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A Lead, A Prospect, and A Client (What's the Difference, and Why You Need A Sales Funnel)

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When you're thinking about your sales funnel (pipeline), it helps to mentally distinguish between stages of working-together-ness to create a client lifecycle.

From the time you first identify the brand as a potential client or partner, to the point where you sign (or, ideally, renew) the contract with them, classifying your relationship with them into one of a few stages helps you keep track of them, helps streamline your sales process, and helps make sure you have a steady stream of business.

Think of the phases of the sales funnel the way you probably think of your circle of friends:

LEADS: These are acquaintances. You probably have some mutual friends, and you may have had a nice conversation with them at a cocktail party once. These are your leads. They're not completely unaware of you, but they might be on your radar a little more than you are on theirs. Think of these brands as ones that maybe liked a couple of your posts on Instagram, or that you did a sponsored post for through an influencer network. (Note: if it's a dream brand you've never had an encounter with, that's not a lead. That's a suspect.)

PROSPECTS: These are your casual friends. Maybe they're the ones you invite only under certain circumstances. You have a regular communication with them, but

CLIENTS: These are your BFFs. Trust has been established, you talk regularly, and you're committed to one another. And then you get paid for --- no, j/k, this is where the metaphor breaks down :)

By the way, some sales or marketing pros will tell you there are many more categories (aka stages of the funnel) - and there can be - but for the purposes of blogging partnerships, this will typically suffice. If you feel like you need to further differentiate relationship stages throughout the sales process, be my guest!

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So why bother establishing a sales funnel?

• Building your sales funnel this way ensures you always have a well-balanced client base. 
• It gives you the best odds of having a steady stream of work because there is always something on the horizon (leads), and there is always something in the works (prospects).
• If, heaven forbid, you lose all of your active clients, it means replacing that income will be much easier and you'll be without business for as little time as possible. Can you imagine if you suddenly and unexpectedly had no business and had no idea where you start finding new possible clients?
• It keeps your business fresh, making sure you always have new projects and interesting challenges on the horizon. 
• It fuels growth. 
• It creates demand for your work and increased demand with limited supply (unless you can clone yourself, there is a finite amount of work that you can produce) means you will be able to raise prices. 

And at the end of the day, isn't it all about the Benjamins?

The One Thing You Need To Know About Supply & Demand

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OMG this looks super confusing right? 

It can be. You can get a PhD in practically this diagram alone.

But it doesn't have to be.

In my macroeconomics class in business school, we spent entire class sessions studying case after case, doing equation after equation, and every single one boiled down to: when demand increases but supply decreases, prices increase. When demand decreases but supply increases prices decrease.

Let me put it in blogging terms for you: You're one person. No one can do what you do. There are 24 hours in the day, 8 of which you spend sleeping, 8 of which you spend eating, exercising, with friends and family, and doing non-work things. That least 8 hours of work. (Let's pretend we're not all workaholics for a minute.)

That means supply = 8 hours of work, and demand = the number of hours/day that clients want to hire you.

Supply Outstrips Demand: Lower Prices
If one company wants 4 hours of your work time every day, and that's the only business you have, that means that there is more supply (working time in your day) than demand (clients that want to hire you for that working time). You don't want to sit around not making money the rest of the day, so you probably need to lower your prices to see if you can attract any more clients to fill the remaining 4 hours in your day.

Supply Equals Demand: Keep Prices The Same
You get another client - woohoo! They have a project that takes up your remaining 4 hours/day. That means your 8 working hours per day are all accounted for. When the amount of time you have available to work perfectly matches the amount of work you have, that means your prices are perfect (this is the point of equilibrium on the graph). Don't change a thing.

Demand Outstrips Supply: Raise Your Prices!
Now let's say you get a third client who needs 2 hours per day of work. So you have 10 hours of work per 8 hour day. Um. What do you do? I'll bet you can figure this out.

So here is the one thing you need to know about supply and demand: 
If you have too much work, it is a good indication that the value of your work is higher than the prices you are charging. When demand exceeds supply, raise your prices!

Pitching: 5 Ways To Get In Touch

Pitching is daunting enough on its own without having to worry about your inquiry getting lost in the wrong inbox! One of the biggest hurdles to pitching is finding the right person - and their contact info - to send your pitch email to. But, with a little research, it's much easier than you think to find the right person, or at least someone close to them, to send your pitch to.

1) Check their website: Always, always start with their website. You're looking for something referencing media contacts.

You may need to navigate to a general contact page first, within which will be several contact addresses for various types of inquiries, including media.

If that doesn't work, try looking for a PR page, or press releases. Either way, there will often be a media or PR contact person listed on one of these types of pages.

I try to avoid contact forms as much as possible, because who knows where those inquiries end up. The exception would be a smaller company, where the contact form is more likely to go to someone closer to the brand team.

2) Google it: "[Company name] media contact" or "[company name] press contact". It's that simple.

3) Use your network: If you've been blogging for a little while, you probably know other bloggers. Don't be afraid to ask around to see if someone has a contact at the brand you're interested in. And don't forget: when it's your turn to reciprocate, jump at the chance!

4) Peruse LinkedIn: Wait, you've been building your LinkedIn profile and network out, right? You should be! LinkedIn is a great way to network, and comes in handy when you're trying to do a "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" think to connect with a brand. Use the search bar at the top of your home page to locate the company profile for the brand and then peruse the company employee directory associated with the company profile for people with marketing, brand, or PR in their title. Find the most appropriate title you can and reach out.

5) Spam 'em. Ok, no, not really. But if you really, really can't find an email address on the website, try sending out a bunch of emails to generic addresses for the company. Examples:

• contact@[companydomain]
• info@[companydomain]
• hello@[companydomain]
• inquiries@ [companydomain]
• media@[companydomain]

And so on. They'll likely all bounce back, but it's a last ditch effort, so you have nothing to lose by trying.

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Bonus tip: If you're not certain whether the contact is the right person to be talking to, don't be afraid to acknowledge that in the email. I often include, as the last line before my signature, something along the lines of: 

If you're not the right person to talk to about this, I'd appreciate it if you could forward my email to whomever is the person I should be talking to, or point me in the right direction (and I'm sorry to have bothered you).