Business History Books » Business Consultant » How to get to the right people
How to get to the right people
Question:
The best marketing approach of this kind I ever heard of was by direct mail to a bunch of managers who were profiled as being predominantly 50+ men who had reached their summits and were bored as hell. The company involved spent quite a bit of money sending these folks a plastic gun and a little target by mail. There was no letter, business card, business franking or anything to identify who’d sent it. Just a little tag attached to the trigger, reading, "to get the ammunition FREE, call [phone number]". The little boys in big jobs responded with about 90% take-up. The ammunition came with a (very) short note asking for a meeting, guaranteeing the sales pitch meeting would take no longer than 15 mins. Combined with a phone call ("I loved your approach" comments flooded in) this proved highly succesful. And the product? I can’t remember, but I do recall it had NOTHING to do with the approach (ie guns, targets etc) which was simply devised to take advantage of the nature of the target group. This precise approach may not suit your company’s desired image (!) but the principle is clear – find a startling mechanism that intrigues your target audience and follow it up. Hope this helps Marcel — Marcel Berenblut Head of Direct Marketing The Princess Royal Trust for Carers is a registered charity. www.caringbritain.org 0171 480 7788
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Response:
Here’s a book worth reading on the subject "The Power To Get In" by Michael A Boylan (St Martins, 1997) ISBN 0-312-15193-4 Michael’s angle is that the sheer volume of approaches made to prominent companies prevents people from even gaining access to decision-makers. This is compounded by the reality we all know about – that most decisions are influenced, if not motivated, by career objectives. This makes it even harder to gain access. His book is about just that: gaining access. In order to get in, you need to give your prospect a compelling reason for seeing you. He identifies 4 key drivers that you need to plug in to in order to be guaranteed access: 1. Your prospect’s fear of loss 2. Your prospect’s curious insecurities 3. Your prospect’ s competitiveness 4. Your prospect’s desire to be a serious player He calls his system for engaging these drivers, the Circle of Leverage. The basic idea is, if you approach your prospect and certain key people around hem simultaneously with a specially designed message – and let your prospect know that you’ve approached them – you can not only overcome these drivers, but use them to your advantage. The key people are: 2 peers boss boss’s boss competitors He obviously has a lot more to say on the subject. If you’re plagued by barred access, I strongly recommend you read his book. Michael refined the concept working for a company whose products were targeted at the general counsels (top lawyers) of Fortune 500 companies. It was nearly impossible to get access to these people, because of the many layers of legal staff beneath them. He was able to secure interviews with 79 of them within 4 months. Another story he tells is of CEO’s of the top (music) recording companies in the US being amazed that he had been able to get so many of them to listen to his music (which didn’t blow them away) in spite of being totally unknown. This is what led to him writing his book. Good luck! Rgds Gary Bartlett http://www.probsolv.com A new way to approach challenging situations
Response:
Assuming the product is actually "unique" and "valuable". I suggest you identify the profile(s) of those who would greatly benefit from the purchase of your product. You now have to craft both a Story (Introducing your company) and a Message (Hitting the target audiences responsive chords) and tailor them to your target audience(s). Now you start the market communication and prospecting processes to allow your sales representative to initiate the relationship and selling processes. You have now reached the point where a number of your qualifed prospects will make a decision to buy. The conversion rate will determine how effective your marketing and sales processes have been. It will also determine whether or not you have a business. Simple, isn’t it? J.P. Solyom
Response:
To get primary buying influencers to invest time in your meeting, you must ensure they perceive a valuable experience before they commit precious hours. A generic invite simply would not work. Nor would a costly extravagant gimmick of some kind….heavy-hitters have seen it all and are not impressed with our crackup creativity. So the only option to get VIPS in a room is to communicate effectively. That to me means giving your target list members something of unquestionable information value—-trend news that indeed has an impact on how they view their world. I recommend three brief TRENDS YOU NEED TO KNOW AS A BUSINESS LEADER….hard-hitting, provocative news snapshots…no fluff, no selfish promo…you want to make them think to say, gee, I haven’t given this issue enough thought! Who’s the source? Send a report once a week for three weeks. Then seek interaction by asking for a response….to a survey, to hot-button questions you tell them you want to have answered for your cutting edge research reports…that you wish to quote them and will send copies….ask if they want to be kept on your list….then do a brief, exciting announcment about a breakfast meeting where they will meet with their peers to hear about new-thinking that really matters in their work world. Name a few heavy-hitters you will plant among them as your guests. Give two different days on two different weeks for options. And—should you NOT be able to fill the room with hot prospects and therefore won’t host a breakfast pitch, offer VIP treatment to the committed. Say you are so pleased of their interest, you want to take them out of a meeting environment and have breakfast, lunch or dinner with them….or stop by for a one on one meeting. Don’t spend big dough to try to impress. it doesn’t work.. Just really care about your audience you MUST attract and speak to their hot button needs, motives, drives, aspirations… It works! Y’all come, ya hear? Jim Monahan PR IMPACt "The Marketing & Public Relations Consultants for Consultants" Phone 847-675-9060
Response:
You might try sports marketing. Lycos just signed on to sponsor a Winston Cup team, but you don’t have to go to that expense to get the same effect. Local and regional events can serve the same purpose. In your case, I think I would invite the prospects to an event. Set up a hospitality area. (This can be as easy as renting a motor home to set up in the parking lot.) Have some restaurant cater a simple meal, maybe barbeque. Then you get one on one with the key decision makers and let them know about your product. I have seen this work well at all levels. Three years ago I was invited to attend a function in the Kellogg’s luxury suite at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Attendee’s included the chairman of Winn-Dixie and other Kellogg’s customers. I have also seen a local concrete company entertain its customers at Orange County Speedway’s picnic pavilion. The results are the same at both levels. Build product awareness. Build customer relationships. Increase sales and bottom line profits. Paul http://www.racerworld.com/raceteam/pm_racing#1 – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I am selling an new Internet and intranet based product which our > business knows is genunly unique and valuable. We have no real > competitors, but the message must be delivered in a meeting. My prime > task is therefore getting the right people to commit to a meeting with > us. This is turning out to be a tough ordeal as my likes has been > there before and said the same stuff and bored the shitt out of them > in meetings. Therefore it seems their screening so tough that a > meeting is out of the question as a rule. Any good suggestions of how > to get these people’s attention for