The Bigger They Are...The Harder They Hurt - Part II

Recently wrote a post on the glories and challenges of having disproportionately large clients.  Great to have them because they can generate a lot of solid revenue, but oh so tough if/when they disappear.

The story of two principals on two different paths.  Spoke to one yesterday who is "so busy with his big client that he doesn't have time to think about new business" and another one about two weeks ago who said "so busy with this big client...but your post on the dangers of getting sucked in are real...let's talk".  They've since become a client of RSW/US.

Too busy for new business?  I don't care if it's us, or someone else, or you....have we not just been through a near depression.  Have not most of you had to lay off some, if not nearly all (as I've seen with some agencies) of your personnel? 

I don't care how big that client is...or how busy you are.  There are little, simple things you can do to keep a low level of new business activity running.  No time to manage a full blown program, call us, we can help.

Here are some ideas for you...things you can do to keep it going, at least at a low level:

1. Build a list of prospects.  Something the admin can do.  Buy the city's book of lists and start there.  Have him/her call and get names of the key marketing people in the organization.  And the list doesn't have to be huge...but it should have some mass.  Start with 100;

2. Post once a week and push out the post via a value-added email to your prospects.  Maybe to give the email release a little volume, add links to some recent articles you've picked up that you think might be interesting.  Do this the same time every week, so people expect it - or aren't surprised when they see it;

3. Use a system to push out your emails that enables you to track who opens and clicks.  Vertical Response is one mechanism.  There are others, like "Emma" that can do the same thing.  This way, you're only spending time calling on those that take action on your email;

4. Take some action on those that take action - after they open a few times.  Call a few days later to "follow-up and just check in".  Send them a piece of your work.  Drop them a hand written note stating that you would love the chance to speak and will call sometime soon.  Create a mechanism that become rote...something your admin can do (if it's a mailing) or organize for you (Mr. Smith...here's your call list this week).   Do something to provide some consistency.

5. Keep it relevant.  Put your prospects' names/companies in your google news tracker and/or create a tweet deck to follow them on Twitter and/or have someone look them all up on LinkedIn and capture key elements of their profiles.  All good stuff to have to make the reachouts more personal, relevant, and substantive for you (and them).

Ok...so think about it.  What I've described takes a weekend day to organize.  It take 15 minutes a week to post (I've just written this post in 14 minutes at 5:35am), it takes a couple hours every few weeks to place calls or send notes to those who have consistently taken action on your emails.  And it takes the time to set up the team to do the jobs you need to support the effort (e.g. research upfront, pushing out the emails, collecting the opens, etc.).

Maintenance of the outreach is key here. 

Organized methodology is key here. 

And value-added messaging is key here. 

All things you can do to keep a low level of connect...just force yourself to make the time.