Dear Colleague,
Welcome to the May issue of Capability Company's ezine for nonprofit consultants and vendors. First and foremost, congratulations to Stephen Cooke, the new Director of Communications for the Oblates Missionary Society and to Melissa Steimer, the new Capital Campaigns Manager for Best Friends Animal Society. We wish you both the best in your new roles.
Our current searches are listed below, with links to the detailed position profiles. Please contact us if you can recommend any exceptional candidates for these positions.
Finally, we hope you enjoy this month's article from our guest author, Robert Middleton. Robert shares with us some thoughts about distinguishing between good and bad prospective clients.
Have a wonderful day!
Rebecca Worters
President, Capability Company
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Current Searches
Home of the Sparrow
Best Friends Animal Society
North Carolina State University, College of Physical
and Mathematical Sciences (PAMS)
Custom Development Solutions
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Word Count: 668
Approximate Reading Time: 6 Minutes
Missing the Signs
I have a little quiz for you.
You have connected with some prospects who you think look like very good potentials; you see the following as good buying signs:
Prospect one has lots of problems in their business and are missing all kinds of opportunities, so you see huge potential.
Prospect two is a careful listener, eager to see more information and asks you to leave materials with them.
Prospect three is sent to you by their boss to engage you and perhaps start a project.
Prospect four has big plans and goals for growing their business and their excitement is contagious.
At first glance you'd think these prospects were ideal. They have needs, they have interest, they want to grow. The question is, "What's not to like?"
The answer is: A LOT!
In fact, the prospects I've described are demonstrating the initial warning signs of the four WORST kinds of prospects you could possibly work with! These people will waste your time, steal your ideas, take forever to implement, or never get started.
They'll leave you frustrated and confused.
"But they look like ideal clients," you say! Yet if you dig a little deeper, you may find that the way they initially present themselves is nothing more than a smokescreen.
But when we are looking for more business, we fall for this smokescreen almost every time. We make the decision that they are good prospects, so we go about the work of trying to turn them into clients.
That's when it gets hard.
They show a lot of interest and meet with us for hours on end, not making a decision. We prepare proposals that meet their needs and yet they stop returning our phone calls. They commit to a project but move at a glacial pace. They get excited about turning around their business, but before you know it they are focusing on the next "good idea."
But do we think that these are bad prospects? Not on your life! We just think that "marketing and selling is hard." We feel discouraged, but keep plugging away, hoping that one of these prospects will ultimately turn into a good client.
But they almost never do. Why?
Because they were never good prospects in the first place. You read the signs wrong. What's worse, you've been doing this for a long time - maybe years. You have been spinning your wheels trying to sell to prospects who will never buy.
This also leads to another problem.
You fail to notice the buying signs of a good prospect. You don't see how they are different, so you treat them the same as any prospect. You miss opportunities that are right in front of you.
When you do get a client, you often don't know why. It seems to be a random process that you don't have a lot of control over. At this point it's not unusual to get discouraged about marketing and just decide to "wait for referrals from satisfied clients."
I'd like you to imagine the following fantasy scenario:
You meet a lot of prospects in the course of your business. And on the shirt of each prospect is pinned a magical "prospect qualification badge" that only you can see.
Good prospects would have a badge that said "good prospect" and bad prospects would have a badge that said "bad prospect."
Can you imagine how that would impact your approach to marketing and selling? Of course, you'd ignore the bad prospects and put all your energy and attention on the good ones.
The thing is, this really isn't a fantasy scenario!
Every prospect you meet actually does wear an invisible "prospect qualification badge" that simply takes a little understanding and study to learn how to decipher.
Until you learn how to read these "prospect qualification badges" you will waste enormous amounts of time and energy. As a result, your business will never grow the way you want it to grow. And that, my friends, is a tragedy.
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The More Clients Bottom Line: The inability to distinguish bad prospects from good prospects may be the biggest liability in your business. Until you understand this, you'll unnecessarily waste time and energy chasing clients who will never do business with you.
Need help with a search for a client? We work in tandem with consultants to help their clients find the best people for top management team positions in nonprofit organizations. To find out more, call us at (866)832-1136, email us at rebecca@capabilitycompany.com, or visit our website at www.capabilitycompany.com.
