After enjoying some much needed time away from the office, you want your prospects to still have your company top-of-mind for the new year’s business strategy.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 13 seconds.
Once the December holidays have passed and businesses have re-opened their doors to focus on a productive and successful 2019, it’s time to reconnect with, not only existing customers, but with prospects as well. It can be difficult and daunting to rekindle the fire with these prospects as you might fear they’ve forgotten about you or that they’ll be bombarded by other companies wanting to do business with them.
These six ways to re-engage with your prospects in the new year will leave you better prepared and ready to take it on.
1. Start before the holidays begin
Instead of waiting to reach out to prospects in the new year, start having the re-engagement conversations with them before the holidays, and set up your meetings now for the new year. Your solution may be top-of-mind before leaving for their break, but internal changes may mean that you are no longer a priority when they come back.
Scheduling meetings for the new year, and ensuring you have a confirmed time before the holidays begin, will position you ahead of your competitors, as your business will be seen as a valuable and solution-oriented part of the prospect’s new year plan. Whether you set this up through a phone call or an email, make sure to give your prospect a short overview of what the meeting will be about. It doesn’t have to be an in-depth agenda with all the details, as you don’t want to overwhelm them in the last stretch of the year.
2. Identify problems and priorities
It’s important to get a sense of what your prospect’s goals for the year (financial, customer-related, operational) are, and when they need to achieve them by, so once you re-engage with them you can come back with solutions. If possible set up some in person or on the phone time for them to share with you what they’re planning to do in the new year, as this will help you manage your own resources and calendar effectively.
3. Compel them with something different
If there are prospects that you’ve spent quite some time working with and provided a proposal in the form of a quote or a conceptual solution, giving them a more attractive offering in the new year is a great way to add urgency. Jeff Hoffman at HubSpot recommends sending a semi-personalised email to invite prospects to join something like a webinar on a new service or product you’re considering. By tracking the open rates and sign up rates, you’ll be able to gauge which of your prospects sees it as worthwhile and focus on engaging with them.
4. Keep them warm
Keeping prospects warm is sometimes very challenging when you have already had your initial pitch shut down. American Sales Director at Woodland Group Ltd, Jason Shuttleworth says that continuously sharing any market updates and trade insights through email and blogs is a good way to offer your prospects your expertise without any actual cost to them. This shows that you provide not only a product or service, but true value to them which should help build trust and a deeper relationship.
5. Ask for a referral
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at My Health Direct, Chris Lukasiak, suggests asking your old prospects for referrals as a good way to re-engage with them. Although they may not be in a position to work with you, they see and understand the value of your business and may know someone else with a similar problem and may introduce them to you if you ask appropriately. This shows that staying in touch with old prospects and delivering real value puts your business in the right place at the right time.
6. Recap the year
Customer feedback is critical. For existing clients, it gives you insight into how things have changed on their side and whether there is now an opportunity to cross-sell or up-sell. You can share this feedback with your prospects as another way to re-engage with them. Your satisfied clients are more often than not happy to have their name on a testimonial or case study. You can then give the positive feedback to your prospects to drive future sales. Another good way to share client feedback with your prospects is to do a client event where you invite an exclusive group of clients to come together and share their experiences with each other.
By planning your conversations with them (and your availability to them) around their calendar, you’ll increase the likelihood of success and become an integral part of their priorities for the year.
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