You Don't Need To Spend More Money To Make More Money From Your Existing Database

You Don't Need to Spend More Money to Make More Money From Your Existing Database
by Mac McIntosh

While the expression above can be true in some situations, smart companies are able to expand income without shelling out more cash. To do this, these companies are working with leads that are already 'hot.'

As an alternative to spending the large sums necessary for another lead-generation project, a look through the existing database can really create an increase in value of the info which is already there. Your company probably already has a list of leads from past campaigns which are 'active,' that is, someone responded or demonstrated interest in come way. But, for some reason they didn't go through with it, and decided not to continue through the process and make a purchase at that time. As a result, these 'hot' leads are simply sitting there idle in the database, waiting for a smart marketer to re-establish contact with them. Whether this smart marketer is someone from your company or one of your competitors is a completely other matter.

It's really too bad that most companies which provide goods and services spend almost 95% of the communications and marketing budget on new lead generation and improving company profile. That leaves us with only 5% of these budgets allocated to turning 'hot' prospects into new sales. This is not the right way to go.

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Our company assisted a business by raising its annual sales figures by more than 40%, all without them having to spend more on marketing. How did we do this? Well, by making key recommendations. We started by maximizing the value of the existing budget, choosing specific advertising, direct mail, public relations, database marketing and Internet marketing partners - for the best ROI. Secondly, the savings freed up by these efforts were reallocated toward fostering valuable relationships with the hot leads in the old database.

We made the suggestion that the business concentrate on companies that purchased in the past, but not recently. Sometimes all that is needed it a little follow-up to get these customers back. At times in can be smart to thank these people for their purchase, asking if there is some type of concern which needs to be addressed in order to bring them back. Tell them you notice they haven't bought recently; is there a problem which can be resolved? Is there some type of incentive required for them to come back? By offering a price reduction to repeat customers a company may setting themselves apart from the others and bringing in the bulk of the business.

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We had success nurturing these hot leads by using the methods above. Sometimes it's just clear communication with these leads which can develop the potential to its maximum. Webinars, email contact, white papers, news letters, and reports are all good ways to develop and maintain good contact until your leads are ready to buy. The process takes time, but the end result is worth it - more revenue for your company and an increasing array of strong B2B relations.

In the case of the company we helped with nurturing leads, the sales representatives and staff now use much more of their resources on the quality leads with purchase-ready prospects. These prospects are already sold on the company in some ways, making them the best candidates for the next generation of ongoing customers.


About the Author

Mac McIntosh is a sales lead expert. Visit: http://www.sales-lead-experts.com for more info.

Articles from November 2007
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