Four Reasons Daily Prospecting Will Increase Your Bottom Line

Posted on by Kaitlin Dunlap

Question: How can you get the best results from prospecting?

Answer: By making it a daily habit.

Here are 4 reasons why daily prospecting will benefit you, your sales team, and ultimately, your bottom line.

  1. Prospecting keeps your pipeline full
    • There’s no denying it – inbound leads are usually warm, move through the sales cycle at a favorable pace, and are the lowest hanging fruit in terms of prospects. Unfortunately, for a salesperson who is trying to grow his or her portfolio and increase their number of clients, relying solely on inbound leads is usually not sustainable. There just are not enough of them. A great way to prevent your lead list from running dry is to incorporate a mixture of both inbound and outbound-generated leads. Prospecting = outbound leads. Outbound leads = a full pipeline.
  2. Doing a little prospecting each day keeps the task manageable and prevents it from feeling “too big”
    • Which would you rather clean – one dirty dish or a sink full of dirty dishes? Cleaning one dish is much more manageable than a sink full of them. But, when you stack that first dirty dish in the sink, it becomes tempting to continue stacking and stacking, up until the sink is filled and you have no other choice than to tackle all of them. Wouldn’t it feel better to keep the task small and manageable? Prospecting is no different. By doing a little bit of prospecting each day, you avoid letting the task grow and grow until it feels like a big, time-consuming undertaking.
  3. Repetition will keep your prospecting skills sharp
    • What our parents and coaches told us growing up is still applicable in our adult lives – practice makes perfect. And while “perfect” isn’t necessarily attainable, continued practice will only make you better. Prospecting daily will make you a better prospector – it’s as simple as that.
  4. Consistent prospecting will give you a leg up on your competitors
    • Spoiler alert: just like the thought of prospecting doesn’t make you jump for joy, it also doesn’t make your competitors jump for joy. In fact, tasks that we don’t want to do often get pushed to the bottom of our to-do lists. And we all know what happens to tasks at the bottom of our list – they end up not getting completed! This is a trap that many people inadvertently fall into – and chances are, it’s a trap your competitors fall into. If you want a leg up on your competitors, do not allow yourself to fall into this same trap. Set yourself apart from what others are doing and get ahead of your inbound leads running dry by prospecting every day.   

Prospecting is a tool that will take your sales success from average to great. A little bit of prospecting each day will grow and compound, leading to your future success. In the words of Darren Hardy, author of The Compound Effect, “Small choices + consistency + time = significant results”.  

What the 2021 Summer Interns Have Learned – Part 2

Posted on by Kaitlin Dunlap

Written by Audrey Tuttle

Last week, our blog featured an exciting post showing off this year’s summer interns. This week, we wanted to write an equally exciting post continuing the Q&A with these special individuals. Dunlap Marketing is determined to prepare these aspiring businesspeople with everything they will need to know prior to entering the business world.

Without further ado, here is part two!

What is your favorite thing about working at Dunlap Marketing?

“I really enjoy our weekly breakout sessions. I feel like I have learned a lot this summer through that time with Kaitlin. She has taught us many valuable lessons that we can start applying to our lives now, but that will be especially important post-college graduation.” – Amy Djuvik, Texas A&M University, Supply Chain Management

“My favorite thing about working at Dunlap has been collaborating and working with other interns. It is nice to have people my age in a professional setting!” – Scott Ashmore, Texas A&M University, Finance Major

How has your experience been working with the leadership team at Dunlap Marketing?

“Working with Kaitlin and Mike has been such an amazing experience. They encourage you to ask for help when needed which allowed me to perform my job duties to the best of my ability. They have created a warm and welcoming work environment that generates the desire to come into the office each and every day and truly enjoy the work that I do.” – Molly Rhoden, University of Oklahoma, Business Management Major

Is there anything that you have learned here that will be beneficial in your future within the business world? If so, what is it?

“The detail that goes into a lot of things can show people that you care and that they are valued, so I think that is something that can really help me in the future if I remember to always pay attention to details.” – Daniel Corteguera, Southwestern University, Business Major and Spanish Minor

“I think learning to be comfortable with cold calls has been very beneficial because no matter what you do you will have to talk to people and being able to make a good first impression quickly will help in all areas of life; business and social.”- Amy Djuvik, Texas A&M University, Supply Chain Management

We have had an incredible summer watching these interns grow within many areas of our company, and we are excited to see the impact that they each will make on the business world.

