Knock 7 Times If You Want Me: Why You Need Patience and Persistence to Turn Prospects into Clients
The following post comes to us from Erica Stritch, General Manager, RainToday.com
estritch@raintoday.com
In my line of work I’ve had the opportunity to speak with, and learn from, experts and gurus in the field of marketing and sales for professional services. The one thing I’ve learned more than anything is that marketing and sales takes time and follow through.
Everyone is looking for the silver-bullet, quick-hit way to get more leads and close more business. But let me tell you a little secret: Marketing and sales takes patience and persistence.
Too many times I’ve spoken with professional services marketers who have tried out various marketing tactics and, after one month, claim they don’t work. They run one webinar, speak at one conference, write one article, or send out one direct mail campaign. When no return is seen directly after the campaign, they give up and say, “I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work.”
Especially in an economy when sales cycles are getting stretched even longer, it can take 12, 18, 24 months just to get a first meeting with a prospect (and this is after that prospect attended an event run by your firm or has been reading your firm’s articles for years).
Just to get through to the decision maker takes a great deal of effort. According to The Bridge Group 2009 Lead Generation Metrics & Compensation Report for Technology Companies, it takes an average of seven touches to “convert a suspect to a prospect.” That’s seven touches with a mix of webinars, articles, speaking engagements, phone calls, and direct mail campaigns just to get through and get a meeting with a new prospect. And, that is just the beginning of the relationship. The long sales cycle in professional services can add years to this timeline. You need to be persistent to continue building the relationship.
Now, persistence does not mean calling the prospect each week to see if they are ready to buy. (That is just being a pest.) Persistence does mean reaching out to and staying in touch with prospects in a way that builds the relationship and positions you as a valuable resource and trusted advisor.
Those firms that see the most growth invest the time and money into formal processes for touching prospects in these ways. They have the persistence to run these campaigns on a regular basis and the patience to wait for the long-term returns.
As famed politician Edmund Burke said, “Our patience will achieve more than our force.” Prospects are going to engage you when they are ready. You can’t force them into meeting with you or buying from you and you can’t trick them into it either. You need to have patience to guide them along the decision-making process and persistence to not give up.
It is easy on the 9th month to get frustrated and proclaim that your efforts aren’t working. However, marketing is cumulative and overtime the efforts and investments you make early-on will pay off.
Know that it takes time to get through to prospects. It takes time to build trust and credibility. It takes time to demonstrate your value. It takes time to paint the picture of the new reality your prospect could reach if they worked with you.
Take this time, every day (or every week at least) and don’t give up. Sooner or later the prospect that took you 12 months just to get an initial meeting with and another year and a half to close could mean tens of millions of dollars to your firm.
And remember, RainToday…Dark by Midnight.
