Alpha Guild
Lead Follow-up
by Bill Warner and Howard Cornett

The members of the Alpha Guild have been following up leads for 9 months, contacting over 15,000 potential customers. These leads have come from people that have requested the trial version of Alpha Five.

Last year, Richard Rabins (Alpha's co-chairman) decided that one of the best ways to enhance Alpha's image would be to follow up every request for the trial version with a personal contact. However, he also realized that Alpha didn't have the in-house personnel to do the job. So, he asked some long-time Alpha consultants, such as Howard and myself, if we would be interested in helping out. Aside from the obvious advantage to Alpha, he proposed that the consultants could benefit by having the chance to contact people that could eventually become new customers for their consulting business. In a brain-storming session at last year's Alpha Conference, we all decided to establish the Alpha Guild¹ to pursue this goal.

Guess what? It worked! We have been contacting new people on a regular basis, and have received great comments from many of them. The most common response that I get starts with, "Thank you for taking the time to contact me..." No matter how electronic business becomes, people still appreciate personal contacts most of all.

Now, this doesn't mean that everyone we contact becomes a new customer. Many people requesting a trial download have no further interest. However, the positive response rate has been far higher than what would be expected from typical cold sales calls. Part of the reason, of course, is that they have already expressed interest in Alpha by requesting the trial version (and it certainly doesn't hurt to have such a great product, either!).

As you might expect, this has worked out very well - Alpha has sold xxxx copies of Version 5 since the Guild began. But, you might ask, how has this helped the consultants? Why would they be willing to spend their valuable time on something with no immediate return?

In one sense, I'd be tempted to answer that question by saying, "If you have to ask, then you just don't understand." But to be fair, we are doing this (quite eagerly, I might add) because we all recognize the tremendous potential of getting the names of people that could someday need our professional help. And this isn't just wishful thinking - many of us have already received substantial consulting contracts² as a direct result of contacting people that we would never have known about, had we not volunteered to participate in the Guild.

So, is this something that you might be interested in? As they say, we're always looking for a few good men - and women! As the requests for Alpha's trial version continue to increase, we will need more Guild members to continue to provide the quality follow-up that Alpha needs and deserves.

As you might expect, not everyone will qualify for membership in the Guild. If you want to pursue this further, you can read the Alpha Guild Membership Requirements and Guidelines. Then, if you think you could qualify, please contact us:

Richard Rabins at Alpha (Richard@alphasoftware.com)
Howard Cornett, Guild administrator (hgc@georgetown.edu)
Bill Warner, Guild webmaster (Compuniq@aol.com)

¹ The definition of a Guild is:

1. In medieval times, a union of men/women in the same craft or trade to uphold standards and protect the members.
2. Any association for mutual aid and the promotion of common interests (New World Dictionary of the American Language)

It is this "mutual aid and promotion of common interests" that we are seeking to foster.

² While not typical, one Guild member got over $60,000 worth of consulting business last year, as a direct result of his contacts.