Zeroing in on events that prompt prospects to realize it’s time for a new solution (aka “trigger events”) are a great way to find new prospects because it focuses your efforts on a market of ready or nearly ready buyers.

Whether you love or hate him, the election of President Bill Clinton was a HUGE trigger event for the D.C. area. It had been 12 years since Democrats had been in the White House, plus he was not a Washington insider. So it brought a tsunami of new people to town to work for the new administration and Congress.

Realtors got a lift from people needing to buy and sell homes. Savvy restaurateurs opened new eateries designed to satisfy the influx of southern palates. And the list goes on and on.

Some professions and industries are masters at trigger-event marketing…

–Recruiters often reach out to companies who have announced expansion plans in the local paper.

–Financial planners have long sought out job changers because helping them transfer a retirement account is a foot-in-the-door to future business.

But every small business should be looking at the events going on around us today to figure out which ones they can leverage to bring in new business.

Identifying Trigger Events for Your Business

Ask yourself:

• What causes someone to seek you out? And what usually prompts this? Who else is dealing with a similar issue right now?

• When are your busiest times of the year? What else is happening around that time that could be tied to this?

With all the changes going on in the economy and otherwise right now, there’s a ton of trigger events taking place. Here are a few timely examples:

Job Changes. A new manager is usually looking to take things in a fresh direction–which often means bringing on new contractors and consultants. Keeping track of new hires at a company you want to work with can give you a heads-up to new opportunities.

How to Do It: Use Google alerts for the name of the person currently in the position or the title of the position such as:

“Joe Tech” +Glaxo

“Information Technology Director” +pharmaceutical

(The + before the word means that the search results MUST contain that word)

Job Openings. Job openings can be another good opportunity if you can help fill the gap while they’re shorthanded. Of course, it can possibly lead to ongoing contract work after a new person is hired too.

How to Do It: Set up a job alert on sites like Careerbuilder with both a keyword relevant to what you do plus the name of the company or industry you’re targeting. For example:

“employee benefits” +manufacturing

For one that’s more consumer-oriented…

Back to School. Preschool wasn’t going well for my nephew and he’s always been hypersensitive to loud noises, so my sister recently took him to a sensory specialist for evaluation. And surprise! The waiting room was packed with other parents and kids with similar concerns.

That’s not surprising when you think about it–the start of the school year brings all kinds of issues to the forefront.

And even if the teacher notices something the first, day, she’ll often wait a week or two to see if the child “adjusts” before mentioning it to the parents.

How to Do It: For a regular trigger event like this, it’s best to prepare early by publishing an article in the local parents’ magazine or even sending out a press release on your topic shortly after the start of the school year.

In short, there’s a world full of people and businesses on the hunt for new solutions and new opportunities–figure out what’s driving them to make a change, and could find the key to connecting with a market of eager clients who are just waiting for your help.

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