Too Many Clients?

When I was the Business Manager for the world’s number one tech company, my team brought in 30 potential clients / DAY! Most businesses can’t do that in a week…or a month! It was great, but it made it hard to follow up with them in a timely manner. Should we have slowed down? Should you slow down your marketing?

My commitment is to follow up with my clients within 24 hours of first meeting them. Those first 24 hours are critical in the life cycle of the client relationship. If I meet them at a workshop or conference or seminar, my company follows up with an email (e.g. – information packet, social media term sheet, presentation toolkit, etc.) while our services are still fresh in their mind.

Too Many Clients?

I just completed a speaking circuit where I was introduced to approx. 30 new clients after every presentation. What do you do with this many introductions? Plan, measure and follow through.

• Plan – Have a “follow up” process established for when you meet a prospect. Email them. Call them. Send them a “Nice to meet you.” letter. Also, have a separate process for Probable prospects vs. Unlikely. Everyone gets something, they just don’t receive the same thing.

• Measure – How many prospects are you converting to sales? Use your Client Relationship Management (CRM) tool to measure your success.Salesforce.com and AddressTwo are popular solutions for small business. Key point: know if your efforts are working.

• Follow Through – It’s good to add someone to your email distribution list, but what’s next? Check in regularly with potential clients to let them know you remember them. People buy from people they have have relationships with.

Great communication = Great relationships. Just ask any married couple.

There is no such thing as too many clients. Churches can’t have too many members. Pizza can’t have too much cheese. My wife, apparently, can’t have too many shoes. Insure your “connection process” with clients meets their needs – from beginning to end.