ethnocentric firecracker: Key Steps For Your PR Sales Funnel | Business Coach

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Key Steps For Your PR Sales Funnel | Business Coach | Business ...

Posted by Cameron on August 20, 2012
Free PR

The Free PR Sales Funnel

The number of calls you need to make before you land stories varies based on who you are, what your angle is, what?s happening in the news, and how accurately you?re targeting the writers.

For example, your numbers will be horrible if you are calling writers who cover the oil and gas industry but you?re pitching them about a small business angle.? Even though they?re business writers, none will ever cover you.

Assuming you?re targeting writers who write about your field, in media outlets that have an interested readership, then this is a rough estimate of the numbers you might expect from a PR person once they have been trained on your product and company knowledge.

It takes a couple months before even the best sales person knows enough about the products or company to close better than a long-time employee.You should keep in mind that new hires won?t become pros overnight.

Monthly: You should expect five stories per PR person at minimum
Daily: They can make six outbound pitches to journalists (this is based on doing it every day for a month)
It accounts for tracking what was said on the call
Setting up follow up times to call them back
Research on the target
Getting the correct contact info
Sending out follow up information
Following up with prospects from calls made in weeks prior
That means ? 6 calls a day x 5 days a week x 4 weeks a month = 120 outbound calls a month, which should generate five stories a month

These numbers are pretty accurate and cover national, regional, and local media.? They also cover spreading the calls out over TV, radio, print, online, newsletters, and bloggers. The numbers are also pretty conservative, too.? If the angles are well thought out, and if the PR person sells well, they?ll land even more.

You should try and do this yourself ? if possible ? before your new PR person starts. That way, you?ll have some idea of the environment they will be dealing with. Maybe your numbers are better than my example, and you already have a compelling story. If you can?t find a writer who will listen to you for more than 2 minutes, then you know it is time to go back and rethink your angle.