Call, mail, call. Your initial call will lay the groundwork for a positive relationship with your prospective client and enable you to ascertain if they meet the criteria for being a good client. Telephone contact will give you an opportunity to learn about your prospects' needs and to communicate the ways in which your company will meet them. In all, telephone contact is a vital tool for moving many prospects closer to a buying decision. Marketing only during the slow times puts your business on an economic roller coaster, because it's always feast or famine.
Some entrepreneurs convince themselves they're too busy to market.
They concentrate on the projects or clients they have in-house and work hard on them, fulfilling contracts and completing projects until they, in effect, work themselves out of business. They look around one day and there's simply no more work to be done, or they realize there isn't enough new work to sustain them. It's a vicious cycle that results in economic highs and lows. Unfortunately, sometimes these protracted slow periods put otherwise effective entrepreneurs right out of business. Don't let this happen to you.