The Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action
Plan Marketing
and Robert Middleton
-
Turning Leads into Appointments -
Is
there a secret to turning leads and prospects into
solid appointments?
One
of the most frequent questions I get is, "How
do I turn leads into appointments... how do I
connect with or follow up with prospective clients
and get a meeting with them where they are
sincerely interested in exploring how I can help
them?"
If
you knew the answer to this, marketing would be a
whole lot easier, wouldn't it? When you're
actually meeting with a prospective client, your
marketing has been successful and the sales process
starts.
For
some strange reason, everyone thinks of getting
appointments in two ways that are polar opposites:
One is having a prospect call you because you
were referred to them. The other is making a cold
call and setting up an appointment.
The
truth is, the first one is rather rare and the
second one is very hard. The good news is that
there's an approach in-between that you can do much
more frequently and easily with better results.
The
first thing you need to do, is sort out your
potential leads. Not all leads are created
equal. Some are warm and some are cold. You want to
sort your leads into four categories and then take
actions to turn the cold leads into warm
ones.
The
four categories going, from cold to warm are:
Affiliation - Familiarity - Information and
Experience. Let me explain how each of these
categories works.
Affiliation
- These leads are prospects you don't know yet,
but have some connection with. They know someone
you know. Or they belong to an organization you
belong to.
Familiarity
- These are leads you already have some
familiarity with. They don't know you well but
you've had some prior association. Maybe they've
met you through networking or you've talked on
the phone once or twice.
Information
- These prospects know you better. They've
received and read information about you and your
business. They've visited your web page, read an
article by you, or are subscribers to your
newsletter or eZine.
Experience
- These prospects have actually experienced you.
You've had a more in-depth conversation, they've
been long-time subscribers and read more of your
information, or have attended a presentation or
teleclass. They know and like you.
Now
who are you most likely to get an appointment
with? Someone who you just have an affiliation
with or someone who has experienced you and feels
they know you? The answer is obvious.
But
what if the best connections you have are only
affiliations? And maybe you don't even have a
lot of those! Where do you start with getting
appointments?
Simple.
Your marketing should be focused on moving
prospects from Affiliation to Familiarity to
Information to Experience as fast and as smoothly
as possible.
Let's
create a scenario...
If
you have few affiliations to begin with, you create
them. You join organizations that your
prospects belong to. And you contact friends and
associates who know people who may be good
prospects.
Now
you want to leverage those affiliations into
familiarity. You don't want to just call them
and try to set up appointments. Most aren't willing
to do so, because you're a stranger to them. This
is why cold calls are, for the most part,
frustratingly futile.
Instead,
send an introductory letter followed by an
introductory call. Mention your affiliation
(organization or friend) and your Value Proposition
(The Ultimate Outcome you deliver to your
clients):
"This
is Roger Morton of Pro-Mark Strategies. I'm a
new member of the Chattanooga Chamber of
Commerce. I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm
a consultant who works with professional firms
who don't have as much business as they'd like
(your Value Proposition). I visited your web
site and was impressed by some of the projects
you've done. Is this a good time to speak for a
few minutes?"
OK,
you've broken the ice. That wasn't so hard was it?
Of
course, there are other things you can do. Go
to meetings of the chamber and meet a lot of
people. Introduce yourself. Find out who's who. Get
involved. Volunteer for committees. Now you have
more than an affiliation - you're building
familiarity.
Next
you want to leverage this familiarity and provide
information to those who are qualified
prospects. Do you have a good article you can
circulate? "Ten Strategies for Building a
Professional Firm Faster" - five or six pages of
solid information with case studies that
demonstrate how you've applied these strategies to
client projects.
Then
make it a game to get this article to as many
prospects as possible. After making an
introductory call, ask if you can send the article.
When you meet someone through networking, offer to
send a copy. If you have a newsletter or eZine, ask
if they'd like to it.
Ask!
Don't wait for them to ask you.
With
all this information in circulation you're not a
stranger anymore. And if you can focus on
increasing your familiarity and information
quotient with prospective clients, you are warming
them up for the next step - experiencing you.
For
those who have information about you, give them an
experience of you by inviting them to an
introductory workshop, a presentation at the
chamber, or a teleclass. You now have a list of
real prospects, and you can send an invitation by
mail or email (and it won't be regarded as junk or
spam).
And
once they attend, they'll be relatively easy to
follow up with:
"Hi,
this is Roger Morton from Pro-Mark Strategies.
Thanks so much for attending the presentation on
"Strategies for Growing a Professional Firm." Is
this a good time to talk? Great. I'd be
interested in knowing which ideas in the
presentation you thought would apply best to
your firm..."
And
before you know it, you have an appointment with a
qualified prospect who was a stranger only a short
time ago. And how do you think this sales
meeting will go? I promise it will go a whole lot
better than meeting with someone who doesn't know
you from Adam.
*
The
More Clients Bottom
Line:
You can either sit by your phone and wait for
referrals to call you; call strangers who don't
want to hear from you; or you can methodically
cultivate your prospects, moving them from
Affiliation to Familiarity to Information to
Experience to Appointment. It's your
move.
What
creative things are you doing to get appointments
with qualified prospects? Please let us know on
the More Clients Blog at:
http://www.actionplan.blogs.com
*
This
Week's Featured Products:
The
InfoGuru Marketing Manual
Now
that you have a system for converting prospects
into appointments, you need more detailed
information to help you be successful at it.
You
need guidelines on creating your Value
Proposition and communicating it effectively.
You need a strategy for identifying your ideal
clients. You need instructions for developing
articles and a web site. And you need guidance on
what to say when you get on the phone with a
prospect.
All
of this (and a whole lot more) is covered in the
InfoGuru Marketing Manual. This is the
all-in-one comprehensive guide for attracting
clients. And it's more than just a manual. It
includes the 288 page manual itself, over 12 hours
of Audio Tutorials and a Support Forum to answer
your marketing questions and give you feedback on
your marketing plans and materials.
If
you're serious about attracting more clients with
less struggle and effort, this is what you've
been looking for. Read complete details at the link
below:
http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html
Until
next week, all the best,
Robert
Middleton
ACTION
PLAN MARKETING
Helping Independent Professionals Attract More
Clients
www.actionplan.com
210
Riverside Drive
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
831-338-7790
Contact
by email
©
2006 Robert Middleton, All rights reserved. You
are free to use material from the More Clients
eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include
complete attribution, including live web site link.
Please also notify me where the material will
appear. The attribution should read:
"By
Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please
visit Robert's web site at http://www.actionplan.com
for additional marketing articles and resources on
marketing for professional service
businesses."
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