Question

Topic: Strategy

How To Communicate With Prospects?

Posted by Anonymous on 7/6/2005 at 1:09 PM ET 125 Points
I have been tasked with designing a communication (or communications) that will go out to our large base of prospects. The concept I've been given is to put our name in front of these prospects, while giving them value in return.

To accomplish this, my first thought was to offer a "course" over the space of a few e-mails. Given the complex area we sell in, that may not be easy, but it's the best idea I've come up with so far.

Do you think a course is a good idea? Or can you suggest better ways to communicate with a customer base that aren't simply a series of sales letters?
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted on 7/6/2005 at 2:33 PM Author
    Steve:

    Thank you for these excellent questions. I'll post shortly with responses to as many as possible.

    -Anne
  • Posted on 7/6/2005 at 3:49 PM Author
    To clarify, this is a venture-funded enterprise software firm with a growing base of global customers. Our geographic footprint is international, as companies pretty much anywhere in the world can benefit from our product if they a) use SAP and b) have revenues of $1B plus.


    The prospects I speak of are people we've already touched at some point in our lead generation process, which includes the use of Knowledgestorm, Web demo and white paper offers on our site, advertising, cold calling, trade shows and other traditional sales activities.

    No, to my knowledge none have asked for a course, but they have responded well to the hands-on feel of our educational Webinar, which is one clue I've got as to what motivates t hem.

    The competitive landscape is brutal. We have lots of companies out there purporting to do what we do, and one competitor in particular that has vowed to wipe us off the map. We're doing well in spite of our perhaps in the face of such competition, but it's a tough world out there.

    As for what the competition is doing to touch customers with content, I confess I honestly don't know. I guess your questions have gotten to the nut of the problem. (I was handed a rather general assignment and now need to fill in details on my own.)

    I guess my next assignment is to pin down more of what's going on out there in terms of how other competitors are touching customers and see what I can learn from that! If anyone reading this can tell me what they're seeing in terms of prospect communications (newsletters, courses or other 'content' as opposed to straight selling), I'd be grateful for the feedback.

    Steve, thanks for making me think this through the right way.
  • Posted by michael on 7/6/2005 at 9:09 PM Accepted
    I always bring it back to the basics. As you said, the market is replete with with papers so I have to ask, as course in what? What would the course cover that hasn't been covered?

    The basics are:
    1) Customers, in any industry, just want to know they're making a good decision
    2) Many prospects sit on the fence because they don't know HOW to make that decision
    3) If you help them make the right decision, regardless of where they buy from, you have the best chance of earning their business
    4) The earlier on in the sales cycle you start marketing to them the earlier you become the knowledge leader and have the best chance of closing the sale.

    SO...Take you sales hat off and ask "What are the 3 most important things to consider when buying this?" Don't say what you think as a salesman, say what the customer needs to know.

    Example: I'm working with someone in the travel industry right now. Since travel has almost become a commodity, the issues are: 1) Financial stability of the company 2) Access to a real live person not an 800# 3) FLexibility in case of changes in the customers situation.

    Based on these, many customers will pay $50 more, but not $200 more.

    We educate the customer on why these 3 things are important and then we tell them how we answer those issues and they call around and come back to us and pay $50 more.

    Again, get to them early in the process.

    Michael
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 7/7/2005 at 10:36 AM Accepted
    Michaels post started a train of thought for me.

    As these prospects/suspects are already in your lead generation process, is there any way you can segment them?

    Most marketing commuications has one of five main goals:

    1. Awareness of your business
    2. Awareness of your products and services
    3. Generating a desire to buy your services
    4. Aiding the actual purchasnig process
    5. Post purchase reassurance

    If you could identify which of your prospects need which message (probably 1-3), you are half way to answering your own question.

    Good Luck
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Strategy)