![]() ![]() Your mode of follow-up may also vary based on the category of prospect. You can typically have very many prospects in this category, especially if you automate the follow up to some degree. With C category prospects you might follow up once a year. However, since you never know with absolute certainty how things are going to work out, it's worth keeping in touch to some degree. “C” category prospects are those where you think there is some potential and you'd like to keep in touch, but they're unlikely to turn into your very best potential clients or refer a lot of business to you. And you might have 20-30 prospects in this category. You might decide to follow up with them every 90 days. Or perhaps you believe they have significant potential but are a long way out from being ready to buy. “B” category prospects would be a good fit, but not perfect. Depending on how much time you have available for marketing, and whether you typically work with a small number of high-value clients or a larger number of lower value clients, you might typically have 8-12 prospects in this category at any given time. You might decide you want to follow up with them every 30 days, ideally. “A” category prospects would be your very highest potential clients or partners who meet all your key criteria and who you can envision doing a lot of business with. The simple system I use is to categorise prospects as A, B and C. There will be some really high potential clients you'll want to follow up with frequently to make sure you're top of mind, and other less likely prospects that you might only want to keep in touch with infrequently just to keep the relationship alive on the off chance something might come of it. My recommendation is to group the people you meet into different categories or levels of follow-up. Your criteria will be unique to you but might include the size of the business (or wealth of an individual), their fit with your niche, geographic criteria, the level of seniority of the contact, whether they regularly hire outside help, etc. ![]() You just check whether they meet your criteria and get quickly to action. That way you don't end up being too biased by subjective factors such as liking them, and you don't end up procrastinating. ![]() Rather than just deciding on whether and how you should follow up as you meet people, it's best to define some objective criteria in advance. Basically anyone you believe it's worth investing time in to build a relationship. But it may also include potential business partners or referrers. Typically that will be your highest potential clients. The second thing you need to prepare in advance is your prospect categorisation.īy this I mean you need to be clear on who you want to follow up with and in what way. Or connecting them with people they'll find helpful, or inviting them to events they'll find useful, or sharing industry news. That means that with the vast majority of your follow-up communications you are going to be sending useful, valuable information to them. They open your emails and take your calls. ![]() That way they actually look forward to hearing from you. So rather than only ever following up to ask if a potential client is ready to look at an opportunity, progress with a proposal or any other form of nagging that runs the risk of annoying them, we're going to follow up in ways that they find useful. They'll screen you out and try to avoid you. If the only time you follow-up with clients and prospects is to chase them, nag them or otherwise try to get something from them, then pretty soon they'll come to dread your calls and emails. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |