Educational Spectrum - Part 3 - Adult B2B Marketing Tip

The Educational Spectrum - Part 3

Here's more on the educational spectrum, which we discussed last week:

Telemarketing and direct mail are the worst methods of finding hot prospects. It's like fishing with a spear. You look and look and look for that one prospect that just happens to be to the end of the educational spectrum - one who just happens to be ready to buy. Can you imagine trying to sell your car by telemarketing? "Hello, my name is Bob. I've got a beautiful 1994 Cadillac STS for sale. Low mileage. Great condition. Only $27,500. Have you been thinking about a Cadillac?" Now that would be an exercise in futility!

I know what you're thinking now. "But lots of people use telemarketing and direct mail very successfully. It can't be that bad, can it?" I just said it was the worst way to find hot prospects. These two marketing methods are, however, highly recommended for another reason: you can target your market very effectively. In other words, you can choose a list of people or companies that are likely to be current users or potential users of what you're selling.

Here's how to weave your telemarketers' efforts into a big net - keeping in mind the idea of the educational spectrum. Use this telemarketing pitch (for business to business): "Hi, this is Bill over at Widget & Digits. We've got a special on Widgets this week, but I know you probably hate to talk to telemarketers. So if you don't mind, I'll just email you over some information real quick so you can get back to what you were doing." Use this pitch to gather the names and e mail addresses of every single possible prospect you can think of.

Now you can own your marketplace. Don't worry about those who aren't interested right now. Your job is to periodically send these people email or direct mail that do what? Educate. Over the course of time, you will get enough fish in your net that you'll find plenty of keepers. The key is to consistently keep feeding them new and relevant information. Example: Why do you think you are getting our tips every day or our newsletter every week? This stuff works.