By Dave Kahle

You have made a call or two on a prospect, qualified them, and rate them as high potential.  The problem is they don’t have an opportunity at the moment. Lots of potential, but it’s all down the road a bit.  Your challenge is to maintain contact so that when they do have an opportunity, you have a chance at it.

Let’s consider all your options.

First, you can generate a regular series of emails.  Put them into an auto-responder, select a series of messages, and press “go.”  They will get the messages you send on the frequency that you determine.  That’s a very efficient solution.  Once you get the auto-responders set up, it is just a few clicks and you’re done.

It may work, too, if you have personalized the messages, and delivered something of value each time, and if they don’t have a lot to do and don’t get a bunch of email messages every day.  If any of these things aren’t true for the situation, you will find that your email messages will go unread, or worse yet, banned from their inbox.  Of course, there isn’t anything very personal about a series of auto-responder messages.

How about the other side of the spectrum?  Instead of taking the “highly efficient but not very effective” approach, you try “effective but not at all efficient” strategy.  You decide to personally visit every two weeks.  Great idea if…

• you have nothing better to do.
• they have a lot of extra time and can visit with you whenever you ‘drop by.’
• you have something new to discuss each time you visit.

That’s probably not going to happen, so maybe that’s not such a great idea after all.

So what now?

Let me suggest a powerful medium.  SNAIL MAIL!  That’s right.  Here’s an approach that may work for you.

1.  Create a series of “case studies” or “success stories.”  These are one page descriptions of other customers for whom you have done something similar.  Maybe you solved a similar problem, or solved a problem in a similar kind of company.  Regardless, on one side of one piece of paper, describe the customer, their issue, and what you did to solve it.  If you can get a short quote from one of the key people in that company, great.  If you can add a little visual interest with that customer’s logo, or a photograph of the building or the people, even better. For an example, click here

2.  Print a few of these.  Send one on a regular basis to your prospect.  Stick a hand-written sticky note to each one, with a personal message, hand written, by you to them. Mention their name.  Use yours. Hand write the address on the envelope.  Put a stamp on it.

3.  Now, fold into the mix a few personal email messages and an occasional visit, and you’ll have a multi-media stream of touches that will deliver something of value to the customer, keep your name in front of him/her, and demonstrate your company’s ability to bring solutions to folks like him.

One of the challenges in the situation is that there is not a lot you can do to force the opportunity to the forefront.  Like a child in a mother’s womb, it will come when it is ready.  Your task is to keep your name and your company’s capabilities in front of the prospect so that when it is time to act, you are on the short list of people to contact.

That requires that you begin to nurture a personal relationship with your contact person.  But, the best sales people understand that a personal relationship only takes you so far.  You must add a growing knowledge of your company’s capabilities to the personal relationship.  You can be the greatest, most entertaining and attractive person in the world, but if they don’t believe your company can deliver a value-added solution, it doesn’t matter.

Delivering a case study in the manner described above solves both problems.  The personal note is a one-on-one touch, delivering a “feel good about you” impact on the prospect, while the detailed case study demonstrates your company’s capabilities.

Mix a handful of these with a few personalized emails, a couple of phone conversations, and an occasional live visit, and you’ll have a system that will keep the prospect aware of you for months.

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About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and eight countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Copyright MMXI by Dave Kahle

All Rights Reserved.

One of the CRM software solutions that has become very popular among the mid-size and small business community is Commence CRM from Commence Corporation.  Commence is a web based CRM solution that is deployed via a cloud computing environment. The product offers one of the most comprehensive suite of applications in the industry including contact and account management, activity management, lead management, sales opportunity management, marketing, customer support, a document library, project management, reporting and an accounting interface.  E-mail integration with Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, Mac E-mail and access to the CRM system via any hand held device is also part of this robust offering.

Upon entering a password and login, users are greeted with a cosmetically appealing home page or dashboard which is completely customizable by job function and enables the end user to manage their daily activity without leaving the screen.  Customers report that even the most novice PC or Mac users quickly become comfortable with Commence CRM.

