Impressions - March 2014 - 48

Follow
the
These tips for turning prospects into leads - and leads
into customers - will help you grow your business.
By Mark A. Coudray, Contributing Writer

e

very business needs a steady stream
of qualified leads. Over the years,
lead generation has been a constant
pain for most small businesses.
It goes like this: The business owner
started because he was a screen printer or
embroiderer, and was creative or loved art.
This is typical for our industry. Many business owners think customers magically
will appear because they're better at their
respective disciplines than everyone else.
They've built a better mousetrap and the
world is going to beat a path to their doors.
Sorry to disappoint, but that is false.
The second assumption is that putting
out a sign is going to attract new prospects.
This is the "Location, Location, Location"
myth. While a heavily trafficked location
will increase the likelihood of more people
coming through the door, it's no guarantee.
I like to call this approach "The Oyster
Method" because you basically open up,
and whatever floats by and gets caught
is the work you do. Businesses using this
method will commit to any order under
almost any conditions. Not only is this
inefficient, unpredictable and frustrating,
but you never really know who will walk
through the door and waste your time.
The solution to these issues is having
a proactive approach to lead generation.
Successful businesses can do the work
very quickly and extremely well while
delighting customers in the process. The
easiest way to achieve this is by focusing
48

Impressions | March 2014

on specific types of work and being the
very best at it.

CREATING EXPOSURE
First, view your business as a service to
the market. What are the things your market is most concerned with? Low price?
Fast turnaround? Names and numbers?
Nylon or jacket printing? Special effects?
Single-color work uniforms? Businesses
that become specialists in the areas where
their competition hates to go can charge
more and do a better job. In some cases,
your competition actually can become a
powerful referral source or outsource for
themselves.
For years, my company did virtually all
the high-end simulated process work in
our community. Even if we lost a customer,
we still did the work because it came to us
as a subcontract from a new vendor. This
worked to our advantage in many cases
because the new vendor had to work directly with the customer and we worked
with the vendor. The vendor-to-vendor relationship often was smoother and easier
than the vendor-to-customer relationship.
You need enough of a market for your
services to keep a steady flow of prospects
in the pipeline. Specialization and expertise allow you to capture and convert more
of the available traffic at higher revenue
rates than businesses fighting over pricesensitive, general work. You may have a
smaller percentage of the total market,

but you'll essentially own that business
and generate more income per customer
than your competitors can generate with
general work. It's about working smarter
instead of harder and longer.
However, exposure to your business
or brand is no guarantee of conversion
into business. My personal formula is for
every 10 people exposed to my message,
two may be ready to buy, two absolutely
are not going to buy, and six aren't ready,
but can be persuaded or reminded of
our services and the value of using them.
From the sales perspective, the progression
goes: suspect > prospect > conversion >
customer.
The time this takes is called the sales
cycle, and it can range from a few minutes
to months, or even years. Our job is to
shorten this cycle to the best of our ability.
Approach the potential market systematically. The easiest sale you'll ever make is
to a repeat customer. There are two simple
objectives. The first is to sell to them more
frequently. If you sell to the football team
at the local high school in the fall and the
baseball team in the spring (two sales per
year), what can you do to get more of the
other boys' and girls' teams, band, clubs
and events throughout the year?
Another thing to consider is the concept of recency, or how many days (weeks)
have elapsed since the last sale. The more
recent the sale, the more likely it will be
that you can sell to that client again. This
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