Are you still playing the cat and mouse game of chasing down RFPs to obtain new business? Then I have one question. Why? I guess if you do a lot of government work it might be a necessity, but in today’s increasingly digital marketplace, is it really necessary to be responding to the open cattle call for business?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to build up a presence where your phone rings, your email box gets pinged and you get your business by inbound means? Consider this. The last time you had to “pitch” for business, how long did it take for you to prepare the pitch. How much would you estimate that it cost you to prepare and travel to present the pitch?
To me it seems like a backwards way of getting business. Maybe it’s my sports background that gets me thinking like this. I’ve always thought that the college recruiting process was a great example of inbound marketing.
If you want to play ball at a major college and you have the goods, the recruiters come calling you.
By the time your phone rings or the knock on the door comes the recruiters have watched you play. They’ve seen what kind of skills you have. They’ve pored over your stats. They’ve read your press clippings. They’ve watched your films. They’ve talked to your coaches and your opponents coaches.
They’ve done their homework and have decided that they would like to hire recruit you to come play for them. By the time that they make you an offer, they’re at a point where they are so impressed with you that they feel you’d be the right player to help their team win. If you’re really good they’ll even sweeten the pot with “incentives“…but we won’t go there.
Why should getting new business be any different?
