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Making Contact with a Client for the First Time (It is important when fielding a phone or paper lead for you not to assume about the type of marketing a client is or is looking to do.

Always find what the client is marketing (After asking for their name – before asking for phone number if they call in).

Assume you know nothing about the prospects business.  Ask questions to stimulate the creative process. PEOPLE LOVE TALKING ABOUT THEMSELVEs.

Ask many questions - get a solid understanding of what the clients company does – make sure you take an agency type of perspective with this line of questioning – there may be lots of hidden opportunities for Vanzan if you simply ask to learn. 

Your largest accounts will be small clients that you cultivate into large clients.  Rarely there is a big order on the first transaction.  Once you gain the trust of a client, they will steer more of their budget your way.

What are the key points of the products usefulness – if you think the product is flawed, speak up.  If you think the target market is something other than what the client is thinking of, let them know.

Data is a Investor – clients are looking for not just good data providers but RELIABLE MARKETING partners that can contribute in many ways.

Anyone can sell data, good consultants look to help their clients grow.  They ask questions, accumulate information, respond to questions, and prioritize opportunities.

Always find out HOW the client is marketing (second question after asking what they are marketing).

Take Plenty of notes regarding their current marketing plan– direct mail, telemarketing, buying leads, word of mouth, referrals, TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, flyers, Trigger Mortgage Leadss, displays, air advertising…..

Find Out Why They Have Contacted Us

Before attempting the close, you have to know how the client is marketing and why they have come to us.  If you don’t know these things, you may miss important information the client needs to know you have in order to feel confident that you are up for the task. 

Possible Reasons:

Unhappy with current data vendor (shopping/buyer)

Do not sell on price here – rather make sure our pricing is competitive and stress value and customer service.

New project or business that needs customers shopping/buyer

These types of clients are either new to buying data or new to buying data on their current project. 

In all cases make sure you stress equally price and service to create the overall best value. 

Also discuss volume and frequency of purchase to get a better sense of what pricing we need to be at.

Curious as to what we can do for their business (browsing)

Be conscious of the time spent with these types of customers.  Many times they either have budgets that are too small or they may not know what they want and can spent a lot of time wasting ours to find out they don’t need the list or the price is out of their budget.

Who Are the Clients Current Best Customers?

Do some walking in their shoes… Think of all the target markets that a client could go after.

Do not be afraid to speak your mind suggestively… understand the big difference between telling a client what to get and suggesting ideas – be patient, ask questions… let the client talk.

Determine whether a person is a browser, shopper, or buyer within the first 2 minutes of the conversation.  Remember that browsers browse, shoppers shop, and buyers buy.

How much per month of X marketing product do you go through?  (notice nothing about cost or total dollars spent… look to see if they say 50,000 (records, not dollars then they are referring to compiled data – if they say 200 they are looking for a ‘response’ lead most likely.) 

An answer to this question means they have bought before or that they buy from many sources.  In this line of questioning we can see how ‘adjusted’ the client is to the industry.  This means we have to talk more about how to keep long term business and how we qualify and manage our data – being honest about using a service bureau is absolutely fine as long as they know our pricing is better, data quality higher,  and our service more timely and accurate. Asking questions like ARE YOU HAPPY with YOUR CURRENT VENDOR? – is a great way to show them how we are BETTER and VALUE their business.

What kind of information do they require on output?

This affects price big time – make sure that you know the retail price of different types of data and their variables (see pricing sheet) – make sure you know what they want before you quote prices and quantities.

Shopper or Buyer, ask to run a count for them in a particular area before discussing price.  (This question should be asked once a natural progression in discussing the list has occurred – never offer a count for sake of doing one – make it a part of the sale – this could mean that you will run the count and email them pricing and follow up via the phone within the next 48 hours.)

Make sure that everyone you talk to knows that running a count and communicating information is free to them but that it does cost us time.

If you ever feel like a client is going back and forth on a data request, make sure you speak up in a jovial and polite way to let them know – "my time is valuable and I have spent a lot of time helping you – are you going to buy this?"– say this in your own friendly joking way so they understand you are serious but not bothered.

There are many ways to do this including:  A polite but firmly direct email.