The Commence CRM platform also mirrors that of enterprise level programs like Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Built using a Java backbone and SQL server,  Commence is highly scalable and offers excellent performance – two important decision criteria not commonly found in lower end CRM offerings.

While the company’s twenty year history and track record for producing award winning software is a comfort to most companies that select Commence CRM, the product offers several unique features that are simply not found in competitive CRM offerings.  First is a customer account rating feature that allows the end user to rate and color code their customers based on the value they provide to your business.  Some of the rating criteria include company size, revenue produced, profitability, cost of servicing the customer, the potential for growth and retention.  This feature enables management and staff to quickly identify their top customers based on their rating and color.  This rating feature has also been extended to the leads application allowing sales management and their sales team to rate and color code leads based on where they are in the buying cycle.  Another core feature that customers find unique and valuable is an automated organization chart.  The chart is tied to the account and contact records so that employees and management can quickly determine the reporting structure of every customer.

Commence CRM offers an attractive blend of features, function and price that have made it perhaps the best CRM solution for small to mid-size customers.  To learn more about Commence CRM software visit the company’s web site at  www.commmence.com.

By Dave Kahle

            Here’s a situation.  You have created a list of 20 highly qualified prospects.  You’ve researched them, and you know that these 20 people hold your prosperity in their hands.  But they don’t know you, have never spoken to you, and aren’t inclined to drop everything and see you. 

            How do you get to see them?

            You can do what everyone else does.  Send them an email.  Maybe leave a voice mail message.  Then be really frustrated that no one calls back.  Or, you can do something a bit different, and much more creative.

            For those highly qualified prospects, think of using a “pre-call touch.”  A pre-call touch is something you deliver to the prospect that says something about you, catches his attention, and makes it more likely that he/she will see you when you call.

            Here are two examples of “pre-call touches” from my most recent book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

            One of my clients was an advertising agency.  They had identified 100 “right people” – the key people in their market and location who held the future of the advertising agency in their hands.  They had accomplished the first step – identifying the right people – with excellence.

            Now, the problem was to move those highly qualified prospects to interact with the agency.  The experienced team knew that those key people with whom they needed to interact were busy and difficult people to see.  They just wouldn’t respond to the normal channels.  So, they came up with this very creative way of engaging with their prospects.

            They sent each of the 100 prospects a box, about the size of a watch box.  It was wrapped in brown paper and contained no return address.  The name and address of the prospect was hand-written in a female hand.  Inside the box was a sugar cube and a small piece of paper, like the size of a fortune cookie message, with the words, “Keep it sweet.”

            That was it.  Nothing else.

            One week later, those same prospects were sent another box, wrapped and addressed in exactly the same fashion.  This time, it contained a lemon with the message, “Don’t let it go sour.”

            Again, nothing else in the box. 

            On the third week, yet another box, wrapped and packaged identically.  This time, the box contained tinsel foil, like that which you use to decorate a Christmas tree.  The message?  “Make it sparkle.”

            Once again, nothing else.

            Week four and yet one more box arrived, identical to the others.  This time there was only one thing inside – a business card from the advertising agency sales person, with a self-stick note stuck to it.  On the note was the hand-written message, “I’ll call you tomorrow for an appointment.”

            Of the 100 people who received that series of deliveries, every single one of them took the call and made the appointment.  The advertising agency, when faced with the difficult task of engaging the prospect, had developed an effective and creative solution.  They gained their prospect’s attention, they captured their interest, and they prompted them to take action – they took the phone call and made the appointment.  In other words, they engaged the right people!

            Here’s another example.  This time, I was on the receiving end of a well done “pre-call touch.”  I was busily typing away on my computer when the FedEx guy walked into my office, put a box down on my desk, and said, “sign here.”  I did.

