Prospect, Prospect, Prospect!
“Always remember to never forget to actively prospect for new publishers and / or clients and advertisers, as a network – every single day. It actually doesn’t matter how many people you reach out to total say within a week or even a month, the key is to do it “every single day”, even if its one or two reach outs only. As a growing business, there are essentially three primary ways that you can grow your existing client, advertiser and / or publisher base. The first if obviously by referral or word of mouth, which is out of your control, since one cant really control when referrals and / or word of mouth inquries will actually come in. Secondly, is to actively ask for referreals as well as follow up to any contacts you may have from tradeshows and / or exhibits. Here to, you may not always get the referral or warm intro, albeit you still ask for it. Finally, and I would argue, most importantly, and I say “most importantly” because it is the only factor that truly one control on their own merits, is to actively prospect for new clients and or publishers regularly. Specifically, this entails, the following; a) create a target prospect list of companies that you would like to target. In cases where you do not know the specific contact person for that company, leave the field you can always research this by scrolling through press releases of the company. Or, what I find most effective is to b) find contacts within Linkedin.
All Guppy salesteam members pay for Inmail premium Linkedin services for a flat monthly fee. By utilizing Linkedin, you can then search by company name and find the relevant contacts listed within the company individually. Your next step is to then send that specific contact a sincere and professional Linkedin Inmail message. Finally, c) when your contact has replied back to you, always ask for a follow up call as a next step, as more of an “introductory call”. Try to avoid sending any offer info via email from the onset, as this obviously does not establish an initial, personal repoire.
As a growing network, you can almost count on experiencing natural attrition. Hence maintaining a fresh pipeline of new business partners is the only way to ensure not only revenue sustainability but also continued sales growth. I remember, as my first career as a rookie Stockbroker at Smith Barney that the highest million dollar plus producers, VP’s who sat in the corner offices, all had differing sales styles and of course their own way of building their book of business. The one common trait which they all shared equally however, was the fact that albeit their businesses were established, they still cold-called for new prospects every single dayJ
What is everyone else doing to ensure a constant and healthy pipeline of new business colleagues and partners?
