Off the Cuff: Networking Your Way to Success: Part 2 of 3

SALES & MARKETING

Off the Cuff: Networking Your Way to Success: Part 2 of 3

July 06, 2010
By Mark L. Venit, MBA, Contributing Writer

In Part 1, we looked at the basics of networking and opportunities to meet potential buyers, including organizations you can join, speaking to community groups, and inviting people to tour your business and observe your production facilities and staff in action.

The “Now what?” after developing a contact is outlined here, so you can develop your own implementation agenda for following up your leads.

Data Entry
For all leads, enter the names, email addresses, phone numbers and other pertinent information of the new contacts into a database.

Whether you put the details into a computer program (Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.) or old-school 3” x 5” index cards in a tickler file, the faster you enter the information, the better the chances of seeing the fruits of your labor. (Make sure you do the same for leads from all sources, including walk-in customers, callers, and e-mail inquiries).

Too often when networkers get back to their offices, they toss the business cards they collected and notes they take at their encounters onto their desks, next to the kitchen phone or in a folder — and soon forget they are there. Even though doing these chores the same day or evening you get the information is best, be sure to accomplish them by the end of the week, at the latest.

I strongly recommend buying a contact-management software program. It enables you to store data for easy retrieval, track the source of the lead and — as long as the account activity is faithfully entered — see when contacts were made or attempted, what was discussed or what action was taken or promised. This software also can be programmed to issue alerts and reminders about future contact dates and other types of necessary follow-up. Investigate Act and Goldmine, among other programs, and how they pay for themselves many times over. ShopWorks also has a built-in contact-management program that can integrate with the other industry-specific modules in its software system.

When contact by any means involves giving a verbal quotation, follow it up with an e-mail (unless you e-mail a written quotation. My clients do!)

Send Hard Copies
Mark, you mean snail mail? Yes, I mean snail mail, mainly because it’s a great excuse to send everything else I’m recommending, which includes:

• Said hard copy of the quotation, even if you handed one to a walk-in prospect or your rep wrote one when meeting with the prospect at the prospect’s location.

• Your company catalog (the one you created featuring your most frequently ordered items).

• Your price list.

• Incentives. Whether on a sheet or as coupons, incentives can include things such as: a free second-or-additional-color imprint with an order of “X” items; free digitizing with an order over “$X”; a dozen free printed or embroidered caps with an order for “X” number of specified items; free sketch samples of art; or a complimentary car wash, movie tickets or other goodies.

• A promotional product. This can include something flat — a magnet, calendar/calendar card — or a more three-dimensional item. Practice what you preach here. And avoid cheap or cheap-looking stuff, such as a low-end stick pen or key fob, which your prospect won’t value much. A $1 (net) item with your imprint will help get your identity and message across quite affordably. (As most readers know, promotional products manufacturers offer great prices for items with dealer imprints).

Think of the incentives you offer to a first-time prospect as spiffs for customers. (These same incentives can, of course, be given to qualified walk-ins at the same price that you quote them, if you’d like).

• Your business card

• A short hand-written note — composed on company letterhead or a memo form — indicating you look forward to serving the prospect, hopefully doing business, or welcoming the chance to answer questions or to make helpful suggestions. Be sure to sign it — with your first name.

A big exception to this type of higher-level follow-up is leads from e-mail contacts from distant locations — unless you’ve qualified them over the phone and their interest level convinces you that they’re worth spending some money on. Most such inquiries die on the vine unless it’s for delivery to a business or event in your area; few long-distance contacts ever result in a sale, as freight charges usually kill the deal from the beginning.

The envelope or package containing hard copies and other aforementioned materials should be mailed after work or the following morning. The prospect should receive it in a day or two. Your logo and address on the outside makes a solid advertising impression. Your logo and name on the envelope and the hard-copy quote — as well as on your catalog, price list, business card and other materials inside the mailing — generates valuable additional advertising impressions, helping your prospect remember your company for future reference.

When the packet is received, the company’s name and professional standing are amply reinforced, and the prospect has more information, reassurance and reasons to award their business to your company now or, perhaps, down the road.

Assign a Mommy
By the time the packet has left your office, I recommend that a “Mommy” be assigned to the account, though that person can be assigned as soon as the lead is generated — depending on the system you determine will be the protocol for lead follow-up and management. Whether an outside or inside salesperson, or a customer service representative is designated as the lead’s Mommy, that person’s job is to take care of the lead, nourish it, caress it and tell the lead, “You are beautiful, you are loved and cared about, and Mommy’s there whenever you need her — or before!”

Mommy has a vested interest in seeing the lead grow up to become a customer, one that hopefully will bear healthy “grand-leads,” my affectionate term for the solicited or unsolicited referrals that start to come your way from happy customers.

That vested interest is in the commissions, bonuses, spiffs, perks and other pecuniary incentives that the Mommy gets from the lead — but, of course, not unless and until the lead becomes a customer.

Mommy’s designated responsibilities are to perform very specific follow-ups to the lead once the package is in the mail, if not sooner.

In Part 3, we’ll look at the rest of the follow-up agenda.

Mark L. Venit, MBA, is president of Apparel Graphics Institute Ltd., Ocean Pines, Md., which provides management and marketing consulting and proprietary research to apparel graphics companies throughout the Americas and Europe. He also is the chairman of ShopWorks Software LLC, a provider of industry-specific business software. Venit teaches pricing, strategic marketing, salesmanship and other business management topics at the Imprinted Sportswear Shows. You can contact him at markvenit@cs.com.

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