How to Build a Highly Targeted Prospect List
Identify your target customers., Obtain past customer data., Build out your customer data., Add in referrals.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Identify your target customers.
Your first task in building a targeted prospect list is defining exactly who you want to to target.
Obviously, your target is an entity who will want to buy what you are selling.
However, identifying that person or company is somewhat more challenging.
Start by looking at your current customers for the product or service you are selling or those who have bought it in the past.
What sets them apart from other prospects? For businesses, identify the locations, industries, sizes, and business models for your best customers.
For individuals, look at specific demographic information, including age, income, location, and other information.
Your ideal new prospects will then be similar to these customers. -
Step 2: Obtain past customer data.
While researching your ideal customer, remember to keep any existing or past customer data you find, as these contacts should become part of your targeted list.
Identify past customers, even inactive ones, by examining sales records, correspondence, customer databases, research data, market surveys, and warranty records.
Ideally, you should work to get the name, title, email address, and telephone number of each contact.
At this stage, focus on building up your list.
You can refine it for accuracy and make sure that it is up to date later., Your list of past or inactive customers will likely have gaps or incorrect information.
You can solve this by researching each contact to get their correct and current information.
Try using search engines, social networks, and your contacts to get any missing information for prospects.
You can also hire a data services company to get this information for you, but this will likely add significant costs to your search., If you have a list of customer referrals, add this in to your prospect list.
Customers are likely to refer others who are similar to them, meaning that the referrals will also likely be interested in your offering.If you don't have an existing referrals list, you can devise a way to get referrals from customers.
For example, you can include a space in an online survey to recommend the product to a friend or offer incentives to referred customers. -
Step 3: Build out your customer data.
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Step 4: Add in referrals.
Detailed Guide
Your first task in building a targeted prospect list is defining exactly who you want to to target.
Obviously, your target is an entity who will want to buy what you are selling.
However, identifying that person or company is somewhat more challenging.
Start by looking at your current customers for the product or service you are selling or those who have bought it in the past.
What sets them apart from other prospects? For businesses, identify the locations, industries, sizes, and business models for your best customers.
For individuals, look at specific demographic information, including age, income, location, and other information.
Your ideal new prospects will then be similar to these customers.
While researching your ideal customer, remember to keep any existing or past customer data you find, as these contacts should become part of your targeted list.
Identify past customers, even inactive ones, by examining sales records, correspondence, customer databases, research data, market surveys, and warranty records.
Ideally, you should work to get the name, title, email address, and telephone number of each contact.
At this stage, focus on building up your list.
You can refine it for accuracy and make sure that it is up to date later., Your list of past or inactive customers will likely have gaps or incorrect information.
You can solve this by researching each contact to get their correct and current information.
Try using search engines, social networks, and your contacts to get any missing information for prospects.
You can also hire a data services company to get this information for you, but this will likely add significant costs to your search., If you have a list of customer referrals, add this in to your prospect list.
Customers are likely to refer others who are similar to them, meaning that the referrals will also likely be interested in your offering.If you don't have an existing referrals list, you can devise a way to get referrals from customers.
For example, you can include a space in an online survey to recommend the product to a friend or offer incentives to referred customers.
About the Author
Dennis Martin
Writer and educator with a focus on practical creative arts knowledge.
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