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The Real Problem with Prospecting:
It’s Not What You Think
The Problem With Prospecting and How to Create Value That Connects with Your Ideal Clients.
Almost everyone wants new clients. Chances are you do, too.
Thanks to this, bookstores, social media networks, business school catalogs, and consulting firm websites are chock full of suggestions for finding new business.
But few of them will work. Because the problem with prospecting is not what most people think it is.
It’s not about identifying your prospects.
It’s not about locating your prospects.
It’s not about targeting your prospects.
It’s not even about reaching out to your prospects.
Plenty of systems and software are available for those things and are relatively easy to implement.
Why Most Prospecting Strategies Fail
What’s the real problem?
Reaching your prospects at the precise moment they want and need to hear from you. After all, nobody cares about who you are or what you do until those things matter.
To them.
The Real Challenge: Timing Your Outreach Perfectly
In some cases, that’s straightforward.
Case Studies: Timing in Different Industries
Insurance and Logical Timing
If you sell insurance, it’s logical to reach out to people when their current policies are about to expire or when they’ve acquired something new. After all, few people want to hear about new insurance options when everything is already covered. However, when it’s time to pay for a new policy, individuals might be interested in exploring different options.
The Mortgage Business Timing Example
If you’re in the mortgage business, you want to reach out to potential homeowners when they’re buying property.
If you sell new cars, you want to contact potential buyers when their leases or warranties expire.
If you are a criminal defense attorney, you want to speak to potential clients during their arraignment.
If you run a body shop, you should talk to potential customers after they’ve had a fender bender.
But what if there’s no natural purchase schedule to time your outreach?
Lessons from the Speaking Industry
Let me give you a personal example.
I speak at conferences around the world. I want to reach out to meeting professionals, event organizers, and speakers’ bureaus when they’re looking for a keynote speaker to open their upcoming conferences. As I mentioned, identifying, finding, targeting, and connecting with my potential buyers is straightforward.
The problem with prospecting lies in locating these buyers at the exact moment they are interested in hearing from me.
Some companies book their events two years out. Some reserve their speakers one year out. Some wait until they’re six months away. And, more often, especially since COVID, some groups book their speakers six to eight weeks out. This December, I got booked for two events I wasn’t expecting, and both called me only two weeks before the event!
A few years ago, that was unheard of unless a speaker had canceled unexpectedly.
So, based on this new reality, when should I schedule outreach to overcome the problem with prospecting?
A) Two years out?
B) One year out?
C) Six months out?
D) Six weeks out?
The answer, of course, is E. All of the above.
If you can’t be sure when someone is interested in hearing from you, and you can’t trust they’ll remember you when they do need you, then you need to reach them as often as possible.
The new problem that brings up is sending them the information they want and need. Sending updates about what you’ve been doing, new deals you’ve funded, new personnel you’ve hired, properties you’ve sold, or new clients you’ve acquired is only beneficial to your prospects if it’s of interest to them. It is only when you make it worth someone’s time to stay in touch with you that they will even consider allowing you to keep in touch with them. Reaching out to them often is easy. Reaching out frequently and not being a pest is hard.
How do you do that?
By creating consistent value, you can make your potential customers want to stay in touch. Whether your solution is a blog, newsletter, podcast, social media post, personal letter and clippings, or all of the above, the key is to create value.
Otherwise, the delete button on their keyboard, and the one in their mind, is too easy to hit.