Grow Your Business By Helping a New Business To Grow

Think about when you started up your business… all the things you needed, all the companies out there that offered those services… How did you choose which ones to work with?

Now think about your Company’s services. Would new Businesses be interested in what you have to offer? Can you help them to grow strong roots at this vital stage?

Nurturing the Seedlings

Contacting a Business when they’re in the very early days of their development presents an excellent opportunity. It gives you the chance to build a strong, lifelong relationship with an organisation without that initial hurdle of competing against their current supplier. It also enables you to become so familiar with their business model that no other Company will know them as well as you do. At the start of their journey you can build trust and ultimately be that difference that makes them flourish. In time, they could become some of your most treasured – perhaps even most lucrative – Customers.

Investing in tomorrow

Everyone has to start somewhere… and although those more established businesses may be more tempting – the challenge is that all your Competitors are in the same queue. Although new businesses may not have such large budgets – they are more open to suggestions and guidance – hence – you don’t have to go through that painful process of ‘giving them what they think they want’ before they realise what they actually need. The chances are – you knew this all along.

What seeds can be purchased?

There are lots of B2B data companies out there, claiming to offer high quality ‘New Business’ data. Yet very few of them are providing fresh, accurate records for companies that are actually ‘trading’. Be wary of providers or agencies who claim to offer tens of thousands of records each month: These may not be recent, fully verified, active entities. After all, sadly – many new start-ups fail in the first few months. Also, look out for Companies offering little more than ‘addresses’ with no telephone number and no email – because if a large proportion of these aren’t actively trading – how much revenue are you going to waste on mailing them?! The key here is to find a data provider who have an in-house team of experienced data verifiers: A provider who calls new Companies themselves and offer up to date data for businesses that actually exist, with telephone numbers to contact them on. There aren’t very many of these – which makes your choice a lot easier when deciding where purchase it from. This truly is about quality rather than quantity, and it could be that – depending on your industry – one or two sales from a small pool of data would give you an excellent return on investment.

What selection of blooms can I choose from?

There are many options open to you when selecting your ‘new business’ data. let’s look at some of them now:

Location – Can your Company offer a UK wide service or do you Customers need to be close to home?

Industry Type – which types of companies would most need your solutions, products or services?

Premise Type – knowing what sort of premise a Company operates from can be very useful within certain sectors (i.e. if you’re an Energy or Telecoms Company)… This could be an Office, Factory, Restaurant, Farm etc.

Mailing? Telephone? With or without an email? – all of the records should come with a mailing address and telephone number, after all – the latter was the method used to gather the majority of the information! Email addresses will be collected where available – so if you plan to run an email broadcast you may only want the records that have these appended(?)

Key Decision Maker – most records should have a key decision maker name, but some may not – depending on who was spoken to when the data was verified. Thus you may want to just select those records that do, or run a mailing slug-in to those that don’t i.e. F.A.O. The Managing Director. Alternatively, find a contact on Linkedin! – there is likely to be less competition if you’re making extra effort where your competitors are not!

Change Type – last, but by no means least – this defines what type of ‘change’ a company is undergoing… This needs to be explored in more detail for you to decide which ones are right for you.

Which Types to nurture?

There are four main change types that can be found within ‘new business data’ and one less prominent one.

New Business – Literally new start-up businesses that are trading for the first time and will thus require many new services and solutions.

New Branches – So, simply put – a new branch of a Sole or Multi site Company is opening, most likely at a different location. This could mean that some of their needs are handled by their main office, but others may still be open to tender or a completely open door.

New Owner – As it states, the Company has been taken over by someone new who probably has different plans, ideas and visions for the organisation. Companies that may have been inaccessible before, due to bureaucracy and fixed ideas, may now be well worth another try.

Relocation – so they’re moving! This could be a great opportunity to help these Businesses have a smooth transition at what could be a very busy, stressful time.

Company Name Change is another type to be considered. Please note that the volumes of these tend to be fairly low but it could be a great category to try. For example – if you’re a stationary company who offer bespoke merchandise, you could offer to help them in their re-branding process.

Timing is everything

Once again, depending on what your solution, service or product is – you will need to contact these New or Changed Businesses at the right time for you. For that reason, you will need to think about when and how often you need this ‘New Business’ data to be supplied to you. Will you need it Hourly? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? For example, if you’re an Energy Company – time really is of the essence so you may even require it hourly! Conversely, if you’re a Web Design Company you may only need it weekly or monthly. Think about this carefully and choose the delivery option that works best for you.

Handle with care and enjoy the rewards

Whether you’re contacting brand new Businesses, or any other Change type – these Companies are going through something exciting and all-encompassing. It is such a pivotal point for them and a fantastic opportunity for you to facilitate their success. Unlike Direct Marketing to more established businesses – this is not a campaign that will involve extremely large volumes of data: Thus, the message you send and the way you deliver it needs to be handled with care, attention to detail and extreme diligence. Set yourself apart from other Companies by offering a personal service and by being there when it rains – not just when it shines. Not only will you build rewarding, lasting relationships, but in today’s internet age the news will spread fast: With social media like Linkedin and Twitter – there has never been a greater time to build your reputation by offering a great service. Needless to say: helping new Businesses to get off the ground will help your Company to grow to even greater heights.