            You know what you do when you get a personally addressed FedEx delivery  — stop everything and open the box.  That’s what I did.  Inside was a  package of microwave popcorn.  Underneath that was a plastic bottle of Diet Pepsi.  Underneath that was a linen envelope with my name hand written in a female’s script.  I opened the envelope.  Inside was an invitation, personally written in the same script.  It said, “Dave, We have researched your company, and concluded that yours is the kind of company who gains the most from our service.  I’d like to invite you to take 30 minutes and watch a webinar as I introduce what we can do for you.  Enjoy the popcorn and soda, and let me do all the work.  I’ll call you this afternoon to confirm.”

            I thought to myself, “Not bad.  This probably cost them $30.00 to $40.00.  They wouldn’t have invested that money and time in someone who was not a good prospect.  I probably am right for them.  I’ll take the call.”

This sales person could have sent me an email, and I would have deleted it unopened.  She could have left me a voice mail message, and I would not have returned it.  Instead, she chose to deliver something to me that got my attention and made it much more likely that I would accept her phone call.

Clearly, a “pre-call touch” isn’t for every situation, nor every prospect.  For those high potential, qualified prospects, however, it can be the event that opens the door.

I don’t know what you can use as a “pre-call touch.”  A little creative brainstorming on your part could develop just the right delivery.  Don’t give in to the temptation to send a company brochure (yawn), or just a letter.  Break out of the box and think about what you could deliver that would catch the prospect’s attention, say something about you, and make him more likely to take your call.

It can make all the difference. 

About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and seven countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Photo Credit: by snowmanradio at en.wikipedia source Wikimedia license GFDL Free images from acobox.com

TINTON FALLS, NJ–(Marketwire - April 26, 2010) –  Commence Corporation, a leading provider of Customer Relationship Management software for small to mid-size enterprises, today announced the availability of Commence Lead Scorer, the latest addition to its suite of award-winning CRM solutions. Commence’s lead scoring feature moves beyond traditional CRM programs and enables increased sales effectiveness by targeting high potential customers.

Commence Corporation’s CEO, Larry Caretsky, remarked, “Most companies rely on the expertise of their individual sales representatives to qualify opportunities, which can be inefficient and costly due to a lack of consistency. The amount of time sales teams are spending following up on poorly qualified opportunities may be costing more than most businesses might think. With the addition of our Lead Scorer, companies will receive critical sales intelligence that can support measurable results.”

The Lead Scorer is an automated business process that ranks and scores leads based on a set of pre-defined criteria. The criteria consist of a series of customizable questions that are used to automatically provide a score for each lead based on the responses entered into the system. With a standardized set of qualifiers established by sales management, the process is no longer dependent on the varying experience levels of sales representatives resulting in a high level of consistency.

Combined with Commence’s suite of fully integrated applications for sales, marketing and customer support, the Lead Scorer will give sales teams a laser-sharp focus on the most qualified sales opportunities. By including an automated drip-marketing application that is directly tied to the lead qualification system, the solution nurtures each long-term lead with periodic mailings so the sales team can spend the most time on their most qualified opportunities.

“Commence has a long history of consistently providing added value to our customers. We’re the only CRM that delivers this unique lead scoring functionality at no additional charge to users,” added Caretsky. “By relying on Commence Lead Scorer, companies will shrink their sales cycles and improve their bottom-line results.”

The Commence CRM solution, which may be deployed on-premise or on-demand as a software-as-a-service (SaaS CRM), provides a consolidated system for all customer information, as well as powerful reporting and analytics and support for remote and mobile users. More information about Commence Lead Scorer can be accessed at www.commence.com.

About Commence Corporation
Founded in 1988, Commence develops and delivers a diverse suite of award-winning CRM products that integrate people, processes and technology. Delivered via the popular software-as-a-service (SaaS) model or implemented as on premise licensed software, Commence CRM solutions are used by thousands of companies to streamline sales and customer service front-end business processes. As a result, Commence clients increase workforce productivity, generate positive customer interactions, and reduce cost. More information about Commence can be accessed at Commence.com or at 1-877-COMMENCE.

