Building A Bigger Customer Base: Tips For Small Business (NAPSA)—Keeping current customers happy is vital for most any business—butefficiently finding new ones is key to surviving a tough economy. Analysts warn, however, that while technology has helped many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) grow their customer base, some traditional methods—such as online networks and data-gathering Web sites—can be time consuming andoften do not generate prospects ready to buy. Similarly, the long-proven method of list buying has become increasingly less reliable with the advent of Internet-based list generators. In fact, many lists are not only costly, but also inaccurate. Instead, SMEs might opt for new types of tools that combine a number of proven prospect-generating services. For instance, ZANABusiness Network (ZBN), a business-to-business marketplace for SMEs, worked with industry innovator SalesFuel to create the ZBN Sales Prospecting Center. The technology was designed to identify the most important elements of lead generation and incorporate them into a single, efficient and easy-to-use sales prospecting tool. Center users can: * Quickly view prospects and in-depth companyfiles. Search millions of executive contacts and view profiles of key executives. Add_ prospects to their Prospect Manager. New types of technology can help businesses moreefficiently identify new sales prospects. Manage and track online prospects, and forecast and track sales pipelines. There’s also a “sales trigger’> component that provides users with notification of significant developments in prospect companies—such as management changes, companyrelocations, mergers or acquisitions—that could indicate they are ready to buy a product or service. The trigger can prevent SMEs from wasting timeon cold leads. Boosting Results The center can be coupled with free advertising, selling, buying and partnering opportunities, along with international trade resources, business guidance, and essential services that ZBN provides. To learn more, visit www.zananetwork.com.
