Warm Business Markets/Leads

Warm markets are the “sweet spot” of marketing for new and established businesses.  For the most part, they are considered "warm markets" because they come to you through a trusted referral.  They have the need, they know what the need is, and they have been told they should talk to you. 

Most people, don’t even know that they are surrounded by their warm market and that their first business leads are often one degree of separation away.  (A degree of separation would be defined as someone who knows someone who knows you.  A second degree of separation would be someone who knows someone who knows you.) 

People who are one degree of separation away from you literally run into the thousands:

1.       Make a list of your local family, friends and acquaintances, past and present.  If you think back, you will find that there are many people who you have simply lost touch with.  Pull out old family and personal directories for clues.  Don’t just depend on your memory or you will lose many opportunities.

2.       Think back through your old school connections.  Classmates, roommates, frat brothers and sorority sisters, club members, teachers and professors, counselors, and other staff members

3.       Pull out any church directories that you have and pay special attention to those who are involved in smaller groups that you probably know better.

4.       What kinds of civic clubs are you in?  PTA, Lions, Elks, Rotary, Kiwanis, and political party organizations all have a good number of participants.

5.       Think through your business contacts for the last 5-8 years.  Write down names and look up contact info.  These are people that know your work ethic.

6.       How about your neighbors and don’t forget about that neighborhood directory.  Depending on where you live, this could be hundreds of people right there.

7.       Now come up with a list of people that you know through your spouse’s family and their individual and personal friends.  Though many of these names will be in common, there are probably some people that they work with or are just personal friends with that you don’t have for yourself.

8.       What trades-people do you know who you do business regularly?  They could have a special interest in talking with you since you are their customer and they would like to keep it that way.

9.       Consider hobby groups, sports activities, other parents that you know through kids sports activities, golf buddies, etc

10.   And lastly, don’t forget that incredible list of email addresses that you relay all those stories and jokes to every week.

Now that’s quite a few people.  Consider how many people they know.  This is the power of network marketing.  If you know 200 people who only know 100 different people, that’s 20,000 people in your warm market.  Out of that 20,000, chances are that there are going to be a bunch of immediate prospects who would fall into the warm lead category.

Developing your warm market

Now that you know where your warm market is, how do you get to them?  Some of these people might be people you haven’t been in contact with in years.  Depending upon the situation, it might be a wise idea to pick up the phone and make contact.  Catch up with them and let them know what you are doing.  Just remember to be diplomatic, natural, and reasonable.  If someone hears from you for the first time in 5 years, chances are that they are going to be annoyed if you spend all of your 2 minute conversation talking about yourself and your business… but then have to go.

Sending a personal letter is also another way to communicate.  Then give them a call a week or two later.  Tell them about your new business, what you are doing with it, and let them know that you offer free initial consultations.  Be sure to ask them to refer you though.  Don’t take it for granted that they will know what you want.  You might also consider offering a finder’s fee for every lead they bring your way that you close.  It’s a very nice incentive to add to the personal favor you are asking.

Marketing >> Marketing Principles >> Warm Business Leads