It’s never too early to start filling your fall pipeline. I don’t know about you, but July is historically a slower month for us. While we are fortunate that our clients have fiscal years starting in January, July and October, we still find July a little slower than our typical month. I truly believe it’s because so many people are dealing with vacations and their kids busy out-of-school schedules.
I do, however, believe it’s still a great time to get in front of those clients that are in the office to discuss their fall and year-end promotional needs.
Fall is a Busy Season – Help Your Client Plan Ahead
Why? Fall is one of the busiest seasons for trade shows, year-end sales recognition, client recognition and more. Of course those clients with a July 1 fiscal are ready to start spending again. But many of our clients with an October 1 or January 1 fiscal use the summer to reassess their budgets and many times realize they have money to spend!
And we want to help them spend it!
Yes, I have been contacting a long list of clients arranging appointments since early May. And, to be perfectly honest, because of mine and my clients' travel schedules, I am already booked into early August.
That’s why planning based on our client’s buying cycles is so important. While most of our clients are pretty organized, many rely on us to keep them on track. Since most of our clients have been with us for more than 10 years we know their annual buying patterns and make sure to reach out with plenty of time for them to review our suggestions for their upcoming event needs (even with us being on top of them many times it still ends up being a rush situation).
Track Your Clients’ Buying Patterns
Are you keeping track of your clients' buying habits? Do you have a spreadsheet or other tracking mechanism in place so you know when you need to reach out? If not, it’s never too late to start.
Everyone is super busy and multi-tasking every day. The trade show in September may not be top of mind in July but it might need to be. Maybe it’s time to refresh their booth, their team apparel and of course they will need a give-away to help draw people into the booth. By reaching them in July you also can suggest they do a pre-mailing to attendees of the shows to invite them to visit the booth for a chance to win something special. By thinking ahead for your clients, you can help them look like stars and you can reap the financial benefits of providing everything they need.
It may seem basic, but sometimes we can benefit from a reminder. Five tips for improving client contact:
1) Keep track of clients' annual programs (develop a 12-month marketing plan for each major client)
2) Contact clients at least six weeks out (prefer eight) from event or program
3) Research similar companies and reach out at the same time (great opportunity for new business)
4) Don’t give up too soon (it can sometimes take polite persistence even with long-term clients to get an appointment)
5) Be prepared with appropriate suggestions based on previous year’s budget (and spec samples are even better to get them excited)
Summer is Good Time to Develop New Business
In addition to seeking out my existing clients, this summer I’ve been actively pursuing some new prospects. I’ve had three new business meetings in the last four days. And in speaking with each one it reinforced my summer connection theory. None have spoken with any of their other promotional product partners in a good while. And when they last spoke to them, none of them asked questions about their fall and year-end programs, they only concentrated on the here and now.
As a result, I’ve already gotten a purchase order from one new client and another told me they were finalizing a whole new rebranding for their upcoming anniversary next year. They will need everything and I’ve already starting working on suggestions!
Make Your Clients a Star
I’ve never liked the word salesman or vendor; I truly want to be a partner with my clients. I want and need to understand their challenges, their new product introduction schedule, growth plans (or not), rebranding efforts and more. If I understand them better I can make more appropriate suggestions and help them to be a star at their company. There’s that word again. Star!
Yes, that’s my job, my goal. I believe that if you continually make your client look like a star (larger booth traffic, more responses to a promotion, more sales, more retention, more recognition) then they will never leave you, even if they leave the company. I picked up two new clients lately just because my clients moved to other companies. And of course, I kept the original client.
So if you haven’t started your fall business push, now is the time to pick up the phone and get busy making appointments and brainstorming ideas to wow them!