Potential customers are no doubt an important part of any company’s entire sales process. This is because it is responsible for the search and strategic approach of potential customers and when it is implemented properly, can transform sales better. 

But, this step is not so easy. After all, it’s not enough to go behind your potential customers, or worse, go beyond shooting from all sides. You need to do a lot of research on your target audience. 

So, thinking of helping potential clients and achieving good results in your business, we have prepared a complete guide in this regard.

 

What is prospecting for customers? 

When we start introducing potential customers, who are part of your business's target audience, they are looking for more interaction. So, based on this and establishing a relationship of trust, it will be possible to address the complaints and needs of these potential customers, who provide your product or service. 

In large companies, customer expectations are previously met by the sales department. However, this process can easily be done by a small entrepreneur or their sales staff. Just have good knowledge!

 

Where to start prospecting?

There are some important steps to take so that you can start expecting customers and succeed in it. Therefore, we have separated the main and the most important here!

 

1. Define your target audience and understand who they are

Many entrepreneurs, wanting to make an immediate profit, end up shooting every where and offer their products and services to people who are not interested in them. As a result, obviously, you have fewer sales conversions. 

This can happen for a variety of reasons and one of them is the lack of definition and deep knowledge about the characteristics of your target audience. 

Thus, the first step in starting expectations is to define the target audience, understand what their needs are and how your service or product can solve their problems.

 

2. Qualify your leads

As you already know, leadership is people who have shown some interest in your product or service, such as contacting you or filling out a form on the landing page, for example. 

But, this does not mean that leads are potential customers. Before you qualify, categorize and segregate those that have the potential to integrate a business with you. 

This is a necessary screening and it will save you time and resources in the future, which will make your expectations more favorable and firm for customers.

 

3. Create strategies for potential customers

It is also essential to have some strategy to achieve this expectation. In other words, they need to have some kind of plan that can guide their actions. 

In this sense, you have to decide which channels will be used to communicate with the prospect. The same person will communicate with another person at least and most of the time. 

But here’s the tip: be careful not to get in trouble and thus close all possibilities and doors that can still be opened. Therefore, always respect the final decision of your worthy leadership. Also, be sure to determine what goals you want to achieve. It is important to evaluate what is good and what needs to be improved and then adjust the plan.

 

What are the best-prospecting methods?

Now that you know more about what to expect from customers and how to prepare them for better results, now is the time to decide what to do. After all, there is no single way to go through this process. 

Thus, learn the basics and best meet the needs of your business.

 

Outbound

A widely used method of expectation for external clients. It is actively composed of people who are not waiting for your contact and do not even know your business. 

This means that they are not someone who makes their contacts available to your enterprise at any time. In fact, you get these contacts in other ways, such as social media or special catalogs. 

In this sense, this prospecting can be done through: 

●      Telemarketing

●      E-mails

●      Connections

●      social media messages

●      Flyers

 

Event Sponsorships

It is noteworthy that this is a process that requires a larger investment of time and resources than others. Because you will deal with people who have not heard of your business many times. In other words, the task is more difficult. 

On the other hand, it can reach people who would not otherwise know about your business, which can lead to unusual results. 

In this sense, outbound is a method by which B2C merchants use the highest average ticket and the lowest average ticket, which increases the volume of sales.

 

Inbound

Already introverts consist of a method that attracts potential customers through a variety of strategies. Such as email marketing, lead generation through landing pages, and content production (posts in blogs and e-books). 

For this, you can use platforms that help you in this attraction marketing, such FameNet. It has tools for automated marketing called Influencer Marketing and promotional page generation. 

Thus, once these strategies are created, it is possible to communicate with potentials through calls, e-mails, and in-person or through virtual meetings. 

Since a relationship has already been built in the past and people already know and follow your company, chances are good that sales will convert. Thus, low-average ticket businesses can benefit greatly from this approach.

 

Channels

That way, anyone who expects your customers is your business partner. But how? 

Well, a good obvious example is a travel agency that connects travelers with hotels, airlines, and car rental companies. Also too, another type of expectation through channels is affiliate marketing. 

It’s worth noting that the costs involved in the process are minimal, almost zero, and thanks to partners you can even expand your business to other locations.

 

Recommendation

The statement is very simple and easy to understand. After all, as its name suggests, it consists of indications of its services/products by clients. 

Instead, these referrals can happen spontaneously to the customer or you can encourage them through referrals and discount programs. 

In addition, to increase referrals, it is necessary that you invest in your relationship with existing customers. This is because, just to be satisfied, they will "advertise for free" about your business. 

However, keep in mind that this method may not be as effective as others. In other words, conversions may be lower, mainly because your clients will not have referrals based on your target audience. But to acquaintances, who may or may not be interested in your service.

 

Mixed

The most common method lately is blending, which brings together potential customers in a variety of ways. 

This means that you can, for example, use outbound in specific contexts and focus on inbound as a more stable model. Or, establish partnerships and create parallel discount programs for other approaches. 

This arrangement, however, requires consideration of your customer profile, your average ticket, and your number of employees, as well as your ability to work on all selected fronts.

 

Completing sales

Now that you know the main methods of expecting customers, your sales will definitely increase significantly. Because you will have enough knowledge to improve your sales process and bring good results. 

However, you should not forget that in order to make these sales, you need to use a good checkout tool, where you can pay for the products and/or services sold. 

In this case, a good alternative is Famenet, which offers its own checkout platform. With it, you don't need any kind of integration, just register your bank account, something that doesn't even take 2 minutes. 

Also, you can get all the information related to the transaction on the platform. And the support is always available to answer all your questions and help you with whatever you need. 

So, learn more about the company to receive all the results of your fantastic customer prospecting!