Ricko's Patent-pending Bullseye Accounts Method for Success, Part 2: Targeting

This is the second half of an article that covers my Bullseye method of pursing and landing large accounts as PART of your account prospecting effort. If you are just coming to the party, go back into Blog Historyville and read up on Part One before continuing here. Otherwise, you'll just be half-effective—and Bold, Different and Memorable-type Peeps don't do things by halfsies.

Identifying your Bullseye Accounts is just the beginning of the challenge. But here is where the fun begins—with TARGETING.

You want to touch all five of your Bullseye Accounts each and every week of the year until you penetrate their consciousnesses, they "get" that you are determined to work with them and you get a shot.

This weekly connection can be:

• A phone call
• An email
• A flyer or special on a product
• A sample - spec sample, virtual sample, random sample
• Your client newsletter
• Your birthday program or holiday gift
• An article from the newspaper that concerns their industry (with a personal note from you attached)

The key to this working is consistency and variety! Don't do the same thing (such as an email) week after week, or you'll blur into the background. Mix it up! Make it interesting! Be Different!

I recently wrote about a multi-million dollar producer and what made him so successful. He told me he knew a secret no one else knew ... and he would share that secret with me. In his experience, he said, it takes 13 touches to win over a prospective client. Most people give up after one or two calls, successful promotional products sales people think it takes 6 or 7 contacts, then often give up. But the secret is it takes 13 touches. The secret is ... OUTLAST YOUR COMPETITION. And all during the process of making the 13 contacts, they get to know you and your brand. Be consistent and be persistent and Bullseye Marketing will work.

First Contact
This is critical as you need to position yourself apart from the competition! These are companies who are getting calls DAILY from other "ad specialty" salespeople. So DON'T BE AN AD SPECIALTY SALESPERSON.

Don't call and leave a voice mail for the VP of marketing. That isn't Bullseye marketing. You are NOT sending a generic catalog with a "This is Me" logo pen. That's what everyone does.

Prospecting a Bullseye Account is an INVESTMENT in obtaining a LARGE account.

Try a gifty approach to grab their attention, then follow up on that.

Plan to spend $50 to $100 on these Bullseye Gifts. Do some research, find out what they are interested and passionate about. A baseball lover? Have one of those big league bats deep engraved with his or her name into the wood. A stressed out female exec? Do a spa basket with a plush robe, candles, bubble bath, Yanni CD, etc. Tell them, via a card insert, that you can take the stress out of their promotional deadlines and this spa basket will help with their time off this weekend. Be clever and make a big impact.

Another approach—the multi-part mailing with three or four or six parts, each one building on the other, telling a different part of your story, with a different unusual promotional product. Brand the box with stickers so they begin to anticipate and look forward to the next installment of this series. Don't call them until the final part ships, but TELL them you WILL be calling. Build anticipation. Consciousness penetration accomplished!!

Your Challenge

• Identify your 5 Bullseye Accounts (see part one)
• Research your 5 Bullseye Accounts
• Think about how you will initiate first contact

Touch each of these Bullseye Accounts once each week, every week—WITHOUT FAIL. Every week of the year—do not take Christmas off. Show your prospects that you are there 24/7 to help them assure a successful marketing effort for their company.

Remember, the main thing that will make this work—and it does work—is your commitment to Bullseye prospecting! This isn't a one month initiative ... it's a new way to approach account development that will get you to the next sales level. Always be working five Bullseye accounts and you'll add one or two LARGE accounts to your roster each year.

(And I was kidding about the Yanni CD. Seriously, that's career suicide to give those out.)

Rick Greene, MAS, is the western regional vice president for HALO Branded Solutions, a past president of SAAC and the editor of The SAAC Times and the author of two comic fantasy novels entitled "Boofalo!" and "Shroom!" available at www.amazon.com.