For as long as there have been people with something to sell, there have been prospects, or people who may purchase what is being sold. There have always been two main types of prospects, those that are considered Warm and those that are considered Cold.
Each type of prospect has their own benefits and shortfalls, and each can be gained in different ways.
Warm Prospects are, in general, someone you are familiar with such as a friend or family member. A Warm prospect may also be someone who is familiar with you and your product or who has been referred to you by someone else. Though you have not met this person, they are already interested in what you are offering. Friends, family members and referrals are considered warm prospects because they are more likely to be warmed up to what you are offering and will be more apt to listen to what you have to say.
Friends and Family members as warm leads, however, can lead to future friends and family issues if they become dissatisfied. You want to make sure that you do not hound your friends and family members with sales pitches or call you auntie’s cousin’s niece and all her distant relatives that you haven’t spoken to in years just to pitch your product. This could lead to disgruntled family members or to you becoming that friend at parties that no one will admit to inviting.
Referrals are the best way to obtain warm leads. You can gain referrals from many different methods. There are three main types of referrals: Personal Referrals, Impersonal Referrals, and Cold Referrals.
A Personal Referral has been sent in your direction by someone else you are working with or someone who works as part of the same business or organization. These prospects are usually already knowledgeable about the information you will be trying to give them. Because of this, it is always best to touch base with their referrer first to see what they have discussed to avoid any miss-information.
Impersonal Referrals are prospects who have been sent your way from some one who is not in your line of work but believes you can help the person they are referring.
Handing out business cards is a great and inexpensive way to get these types of referrals. When someone gives you their business card, give them one of yours right back. Also, remember to return the favor and thank the person who referred the prospect, even if things didn’t work out. This will build a referral relationship and encourage the referrer to send more prospects your way in the future.
The last type of referral is the Cold Referral. The cold referral is the prospect who sits in between warm prospects and cold prospects. A Cold Referral is, in fact, a prospect - on - edge. How you approach this type of contact will make all the difference.
Cold Referral prospects are referred to you through advertising you have put out and have contacted you to learn more. You can gain cold referrals through newspaper advertising, an online survey on your website, Google Adwords and other interactive marketing sources. These sources promote the prospect to take action and contact you if, and only if, they are truly interested in learning more. These sources do not hide what type of information the prospect will be presented with and give clear definitions on the product or services you are offering.
Clear: Click here to see example
Unclear: Click here to see example
The clear version tells you that you are joining a mailing list and the types of emails you can expect to receive when you join. It also mentions that there will be links to recommended services or products in the emails, but that there is no obligation to buy them. The call to action on this form is to sign up if, and only if, you are interested in learning about marketing your business online. The unclear version has a strong call to action by stating it is a limited time offer so you should sign up immediately. The copy of the page pushes the visitor to sign up or be left out. The problem is that the page keeps the reason for signing up hidden and secret. There is no clear definition of what you are signing up for, except that you might learn my super secret method. For all the visitor knows, my super secret method may be crossing my fingers and spinning in my office chair three times.
If a contact fills out a form on a website that is not explicitly clear on what they are signing up for, when you contact this prospect they may become confused, uncertain, unwilling to listen or not even sure that they filled out your form in the first place. In short, an unclear marketing source can turn Cold Referrals into Cold Leads.