PROSPECTIVE NEW CLIENTS: PLEASE READ BELOW!!!!
Strategy I can live with:
Build an ACT database of clients that are solid and have
been contacted. Create a many pronged
campaign and rate each customer in accordance with their level of
interest. At any increased levels have
marketing initiatives designed to be implemented on different contact hierarchy’s-
such as constant contact vs. postcard or specific presentation or gift card, etc.-
have many different contact groups set up based on the list I build up. Rate accounts on a 1-10 scale or AAA, AA, A,
B, or C scale.
System to build category:
Start by building contact database with a simple script of-
Hi my name is Tim Konkle and I’m with Hearst Media- we own the San Francisco
Chronicle and SFGATE which is the Chronicle on-line. I just wanted to introduce myself to the person in charge of internet marketing
is that you? Do you have just a
moment? Thanks- again I just wanted to
make sure you knew who I was and what we do- we actually have you listed on
local.sfgate as part of a new project, GateList that lists all the businesses
in the Bay Area. I manage internet
campaigns for my clients based on what we determine during a brief needs
analysis during which I find out about your business- you know, how much the
internet matters in your business, how many new customers you’re bringing in
each month; where you came from and where you’re going- that sort of
thing. We can determine pretty quickly
if anything makes sense for you to do, and then we try to gauge what kind of
return on investment we’re looking at and we put a program together.
If it’s ok with you, I’d like to start by just providing my
contact information and a general overview of what we do, the History of Hearst
Media, and my personal contact information.
I’m happy to answer any questions at any time but initially I just want
to introduce myself and provide a bit of history on both myself and Hearst
Media so you know who we are. We have a
new program on SFGATE that’s designed to produce new business for you while
reducing your amount of involvement to anything beyond some brief discussions
and meetings about progress, analytics, etc.
We do the rest of the work and over time we can get a feel for what is
most successful and what direction to take.
An important component of what we like to discuss is what
other things you do to promote and advertise your business so you can compare
us in regard to our approach, level and effectiveness of communication, and
ability to remain an effective and important part of your overall marketing
program. In a perfect world, every
business would have a list of every company they advertise with, the amount of
money spent, a customer service score, a quality of investment rating, and answers
to the questions “would you refer them to a friend (that doesn’t compete with
you)” or “will you continue to do business with them?” Those two answers alone are the culmination
of everything I’m presenting. I’m
approaching you 100% with the goal of building a successful project and using
the results to benefit both of us. You
to increase your customer base, retain your customers, and in part, strive to
achieve the same goals I’ve mentioned above.
And if I help you do that, I too will become a valued resource to you
and you and all of the people you know and refer will become a future revenue source
for me. As you can see, the opportunity
here is very large for both of us. Large
for YOU because you have an opportunity to use ONE company to push yourself out
in a multitude of ways over the internet.
You will have a specific campaign manager, and a LIVE PERSON you can set
up meetings with to personally review your analytics over the phone- looking at
SEO rank, Google Adwords spends, Social Media Clicks and rankings, and review
captured and recorded phone calls that show both the strength of your customer
skills and our ability to send you business.
And again, I recommend that if you are NOT doing this already, you start
to do this with other business ventures as well. Anything that drives a lead should be tracked
by phone if possible. The internet is
huge, but a phone call is still very much normal and being done by smartphone
as an immediate conversion resulting from the proper internet exposure. It’s a slam dunk form of advertising at the
moment, the real questions to as are:
Do you trust the person?
