Change
creates opportunity. This being true, there is apparently
a lot of opportunity out there. The trick is in knowing when
opportunity is knocking. The solution lies in developing personal
relationships in such a way that people will think of you
when an appropriate opportunity presents itself.
Those
of you who attended the Patricia Fripp/Alan Weiss "Odd Couple"
meeting in San Francisco have learned where to invest marketing
time via Alan's "Gravity" diagram. You also learned about
the value of building relationships. The problem is, as a
small, often one-person business, how do you free up enough
time to do a good job? Here's the solution: Automate!
Any
marketing campaign can succumb to three major pitfalls:
- Lack
of time,
- Lack
of money and
- Lack
of focus.
When
starting a campaign, what happens is initial enthusiasm, followed
by a sense of becoming overwhelmed by the sheer volume of
the task. The usual result is that you lose focus by chasing
what appear to be the most promising 10 percent and failing
to follow up the other 90 percent. As you accumulate clients,
the need to chase new prospects often results in failure to
stay in touch with people who have already paid you for your
ability! Automation can go a long way toward solving these
problems.
A good
Sales Force Automation tool can reduce the magnitude of the
task to something very manageable. "Being in touch" doesn't
necessarily mean your calling every few weeks to chat! You
can pre-design a series of steps consisting of e-mails, faxes,
letters and follow-up calls, then attach this "track" to the
contact records of your clients and prospects. The best way
to save money is to use e-mail wherever possible, followed
by faxing. Use letters as a last resort as these are the most
costly and labor-intensive.
Tracks
can be created:
- To
remind you of all the steps needed to process everything
related to cementing a booking; contract sent, received
back; fees paid; travel arranged, final payment, expenses
received, etc.;
- To
send periodic newsletters, ideas, reminders of product you
sell and other topics/services you provide.
In fact,
a track can be created to accomplish any task you wish!
For more information, click
here.
Contact
us:
CONSULTING, TRAINING, SOFTWARE SALES
634 29th Avenue, San Mateo, CA. 94403
650-345-9289
chuck@acmesfa.com