Prospecting for new business is a numbers game; the more prospects you contact on a regular basis, the more new business you will generate.

Which begs the question, how do we increase the number of contacts on our prospect lists?

The remainder of this article sets out a few ideas for you to consider:

• Ask your clients. Next time you speak with a client ask them if they would be happy to ask business colleagues to send you their email address, you could then email and offer a complimentary chat with the minimum outcome being agreement to be added to your newsletter distribution list.
• Ask your staff. In some ways, your staff should be your most active prospect collectors. Encourage them to direct friends – with or without business interests – to sign up for your newsletter.
• Work with your professional referral sources (IFAs, banks, solicitors etc) to add your content to their email broadcasts.
• Push traffic to the newsletter signup or other prospect capture points on your website. Use social media, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Consider online advertising campaigns.

In pre-GDPR days all we had to do was collect business cards and drop contact details into our database. Now this same information must be “opted-in”; in effect, prospects must confirm their opt-in to your contact list using online forms.

One way to encourage sign-up is to offer something tangible in return, say a free information pack on a relevant subject. 

Building your prospect list is a chore that should not be avoided. Never forget that prospecting is always a numbers game, to repeat our opening remarks, the more prospects you have the more new business you will generate.

Source: New feed