Gift Basket Business Blog

Finding New “Key Accounts” for Gift Baskets

June 16th, 2007 at 10:36am Lorie Obernauer

See my post about the potential problems that might arise from your key accounts. Right after I wrote that, I read an article in Rave Reviews Magazine (Volume 4, Issue 3) about prospecting for new clients that might eventually, become your new “key accounts”.

Author Rick Orlan says “prospecting is going out into the world in search of potential customers, clients, or buyers of your products and services”. He suggests that by prospecting on a regular basis, you can avoid the agony of losing one of your key accounts by continually cultivating new relationships with new clients.

Orlan offers specific recommendations for prospecting and I have added a few ideas of my own:

• Attend your local Chamber of Commerce meetings and get involved.
• Find out about other business groups that meet regularly in your community and try to attend those meetings too.
• Create a good marketing tool that describes what you do and why your products and services are unique. Keep this short, and to the point. Spend a little money to make this look “professional”. Offer an incentive for these people to contact you: a discount on their first order, a free gift, free cookies, etc.
• Introduce yourself at the meetings to as many people as possible. Exchange business cards with everyone.
• Send a follow-up letter and your marketing piece to each person that you met. Then follow-up again with a phone call. Ask each person if they can refer anyone else who might need your services.

In addition to following these steps, you can put yourself ahead of the pack by considering one more angle on prospecting. Not only are you looking for new clients, so are the people that you’re meeting! Take the time to inquire about their businesses. Find out what they do. Make a personal connection. And make a point of using their services if you have that opportunity.

Look for my upcoming post about the importance of “connecting” to your customers. Finding new customers is certainly important and Orlan’s suggestions for prospecting and networking are great. I’ll tell you how to go one step further to insure that you keep those customers!

Entry Filed under: Business Tips