An Offline Prospecting Technique That Really Works

I probably don’t have to tell you that offline marketing to brick and mortar businesses can be a huge money maker. But, I also don’t have to tell you that getting offline clients can be an uphill battle.

Showing these business owners things like mobile marketing, social media marketing, autoresponders, Twitter and SEO often gets met with that glazed eye response. It can be too much for them to accept, believe and understand at one time.

So instead of telling business owners all the things I can do for them, from social media management, email marketing, building landing pages, and SEO; I just show them one, simple idea to get my foot in the door. And I do it in a subtle way that gets little or no resistance.

The one idea is lead generation. Specifically it is SMS text message marketing.

Now you may be thinking "been there, tried that," but if you have tried text message marketing before and had little success, I am going to show you a way that will bring you success. AND it will open all kinds of doors for other services you can provide.

I call it the “Electronic Business Card.”

Let’s say I am introducing myself to a local networking group. When it is my turn to introduce myself, I stand up and ask everyone to pull out their cell phones. I explain that I don’t carry paper business cards. Instead, I am going to give them an electronic business card.

Then I ask them to send a text to 60637 and text me the word, “Leadmagic.” (By the way, if you would like my electronic business card, you can text me as well).

Another way I use the electronic business card is when I meet business owners one on one. Maybe I’ve just walked into the business and asked if the owner is available, or I might be an existing customer and I ask if I could speak to the owner.

Assuming the owner isn’t in the middle of a lot of work, it is usually fairly easy to talk to him or her if you want to show how much you appreciate doing business with their company. Eventually I ask for his or her business card and nine times out of ten, the business owner will ask for my card. Then I tell them I use electronic business cards instead of paper. I just go into the “text the word leadmagic to 60637” routine and presto, I have their contact info.

Thereafter, I “drip on them” a few times a week with helpful marketing tips and information. As a result, my electronic business card gets more notice than some paper card that gets stuffed in a purse to gather dust.
With a paper card, chances are the owner will not recognize my name two days later. But the electronic business card guarantees notice.

One of the selling points of text message marketing is an open rate of 98%, so I might as well use that fact to my own advantage here.

Let me tell you, “Dripping” beats a great sales presentation any day. Even if I could get an appointment right away with a prospect and I deliver the best presentation of my life on the spot, it would not get the results I get from dripping helpful messages every few days.

But even better, my prospects get to see text message marketing in action. They get to experience it from the recipient’s end. This is far better than if I had shown them a complicated looking SMS dashboard with all the bells and whistles and confusing buttons to push.

Of course once I get them on a text message list, I also want to get them on an email list. So my messages invite them to get more free information via links to opt in pages. I also send links to various blog posts I’ve written or webinar events I will be hosting.

Obviously the main objective is to get an actual appointment with them so I invite my list to contact me frequently for more information.

The point is that once I’ve captured their phone number, I can add value over time and expose them to more information than I could ever have done in a single meeting.

Think about the value of this electronic business card method.

How many people ever call you back once you give them a paper card? How many will remember who you are even if you do an excellent job of following up later on? How many will open your emails or return your telephone calls?

But with the electronic business card, they will remember who you are after you have dripped on them for a few days. And you have got them into a sales funnel and automatic follow up system that gets opened 98% of the time.

How many paper business cards have you given out over the years? Now think of how different your results can be with electronic cards. Imagine what one chamber of commerce event could do for your business if you capture a room full of leads into your sales funnel?

There is a saying I heard years ago that I have made my marketing motto:

“A confused mind always says NO.”

So I regard it as my mission to make things as simple and easy to understand as possible. This system makes the complex subject of offline marketing easy to understand because it doesn’t force your prospects to “eat an elephant” all at once. Instead, I spoon feed them one little bite at a time.

But you simply cannot say too much about the fact that they are experiencing text message marketing before you ever sit down and show them how the sausage is made. Make sure your follow up messages add value, deliver helpful information and tell about the benefits of your product or service.

When they get messages from you, they can’t help but start thinking about how they can use text message marketing in their own businesses.

If you do not already have a text message service to use and to sell, feel free to email me or call me. My contact information is on my electronic business card. Again, all you have to do is text the word “leadmagic” to 60637.

I would love to hear your feedback on this. What kinds of results have you had? How do your contacts respond to your electronic business cards?