Marketing: Keeping Business Going And Expanding When Your Client Contacts Move To New Jobs, by J. Christopher Dunn

MARKETING
Keeping Business Going And Expanding
When Your Client Contacts Move To New Jobs
May 12, 2015

By J. Christopher Dunn
Voice Actor

“Not all those who wander are lost.”
–  J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

A
challenge I have in maintaining my client list happens when contacts are
no longer reachable.

Personnel changes occur all the time; most people
move from one job to another every two years. After they transition to
their next job, my contact information for them is useless.

When a contact goes missing,
my business with the company they left behind could potentially come to
an unnecessary halt.

I work hard to build relationships with clients,
so I diligently attempt to get plugged back in to my client’s
consciousness.
Think of it as going on an adventure with two positive outcomes in mind.

Here are
the methods I use to reconnect with a contact who has moved to another
company, and to introduce myself to the person who replaced them.

WHEN THEY MOVE …

When
you find that a contact has gone wandering (moved to another company or
seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet!) do the following:

Locate where your contact landed.
LinkedIn is probably the best resource for tracking professional
status. Search for the contact’s name and the name of the last known
company they worked for.

When you find the name,
send them a LinkedIn connection request, if you’re not already
connected. Should you not find them, search their name with Google.

Once you’ve established a connection,
congratulate them on their move to a new job, and then ask for their new
email address.

Offer to follow up with your complete contact details.

MEET CLIENT’S REPLACEMENT …

When a contact leaves a client company, there’s a hole to fill. Make a point of getting acquainted with the new person.

After you reconnect with your contact who
moved to a new company, ask them if they know the name of the person
who replaced them at their previous company or the best contact for
getting the information.

If you were not able to reconnect with the contact
– or after reconnecting they didn’t know the name of the new person at
their old company – make a call to the company you’re trying to reconnect
with.

Ask to talk with the person you want to reach by their title. “Hi, could you connect me to the Marketing Director?”
Use whatever title your previous company contact had.

Then explain
that you’re a voice over talent who worked on projects for their company
in the past. You’re calling to establish a connection with the new Marketing Director.

Since the new person doesn’t know you, introductions are necessary.
Once connected, let the new contact know you worked with their company
before and are calling to exchange contact information. Ask for their
email address and offer to follow up with your complete contact
details.

DID YOU GET IT?

When
you send the introductory email with your contact details, ask the
recipient to respond with a confirmation that they received your message
and ask them to include their contact information in the reply.

If they don’t reply the same day, wait a few days and send them a follow up email,

“I’m
following up to make sure you received my intro -mail and contact
information. I’d like to have up-to-date info for you, so please feel
free to send your contact details.”

Then rest.

It’s
some work, but the payoff is in the details, and it could be huge. I
know from personal experience that the work is worth the time.

Do you have a different process? I’d like to hear about it. I’m looking for ways to improve mine.
————————————-
ABOUT J. CHRISTOPER
J.
Christopher Dunn is a professional voice actor who lives in the Pacific
Northwest close to Seattle. He voices commercials, web demos, podcasts,
product demonstrations, telephony projects and documentaries. His
voice is described as friendly, warm and trustworthy – the guy next door
or the voice of high profile corporate presentations. He also spends
time with the Penn Cove Players, a Whidbey Island, WA troupe that
performs original audio dramas, as we all as recreates old time radio
shows in front of a live studio audience.