Approaching a new client is never an easy thing, but in order to get a broader client base especially in product photography it is necessary. If you want to have a constant influx of work for your studio you must expand. But how do you do it without to giving the impression you’re a telemarketer? The best way not to do this is to have a trust-based strategy. The client becomes confident that you will photograph their products with the best of care. The first step to implementing this type of strategy would be to start prospecting. Here is how you do it:
Step 1: Generate your Leads
Building a list of leads can be overwhelming for many. The trick is finding the right type of lead whom you will find to be most promising to become a prospect. One way of developing your leads is through professional community websites for your product in question. These have a great deal of information that can be used such as a person of contact, current clients and addresses.
Another good method is to attend conferences, seminars or tradeshows. These will produce the best kind of prospect that you can find because of the physical interaction as opposed to a phone call. Sometimes just getting your leads to listen to your pitch is the biggest challenge and being in person can overcome this challenge.
Getting a referral from a current customer or a friend can really increase your chances of succeeding. These are very good quality prospects and should be contacted first.
Step 2: Classify you Leads
When going through leads lists, classifying your contacts will help you to determine who to call first, how much energy to spend on a contact and how frequently to recontact. Be harsh in your classification criteria. You could base it on popularity of the brand, the amount of information provided or simply if you think the company needs better product photographer. These criteria could be anything you think might increase your chances of getting a sale. Classify them under strong medium and weak. This will avoid you wasting your time on contacts that don't really need your services.
Step 3: Turning your Leads into a Prospect
"Do your homework." The hurling voice of my mother still resonates from when she i used to tell me. But who knew that moms nagging would actually serve you well someday. Before calling on prospects, you need to do your homework. Gather as much information as you can on the companies in question. This will avoid asking some potentially embarrassing questions like "What does your company do?". This can work your prospects patience and lose the sale. Instead, try gathering information about their needs in their line of product as you can. For example, a jeweller will most likely need the stones on their rings to look sparkly and pop. You could also ask them about problems that they might have been experiencing related to their photography needs and about their current photography suppliers. With the information you’ll be gathering, you’ll be able reclassify this prospect as strong or weak according to your criteria you have set and be able to focus your efforts on those you think might be most promising.
In my next posting, I'll discuss how the sales call should go.
