Channel prospecting is essential for business success. The science of prospecting has been around since the time of the Greeks. While there are many resources on strategy and tactics, this article focuses specifically on persuasive principles that apply to all channels. Here are five principles for effective multi channel prospecting:
The first principle is ensuring the prospect can find you.
- Make sure you have a website.
- Make sure you have a blog.
- Do your best to be on social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, because prospects increasingly turn to these channels for information before contacting salespeople.
- Be in the phone book — don’t leave yourself out of it! Suppose people can find your company online and elsewhere where they already spend time looking for solutions to their troubles or answers to their questions (like searching online). In that case, they will be far more likely to contact you than if they had no other way of finding out what products or services your business provides them with outside of word-of-mouth alone.
The second principle is to ensure that a prospect can follow you to other media.
The second principle is to ensure that when a prospect finds you on one channel, they can follow you to other media. For example, if a candidate lands on your website because of a paid search ad, they must have a link or call-to-action that takes them back to your drip email campaign or Facebook page.
It’s also crucial for prospects to see you across different channels simultaneously. For example, suppose someone sees an ad for one of your products on their mobile phone and clicks through to find more information about it in their browser window. In that case, they need to see the full description and click through directly into the shopping cart functionality, so they can purchase right there without having to go back and forth between pages.
The third principle is to provide something of value.
- Provide something of value on every channel.
- Don’t just rely on the same content for every platform.
- Don’t just provide a link to your website.
Instead, offer value on every channel so that prospects are more likely to engage with you in the future and become customers.
The fourth principle is to be consistent across all channels.
Being consistent across all channels is a crucial part of multi channel prospecting. If you send someone an email with another message than the one they see when they land on your website, you risk sending conflicting signals that might deter them from taking action.
When designing an integrated multi-channel campaign, don’t try to be too creative—the visuals should be uniform from channel to channel so that people feel like they’re getting the same message everywhere (even if it’s just an aesthetic design).
The fifth principle is ensuring CTA is clear and compelling, and there is a link between channels.
- The call to action should be front and center. Ensure prospects can efficiently respond via phone, email, or social media.
- Make sure there’s a link from one channel to another. If your prospect responds on Facebook and wants more information, don’t make them go back through their inbox or search your website for where they can get in touch with you again—make it easy for them by linking directly from Facebook Messenger to your contact form.
- Make it easy for people to respond. If you want prospects to respond via phone, email, or social media, ensure it’s easy for them.
Conclusion
In the end, it’s all about understanding your audience and being able to connect with them. Achieving success in multi-channel prospecting requires your ability to do this promptly and consistently.
Also Read: How To Do Customer Experience Management With Technology
