We recently introduced our Pay Per Performance model which takes all of the risk off the clients and strongly motivates our team to produce results. While discussing this over and over with many prospective clients, the question of a lead vs. a reach has come up frequently and so I wanted to write a brief note to clear it up.
While it’s easy to confuse a reach with a lead, they are distinctly different, one supremely better than the other. By the explanation below, I'll let you be the judge to decide which one is better...
Lead: It’s just that - a lead. It’s someone that may have some interest. It’s a possible business connection or a possible business development opportunity.
Reach: It’s someone reaching, interested, with a relationship already established. They already know about you, have heard about you and have a general understanding of what you do and now they want more. It’s the diamond of prospective clients that you wish you had daily.
Now let's look at the dictionary definition of each as taken from The American Heritage College dictionary:
Lead: 9. To begin or open with. To go first or guide. 3a. Information pointing toward a possible solution; 7a. The introductory portion.
Reach: 4a. To succeed in getting in contact with or communicating with. b. To succeed in having an effect on. 3a. Range of understanding; comprehension. 1. To stretch out or put forth; extend 3. To arrive at; attain
So from the above definitions, it's clear that a lead is the start, an introductory part or a beginning and a reach would be much further along than that and in fact is closer toward the end of the cycle. A reach entails someone reaching out for something. The introduction and start have all taken place and now it's at the point of stretching or reaching for more.
So as it relates to business development and new client procurement, which would you rather have?
Our agency exclusively deals with reaches for our clients... not leads. Our performance model is based on number of reaches which to me, is the most valuable thing to our company and and our clients companies.
For more information about our services, here is a link to a presentation on SlideShare - http://www.slideshare.net/Richter10point2/richter102-elevator-pitch-3791206
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Are You In Communication?
Over and over I notice many people and companies are out of communication, or at least have lethargic communication systems. What I mean by that is that they are slow to the draw, slow to reply, slow to take action or don’t take any action at all.
Communication is the very essence of business as well as the economy. The more you can create and the faster you can get it going, the more revenue flows.
Currently it seems there is quite a problem with communication. As a business owner myself, I find the importance of communication to be extremely high. I demand from my staff that a lot of communication go out to the world and more specifically, to our target audience. I also demand that we handle communication rapidly, as fast as we can, and keep our flows moving fast.
If I get an email related to someone interested in our company, we instantly reply to move the cycle forward. Phone calls are returned the same day and everyone in the company has a mobile device that allows for immediate response via email at any given time. Additionally, we developed the Social Media Press Kit (http://whywebpr.com/smpk) for the purpose of making ourselves more accessible in every imaginable way, be it text message, email, Skype, Facebook, Linkedin or to download our communication details through a vCard.
We rate communication highly. However I have noticed that not everyone operates this way. People delay in getting back via email or phone. They are slow to communicate many times, if at all. This type of operating procedure hurts them and their company. Procrastination has no place in the business world. Slowness is not a strength and being out of communication is damaging.
Take a look at your communication systems this week and test them. Do you immediately respond to emails? Phone calls? How much communication are you sending out to the world daily? Your company? Is that enough?
If handled, your revenue will skyrocket. Get yourself and your company into communication with the world. Send communication out, even if you simply start by sending out 6 hand-written letters per week or 10 emails to introduce yourself to people you would want to do business with. Get communication flowing and fast.
Robert Cornish
CEO
Richter10.2 Media Group
Communication is the very essence of business as well as the economy. The more you can create and the faster you can get it going, the more revenue flows.
Currently it seems there is quite a problem with communication. As a business owner myself, I find the importance of communication to be extremely high. I demand from my staff that a lot of communication go out to the world and more specifically, to our target audience. I also demand that we handle communication rapidly, as fast as we can, and keep our flows moving fast.
If I get an email related to someone interested in our company, we instantly reply to move the cycle forward. Phone calls are returned the same day and everyone in the company has a mobile device that allows for immediate response via email at any given time. Additionally, we developed the Social Media Press Kit (http://whywebpr.com/smpk) for the purpose of making ourselves more accessible in every imaginable way, be it text message, email, Skype, Facebook, Linkedin or to download our communication details through a vCard.
We rate communication highly. However I have noticed that not everyone operates this way. People delay in getting back via email or phone. They are slow to communicate many times, if at all. This type of operating procedure hurts them and their company. Procrastination has no place in the business world. Slowness is not a strength and being out of communication is damaging.
Take a look at your communication systems this week and test them. Do you immediately respond to emails? Phone calls? How much communication are you sending out to the world daily? Your company? Is that enough?
If handled, your revenue will skyrocket. Get yourself and your company into communication with the world. Send communication out, even if you simply start by sending out 6 hand-written letters per week or 10 emails to introduce yourself to people you would want to do business with. Get communication flowing and fast.
Robert Cornish
CEO
Richter10.2 Media Group
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Richter10.2 elevator pitch
Richter10.2 elevator pitch
View more presentations from Robert Cornish.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Is your email signature working against you?
I have seen so many emails that don't have any contact information in the signature area and it provoked me to blog about it.
I can't tell you how many times I have needed to contact someone and one of the first places I look for their contact information is their email signature. When it doesn't have all of your details, it really hinders and cuts your communications ability. Think about prospective clients that want to do business with you and focus on making it easy for them to do so.
