TOUR to experience the tools and resources we have to boost your business to the next level and beyond.

Kick start your marketing

Posted on April 17, 2019May 26, 2021 by Amanda Bedell

In Reid Hoffman’s podcast Masters of Scale, he interviewed Brian Chesky from Airbnb and they talked about something that has stuck with me since I heard the segment in 2017, “If you want your company to truly scale, you have to do things that don’t scale.”

Today, I’d like to share three things I did to get (and keep) my first customers.

Meet your customers in person: You must meet with customers/clients in person whenever possible. I understand that is challenging but remember the potential connections in-person meetings cultivate, otherwise, there’s always Zoom or Skype. You will learn so many valuable insights from this person’s attention that will carry you and your company to the future.
Follow-up letter: When was the last time you got a piece of mail that was unexpectedly delightful? It’s been a minute for me (read: never). Your first customers want to feel valued and respected. Consider taking a moment to send a follow-up letter personalized with what you talked about and to thank them for taking the time to meet with you.
Phone call: I hear you! No one calls anyone anymore. But, use the phone to share an article or something that triggered you to think of them, and that customer will be loyal forever.

A word of caution: None of these tactics will work if you don’t have a quality product or service to back you up.

Here are the key steps for putting together your start-up marketing tools:

Research potential customers, buyers, competitors, and their preferred methods of distribution.
Talk to potential customers! Surveys, polls, prototypes – take a hard look at your product from a customer’s perspective and see what it needs to be successful.
Follow up with your 3-step process from above.
Develop systems for contact follow-through, quality control standards, and customer service.
Keep lines of communication open with customers and build on your current relationship, possibly increasing future purchases.

“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.” — Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company.

I hope this lesson helps you put together a start-up marketing plan that can sustain and grow your business far into the future. The tools offered in our free training videos offer more of these strategies.

Educate your customers

Posted on April 17, 2019May 27, 2021 by Amanda Bedell

You may be thinking to yourself, “Educate them about what?”

Entrepreneur and documentary filmmaker, Jia Wertz, says it better than I ever could in the opening sentence of her Forbes article, “Majority of customers visit your website or your brick-and-mortar only one time. Think about that.”

She goes on to explain that we’re spending all that money to get people in and we get one shot. Consider this, many businesses focus solely on attracting new customers, but I encourage you to spend a good chunk of your time retaining current and former customers. I know it feels like a no-brainer but so few businesses create a system to bring back people who already know you and have bought from you.

Take the time to market and sell new products to your old customers and less time trying to sell old products to new customers and you will see a drastic change in your sales, customer quality, and branding position.

Here are key elements to use to retain your current customers:

Stay in contact: This means by phone, email, e-newsletter, in-person, and by carrier pigeon if you have must (lol)!
Post-Purchase Assurance: This means you need to follow up with customers. They need to feel supported for what they purchased. How many times have you purchased a product, then felt completely abandoned? Something as simple as a ‘Thank You’ note with your contact or customer service information can go a long way in retaining a great customer.
Deals & Guarantees: Always offer your current customers the best deals and guarantees you have. Show them you appreciate their business or even come up with a club specifically to reward loyal customers. You can also do this with a preferred pricing option.
Integrity: Using good business practices and simply upholding integrity, dignity, and honesty go a long way with customers. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of swindling with substandard product out there, and the safer and more confident you make your customers feel, the more they will trust you. That makes for an amazingly supportive and loyal customer.

There are three cornerstone ideas to a successful business:

Quality product/service
Offering useful products/services that solve a problem for or enhance the life of a customer
Offer content your customers find interesting

Use this approach of educating your customers and offering them real information and insight and you will be rewarded with loyalty and success.

Stop wasting all your time on new prospects while your current customers fall by the wayside.

Legendary business strategist, Jay Abraham says, “Your best prospects are your existing customers. If you’ve been putting all your marketing efforts into acquiring new customers, stop and diverts some of your resources into reselling, upselling, cross-selling to those same customers. In every way possible – through package inserts, regular mailings, special offers – stay in touch with those customers and get them used to buying from you.”

Remember, you can access free support by signing up for our training videos. The videos can help you harness techniques to educate your customers and watch their lifetime value go up and your revenues pay off many-fold.