November 4, 2020  |  Alex Colley

Give Your Prospecting Plan a Deeper Connection

We all know the prospecting phase of selling can feel like giving it a wing and a prayer. Although it often consumes the most time and energy, it’s the most crucial phase to get right as it lays a firm foundation on which to build a lasting business relationship.

Growing your business in the religious sector can be tricky — especially now with shutdowns and limited budgets — but churches still want and need your products to help fulfill their missions. At MCH, we've been a pioneer in data intelligence for 90 years and have learned a thing or two about building a successful prospecting strategy. We've put together a few tips to help you use solid data to grow your business marketing to churches and religious institutions. Let’s get started:

Define Your Customer

Who is your ideal customer? What does this customer look like? When marketing to churches, you need to go beyond church location, size, and denomination and think about the people fulfilling their roles in these institutions. Are you trying to reach the Music Director? The Administrative Assistant? The Youth Minister? The Outreach Pastor? Even though you may not know who has the final say in the buying process, you can at least identify who will be the likely influencer in the decision-making process.

Determine Your Budget

You already know how essential good marketing is to your business, but with over 300,000 institutions across the country, you'll want to classify and prioritize your ideal customer based on the value you believe they will bring.

In addition, consider the costs of different marketing channels. For example, if you want to send a direct mail piece, a catalog is more expensive than a postcard. In our prospecting efforts, we've found that email marketing is the most cost-effective tool. Take some time to research prices and put together various scenarios based on your budget.

Plan Your First Touch

• Remember to first research and identify your ideal customer's pain points. Reference specific problems that the prospect would often encounter with a solution you offer.
• Give examples. Explain how you’ve helped others in their industry with similar problems. Then offer something of genuine value and ask for nothing in return. For example, at MCH we offer free sample files by request to help prospects do their due diligence.
• Keep it pressure-free. Be natural and casual and human. Today’s consumer doesn’t appreciate being talked to with a robotic sales pitch. The art of prospecting involves authenticity because both parties will ultimately want a mutually beneficial relationship. So, go ahead and be a real person. Wish your client a happy holiday, comment on a positive feature you noticed about their website, or add another real touch of humanity to establish a deeper connection.

Build Your Data List

Prospecting is also a bit of a numbers game. The more potential customers you can reach, with a relevant message and solution, the more likely you'll gain new leads. And getting a solid number of high-quality prospects is the easiest part! Use our convenient, self-service tool, ListBuilder, and take your prospecting efforts FAR:

• Fast: Build your data list, order online, get it in minutes.
• Affordable: Purchase as many — or as few — contacts as you need. (We don’t believe in strong-arming you with minimum requirements.) Plus, explore counts and titles on ListBuilder anytime for free — no strings attached.
• Reliable: Rest-assured you’re getting the most current data available. We’ve already invested in the latest technology to capture this for you.

We can help you crush those business goals, and it all starts with solid prospecting. Contact us online or give us a call at 800-776-6373 and let our experienced team help you turn cold prospects into happy clients.