How (and Where) to Find Your Actual Clients & Prospects
by Ilise Benun
It may seem obvious, but when you introduce yourself to a new market, the
most important tool at your disposal is a list of your prospects. Without that
list, there’s very little you can do.
With that list, there is much you can do. You can make cold calls. You can
send personalized e-mail messages. You can do a mailing of your brochure or
promotional package. Or, you can do all of the above. In other words, you can
use that list for a marketing campaign. (For more on this, listen to the podcast
on "How to Find Clients and Prospects" at iTunes here:
http://tinyurl.com/478guf)
Where do these lists come from?
There are many resources for a list of prospects, especially if you don’t
need thousands of them. But the most effective list for most independent
professionals is one you create yourself, based on the criteria you’ve chosen,
such as the industry focus, size of the company, revenue or the number of
employees. Although it requires a bit more work on your part, compiling and
collecting names for your own list will make for a much more effective and
profitable list.
You probably have access to lists that you may not be aware of, so look first
to your own resources, which may include:
- Industry and trade group directories. Almost every trade group
publishes a directory, either online or printed. As a member of a group, one of
the benefits you get is access to (and inclusion in) the member directory. (Some
groups make their directories available for a fee, so you don’t even have to
join.) You may not realize it, but this is one of the most valuable resources
and best reasons to join a group. Directories are invaluable because they
pre-qualify your prospects and give you the name of someone to start with, which
saves your valuable time. Calling a company and trying to find the person who
hires or buys the services you’re offering is very time-consuming.
- Attendee lists to industry events. Often, a list of attendees will be
published and distributed to attendees of an industry event or conference—it’s
one of the perks of attending. This is another invaluable resource that you
should do more than just glance at to see who’s in attendance. Make this list
your bible. At the event, use it to find the people you want to talk to. Get
familiar with the names. Mark it up. Write notes to yourself about who you met,
as well as who you didn’t meet but can follow up with later. Then, when you get
home, use that list. Make cold calls using the conference as your connection. If
you didn’t meet them, your opening line when you call or e-mail could be, “We
both attended the AMA meeting last night but we didn’t have a chance to meet, so
I thought I’d call and see what I can find out a bit about what you do.” That
connection usually makes them open to listening or reading further. (There is
usually a caveat not to use the list for “mass marketing,” but you can use it to
make contact with people.)
- Resource lists published in trade publications. Many trade
publications offer (usually around year-end) annual lists of the top players in
a particular industry, complete with contact information and details about the
products and services offered by the company. This is not only a great source of
prospects, but also a good overview of an industry that you may be considering
getting into.
Be wary of someone selling “prospect lists” because although these lists may
sound good and are often very inexpensive, the people on the list may be
someone’s prospects, but they usually are not yours.
|
|
