Sales Leads

As an IMR for a marketing company in town, I'm trying to find out a good way to get new contacts to call on who need a new idea to market their products. I've read all the post about cold calling and meeting the big boys and I'm really impressed with the help you all are getting here. I've tried to look on the net, but it seems everything applies to on-line sales. What resources are out there for me?

Ron

Originally Posted by Rd0420 As an IMR for a marketing company in town, I'm trying to find out a good way to get new contacts to call on who need a new idea to market their products. I've read all the post about cold calling and meeting the big boys and I'm really impressed with the help you all are getting here. I've tried to look on the net, but it seems everything applies to on-line sales. What resources are out there for me? Ron

Welcome RD0420. Pardon my stupidity, what is an IMR and who is your target market? Big companies? Small companies? Retail?

Rainmaker,

Thanks for the welcome. I'm an Independent Marketing Rep. Which means I work on commission, take care of my own taxes and insurance and so forth. Which is fine by me, because I'm retired from the Postal Service and have my own insurance, a monthly paycheck I don't have to do anything to get, and control of my life now. Wow. Waited a ling time to be able to say that. LOL Now, I'm just having fun with something I think will help someone compete in the market place.

I'm looking for any size retail business that would like to increase their sales by offering a rebate on their product. I would like to find out if there are lists of merchants that are looking for new ideas. A website perhaps. Any ideas?

Ron

Originally Posted by Rd0420 I would like to find out if there are lists of merchants that are looking for new ideas.

I've never heard of such a list Ron. How does the rebate work?

I think you need to define your market first, or at least segment it further.

You said that you want to sell to any size retail company. Well, you need to approach a business with 20 employees differently than a firm with 2,000 employees. You may approach a retail hardware store differently than a retail clothing store.

You can get lists of companies based on Industry, company size, revenue, etc. Take a step back and realize that every retailer isn't a prospect for you. For example, Wal-Mart is a retailer. What is the odds you get them as a client? So you must have a maximum size company that is likely to buy from you. Do you want the little old lady who knits scarves and sells them out of her garage? No, she is probably too small for you.

Limit your market based on those that have a higher probability of buying what you offer. Then you can develop a way to offer your service/product to them.

Bridger,

Lets say you are buying a motorcycle. You shop around and find the best deal you can find. Now you come upon a dealer that will give you a chance to receive some or all of your money back at a future date. The amount you get back depends on how many other people claim their rebate during the same claim period as you. Who will you buy from? A dealer that gives you a 10% discount at the sale, or a dealer who gives you a chance to get much more back at a later date?

That is just an example of the many uses of our promotion. So I quess I'm looking for merchants that sell higher priced items. Such as computers, saunas, hot tubs, jewelry, construction contractors, I think you get the idea.

It's easy to go on line and get a list of all of these and more, but my problem is, I don't like cold calling to see if they are interested in using our ideas. It's just a waste of time if there is another option out there. I'm just looking for a way to know they are looking for me. Make since? It makes the prospect a warm or hot call instead of a cold call.

Originally Posted by Rd0420 Who will you buy from? A dealer that gives you a 10% discount at the sale, or a dealer who gives you a chance to get much more back at a later date?

Rd0420, if you're interested you might read Chapter 7 of Kevin Hogan's book, "The Science of Influence". Kevin covers "Framing" with an incredibly similar example as the one you provided.

Here is a quote regarding what he learned from his research into frames and choices: "People will lock in a sure gain in favor of any risk in the future..."