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Prospecting for New Clients
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I was in a discussion recently with two people in the IT Recruitment field. Let's call them Bill and Jane. We started talking about alternative ways for making contact with prospects and potential clients.
Essentially, Bill and Jane sell a service, in a crowded market place, often fighting big competitors with large marketing budgets. It's very competitive. As smaller operators, with lower expenses, they can offer a better service at lower prices. Is that like your business? Many types of small businesses can relate to the difficulties my friends were facing. Maybe their answers can help you.
Bill and Jane each work solo in their own small businesses. They recruit IT staff for companies. Now, IT is a big area. Bill has narrowed his niche to involve Network Engineers, Systems Administrators, Technical Support and Helpdesk people. Jane provides IT Project support and planning services, temporary and permanent staffing.
The Challenge:
Their challenge is getting in touch with new prospects who need to hire staff.
In addition to cold-calling, both have tried e-mail, sending out an e-mail sales letter each month with a low key tone, telling prospects, "I can find you excellent staff at up to 50% cost savings over competition which will save you a fortune." (Both their fees are 50% less than the big company competition.)
Another Challenge:
Another challenge being faced is, on cold calling these days they find it difficult to actually get a live person on the phone - so many companies are using auto-answering and voice mail. They are lucky to make contact 10% of the time, and even then most of the people they reach are not in a buying mode. So, Bill is developing a belief that cold calling is a waste of time, and that if he can get a response from e-mail, it is a warm lead to call. Jane was beginning to feel that way, too, but felt being a woman in IT was a little unusual and sometimes helped.
Bill also sends a fax blast to targets on his dream list of prospects - a personalized fax - "Dear Tony, I have been trying to call you ...USP, benefits, blah-blah-blah... please e-mail or call if this is of interest."
He was also thinking of getting some plain note paper and envelopes, and writing a simple hand written note, stating benefits of using him, and asking for a chance to do some business. Jane thought that nobody reads letters any more, and felt that would also be a waste of time.
Let's Look at this Differently
My reaction was this: You are both looking at this as experienced salespeople, deeply entrenched in the business - which is only natural. But what if someone like Jack Welch decided, as a retirement job, to get into your business? Or Lee Iacocca? Or Oprah Winfrey ? How would they approach it, do you think? Would they do it the way you do it, not knowing what you know?
Bill replied, "None of them would last a week on the job...these people are big corporate fish, with support teams, the best talent and billions behind them. We're in a very different world and business model." Jane agreed, "I think the truth of it is this; if you're in recruitment you have to adhere to the basics as a small business - e-mail, letters and cold calling - consistently and continually. This is still the best way forward to guarantee business."
This was why I was finding this conversation so interesting, because I am convinced that cold-calling, unsolicited e-mail and fax blasts are all variations of Spam. And spam annoys people. These methods worked in the past, but not today. I had a great deal of success cold-calling people when I started in sales. That was in the 1960s! You could do that then. People were happy to talk with you. Nowadays, people don't have time to do the work they are supposed to do, and certainly don't have time to chat with uninvited salespeople.
Jane said that, for the small company, there are opportunities to be exploited in sectors outside where the big boys go. She said along with her recruitment services, she also offers project management, support and logistics. One often comes from the other so there are opportunities in tying up with other service providers or offering them your recruitment services as a 'bolt on' revenue stream for little effort on their part. In other words, joint venture. This is a very valid approach for small, single-operator businesses.
After a pause, Jane said, "You know, the more I think about this, the more I realize that the very small, independent business owner has a massive advantage over the big recruiters. Themselves! I can give a very personalized service. This is a big angle to exploit."
Bingo!
"Bingo!" I said! This is the very point I had been trying to get them both to realize! What would Jack Welch, Lee Iacocca or Oprah Winfrey do if they were in your position? They would sell themselves, wouldn't they?! They certainly wouldn't be sending spam-faxes annoying people over the wasted paper, sending e-mail by the thousand ticking people off by clogging up their inboxes with unwanted messages. And they wouldn't waste a single minute cold-calling strangers who don't have time to talk to them anyway! Can you honestly see Jack Welch, Lee Iacocca or Oprah Winfrey taking their companies to the top with such methods?
Bill actually thought that Welch and co. would fax, e-mail, call, direct mail, etc. on a massive scale. But Jane got it. "Yes," she said, "Selling yourself to your prospect as a person who is driven to 'do the right thing' for the client is big news."
Here's where I have a problem with Bill's answer - why would someone like Jack Welch, Lee Iacocca or Oprah Winfrey do something on a massive scale that they know would offend or upset the very people they want to sell to, if not now, later? To my way of thinking, that's like someone going fishing and starting off by throwing rocks and boulders in the river. (For non-fishermen, that would frighten all the fish away.)
How can you hope to sell yourself as a person who is driven to do the right things for their client, as Jane says, by starting off the relationship wasting their fax paper and adding to the spam in their inbox? It's not congruent. You set yourself up as a liar.
Somehow, I just cannot see Welch, Iacocca or Winfrey sitting at the telephone all day cold-calling, getting rejected, being put on hold, being transferred to voicemail, playing cat-and-mouse with secretaries and telephone operators. I just cannot see it. I'm sure they would try it, because, remember, we have dropped them into a field they (presumably) know nothing about. But I don't think it would take more than an hour before they say to themselves: This is a waste of time! I must find a better way.
So, what would they do instead?...
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OK, Frederick. I've heard enough. I want you to mentor me, NOW!
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