Crippled CEO Blog #113:
If you are a business that sells to other businesses, or you’re a nonprofit looking for sponsors, chances are you know which clients are your dream clients — the ones that would really have a profound impact on your business.
What is interesting, is that even though we know who these clients are, we continue to promote ourselves in general, just sort of hoping that they might come to us. Or, instead, we make a lazy, noncommittal attempt, like a random phone call or email. This way we don’t get upset when nothing comes of it.
But we tend to get the things we focus on. So, why not focus on these dream customers in a real way?
But what to do? Do we call them every day? Maybe stalk them? What’s the strategy?
My favorite tactic for this scenario comes from the book The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes.
Here’s what you do.
First, make a list of 100 dream clients.
Next, we are going to plan out a creative mail and call campaign that will go to each of them.
Let us imagine that we are a water safety nonprofit trying to secure our dream donors.
First, I would take my list and send each of them a toy Rubik’s cube. Along with it, I would send a letter explaining how reducing the number of fatal drownings is a puzzle, like the cube, and you need her help to solve it.
Next, I would send a cheap compass along with a letter saying how you know which way to go to stop children from drowning, you just need her help.
Then I would follow up with a call.
I would keep sending cheap $1-5 “gifts”, one per week, along with notes connecting them to what you’re doing, like the Rubik’s cube and compass, and then call after every 2 or 3 I sent.
I would do all of the work — picking out the gifts, writing the letters — BEFORE I started sending them. That way, it’s all ready to go and automated.
If we do this for our 50 or 100 absolute dream customers, week after week (for maybe… 15 or 20 weeks), I feel pretty safe saying that it is a guarantee that we get at least one of them, but likely several.
Now, you might be thinking that it’s a lot of work, and also a pretty large investment. If we figure $3 per dream client, that’s $300/week. If we go for 20 weeks, that’s $6,000.
That’s a lot of money.
But if you get two or three of them, what is that worth? If these are life-changing accounts, I’m going to wager that the juice is worth the squeeze.
And the reason that it works is because most people won’t do it. It takes effort and it takes money.
As the saying goes, “you have to do what most won’t to have what most don’t.“
But if you want the fool proof way to move to the next level, that’s it.
(You know who is always trying to earn my business? Your mom. She also gets a text from me every Sunday with a link to the latest blog post. Why haven’t you done this yet? It’s so easy. Send a text to 561-726-1567 with the word CRIP as the message to get a link to the blog as soon as it’s up.)
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