What Is A 'Mobile Prospect' And Their Role In Your Sales Funnel
Every business model is different, so read this as a general approach to identifying who the “mobile prospects” are you in your network and how to effectively collaborate with them in ways that support your revenue goals.
WHAT IS A ‘MOBILE PROSPECT’?
There are different categories of prospects in business, but for DCAP Media LLC’s sales funnel strategy, I have created a sub category of prospects called "mobile prospects":
A DCAP MEDIA LLC "mobile prospect" is a PERSON and not a company. This person typically fits this criteria:
I've worked with this mobile prospect when they were employed by a current or former DCAP MEDIA client
While this mobile prospect is no longer employed by my client / former client, I stay in touch with them for the following reasons:
* their values align with mine
* they have their own influential network
* they tend to work in decision making roles
* they have asked me to be a job reference for them
GLOSSARY OF RELATED ‘MOBILE PROSPECT’ TERMS
A Lead: a potential consumer/client who is interested in what you are selling (product or service).
Leads are people at the very top of your sales funnel. While they ARE aware of your company and your product, they HAVE NOT been qualified (yet).
Qualified Lead: a potential customer in the future, based on certain fixed criteria of your business requirements. Only willing leads are classified as qualified leads, meaning the information provided by the lead is given willingly and freely. Purchased leads and databases don't qualify as qualified leads.
Lead Nurturing: at its core, lead nurturing is the process of cultivating leads that are not yet ready to buy.
A Prospect: prospects are leads who HAVE been qualified and deemed likely to buy. Essentially, prospects are potential customers who are further along in your sales process than leads.
The Long Game: the business practice of cultivating prospects over periods of time (weeks/months/years) based on the forecasted payoff of sticking with developing that professional relationship as it translates to future sales.
This process is most successful when the qualified lead IS ALSO actively invested, ie they already WANT to pay you for your products/services, it's just that specific stars need to align for them to do that.
So you play "the long game" with prospects by being mindful to check in routinely, to at times have planning meetings with them (where appropriate) to identify collaborative opportunities, and build that professional relationship in other ways that might include meeting up for dinner/drinks, pointing them to resources to support their goals, etc.
An ideal prospect-business owner dynamic is one where there is already a verbalized understanding between stakeholders that they WANT to do business with each other & you're both actively engaged in making the stars align so that can happen (ex: securing funding sources, locking the service scope, producing physical products to have enough inventory, making time in each other's calendars, etc.).
REMEMBER: whether you sell items in person or online, or you have a service-based business and sell your services in person or online, it's VERY important *to identify what your sales funnel strategy is* and who your long game "mobile prospects" are/could be from your network.
This also applies to artists who pay their bills by selling their art in person and online.
WHY MOBILE PROSPECTS SHOULD BE PART OF YOUR SALES FUNNEL
Most business owners and freelancers can agree that business is all about cultivating relationships.
But many service-based businesses like mine tend to forget that mobile prospects exist, or to even see their value.
They may work with a client for years and establish relationships with people at that company, but when their contract isn't renewed, they may not even bother to stay in touch with those contacts employed by the former client, and may even let them drop off their radar when they are no longer working for their former client.
This is a huge mistake and a form of blocking your blessings. Stay vigilant about assessing the value of the mobile prospects in your network.
While that mobile prospect is between jobs or acclimating to their new role at another business/nonprofit, stay in touch with them. They still have their own established network and should still be considered part of your lead generation process.
A mobile prospect can potentially help you with the following:
* advocate internally with their new employer to hire you as a consultant/services provider, which automatically makes their employer a new prospect for you
* refer you to other people/businesses/orgs in their network to support your lead cultivation
* identifying other biz dev opportunities
* even pay YOU to help them with their own needs!
IMPORTANT TIP: you will ruin a mobile prospect relationship if you approach it in an extractive way.
Give as much as you ask for help. Here are some ways to support your mobile prospects:
* be a job reference for them or reference for any opportunities they are applying for
* learn as much as you can about their interests and goals and periodically send them aligned resources and opportunities information
* be generally supportive and encouraging and make time to do periodic texting/phone/zoom check-ins to stay in alignment on the range of ways y'all could potentially collaborate with each other in the future
Your mobile prospect is more likely to stay in "the flow" of cultivating future collaborations with you if they feel supported by you in tangible ways.
WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM BEING A MOBILE PROSPECT
I am aware that (as an individual and a company) I am also a prospect and part of the sales funnel of a few business owners currently. I WANT their services/products, and when the timing is right for me, I will pay them for their services/products.
I learn a lot about how to run my own business by going through the sales funnel experience of other businesses as well.
COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS FACTORS TIED TO MOBILE PROSPECT CULTIVATION
There isn't a cookie cutter solution that fits everyone, so I will talk about how I incorporate "long game" mobile prospect cultivation into my sales funnel:
DCAP MEDIA LLC is a service-based business, so I am not focused on selling X number of products/services per day the way a brick and mortar shop would be.
I am also a values-driven social enterprise, so the goals for my business aren't just about revenue. They are about doing work that helps me make a tangible difference in the world, so that's how I seek out new client opportunities: I want to work with clients who are changing the world by directly addressing systems of oppression through the work that they do.
MOBILE PROSPECT CULTIVATION STRATEGY 101
My approach to "long game" mobile prospect cultivation isn't based on a specific period of time, and more on my periodic assessment of the "health" of my mobile prospect relationship.
Specifically, I have mobile prospects that I have been in touch with for months and even years before we actually signed a service contract together, or before they connected me with a new client from their network.
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT THE LIFETIME VALUE OF MOBILE PROSPECTS
Some business owners, especially artists who are freelancers, have a really hard time identifying and cultivating mobile prospect relationships because they don't see the value as there isn't an immediate payoff. This person may not buy art from you for months or years at first, but if you cultivate the relationship with them, it could result in them not only buying art once from you for their home or business, they may also connect you with ONGOING art sales opportunities through their various connections.
One mobile prospect might, in the lifetime value of that relationship, actually represent 10/20/30/40/50+ clients they bring to you over the lifetime of your business.
A mobile prospect might work at 5 different companies / nonprofits over 15 years, and in that time period, they could facilitate new biz dev opportunities for you with all or some of those employers.
If you're an artist, that means that through one person, you could potentially sell your art to hundreds of people—just by cultivating that ONE mobile prospect relationship.
BUILDING A BUSINESS BASED ON MOBILE PROSPECT RELATIONSHIPS
As it pertains to DCAP MEDIA, 90% of my client relationships are mobile prospect relationships and this is by design:
I want to incentivize my clients to recommend me to aligned people in their network (creating new qualified leads for me, which saves me time and money), AND I want the people I meet who WORK FOR my clients to ALSO want to be a part of my network and function as mobile prospects as they transition to other companies/nonprofits, where they can also cultivate new qualified leads for me.
I want *specific* people who work with me to want to keep working with me, no matter where they go. If they are a business owner or decision maker at a nonprofit, I want them to be so pleased with my work that they recommend me to people in their network on an ongoing basis.
REMEMBER: don't sleep on identifying the mobile prospects in your network and cultivating relationships with them.
This doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in working with new clients who weren’t referred to me through my established network and mobile prospects. I do on occasion work with businesses, nonprofits, and people who reach out to me directly through this website.
But unlike my competitors, I don’t use this website to try to attract new clients. I use this website to share knowledge and resources and for my business to have an Internet home.
For my business model, I prefer to have a few select monthly retainer clients and some project-based clients that align with my capacity and interests at the time. I play the long game to cultivate more monthly retainer clients, who I then work to develop into multi-year contract relationships.
DCAP MEDIA is about quality over quantity.
Someone selling products from a physical store is likely going to be more interested in *volume* of sales per month (how many customers buy things from them, ie they would want 100 customers vs 10 customers in a month which makes total sense), but that is not how I run MY service-based business.
I am not interested in working with as many clients as I can per month. That brings down my own rates if I am working 80+ hours/week to cover my client list needs and my quality of life is in the toilet as a result.
I am only interested in attracting and retaining clients who can afford my rates & who want to do multi-month and multi-year contracts with me.
I am also interested in SOME project-based client work & paid speaker and facilitator/workshop/event production and programming opportunities.
My mobile prospects also help me with achieving those goals, as often they end up working somewhere and recommending me for a speaking/training gig there.
Part of my services include helping businesses, nonprofits, and individuals (often artists) identify, develop, and cultivate their own mobile prospect network strategy. I offer this service to people who align with my values and who I respect, in order to help them increase their annual revenue and improve their overall quality of life—so they have more time to grow their business/nonprofit and to help make a difference in the world.
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