Prospecting Made Easy

Today's message is very short and sweet... well maybe not so sweet but short for sure... and hopefully helpful to you.

We've all felt the frustrations of trying to get good clients. Heck, trying to get new clients period can be a real challenge.

So today I wanted to share a few ideas that have worked for me...

Start by making a list of who you'd like to work with. Think: "Who's my perfect prospect?" If you could hand pick any client, who'd that be?

This could be connections from a past job, or business associates that you know and who like and trust you or a vendor who you've done business with in the past. As a last resort you could put together a "cold list" of prospects.

Study that target market intensely and find out what problems they're dealing with today, who are they (male, female), how old they are, what magazines they read etc.

Learn all you can about your perfect prospect and the marketplace in general. This is a critical step. This is very important step and should done before you start your marketing message. I know that I've talked about this many times, but it's super important.

Once you have a target group in mind, create a mailing list. You're going to be sending them numerous messages, offers, and various messages over and over until they become clients, so I suggest that you put these names in a program like Excel so you can keep up with them easily.

Study the competition and learn what they're doing what offers they're sending out, go to their websites, landing pages, and direct mail etc. This way you can position your business uniquely.

Once you feel you have enough "intel", create a lead generation letter and send it to your prospect list.

It's going to take more than one letter. I like using a letter series sent over a couple of weeks. Sure, you can sometimes close the deal on a single letter but it's very unlikely. The power in direct mail is by mailing several letters not just one.

So, don't be discouraged if you don't get a response on the first letter you sent. This is typical. Again, the power of a letter series goes a long way to landing that client.

You got to remember, people are busy, they are preoccupied, and flooded with lots of distractions, junk mail, and advertising messages in today's super-busy world.

Lastly, I encourage you to study the masters. Learn all you can about your craft. If you can afford a mentor, then by all means hire one. A good mentor will save you tons of money, time and frustrations. It's as good as money in the bank... provided you follow through and act on what you've learned.