Wow Your Prospects By Being Different
By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
It’s becoming tougher to cut through the clutter and the noise that is constantly coming at us via social media. Everyone seems to want a piece of us or our time. So, how do you stand out? You stand out by using differentiation! It’s time to resort to the good old fashioned snail mail. Believe me, not only will the postal service be happy with you but you will definitely be noticed for taking the time and the trouble to reach out personally.
Differentiation
I love technology just as much as the next person. The fact that I don’t have to populate every single field in a form and can have my address and contact details auto populated delights me to no end – but at the same time when I open my mailbox and see a hand addressed envelope, I frankly get goose bumps. Remember the feeling over the holidays when you had a stack of hand addressed cards from your friends and family – now all you may get is an email or a Facebook post. I mourn those days! Think about how you can make your next event different.
The In-Person Event
In the world of webinars it’s difficult to establish a rapport with your prospects. It’s easy for attendees to disengage, surf the web, and abandon the webinar because something came up. However, if your event is at a physical location, the prospect that makes the time to hear what you have to say is interested in learning more and is way more qualified than the multiple people you may have at a webinar. And if only one person arrives at your event then that person receives the benefit of having an in-depth discussion with you that would be more than worth their time investment.
Differentiation and The Invitation
Instead of using your marketing automation tool or your email to construct your event invitation, think about having one printed, hand addressed and stamped. I can almost guarantee you that that invitation is going to be opened vs deleted – probably because someone is going to be really curious as to who would take the time and go to the trouble of all that manual labor to get noticed. And there’s nothing wrong with having the recipient RSVP via phone vs an online form.
About a week to 10 days after you’ve mailed out your invitation, take the time to personally call each and every person you’ve invited to ask if they’re coming to your event. This would be a great time to ask them what 3 questions they’d like answered at your event. This will give you a clue as to how and what you need to prepare. Is there a take away you can give them, is there information you can provide your sales person that will help them address their question, is there a gap you can fill with a 3rd party solution?
The Event
Make sure all your key staff are at the event so they can personally meet and greet all your guests. Building a rapport with your prospect is important and sets the stage for how you will work with them. If your prospect walks away with a good feeling about you, your company, and your employees they will feel comfortable working with you over the long term.
Differentiation Follow Up
Wrap up your event by handwriting a thank you note to all of your attendees. Instead of printing your labels, hand write the addresses on the envelope once again. For those prospects that were unable to attend, write them a note too. Let them know that you’re sorry they didn’t attend and invite them to reach out to you for information.
Personalization makes all the difference, it does take time, but wouldn’t you rather spend your time on a handful of good prospects vs a lot of bad ones?
