Network Better is a business networking organization helping its members to find connections, rather than "cold-calling" on prospects.

How do you treat your potential customers

Answer the following question? If you answered "NO" to any of these questions then you are killing your golden geese.

1. Do you follow up with your prospects?
2. Do you respond to your prospects?
3. Do you capture your prospect information?
4. Do you build a Prospect List?
5. Do you follow up multiple times?

Everyone knows the story about the thieves that stole the golden goose to get her golden eggs. But they did not get the gold because they were impatient and killed the goose? Are you killing your golden geese? Your potential customers are your golden geese. You never know when they will buy. You have to keep in touch with them and keep your company in the front of their minds so that when they are ready to buy they think of you.

Remember that 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. How big is your prospect list? When you follow up and keep in touch 20% of your leads will become your customers. Do you have 100 prospective leads? Do you have 10 prospective leads? Think about 20% of your prospective leads becoming your customers. You need to treat them as if they are your customers. To accomplish this you must do the following:

1. Follow up with your prospective leads – Are you following up with them consistently, with free information they find helpful? Not just specials, but with newsletters and any information that pertains to their interest or businesses.
2. Capture prospects information – When they call do you capture all their information so you can follow up?
3. Build a prospect database – If you do not have a prospective leads database, make one. If you have one are you following up?
4. Respond to your prospects – When they request information, do you get back to them immediately?
5. Follow up multiple times – How many times do you follow up? If it is only once or twice then you are loosing customers.

In conclusion, provide prospective leads with e-mails, newsletters, articles of interest, case studies, tutorials, tips, etc. and anything else that you can think of that would interest them. Do this often, once a week is ideal, but as often as you can. The more that you follow up with them, then more of them will become your customer instead of someone else’s.