Business is about communication and the more you can make yourself accessible, the better. Not only do I have all of my pertinent information in my email signature, I also have what is called a Social Media Press Kit (http://whywebpr.com/robertcornish) which comes with an email signature button so anyone can click on it and download your vCard, as well as access every other angle of getting in communication with you.
Make it easy to communicate with you and make yourself accessible and I promise it will help develop more business for you.
-Robert Cornish
I can't tell you how many times I have needed to contact someone and one of the first places I look for their contact information is their email signature. When it doesn't have all of your details, it really hinders and cuts your communications ability. Think about prospective clients that want to do business with you and focus on making it easy for them to do so.
Business is about communication and the more you can make yourself accessible, the better. Not only do I have all of my pertinent information in my email signature, I also have what is called a Social Media Press Kit (http://whywebpr.com/robertcornish) which comes with an email signature button so anyone can click on it and download your vCard, as well as access every other angle of getting in communication with you.
Make it easy to communicate with you and make yourself accessible and I promise it will help develop more business for you.
-Robert Cornish
Monday, April 12, 2010
Target Public
I stress that you fully investigate and identify and define your target public for your company because once done, you will have a whole new view on promotion and sales. Many companies don't take the time to really analyze who their exact target public is.
You have to know exactly who your target public is, here are a few things to consider:
1) What area of the country or the world have they come from? Review all of your current and past clients and tally the results to have a clear picture of where they come from and where you need to focus your efforts
2) What sectors or industries have they come from?
3) What is their annual revenue size?
4) Who are the people within the target public companies that you typically need to deal with?
5) What are their typical needs?
Once you have the above items pegged, you begin to work smarter. You can focus your time and efforts on what has worked in the past and who your real target public is. PR or public relations is about reaching out to an exact target public, not everyone and anyone, an exact one. When we can reach an exact target public and communicate what they need, we get a response. This then results in more business.
Why spend any time prospecting in Arizona and going after recruiting professionals if you have no history closing clients in that area and have not had success in that area?
Focus on your target public! You will get more business and have more success to the degree that this is full defined.... Know your target public and go straight after them, they already need and want your products or services anyway.
-Robert Cornish
You have to know exactly who your target public is, here are a few things to consider:
1) What area of the country or the world have they come from? Review all of your current and past clients and tally the results to have a clear picture of where they come from and where you need to focus your efforts
2) What sectors or industries have they come from?
3) What is their annual revenue size?
4) Who are the people within the target public companies that you typically need to deal with?
5) What are their typical needs?
Once you have the above items pegged, you begin to work smarter. You can focus your time and efforts on what has worked in the past and who your real target public is. PR or public relations is about reaching out to an exact target public, not everyone and anyone, an exact one. When we can reach an exact target public and communicate what they need, we get a response. This then results in more business.
Why spend any time prospecting in Arizona and going after recruiting professionals if you have no history closing clients in that area and have not had success in that area?
Focus on your target public! You will get more business and have more success to the degree that this is full defined.... Know your target public and go straight after them, they already need and want your products or services anyway.
-Robert Cornish
Friday, April 2, 2010
Can April Fools Mean Better Productivity?
The methods used to handle April Fools are indeed as varied as people experiencing it. Some live for the prank and love to laugh and others just wish it would go away, but what about in the workplace? On one hand, you have stifling seriousness and on the other is all the endless ways people think of to goof off. Funnily enough, both end up in exactly the same place; low productivity and low morale.
As with all things, I'm sure there is a happy medium (pun intended). While it is certainly true that workplace matters rarely reflect the thrill of sinking a long putt or landing a marlin, it is just as true that if you view the tasks in your day as enjoyable you will get a lot more done.
In my own workplace I have watched an enormous shift in our productivity on this interesting point. Last year we had eight staff in one department who were delivering a management service. Things were quite serious on a daily basis and it was a "grind" to get everything finished each week. A year later, we have a team of 4 doing more work than the eight could and finishing it by Thursday afternoon most weeks.
The difference? We got organized and started having some fun! We decided that things weren't quite that serious and with that were willing to mix things up and evolve so we could get it right. Cracking jokes is certainly not going to magically make a business an overnight success, but injecting a little levity into the average day WILL make a difference.
Can April Fools Mean Better Productivity?
The methods used to handle April Fools are indeed as varied as people experiencing it. Some live for the prank and love to laugh and others just wish it would go away, but what about in the workplace? On one hand, you have stifling seriousness and on the other is all the endless ways people think of to goof off. Funnily enough, both end up in exactly the same place; low productivity and low morale.
As with all things, I'm sure there is a happy medium (pun intended). While it is certainly true that workplace matters rarely reflect the thrill of sinking a long putt or landing a marlin, it is just as true that if you view the tasks in your day as enjoyable you will get a lot more done.
In my own workplace I have watched an enormous shift in our productivity on this interesting point. Last year we had eight staff in one department who were delivering a management service. Things were quite serious on a daily basis and it was a "grind" to get everything finished each week. A year later, we have a team of 4 doing more work than the eight could and finishing it by Thursday afternoon most weeks.
The difference? We got organized and started having some fun! We decided that things weren't quite that serious and with that were willing to mix things up and evolve so we could get it right. Cracking jokes is certainly not going to magically make a business an overnight success, but injecting a little levity into the average day WILL make a difference.
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