A phone call with a discussion about the progress of the project.

A polite interruption if they call often to let them know that we typically bill out at $165 per hour for marketing consulting.  (many times they are perfect for this – in this type of situation, always get a manger involved to write up a consulting order).

Make professional conversation with a follow-up date/time that the client picks – ask them when they are most likely going to ‘need’ the data or marketing services.If they are merely browsing for prices or shopping/buying and really worried about price – tell them that you have to run counts first, that pricing is based on volume and selects, and that we will do whatever it takes to win their business if pricing is what matters. (this is the perfect time to get a call back number and email address ‘both are essential’)

Do Not deal with a cross or complaint sputtering customer… a statement like ‘I hate dealing with data companies’ or cursing or demanding attitude should be met with a ‘have a nice day’ and a hang up…

Save yourself time by qualifying leads quickly so that you can spend your time more efficiently. 

Telling people we can’t help them is perfectly fine as long as you are not passing up the opportunity to make at least a deal that is above $200.

Every deal counts, especially the small ones – never pass up an opportunity because the count is too low – small databases are sometimes worth just as much as big ones depending on the product or service being offered.  Always offer a price just to see the reaction.

Everyday, you should get letters and comments that thank you for your persistence.  Properly setting a follow-up time and date in every conversation and following through shows persistent professionalism and people will feel obligated to apologize if they do not buy from you or if they are still thinking about what to do.  The key is not to over-communicate but also definitely not to under-communicate.

Read more about selling lists Here.

Lead generation experts

Offering database marketing, Industry Leading selling lists Solutions, and Subprime mortgage leads.

selling lists

Overcoming objections

•  Changing or questioning the contract after the order has been settled

Our Guarantee

The promise that we make the customer is that we will do whatever it takes to make sure they come back for future marketing needs.  Always keep the discussion with the client about our guarantee of 96% deliverability.  We are able to guarantee this because we DSF (Delivery Sequence File) certify the file.

Refund Policy

Our refund policy is that we will do whatever it takes to keep a client happy short of being taken advantage of.  We do our best to provide accurate information and interested prospects.  We are not however directly responsible for a clients success.  Refunds are granted after a research project is done to determine the fidelity of the claim.

A good sales person knows that closing means isolating and overcoming objections to make the purchase of your product or service make sense to buy, ask your managers for advice on this, we have many books availble to borrow and tons of good closing tips.

Changing or questioning the contract after the order has been settled is not acceptable

Sample Leads

Small Companies – do not give leads to small companies for free, however lead formatting samples are available upon request.

Trust Factor – If they are asking for free leads, you most likely have gone in too fast to get a sale… it is important to make a client feel comfortable with you from a business perspective.  They will respect your time and product if you get to know what they are doing and what they need.

Legitimate Requests – Large companies that are looking for big data partners have a legitimate request for sample data.  To obtain a sample file, the client must have consistently purchased data and prove it with invoices.

 Better pricing elsewhere?

We can beat 99% of competitive bids on any project.  The real question you should ask is if you want to work with this client long term.

Typically price haggling customers are going to be a burden to bear rather than profitable time spent.  We try to qualify the value of customers by placing them into the value equation.

Quality of data and service is an important part of our price.

When dealing with pricing issues, try hard to gage the level of customer service a particular client will need.  If they will need a lot of hand holding and helping, do not skimp on pricing – even if they complain about their budget.  Be aware that you are expected to do the customer service work for each of your clients.

Being competitive is important to us, we want long term relationships.

When a client is asking for a price reduction, look at the circumstantial issues surrounding the request.  Have you stumbled on information?  Does the client believe that we have the ideal product for his marketing efforts?  Has the client stepped up to purchase a good volume of data? 

Not Ready Yet

The single most important objectives to comprehend. 

Timing in marketing is critical to understand.  Many clients will need time to sort through their business affairs before settling on a marketing method.

These customers should be applauded because they have planned over the long term to be successful.  A client that comes for immediate information may in fact be looking for a long term project.

It is important to give these clients 10 or 15 minutes of your time to set up the details on a project.  Further time spent must be justified by their budget and long term goals.  Always be aware of the time you spend with a client.