Serve the Underserved

When prospecting for new business, too many promotional product distributors focus their efforts on the same departments as their competition:

• Marketing
• Human Resources
• Sales

Going after the same target audience that everyone else is clamoring for does the exact opposite of differentiation: it lumps you in with everyone else. Depending on the size of the company and perceived oppotunity, contacts in the above departments will tell you they are contacted 10, 20 or even 50 times a week! No matter how deft one is at receiving information, it would be a near impossible task to understand – let alone differentiate – one value proposition over another.

Instead of clashing with the competition for the attention of the obvious contacts, serve the underserved. There are divisions in just about every sized organization that have full autonomy – and budget – to buy promotional marketing materials. This is a group that is starving for new ideas and innovation simply because very few offer it to them: The finance division of a grocery store chain, the recruiting department of an oil and gas company, or the facilities arm of large corporate campus to name a few.

Outside of the “usual suspects”, there are opportunities – opportunities that your competition either can’t or won’t burn the necessary calories to develop. When you focus new business efforts on serving the under served, you are able to:

• Build relationships by providing value and giving attention to a group that usually doesn’t receive it
• Showcase creativity to an audience that will appreciate it
• Reduce price considerations
• Yield much quicker results

Focus new business development activities on the parts of organizations that are underserved. By giving them the attention usually reserved for marketing contacts, you will be able to form relationships that keep your competition at bay.