Companies partner with VSA for a variety of reasons—from setting sales appointments to conducting market research to increasing their name recognition to whatever else will bolster their bottom line.
In most cases, that mission is relatively straightforward. Sometimes, though, a company’s business model involves appealing to two or more vastly different sets of customers—and even acting as an intermediary between them. What works for one side of the business might not work for another, but the company’s overall success is dependent on both ends operating harmoniously.
An effective lead generation firm must be able to recognize those disparate objectives and adapt to whatever its client’s goals are at the time, instead of just slapping the same cookie-cutter template onto multiple programs.
Our work with one current industrial client is a perfect example of this. The company has sought our assistance in fulfilling these varied but interconnected needs by engaging with two different prospect bases, and we’ve helped them achieve positive results across the board.
The challenge
The success of this client is dependent on one prospect group satisfying the demands of another, as part of its business is to essentially act as a broker between product designers and certain niche suppliers. To borrow from Frank Sinatra, “You can’t have one without the other.” But keeping each group engaged with the company required two distinct strategies, since each brings something completely different to the party.
We started with one side of the business and in less than a year were brought on to help with the other, suddenly finding ourselves collaborating with two different executives in siloed departments within the company. It was our job to help the client coordinate the two sides of its business model and keep everything in sync.
Adding to the challenge was the wide range of targets and objectives on both prospect lists, from major, internationally known corporations and large production facilities to much smaller operations. Some of these companies were looking to reconfigure their entire supply chains; others may have been searching for one specific widget. Our message had to resonate with all of them.
The response
With the first group, we reached out to existing partners of the client and stressed a financial incentive that would motivate them to continue the relationship. Our team had to familiarize ourselves with the endeavor to the point where we were experts on the methodology and could adequately and succinctly explain the benefits of participating.
Over the next year, we started calling the second group as part of a re-engagement campaign. We offered a different sort of financial incentive that better suited the group’s needs.
We recently launched a third program with the company, cold-calling potential new prospects in an attempt to expand the size of the first group and satisfy the ever-growing demands of the second group.
The results
From the beginning, we made positive inroads for the client. The executive we worked with on the first list would not have recommended his colleague in a different department reach out to us otherwise.
Prospects in the second group immediately responded to our outreach, with a daily influx of one to two customers placing orders with the financial incentives we provided. The largest orders came directly from our efforts. Customers the company feared were gone for good were suddenly back in the fold.
The success of the second program led the company to turn to us again for its current campaign. While we’re still in the early stages, an enthusiastic response has made us optimistic about this program, as well.
Conclusion
There are multiple benefits to partnering with a lead generation firm—sometimes, more than a company initially realizes.
Just because VSA can help its clients in one specific way doesn’t mean we can’t also help in another. In this case, we worked with two different departments to make sure the left foot and the right foot were perfectly in step, helping our client reengage with two distinct prospect groups.
If your company’s business has diverse objectives and prospect bases, we’d love to hear about them. We’re confident we can help you achieve your goals—in more ways than one.