Click the image above to download the free eBook

TINTON FALLS, N.J. / MMD Newswire/ April 21, 2011 –-  Commence Corporation, a leading provider of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for mid-size and small enterprises, has announced the release of a CRM Best Practices E-Book which may be downloaded from the company’s web site at no cost.

Today’s sales environment is characterized by intense competition, strategic sourcing contracts, online purchasing, customer pressure for self-service and an ongoing debate over fee-based services. To thrive in this environment, businesses need more than leading CRM technology to achieve long term growth and many are beginning to look outside their four walls for growth ideas. In an effort to help businesses sell more and sell more effectively, Commence Corporation has developed a compendium of more than 40 Smart Business Practices, culled from interviews with leading executives within high growth companies and building on a comprehensive review of published perspectives on smart selling.

“… the only path to successful selling is to first develop a consistent marketing and sales process…”

Larry Caretsky
Commence Corporation CEO

“Commence Corporation knows that the information technology investments of sales departments are often wasted due to failed implementations and lack of structure,” says Larry Caretsky, president of Commence and author of the e-book. “This study focuses on the keys to successful selling, all of which can be enhanced with the proper application of technology.” Based on the company’s extensive experience, Commence believes that the only path to successful selling is to first develop a consistent marketing and sales process, then utilize these processes in a disciplined manner reinforced by dynamic training and carried forward through effective coaching. Many companies are contemplating adding a centralized sales and marketing database system sometimes called CRM, sales force automation or contact management. The objective of the e-book is to ensure that these initiatives, by whatever name, succeed for sellers and deliver the results promised.

About Commence Corporation:

Commence develops and delivers a diverse suite of award winning CRM software that integrates people, processes and technology. Commence CRM solutions are using throughout the world to streamline sales and customer service front office business processes. Commence is delivered online as a cloud based CRM solution or as a desktop CRM system. For more information about Commence’s web based CRM offerings visit the company’s web site at www.commence.com.

How Automated Follow-up Software Works

Let’s say for example that you have a new business lead or sales lead. After calling the sales lead you have learned that they are not ready to buy for at least 3 to 4 months.  Using the automated marketing follow-up software you can schedule email documents to go out to the prospect every few weeks thereby ensuring that your company, product or service is consistently in front of them.  Once set up, you can now use this sales and marketing follow up program for any new business leads that fit these same criteria.

Using CRM software for customer follow-up works exactly the same way.  Staying in touch with your existing customers is critical to retaining your customers, building rapport and relationships, and providing quality service.  The automated customer followup software can be used to send educational materials, tips and techniques about your product, press releases, customer testimonials or regular updates about new products or services.

Companies like Commence Corporation have taken CRM software to the next level adding more value to your business.  To learn more about Commence’s web based CRM software, visit the company’s web site at www.commence.com.

I am delighted to invite you to follow Commence Corporation on Twitter and on our new Commence Blog. More and more businesses and individuals are relying on social networking to convey and receive information quickly and simply. Commence’s new social networking presence via blog postings and “tweets” will enable us to enhance our communication and build closer relationships with customers. Whether it’s the latest news on our flexible suite of award-winning CRM products or news in the sales and customer service industries, Commence looks to educate and inform our customers.

Commence’s Twitter followers were the first to know about our new drip marketing functionality. The newest version of Commence OnDemand, a flexible, Web-based hosted CRM solution, now enables marketing teams to automate, and schedule the delivery of text-based or HTML-based e-mail marketing campaigns. Commence understands that companies are being challenged to do more with less. Commence OnDemand’s breadth of functionality – such as our new drip marketing capabilities – makes it the ideal solution for small to medium-sized businesses that want to have one system that manages CRM, sales and marketing. By following us on Twitter or at our blog, you’ll be among the first to learn about product enhancements and industry news.

Larry Caretsky, Chief Executive Officer

Image Credit: by Tstilz source Wikimedia license Public Domain from acobox.com