If you’ve been following along and building your Dream 25 strategy with this series of blogs – Congratulations, you now have a new business development strategy. Developing a detailed plan and beginning the outreach to your ideal prospects are pivotal first steps. However, as you must have expected, the process doesn’t end there. The initial contact is just your opening move.  As someone who manages these efforts for others, I can tell you that the process from this point forward needs to be continuous and fluid.

Your Opening Move

First things first, don’t let the initial excitement wear off. Your first touchpoint is just to spark a bit of attention and awareness. Because we recommend leaving off any hints of selling in this process, you likely won’t have much engagement up front. Don’t let that disappoint you. New business development is not a one-off campaign. This is the time to keep going and build on the foundation you’ve laid.

Keep the Momentum Going

In order to help you maintain momentum and adjust along the way, we’ve put together a short checklist of activities that are beneficial to the process. 

Social Activity

If you haven’t already, be sure to follow each of your prospect’s social platforms – The company pages. You will also want to follow their personal accounts if they are using those for business as well.

At a minimum, on a weekly basis, scan their most active social feeds and like or comment on the material as you see fit or can add value. Always come from a place of being helpful or one that acknowledges their work.

You should also use this time to collect any new information that might be helpful down the road for building that relationship.

Pro Tip: LinkedIn Sales Navigator Tools currently allow you to segment these contacts and see feeds from just these key players. It provides a quick way to engage your prospects.

Occasions to Celebrate

Watch for opportunities to celebrate their wins or accomplishments. These moments deserve a private message or a direct post. Something that you initiate so that you don’t get lost in the crowd. Bonus points if you handwrite and mail a card! 

Make Valuable Introductions

Watch for opportunities to make introductions. Based on the content that you see on their website or social feeds, look for moments where an introduction (not a referral) could be helpful. Come from a place of being helpful and you’re creating win-wins for not only the prospects but the people you introduce them to.

Watch Industry Trends

Spend time keeping an eye on the market and industry trends of your prospects. This could mean subscribing to relevant industry publications or newsletters. Staying informed allows you to continue to find ways to be helpful throughout your nurturing process. It also provides opportunities for you to ask them relevant questions or provide resources in between your planned touchpoints. 

Engage at their pace. Remember, this is not about chasing. This is all about letting the trust build over time and following their lead for engagement. At some point they will ask for more information or time to meet. Use these moments to learn more about their world so that you have more information to be helpful to them.

Adapt and Pivot

Adapt as necessary.  Each engagement you have should fuel the next. Each piece of information you find as you follow along with the company and contacts will provide input for future touchpoints. Maybe in your early research you found out that the industry was focused on learning more about new technology.  You had originally designed your Dream 25 process so that one of your touchpoints consisted of applicable resources on how to use this technology. Months into your new business development you’re now seeing that this tool is no longer applicable to their work.  You would now pivot and find a distinct set of resources to be helpful to them for that upcoming touchpoint.  

Or maybe you found that one of your touchpoints had a lot of downloads or responses.  You might want to test if the subject of that touchpoint is worthy of additional focus for future touchpoints. 

Remember, your prospects are likely to receive pitches from numerous vendors. Stand out by being a source of knowledge and support instead of spam. When you educate and show up as a helpful connection, you build trust, which is fundamental in ultimately converting prospects into clients.

Not all prospects will convert immediately, and that’s okay.  As we’ve said before, the goal of this Dream 25 strategy should be to nurture potential clients over time. Some may be ready to engage now, others later.  Consistency and helpfulness will be your keys to success with this strategy. 

Hopefully, the checklist of activities will offer the additional guidance you need to keep the momentum going with your prospect nurturing.  Because every effort is unique, we understand there will be many opportunities to be creative with your engagement. We’re always happy to bounce ideas around with you as your new business strategy unfolds.  Bring your questions or challenges to one of our monthly Q&A sessions. Or feel free to schedule time to chat one on one.