Business Development is about being both tenacious, creative, and patient.
I have recently had trouble reaching prospective clients. I call, I email, I send snail-mail. NOTHING. Cold-calling, while a useful tactic, has not been working.
The good news is I know all about networking! (heck, I wrote a book about it!). But I also know that you cannot always network your way into every company as quickly as you might like. Fortunately, I have always believed that networking is just another useful tool, not the total answer.
Today I discovered that a combination of all tactics will work the best. I had called on a specific company for six months. I had left voicemails, sent emails, and had dropped off information. I could not reach my prospect and he would not call me back. I met another executive from the company at a networking event and we hit it off. I was going to move my attention to my new contact when out of the blue I heard from they guy I had been trying to reach for a year.
It turns out my name came up in conversation at the company and that spurred him to call me. Now I have a meeting scheduled.
Will I win the account? Maybe. But without the appointment there was no chance. So while no one tool helped me reach the prospect, a combination of many made it happen.
Never give up! Instead keep looking for unique ways to make contact. While I am still having a difficult time reaching my would-be prospects, I am still calling back until they meet with me!
Have A Great Day.
Thom Singer
www.thomsinger.com
thom@thomsinger.com
PS- Thank you to all who have recently purchased my book at Amazon.com. October was our sales month on Amazon!!!
Thom, this is a great post... as a job seeker earlier this year and now as a marketer I've wondered why it is so hard to get a simple reply back. One reason is the "sense of urgency" - mine is very high, their's may not be (because of other issues they are dealing with). Whatever the reason is, though, I encourage people to continue working it... and realize the time frame people work in. When you are used to things coming out "next quarter" or "next year" is it any surprise that we are a people of returning the call "later" - sometimes significantly later??
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