Use the right tools to find new customers
Direct mailing, emailing, faxing, telemarketing, leaflets, events, advertising in the press, sales force, sponsored websites, sign posting ... According to your required cost of acquisition for new customers and your prospects' rapport to your offer you must use certain medias and not others. Identify the medias most suitable to your prospection !
Each step for your project : Use the right tools to find new customers
Leaflets are a very effective tool to target prospects on a precise market radius. Economically viable and reaching a wide audience, leaflets are a media which gives prospects instant information about your company. Attach particular importance to the choice of location to ensure an effective distribution of your leaflets. According to the volume of leaflets you wish to distribute, you can either use a photocopier, a digital printer or even a professional printing company.
Direct mailing is a valuable tool for prospection. It makes it possible to generate appointments for your sales teams. Direct mailing is particularly effective preceding a telemarketing campaign. It allows you to develop your proposition in reference to the document sent. You have to allow £1,000-3,000 to have a direct mail campaign designed by a professional. Remember to add the printing and franking costs (stamps, usually the most expensive) to this initial expense. Do not forget to include the cost of acquisition for prospects' data (between 10p-50p per address, usually a minimum purchase of £300). For more information, discover the checklist : Organise a successful Direct Mail Campaign.
Adding commercial links on search engines only costs you a small amount of money for activation, then you pay for the number of clicks on your links. You purchase the commercial links by rank (1st, 2nd, 3rd, ...) through an auction system. The minimum rate for a click is £0,05 and can go up to over £1 according to the level of competition. For this reason, it is essential to have an effective website which transforms your clickers into customers. The good thing about sponsored links is that you can test the efficiency of this kind of promotion with a small budget over a short period of time. Discover the checklist: Increase your website traffic.
Whatever your method of prospection, you need to acquire targeted data files, a CRM software and possibly a commercial phone number to ensure optimisation of telephone responses. The prospects' lists must be acquired according to the specifics of your target audience. The data can be rented or purchased and contain several lines of information (email, phone number, address, fax number), according to your requirements. For a maximum return on investment, acquire targeted and up to date data. Data companies usually have a minimum purchase order value of a few hundred pounds.
The costs vary according to the objective of your telephone prospection campaign : appointment management, identification of prospects, data verification, customer satisfaction campaigns, ? To contact a few hundred prospects by phone, allow a budget of around £1,000-2,000, depending on your objectives. Telemarketing is a very effective technique but requires a consequent budget in order to achieve the desired results. The skills of the telemarketing agents who are going to carry out your telemarketing campaign are essential for the optimisation of your results.
Participation to trade fairs, events or exhibitions is a good way to meet numerous potential customers in a short amount of time. If your company sells consumers' products, you may also be able to sell them directly at those events if their cost of acquisition is not too high. For professionals, exhibitions are a good opportunity to make first contacts with customers, rarely to make a sale. From small stands worth a few hundred pounds to personalised ones priced per square meter, fold ups or outdoor exhibition tents, there is a stand that suits your budget.
Emailing is one of the cheapest solutions when it comes to prospecting new customers. It generates requests for quotes and appointments for your sales teams almost instantly. Emailing also generates ecommerce for reputable websites. An email campaign requires 3 contributors: an agency for the drafting of the message, a data supplier and a platform to broadcast the campaign. e.g.: for a 10,000 emails campaign, you must allow a budget somewhere between £5,000 to £10,000. The difficulty of an email campaign is to find some accurate data targeting presicely your customers. Discover the check list : Increase your website traffic.
