Surviving in a Down Economy, Step Three - Find New Opportunities
Posted by: Carl Smith on Thursday February 12, 2009
When you first launched your company you had some plan to get the word out that you were open for business. And if you’re like us, while you were working on that plan your first client showed up. How did they find you? At nGen Works it was because someone went to school with Varick. After that, the flow of clients either kept coming in or slowed down. Maybe you suffered from the “feast or famine” cycle a lot of service companies go through. Whatever it was, there was a way people found you. Do you know what it was?
Well, think about it for a minute, if you want to find new opportunities doesn’t it make sense you should figure out where your best, and worst, clients came from. Then you can find ways to expand those channels and get more leads.
Here is a listing of lead sources and the percentage of good projects we’ve landed from them. You’ll see the top three are based on word of mouth and relationships. It’s also important to note we didn’t put equal emphasis on maximizing each lead source, so this isn’t scientific data. It’s a snapshot of what happened while we weren’t really trying.
- Referrals – 39%
- Relationships – 24%
- Repeat Business – 19%
- Talks – 7%
- Direct Mail – 5%
- Awards – 3%
- Who the frack knows? – 3%
- Advertising – 0%
Once you have a grip on where the work is coming from you can make informed decisions about where to focus your limited resources. I recently heard someone at a business development meeting say “don’t try and boil the ocean, you don’t have enough fire.” I think this is brilliant. Figure out what you can do that gives you the biggest impact for the time required. (Yes I did just avoid saying “ROI,” thank me very much.)
As the sucker in charge of business development at nGen Works, I have to decide where to focus. Here’s a quick hit on our approach to finding new opportunities in 2009.
First, we want to protect and grow the top three lead sources we have. Referrals, relationships, and repeat business can all be maintained with ongoing targeted communications. Either email blasts or phone calls to check-in and see how things are going. When you stay in touch they’ll remember you when the next opportunity comes up.
Second, we need to get out and share our expertise with the right people. Notice I said “the right people.” It’s no good to hang out with people like you, who sell what you sell. Ask your best clients about conferences they go to and then hang out with the people who actually need your services. What’s great is if you can get an opportunity to speak at a conference your client will be attending. It makes them feel like they were so smart to find you and they’ll sing your praises to the other people you meet. Also look for opportunities to publish articles in their industry’s publications or to write timely blog posts that appeal to a large spectrum of professionals.
Third, we are making sure we expand our relationships by using a technique called power mapping. Basically, we’re looking at everyone we have a relationship with and then seeing who they have a relationship with that may need our services. It’s a way of getting a lead that is more open to talking because they know you through a friend or colleague. In a tight economy, you’d be surprised how happy most friends, family members and clients are to help. Assuming, of course, that you aren’t a jerk.
We’re also looking at giving direct mail another go. It can be intensive and cost a few bucks, but we once turned a postage stamp into over $100,000 worth of business. Still it kind of feels like playing the lotto and littering the world.
Because I’m a planner I have a full-blown plan with pages of tactics. But even with as much as I like you, you’ll have to write your own.
So what is your plan? Where has your work come from? Who likes you and wants to help you succeed? What can you honestly maintain with regard to lead generation?
Answer these questions and roll up your sleeves. If we’re all smart and work hard, this economy won’t hold us back.
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