How to get more business is to keep your customers, fans in your sales funnel. It’s important to keep qualified prospects in your pipeline. Not just anyone but qualified ones.
Especially when at one time or another they have spoken to you and said they were interested.
3 Tips to Help Keep the Marketing & Sales Pipeline Full
Do you ever find yourself pushing prospects into buying your products or services, even though at the current time they are not the best fit? We may know full well that they don’t have the budget right now, that they’re in a contract with another organization that runs through the rest of the year, or that they just don’t have the need at the current time.
Regardless of the reason, even if we know they’re not the best fit, we still feel inclined to stuff the proverbial square peg into the round hole. We do this because we don’t have enough prospects in our pipeline. This is why it is so important that we are engaging in the right activities that will be consistently filling our pipeline with qualified prospects. Those are the two key words – CONSISTENCY and QUALIFIED. By consistently filling the pipeline with qualified prospects, we’ll never feel the urge to push a prospect that is just not ready to close. Here are 3 easy tips to help your pipeline stay full!
1. When visiting your clients, ask them 3 things – Do they have any additional upcoming needs? Would they introduce you to others with in their organization that may need your products and/or services, and lastly, ask them who else they may know in their network that could use your products and services the same way they do.
2. Identify strategic alliances that sell into similar industries or to the same buyer but are not your competition. Leverage these relationships for warm introductions
3. Go back through old proposals, leads and introductions that never panned out and make a few calls – they may be ready now!
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There are many times also when we can call up our connections and ask them for help as well. I started to respond to my connections on LinkedIn, with a welcome message and let them know that I am available for a 15 minute conversation..people do call me. Mostly it has been people who are seeking work or connections to help them get to where you go. Even if you share with them what has worked for you or someone else..it’s just nice to know that you aren’t the only one having a challenge, right?
