When people hear about what we do at Relevant, we get a lot of questions.
What is a Business Development System? Is it lead gen? Is it a prospect list?
We know. Lots of things are called biz dev and it's surprising to our clients when they see what we deliver for them. We often hear things like, "you guys never explained it like this!"
Below are the most frequently asked questions from prospects and clients integrating the Relevant Business Development System into their own businesses.
QUESTION: How fast can the Relevant System be put in place?
ANSWER: Fast! We average about 10 business days to launch, but we’ve done it in as few as 5! Of course, a lot of the timing depends on how much we need to build out to launch, how much of your branding and collateral already exist, and how quickly we can turnaround items like copy-review and design approvals. We typically like to build out the timeline with two weeks for set-up and the goal of launching everything by week 3.
QUESTION: How soon does the Relevant System start working?
ANSWER: Also fast! Although the multi-touch aspect is designed to increasingly qualify your prospect as they progress through the funnel (ie - longer is better), the System starts working from Day 1 by reaching out to a real prospect with your real message and driving for a response from those organizations and individuals who are ready to make a purchase decision.
QUESTION: What if the Relevant System doesn’t work for us?
ANSWER: We’ve encountered two reasons why the Relevant System isn’t working. Reason one is that we need to review your targeting. Micro-targeting is a balancing act of finding the most relevant audience without cutting out too many viable prospects. Problems we’ve seen include targeting a niche that’s too narrow (“clean energy advocacy groups in Pennsylvania”), too broad (“service companies in the Southeast”), too many decision makers (“enterprise Saas companies”), or the sales cycle is too long (“government contractors”). The answer to these scenarios has been to tweak our targeting, messaging, and outreach strategy. And it has never required starting from scratch! In truth, we’re testing and reviewing the process constantly for your campaign so that making pivots like the ones above are done on-the-fly, as quickly as we’re learning, and without having to stop campaigns or retool the system.
Reason two, and almost universally this is the real reason, is that the system needs time to work. If you’re asking yourself this question in week 2, or even month two, it’s too early. The Relevant System is built on proven principles of marketing, not a quick-results gimmick. Our team is busy honing, optimizing, and tweaking your campaign to improve your quantity and quality of new prospects. Learn more about why every long-lasting business strategy needs ramp-up time.
QUESTION: Can I use the Relevant System with my own services or resell it to my clients?
ANSWER: Yes. The next natural step for our clients when they see the Relevant System working for them is to see application for the System to solve their clients’ marketing needs. Many agencies that initially hired Relevant for their own business develop liked the Relevant System so much that they proceeded to sell it to their own clients. Relevant is more than happy to have this conversation with you and we have developed specialized tools and billing to work easily within your own company's onboarding and reporting processes.
QUESTION: How do I get started? OR I have a question that isn't answered here.
ANSWER: Let's talk about how you're building your business now and see if the Relevant System would work for your goals. Grab a time that works for you on my calendar here.