Posted by Brian Berg Google+
Beg, borrow, or steal, smart businesses today must find a way to log and measure the “medium of choice” for their business customer/prospect to communicate and stay connected. With the constant bombardment of advertising messages both from vendors and potential vendors, good business practice involves blending and balancing both the introduction and the reminder messages without creating customer bane.
Google search, telemarketing, Google adwords, facebook, LinkedIn, direct mail campaign, banner ad placement, online lead aggregator, press release, conference booth, print space, email campaign, door-to-door, or just drive-by traffic….all have a the possibility of becoming your next great source for leads. These leads are vital to the growth of your business and to measuring the success of the lead generation source. That is why it is vitally important that you stay connected and do so in the right way. Chances are, if you’re like most companies, you’ve tried a variety of the above and have measured varying degrees of success.
The challenge is that most businesses serving other businesses have a segmented customer base. Sure, you can append SIC codes to your customer database, but that doesn’t account for how the best medium for a given decision maker at those businesses. Here are some suggestions on how to identify what your best communication channel is for your business to business prospect/customer.
Ask them for permission – Simply ask them for permission to call or email from time to time. And always ask permission for frequency. Many sales representatives are aggressive with new prospects. They call weekly to bug their prospect. This certainly works for those prospects who don’t mind the calls, but for the others, a trail of disgruntled prospects will avoid you and others at your firm.
Ask them for their preference - All communication should be asking them for permission. This request empowers the prospect/customer and provides develops loyalty.
Track how your customer found you – Did your prospect first connect with you via phone, email, social media account? Their first contact is likely their preferred medium of communication. Make note of this in your CRM system.
Do what they do – If they call you before sending an email, call them before sending them an email. If they always send detailed notes within an email, do the same for them. Take their lead on what they do when communicating with you. As with all your valuable bits of information, keeping track of this stuff is vital. Make sure you and the others are tracking how your prospects and customers want to stay connected. Doing so will help others in your company connect with your customer and foster loyalty.
If you would like help with developing sales leads, or managing them, BB Direct can help. Give us a call or visit us at www.bbdirect.com.