A great salesperson is always filling his or her briefcase with new and potentially lucrative leads generated from any number of professionals, locations, meetings, conferences or, at best, existing customers. Working a health fair, for example, can generate an entire stack of business cards or leads that need follow-up attention. It is usually at the events where you have rented space that you have made the largest investment in an ongoing effort to gain new business — and you shouldn't waste it.
The newly acquired business cards might have individual notes written on them, reminders about conversations or about a promise you made. What is most important is that there may be some business represented by that card that you need to pursue.
Too frequently, these leads are collected after a significant expense in obtaining them, but then … well, they end up in a box. You spent all that money and time to attend the conference, leave with 10 to 15 leads and then have nothing to show for your efforts or investment.
Let's fix that problem.
Hopefully when you first received the lead, you noted any important or “need to remember” information, such as:
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The best time to contact the person;
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Which phone number is best to use for reaching the contact; and
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The key reason for a future meeting.
Now you can begin on your stack of leads by:
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Entering all of the cards you collected into a database. Make sure you have noted the major contact information.
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Making a note about any comments, interests or information you promised to the potential customer.
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Noting the date you made the initial contact to ensure you don't wait too long to set up the appointment.
Keep in mind that when people leave a conference or meeting, it takes only a few days to forget more than 80 percent of what occurred during the event. Attendees often meet many exhibitors, talk to lots of people about their issues and needs, and leave their business cards for several others to contact them as well.
The longer you allow the lead to sit unworked, the greater the chance it will have little value. You will be spending most of your initial conversation with the potential customer asking if they remember you. Move fast. Work the leads quickly, and don't let them sit idle for more than a week.
Within a week, other vendors or exhibitors may have already called these customers. While these other calls might not be from competitors of yours, there is only so much time that professionals have to talk to the vendors they met at the conference. Professionals often make decisions rapidly, and if they're having problems with their primary home care provider, this could be your opportunity to gain their business. As we have all read, “He who hesitates is lost.”
If your intention is to try to meet with one of thenew leads without an appointment or to see their secretary in person in order to make that appointment, then separate your leads by Zip code so that you are not wasting gas in pursuit of this business. Some salespeople decide to go after the big fish first, pursuing leads in the order of possible revenue that can be generated.
If you do meet with a lead and all does not go well, do not throw the lead away. Save the company in your database, and in a few months, consider another contact. Because of the errors of others, meaning your competitors, your time may come. In other words, if the lead has recurring problems with your competitor, you could be next in line for the business. But you won't be if no one remembers you, so it's wise to stay in contact with the person you met.
Every lead you gather has a price tag on it, whether it's from a meeting, a special advertising program or a sales call. Nothing comes without a cost. When you keep that in mind, you become more aware of the need to work on the follow-up plan for reaching out to potential customers.
If you have no intention of working the lead or developing a contact plan, then save your money and stay home from the next exhibiting opportunity. You may find you will not be missed, and you have saved several hundred dollars by not going. But also remember, if you don't work the leads, you are just leaving the business on the table for someone else.
Read more Sales Notebook columns.
Louis Feuer is president of Dynamic Seminars & Consulting Inc. and the founder and director of the DSC Teleconference Series, a teleconference training program. You can reach him through www.DynamicSeminars.com or at 954/435-8182.