Does the company have a good reputation and a long standing
in the industry/how big are they
How strong is the company you are working with (or are YOU
if it’s just you)
How much money are they asking from you vs. what you expect
them to do for you? (Example print is
expensive and there is NO ongoing customer service)
Does it make sense and is it realistic for your
business? (It doesn’t make sense if a
rep is promising to fill a taco shop or blow the doors off a proofreader)
And the bottom line is this should be relatively obvious
after about an hour of total time invested, and then THAT becomes a big
question about WHO you want to invest time with. The good news is it starts with about 15-20
minutes and goes a bit further if it makes sense, and so on. Generally if it’s not even going to last for
a 15 minute discussion then it’s just a bad idea to have the meeting. It’s the case of either side hoping for a
miracle- I’m not going to show up and offer 6 months free up front or month to
month terms on an advertising CAMPAIGN….I don’t have some miracle cure to a
business about to go under. I’m not the
Chef Ramsey (if you’ve ever seen that show) coming in to save your restaurant
and put 70k into it “just so I can have the satisfaction of seeing you
succeed”.
In most cases, you’re a business owner who knows they need
to do something, have been trying to figure out who isn’t going to rip you off,
and have likely been burned a bunch of times before and it really sucked
because MOST of the time a business invests money in advertising tentatively
and with regret and is just horrified when it doesn’t work out. The resolve is strong to “never do that
again” and I run into it every day and it’s often projected on me as “the guy
who stole their money”. I just become
that guy, and that’s the end of that call- I just have to accept it and move
on. Even if I have the greatest thing in
the world- if it doesn’t get past the prior challenges- I’ll never get heard.
A marketer must consider all these things and then make an
educated decision that will avoid risk!!!!!
So I’ve learned this system, through many years of experience
that I have to build as many contacts as possible, and present them with as
much relative information as possible.
Regardless of what I present to them, they will get a valuable
assessment from somebody in the industry that knows what he’s doing and talks
to business owners and marketers every day and sees many different scenarios
that are driving success or failure. The
suggestions and impressions alone are worth the 20 minutes spent with me and
the 20 minutes hearing my findings. What
is done beyond that is purely the result of the business owner or marketer
doing their research and deciding if what I’m presenting is something that is
realistic, makes sense, and fits their budget.
If so, we end up doing business and forming a partnership. If not, we part friends and I keep the
business on a quarterly newsletter file and I know for an absolute FACT a
percentage will buy at some point in the future every single month. That’s a pretty significant number especially
considering the volume of leads attained.
And the most important part of this approach is to NOT BE
OBNOXIOUS. Allowing opt-out, keeping the
contact minimal or non-invasive, and branding myself for the simple result of
being REMEMBERED when a choice is to be made about any kind of marketing in the
digital space. I don’t have to get paid
for everything, and I’m happy to answer any questions I can and also to refer
to companies that might have something you need that I don’t provide. By connecting business in San Francisco to
the people they need to be connected to- I get to be a resource and enjoy the
benefit of living in the most amazing place and knowing all kinds of different
amazing people!
I sincerely hope you read this entire introduction and if so
I thank you from the heart! I enjoy what
I do, I represent an amazing company, and I have grown my business by
presenting information and making a lot of friends. I can’t stand pushy, pitchy, desperate sales
people although I must say it’s a challenging line to walk and I can understand
how it happens to sales people. Sadly
many sales people are poorly trained and lack a strategy and understanding of
the market to effectively sell a given product in a way that it benefits the
client. That ends in hasty sales,
desperate pushy sales people, unhappy customers, billing disputes, dishonest
quotes- the list goes on and on. I have
no interest being involved in the ugly side of the sales world. I’ve spend a great deal of my career making
the right moves until I’ve lined up with a company that I can stand behind with
conviction.
Thanks for allowing the introduction, and let me know if we
can schedule a brief consultation in the near future. Based on what we determine will best suit
your needs, a customer proposal will be prepared. We will then review the proposal together and
decide the next steps. I’ll either be
running a campaign for you or sending you a newsletter each quarter and making
myself available as a resource! Whatever
the outcome it’s a victory for me because contacts are KING in my world J
Thanks again- please either contact me for an appointment or
simply contact me to let me know you read this letter. I want to have every introduction end in one
of three ways.
1.
A
meeting to discuss needs- either via Internet or in Person
2.
Enrollment in an interactive quarterly mailer
and intro to our menu of services via email
3.
Acknowledgement you read the letter but no
thanks on the email list
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