What the 2021 Summer Interns Have Learned

Posted on by Kaitlin Dunlap

Written by Audrey Tuttle

Dunlap Marketing has a heart for helping the current generation of college students with their desire to get real-world experience – we’re proud to have hosted over 20 interns over the past six years (check out some of our previous interns here, here, and here)! Our summer internship program has created an opportunity for these ambitious individuals to work firsthand with the leadership team and staff at Dunlap Marketing. Each year we have been blown away from the talent and hard work that has been shown by our interns, and this year is no exception. With a group of six students who come from a variety of different colleges, they have been able to grow their knowledge outside of the classroom and work on various projects within our company.

They have gained experience in cold calling, lead generation, telemarketing, marketing through social media, data research, B2B operations, and much more. Additionally, the interns have learned about the ins and outs of being successful in the workforce through the weekly breakout sessions with Mike Dunlap and Kaitlin Dunlap Cuevas.

Of course, these statements can only be backed with a fun Q&A with the interns…

What work have you been doing at Dunlap Marketing?

“I have been working on research projects where we have been gathering information via telephone as well as online research. I recently started a project where we are surveying current customers to see the future of their fleet’s regarding electric vehicles!” – Scott Ashmore, Texas A&M University, Finance Major

“Over the course of my internship at Dunlap Marketing, I have been working on several B2B campaigns. Typically, this includes calling other businesses, obtaining general information, setting appointments and performing surveys.” –  Molly Rhoden, University of Oklahoma, Business Management.

What skills have you developed while working at Dunlap?

“While setting appointments, closing can be a tough task, and I feel as if my ability to read the customer and communicate clearly and efficiently has grown immensely.” – Thomas Nassab, Clemson University, Financial Management

“I would say the biggest skill I have developed is confidence when talking to people. I’m not always the most outgoing person so getting more comfortable talking to other people in a professional environment has definitely improved my communication skills.”- Daniel Corteguera, Southwestern University, Majoring in Business and Minoring in Spanish

We love hearing what our interns have to say about their experience at Dunlap Marketing. Check out next week’s blog for part two of our intern Q&A. You won’t want to miss it!

How To Identify Your Target Market With Three Simple Data Points

Posted on by Kaitlin Dunlap

Part 2

As B2B marketers, business developers, and salespeople, it’s our responsibility to keep the sales pipeline full of prospects. This is no easy feat and takes a lot of hard work. When the flow of word-of-mouth leads and referrals runs dry, where do you go? How do you define your target market and find businesses that can become your future prospects?

Last week, we discussed the two ways to approach this question – the method that will be the best fit for your company depends on your starting point.

  • Starting Point #1: You have a list of current and/or past customers AND you want to continue selling to customers who are similar.
  • Starting Point #2: You are starting from scratch. This means, you do not have a list of current and/or past customers OR you have a list, but you do not want to reach this group, instead, you want to target a new segment.

If Starting Point #1 sounds like a fit for you, go back and read this post.

Maybe you’re just starting out. Or maybe your goal is to grow by breaking into a new segment. If so, Option 2 is for you. Arguably, this route can feel very intimidating. But, if you apply the same three data points we reviewed last week, geography, industry, and size, you can easily conquer identifying your target market.

Here’s how to use geography, industry, and size when you’re starting from scratch.

  1. Geography – can be defined by state, city, county, zip code, or even neighborhood
    • When you’re starting with a clean slate, it is easy to think “everyone is my prospect”. And while that might be the case, it is not an attainable lead generation tactic. You need to have a starting point, or an “A List”. If you put your blinders on and start thinking realistically, geographically, where will your first buyers come from? Often, they come from your own backyard – or neighborhood, county, city, state, etc.
  2. Industry
    • Start by filtering out industries you know you do not want to work inside of – examples include competitors and non-fits. For example, if you’re a business banker, you would want to filter out other banks.
    • Next, brainstorm the industries that are good-fits. This is where you’ll start finding your target industries. For example, if you sell industrial kitchen equipment, you will want to include industries such as restaurants, hotels, senior living facilities, hospitals, etc.
  3. Size – can be defined by employee count, revenue ranges, or physical square-footage
    • This is where you begin zeroing in and really start identifying your target market. There are multiple ways to define the size of a company – depending on your product or service, we suggest using either employee count, annualized revenue, or square-footage – sometimes, a combination of the three. For example, if you sell on-site fueling services, there’s probably a minimum number of gallons you want to fill on each site – you can use employee count to gauge the number of cars on site, which will give you an approximate number of gallons. Or, if you’re a commercial roofer, you would look at square-footage to determine buildings that have roofs that are in the size-range you want to do business with.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or have hundreds of existing customers, you can identify your target market. By using geography, industry, and size, you will be well on your way to your next selling opportunity!