That's a loaded question. There are dozens of ways to attract and acquire new customers. Too many to mention. And by what criteria would you determine whether or not to pursue a specific company to do business with? Pre-qualifying a business to learn whether or not they would be a good fit for your product or service is an essential first step. As I work through this process again for the millionth time, I find it invigorating to apply the process and follow the process through to determine the actual outcome. If I prospect 25 potential customers, how many will I actually develop a long-term contract relationship with?
It's a numbers game. Once you've applied this process several times, a trend will emerge and you'll be able to use what you've learned to project the results of your next prospecting effort. Each step is critical to the next.
Let's establish a pre-qualifying set of criteria that we'll use to make sure the prospect is a good fit for the type of solutions you provide.
Can I work directly with the owner? In today's Monday Morning Memo, written by Roy H. Williams he highlights several other criteria to help him determine if he thinks the prospect will be a good fit. Here's additional questions to ask.
"Do I believe in the business owner? And do I like them enough to give them a place in my life?
Has their company been flat, or declining, for the past 3 years?Do I see a clear path to grow them a minimum of 4x in 4 years or less?
If we focus 80% of their ad budget on a single media, will that number of dollars allow us to reach enough people with enough repetition to see significant growth in the second half of the first year?"
In asking these questions he's stacking the odds of success in his favor. Potentially entering into a relationship that will most likely lead to success. Win-win for both parties.
Today we've touched on prospecting and qualifying potential customers to determine if they're a good fit and to ensure the chance of a win-win success is stated from the beginning.
More to follow next week.
