Part 19 (1/2)
The titles of decision et coanizations that are your best targets?
The names of specific decision et coeting? Hoould you answer these last four questions? Is this ure 201 sho other professional service firure 201 Target Knowledge Ratings Figure 202 Companies' Ability to Generate Leads: Wel -Known Co total responses is helpful to see the overal trend in professional services, looking at target enerate leads takes us a step further in underscoring just how iure 202) Coeneration coets versus how eneration companies know
There's a direct correlation-in our data and in our experience-between coet and hoel they can generate leads
Know Your Market Many service fir When they look at their current clients, they see a wide range of industries, sizes, geographic locations, and circuet ood client who et Profile on the next page) But into soe, your offer, and your value wil becoeneric
As you build a target list, you want to ask yourself the folowing questions:Who are the buyers of my services? What are the titles? Whodecisions? Rank your answers according to who is theprocess
Who are the influencers? Who may recommend to my buyers about their service providers? These influencers et
What revenue or workforce size is best forto buy? Who is too sht?
Ree for one reason or another, but who is the best fit?
What geography should I target? East of the Mississippi? In an area I want to set up a new office? Inchance for success
In which industries do I have a good track record? Clients like to know you have experience in their industries Where do you have the best stories to tel ?
What is usual y happening in your clients' coee at al is usual y good for a professional services firood prospect for you?
What is important to your firm? You may be in a mode to take anyone who is available with cash, but ood ones What kinds of roith? Who do you want?
”Successful business developers build their networks like a good ation-one believer at a ti Officer, Perkins Coie SAMPLE TARGET PROFILE
Target Profile-What Do My Best Clients Look Like?
Think of the very best clients you have (or the ones that you want) In the Target Profile Worksheet on the next page, fil in the specifics about whoo to such sources as Hoover's, Info USA, Dun & Bradstreet, Jigsaw, SalesView, ZoomInfo, and so on, to fil in the specifics around the number of companies (and sometimes the individual people at those coet profile
TARGET PROFILE WORKSHEET
My Target Profile Buyers Influencers Size Geography Industries Prospects' business situation Your business considerations Nuets I Want Naets, you need to start co names, addresses, phone nuin by thinking of whom you already knoho should be added to your current database (or list of names in your card file or contacts in your Outlook)
Identify your key referrals, and make certain they are added to your database They need to be reorize your referrals by type and possible practice reference
Build up your contact lists by thinking strategical y about whom you know and who can and should be in the database
Establish a goal for every event you attend, and bring back new contacts for the database
Make sure al new contacts get into the database Over tiine
Capture al lead sources This needs to be dril ed into everyone'slead sources can you learn what is working and where the bestreturn on investe the entire firht have any kind of entry into the types of firet cosaitter, and LinkedIn, to verify na data
Every n starts here Without your targets clearly defined, yourefforts wil inevitably fail to ine if this were possible:You have al the relevant data and details about your clients and top prospects in your database, and the data is constantly updated and clean so you can trust it
You just completed major research on trends in your industry You write a white paper suet the white paper noticed, you run a n via e-mail and direct mail to the people in your database to download this white paper
You run these cans directly out of your database The database is your control center
Although you ht send 500 or 5,000 e-mails or direct e that the person can visit to download his or her own copy of your white paper
When the clients and prospects visit their unique URL landing page, their contact information is prefil ed out on the Web response form, and the form itself is customized to their company and industry
They download the white paper An automatic process sets up a task in your database for the ”owner” of that client or prospect to fol oithin a set period of tinated person at your firm is notified by an e-mail that he or she has fol ow-ups to s into the database to fol ow up, he or she can quickly scan a dossier of relevant company news, information about the contact, and any other relevant infors with that person or coement dashboard to see howwith fol ow-ups (and whotheirs); and what downloads have turned into real pipeline opportunities, new clients, and repeat business
As prospects become clients, critical data is stored (such as contracts); created (such as project plans and tea, project tracking, expenses, and client satisfaction data) in one centralized, easy-to-view place
This infor inforet Internet access
Iine if this were al possible and within the reach of the typical professional services firm!
This is al core functionality of Salesforcecom
Many professional services firms use Salesforcecoies such as Netsuite, Saleslogix, SugarCRM, ACT!, Oracle, RightNow, Microsoft CRM, OfficeAutopilot, and a host of others
Most professional services fir e of any of the database eies can help theet aheadif you can get done what other fir Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right