I was reading "Don't Assume that Your Prospects Care About What You Do..." again yesterday. Again? Yes! Pete Caputa originally published the article on 4/15/13. I read it then and re-skimmed it yesterday. Why did I re-skim it?
- My memory's not perfect. I wanted to make sure that I remembered all that I wanted to remember.
- I wanted to see if I should to write an article about, "How to make prospects care."
- I'm pre-disposed to paying attention to Pete.
- Have I met anybody since April that I should tell about the article?
That got me thinking about recycling in general. We recycle paper, plastic, metal, glass, electronics, etc. Some people only buy used cars. Some shop in second hand clothing stores. Why do we recycle?
- Save the premium cost for new?
- Squeeze additional value out of the original investment?
- Save the environment?
- Less waste?
Television has been doing it for years. Think about how many new episodes your favorite shows aired this year. 13? 20? Then reruns all summer. Have you ever watched the channel that airs Seinfeld episodes 24/7? Or Law and Order? Sex and the City? There are some TV channels that never air original content.
So, what can we recycle in our business?
Well, clearly we can recycle our blog content. Some of our regular readers may have missed it or it may not have applied at the time. We may have picked up new readers since the original publication. So, they may benefit. It may have periodic value, for instance an article about kick-starting sales for a new job may also be relevant at the start of a month, quarter or year.
Hubspot also suggests that we recycle leads. They call it nurturing. TOFU leads sometimes move through to MOFU and BOFU smoothly, but don't you have a plan for those leads that stall, disappear, unsubscribe and come back. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some companies occasionally 'ping' their unsubscribers to see if they can get their attention again. Remember the article about InsideSales.com? I unsubscribed, but they kept coming anyway. I am not recommending that you not unsubscribe unsubscribers!
I have always recycled my 'Nos.' Get the lead. Start the process or go through the entire process and get the prospect to say, "No.". I love "Nos." When I get a "No.", I take it. Make sure it's real. Then schedule my next follow-up call. You need to follow-up correctly. Although the prospect is being recycled, they don't want to watch a rerun. Two quick examples of successful recycled prospects. Pete Caputa hired me about a year after our first conversation and Hubspot hired me to evaluate their sales force at least 4 years after our first conversation. Go away. Come back.
That's enough for today. These are only three of the ways that I recycle to grow sales in my business. My September program has an entire module on the whos, whats, hows, whys and whens of recycling leads, prospects and more.