The Value of Precise Targeting

I received a call yesterday from a prospect who's seen his new business pipeline dry up in the last two months. He owns a company in the metals business, and although he's quoting more than ever, he's closing less than ever - something we've seen a lot of lately.

While it may look like there are a lot more tire kickers around lately, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, companies aren't shopping price; things just aren't moving forward. The number of unfunded initiatives seems to be going through the roof; and no one has the resources to compare multiple vendors anymore.

The traditional solution of "casting a wide net" won't cut it, though, since so many prospects are out of business, or close to it. If you have 2,000 companies in your database, for example, there's a good chance that 3/4 of them are in some state of despair: At best struggling to hold onto whatever business they have. Therefore, a broad-based prospecting program is likely to have 75% waste in it or more - a potentially catastrophic amount.

Doing some homework can significantly reduce the risk of your prospecting program. Start with secondary research. Use BusinessWeek's Quarterly Scorecard to identify segments or verticals that have some growth. Then pre-qualify your prospects. A quick phone call can determine if the company is alive. Are they spending? Do they have any initiatives? How are things going? And who should we be talking to? Then get off the phone and go to the next prospect. Once you've identified the 10% who are still breathing, then go back and make a real prospect call.

Pre-qualifying can save money in the best of times. In the worst of times, like we have today, it can save your whole company.