3 Keys to Best Of Ballot Prospecting

Best Of ballots are hands-down the biggest revenue driving promotions you will run. Here’s the 3 keys of Best Of prospecting that will help you secure more sales with less lift – potentially capturing 80% of your ballot revenue. Focus on:

• Businesses competing in multiple categories
• Businesses that are competitive
• Businesses that have historically purchased

The whole goal of this approach is to arm your sales team with the best plan of attack to sell as many packages as possible with the least amount of work. We all know that direct sales and relationships with our customers are what drive future sales, but we also realize that everyone is trying to do more with smaller teams. This is why it’s important to drill down to the best prospects that will drive the most revenue and are big enough to matter. You won’t be able to reach every single business that is entered into your ballot, but you can focus on those that are worth your time with the biggest payoff.

Competing in Multiple Categories

Take stock of the businesses within your ballot and identify those that appear in 3 or more categories within your ballot. These businesses will be more likely to purchase larger packages – purchasing for all categories they appear within – and will also most likely want to secure advertising within all 3 phases of your ballot.

Businesses competing in multiple categories also typically have larger budgets, which again makes them great target prospects, as they have the capability to invest in your larger packages.

Competitive

Next, focus on businesses that are highly competitive in your market. To identify these businesses, look for those who have a fear of missing out, relish being considered ‘the best’, and use their photos, their voice, their face in their advertising. They care about their reputation and don’t want other businesses to be perceived higher than them.

Since the perception of the community is important to them, they will care about how they place in your Best Of. Winning within a Best Of is marketing they can use all year long to promote their business, and this means they will be very likely to purchase packages in each phase to better secure their chance of winning.

Historically Purchased

Textbook prospecting – if you sold to a business last year, reach out and sell to them again for your upcoming ballot! These should be the easiest sales you’ll make. If a business who purchased last year won within your ballot, you know they’ll want to make sure they’ll win again this year, and purchasing an advertising package for your ballot will give them they best chance of securing their title.

The businesses who have historically purchased are also a gold mine because these are potential categories in which you could dive deeper. For example, your ballot had a Best Dentist category last year, but you noticed all types of dentists were nominated – pediatric dentists, family dentists, orthodontists, etc. This year, you could break Best Dentist into 3 separate categories – Best Pediatric Dentist, Best Family Dentist, Best Orthodontist – which means even more advertising opportunities for your advertisers and more revenue potential for you.

Want to dive deeper into prospecting? Check out our Best Of Seller’s Series!