Mentor's Corner
Engagement: The Art of Getting a Prospect’s Attention

By Melinda Moses, founder and principal consultant of MSM Strategic Marketing

Getting new business can be the toughest part of independent consulting. Especially if sales and marketing is not your forte. My philosophy when it comes to the discomfort of prospecting is to make it easier for others to want to do business with me. It works when I'm building effective partner relationships for my clients, and it works when I’m trying to find new clients of my own. The first and arguably the most important part of this process is to engage with those who might want to do business with me.

"Engage" has dual meanings. First, it means getting the attention of others and drawing them in to learn more about what you and/or your products and services have to offer. Second, "engage" defines the ultimate goal – actually getting that all-important business. I'll cover the others – enabling (giving them all the tools they need to be successful) and motivating (giving them sound reasons why they will use your tools or services to be more successful) in subsequent articles. They’re the concepts that lead you to the happy conclusion of that preliminary engagement.

How Do I Engage a Prospect?

The only sure-fire way to engage your prospect's attention and cut through the clutter of their busy and information-overloaded day is to make it easy for them to understand how you can help them. It's one thing if they are looking for a solution and you’re on a short list of options based on niche products or services. It is much harder for you to engage a prospect's attention when they don't know they need your services in the first place, or you’re a virtual unknown in a universe of many others.

“Engaging” comes down to a few basic things: put your message where they're likely to find it; understand and communicate what differentiates you from the pack, in a language they can understand (e.g. business value instead of functional details); and focus on how you can help them identify their needs and address them.

Define A Great “Value Proposition” for Your Target Prospects.

You need to speak in business person language. Forget the details of how you would approach the project – instead, focus on what the benefits would be if they hired you. How can you create something that enhances competitive position? shortens the sales cycle? strengthens the bond (enhances customer service) between customer and company? Helps your client push his project through the corporation?

Make your prospect feel that you’ve lived their pain and know how to fix it. They’ll pay attention!! The ability to translate your tactics into high level benefit statements is such an important aspect of prospecting and engaging that I would say it’s the top priority. Sometimes you’ve created something that can be replicated for other clients. Congratulations!! The job of describing the business value just got a whole lot easier! Barring that, you can always use knowledge gained in prior experiences to help your prospect feel that you understand the situation and the best approach to dealing with it. Prior research, particularly industry- or application-specific, can be especially helpful.

Be Empathetic!

You should consider your product or service through the eyes of the buyer. Talk to them about their overall objectives and what opportunity this project has to help them meet their goals. Make sure you help them focus on defining those goals – they’ll appreciate it.

And put yourself in their shoes. Think about what they REALLY want and how might you deliver it. They might be looking for the lowest cost solution, but often it's more emotional -- you can help them look like a hero, you can take a monkey off their back, et cetera.

Target your market with clear and consistent messages.

Your presence should be everywhere there’s a chance a prospect might be lurking. There are probably many people who do what you do. But if you can articulate your expertise, you’ve started to differentiate yourself from the pack. If you understand your prospect’s business and its requirements, and you know how to deliver goods and services to help them succeed, even better. And if you can get excited about the project and show your enthusiasm, you’ve probably gotten their attention!

When cold-calling prospects, it helps to identify the category of employee most likely to champion you within the organization. You might need to engage various people, and I highly recommend thinking about the unique issues facing the different roles in a company, and what the different messages are for each audience. What resonates with one might be completely irrelevant to another.

Get visible.

Think of who you're targeting, the industries you serve, the products you use. They can all be a source of future business. Think about where your prospects would look for talent, and make sure you have information that defines you and your business clearly and in terms they will understand. Industry, alumni and other professional associations can be excellent sources for visibility – speaker slots, whitepaper submissions, industry periodicals, or nomination of clients who have interesting stories that they may want to present. You might not want to be a speaker but you can usually distribute your materials there, even if there is a nominal charge to do so. I have often engaged a prospect’s interest because of my affiliations and my work bringing other experts to a meeting, seminar or conference.

There are also numerous online venues where you can post your credentials and unique things about yourself (Craig’s List, Ziggs.com, guru.com, etc.) where people go when looking for specific talent. Blogs can create instant expertise and broadcast it to the world, and last but not least, make sure you have the keywords on your website that define applications, tools, and industries.

Final Words.

Getting a prospect to pay attention is a daunting task. The best way I know how to do it is to think first about what I do, what my value is to my clients, and to try really hard to understand what it would take – if I were them – to give up money and control to hire an outside contractor like me to solve a problem. And then to clearly and concisely communicate this value to the most likely prospects I can find!

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Melinda Moses is founder and principal consultant of MSM Strategic Marketing, a company that has been providing strategic marketing and partner development services to the enterprise content management, business process, and document management industries since 1996. Her motto is “engage, enable, and motivate” -- an effective way to look at how partners must work with their clients in order to be (mutually) successful. With over 20 years of experience in the technology marketing and business development, she’s learned the hard way how to get (or not get) other people’s attention. Melinda can be reached at melinda@msmstrategicmarketing.com. For more about the world of partnering, check out her website at www.msmstrategicmarketing.com.