Generating Business in a Virtual World

Each day has brought new information on the coronavirus, and now hopefully a vaccine. It has created fear, chaos and fatigue. As sales and marketing professionals, we know that this combination can bring a halt to business. However, it can also generate leads, new relationships, and business opportunities. That’s what we’re going to focus on today.

Work from Home

Many sales and marketing professionals are already accustomed to working from home. It takes discipline, organization and your own personal drive for success. Let’s take a moment to put a couple helpful hints to work.

1. The night before, make a list of what you want to accomplish the following day. This can include calling efforts, personalized messages, and follow-up calls / proposals.
2. Schedule breaks in-between. When you accomplish a project, reward yourself with going outside for some fresh air, making yourself a healthy lunch, or talking to a colleague on the phone. Remember, don’t watch TV. It’ll be distracting and difficult to get back to work. The key is to focus and stay positive.
3. Make a goal of how many contacts you want to talk to today and with what result.

I’m sure most of you already keep these three practices to some degree. However, when the environment changes, so does our habits. It’s important to be diligent so you never miss a beat.

 

Calling Efforts to Generate Leads

This is a good opportunity to get on the phone and make some prospecting phone calls. If you haven’t had a chance to call lately, then let’s make your time as productive as possible. We all know how discouraging cold calling can be when you’re trying to generate leads normally. Now when working from home… it can be even more challenging.

Let’s make your time productive. Knowing where projects are occurring is where you want to focus your time. If you don’t know where all the opportunities are within your territory, SalesLeads can help.

Our researchers do the challenging work of uncovering business expansions, capital projects, relocations, or renovations. We report them to you in real time. These are called Project Reports. You’ll get all the information you need including a summary of the project, along with project contact names, titles, phone and email. There’s lots more information: view it for yourself by opening a free account.

This will allow you to focus your energies on accounts that will be entering buying mode for a variety of equipment, products or services.

 

Personalized Messaging is Key

It’s important to craft a strong, personalized message. Get to the point and show that you understand your prospects have a project in process. Give them valid business reasons on how your services can help or improve their facility or operations. Give them your mobile phone so they can contact you quickly and personally– perhaps even via text.

Now you’re ready to send. But hold on…because of working from home, everyone is getting LOTS more emails. If you choose to send an email, your subject line needs to be strong. That may be all they read. So don’t sell; instead, get to the point.

Another avenue to generate leads can be LinkedIn. This is our professional networking tool, so we need to connect and send short, concise messages. This is how you will differentiate from the competition.

Because you may not be able to go on-site to the customer, use technology. Communicate face-to-face with Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, Line, or even FaceTime. Use these tools to conduct more personal meetings but also to have the prospect ‘show’ you virtually what the issue is, and what they are trying to accomplish. Have you tried that yet?

 

Now Track Prospects for Key News

You’ve called and now emailed the contacts from the Project Report. You may or may not have connected, but you still have one more step before you move on to the next project. Automatically track the news that pertains to key topics.

For instance, you called X company that has an identified expansion project. You wonder if there’s more coming up. You can track the company for ‘business expansion’, funding activity, M&A activities, or a list of other topics. You will only get the news based on your selection…not everything. When the news comes up, now you have another reason to call and position your products and services.

 

Wow, that was a productive day calling on Project Reports. You’re able to continue building your business, generate leads, and are more efficient and effective than ever. Great job!