Each contact represents a potentially profitable business relationship. Yet that potential cannot be realized until two or more people make a connection. A major principle of Contact Relationship Marketing encourages us to transform contacts into connections, and, ultimately, into relationships.
It always helps to be friendly and outgoing, yet, those characteristics do not ensure success. Instead, success depends on thinking in a certain way about the people you meet. Whenever you meet someone, you must be actively thinking about ways for you to help that person realize a win and for that person to help you toward one.
Book Recommendation
"Business Is A Contact Sport" written by Tom Richardson and Augusto Vidaurreta with Tom Gorman, published by Alpha, A Pearson Education Company. |
Everyday interactions represent potential relationships, potential clients that can either be lost or developed to enrich everyone involved. "CRM consciousness" keeps you alert to these possibilities. When you see one of them, it's time to take action. The principle of transforming contacts into connections goes well beyond capitalizing on chance meetings. It operates on a more strategic level, enabling you to ignite relationships with potential clients you have identified. In planning a CRM strategy, you've assessed your goals, success factors and risks, and your current Relationship Web.
Now the task of building relationships with your potential clients begins. How do you do that? How do you identify your potential clients and the niches you wish to target? How do you make contact? How do you turn those contacts into connections and then into relationships? How do you cultivate relationships?
Preparation increases your odds of making the most of a contact with a potential client. Research on each potential client should begin as soon as you've identified them. On the basis of that research, you can plan for the first contact before you initiate it. Research means gathering all the information you can about the prospective client. The plan means using that information to formulate your approach and follow-up.
Jack Fox, an author, consultant and speaker, specializing in accounting practice development is the founder and CEO of The Accounting Guild, a marketing consortium in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is the author of seven accounting and business books, including the third edition of his best selling book, Starting and Building Your Own Accounting Business, and Building a Profitable Online Accounting Practice, published by John Wiley & Sons. Contact Jack at jackfox@accountingguild.com or 702-242-8725
