Ok.. I created a list for Mid-Market businesses. What about small and microsize businesses? Before I go and my two cents on this subject let me explain what a small/micro size business is to me. A small business is 5 to 20 employees and a micro is under 5. A friend of mine Donna Amos has created a term called solopreneur for those who work a one man/woman band.
What is the difference? So many people get this wrong that it prompted to blog about it.
A lead and a prospect are too completely different elements. One could argue that a suspect and a lead or similar. I would tend to agree with that argument.
My simple definition of a Lead: A potential consumer who you are not sure is qualified to purchase your goods or services.
My simple definition of a prospect: A consumer who has is qualified to purchase your goods or services, but has yet to make a purchase.
This has nothing to do with time as some salespeople often think. If a person is not making a purchase today doesn’t mean they are not a qualified prospect. Let’s look a scenario where people often make mistakes.
Company a sells special widgets. Salesperson calls on this lead and finds out the lead just bought a special widget from a competitor and not in a position to purchase again for another 24 months. The salesperson then records this lead as “unqualified” in their CRM database. WRONG!!!!!!!! This bites so many people in the butt. This is a HIGHLY qualified prospect. Just because they didn’t buy from you doesn’t disqualify them. In fact knowing they are with a competitor makes it easier to market to them. You should already know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.
Now what if you sold cars? Does this mean everyone who drives a car, which is just about everyone qualified? Not always. If you sold Class A luxury vehicles and your lead’s age is 45+ and household income of under $30K/year. Chances are they can not afford to buy that new BMW 750i. Even more so, you should not sell it to them. Now on the flipside… if a person who has a household income of $300K/year or more and you sell cars $9995 and under. They are not qualified and it would make no sense to try and make them a customer.
Now… I can hear the comments brewing about the last paragraph. What if? What if? There is always a trump card. If a person walks in and says I want that car here’s the money. You sell it to them and take the money. However, we’re talking about taking someone through the sales process not just a closed sale.
What should you do with all your unqualified leads???? Most people just mark them for dead. That’s one sad and twisted way of looking at it. First thing, Treat everyone as you would your best customer. Second, turn unqualified leads into powerful community influences/referral partners. That person who makes $300K/yr might have many friends or employees in need of cars under $10K.
So I am hoping everyone reading this article (all 10 of you…lol) will help me in getting rid of the term unqualified lead and clear up the confusion between a lead and a prospect.
Business Cards Suck!
I was cleaning my desk and then it occurred to me. Business Cards SUCK! I mean what’s the point anymore? I have several business cards from the same person with a different look same info. What does that DO??? I threw them all away.
Back pre-1995 when most people still had roledex on their desks, it was sort of important. You give someone a business card so they can stick in their stacks of other cards. It was the only “database” many people had. Now, who has a roledex? Everything is stored in Outlook, Excel or hopefully…. a CRM database. Its all gone digital.
Now am I saying you should throw away all your business cards you have now? Of course not…… I am saying BURN THEM. They don’t do anything for you that your website, linkedin or other digital media doesn’t do for you. I was a networking meeting once, and a person once said they spent 6-months developing a new business card. OMG! Are you serious??? 6-months on something that is out-dated and serves hardly any purpose.
So…. what should you do?? I mean you have to give people you meet offline something right? Well…. it occured me that we should begin giving out EXACTLY what we want back. LEADS!. We should turn our business cards into LEAD cards.
What the heck is a Lead Card? Its a term I just created! Yes… credit me with the name ;) A lead card is the same size as a business card, BUT it contains an ACTION statement, Discount Code, FREE offer… something to get the person you hand the card to to make a move towards being a prospect for your business. This gives your cards VALUE. People will not throw away something that has VALUE to them.
For example… if you own a car wash. Your LEAD CARD should contain directions to your wash, hours and an offer for a discounted wash. This will get the person to do exactly what you want them to do. VISIT your wash. What about if you sell insurance? One might think a good offer is “Call me for a FREE quote”. Well, the truth there is…. Everyone knows you offer free quotes. Your offer needs to be a more unique and more meaningful to your prospects. Like “Watch this New Video Report on Insurance Scams” or “eBook: Are you under insured?”. Something that gets the person to THINK and be curious and take action.
We all do this… including myself. We can so caught up in explaining who we are and what we do.. instead of helping the client with the problem they are trying to solve. I swear if I see one of my business card that says “Serving the Area for over 20 years”. WHO CARES!?? Honestly, sometimes when I read it, that makes wonder if you still “got it”. I don’t like to call anyone out, but Accountants are the worse. 99% of the cards I’ve seen are nothing more than a resume or VERY boring. “John Smith, Smith Accounting…. 555-444-1212” (Blue-only letters) Yawn!. That doesn’t not make me want to call you or even be near you. A lead card could be as follows: “Bookkeeping is boring, but we love it! Try us out for 2 weeks and see if we can’t ease your boredom”. Something along those lines that ADDRESSES the PAIN your client is in. Again, we don’t care that you’ve been in business for 40 years. Some of your clients are not even that old.
I think I am onto something here. Be on the lookout for more around this topic. I welcome your comments.
So here’s a subject that I hold dearly, entrepreneurship. Couple that with the true american dream and you have an amazing combination.
So the question at hand is; Is entrepreneurship dying? Dying is a strong a word, but in my observation, I think it is a word that fits the topic of the entry. The question arises from a few conversations I’ve had with some other individuals in person and online. It made me think for a moment and wonder why there is a general down play of being entrepreneurial.
My good friend, mentor, coach, etc… Peg Stookey wrote in a recent article about how others define an entrepreneur. In that article she broadens what the dictionary has classified as entrepreneur. Furthermore she goes into a conversation she had with a local banker and his own definition of entrepreneur. The banker goes on to say he’s only known of 2 true entrepreneurs in his life. To that I say WOW! How that is possible? In my opinion an entrepreneur is ANYONE who sees a business problem, dreams of a solution or opportunity, then takes acts on it. A dreamer is who sees the opportunity and day dreams about what could happen, but takes no action.
Could it be that as children we are now discourage from dreaming of business ownership? Could it be that as a public, entrepreneurs are viewed as a scam artist or greedy people? My observation is now I a trend that often people see a business problem and instead of seeing an opportunity to solve the problem. They an opportunity to either create more problems or an opportunity to simply complain.
I do seem to think the first question is very true. Maybe almost to a level of making me sick to my stomach. It is what keeps dreamers… aka American Dreamers… from turning into American Entrepreneurs. In order to be an entrepreneur you MUST dream. My other good friend Tim Burgess with TCB Success Training states “Imagination is the key all things.” Tim backs my ideology that as kids our parents and the adults around us without knowing suppress this thought process that keeps us from using our imagination. If you can not imagine new things in your mind, you loose the ability to dream. If you loose the ability to dream you never put yourself in a position to have an entrepreneurial spirit.
Stay tuned for future entries as I go into more around this topic and what we can do to turn this around. What made this country (USA) GREAT is the ability to dream and the FREEDOM to take action.
Have an eDriven Day!
Levar Berry's Blog 