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The following eight steps for more effective prospecting can help attract new business.
1. Broaden Your Perspective
Determine how you can create a leap in demand for your products and services. Don’t go solo. Assemble a group of advisors and get their input and creative ideas. Include people who have differing points of view from you. Not easy, but critical.
2. Be Nimble and Innovative
You’ll never have all the facts. Make quick decisions. Be fearless and make tough choices. Create new uses for your products.
3. Dazzle Your Current Customers
Your current customers need care and feeding. Don’t ignore them at the expense of new business, because they’re actually your best source for new business.
4. Prioritize Wisely
The most important activity for any salesperson is to do what’s “closest to cash” as the first task of every single day—whether it’s following up with a prospect, writing a proposal or closing a deal.
5. Become the Expert
Companies hire experts because they can’t afford to make mistakes. Position your company as the expert with a specific product or in a specific market niche.
6. Stay Connected
Network like crazy. Attend a minimum of one event a week. You never know who you will meet and what you will learn. Never let your network go down. Networking is an essential referral marketing activity. So go make connections and build your business.
7. Don’t Cut Prices, Increase Value
There’s a lot of chatter about cutting prices in a lagging economy. But by cutting services, you’re cutting your profits even further. Instead, consider how to “get in and get started.” Divide your offering into smaller chunks, get results and create traction.
8. Commit to Building Your Referral Business
Referrals are always terrific, but they mean even more in a soft economy. Don’t let the lagging economy trickle down on you. Take charge and make your phone ring again! Let your prospects know how much you care about them. Tell and show just how much you appreciate their business. Inform them that you’d like to help people just like them. And, don’t forget to thank your prospects and clients for their referral.
Follow these tips and you will get more referrals by leveraging your contacts and clients. You will attract new business. You will accelerate your sales. And you will achieve higher results without increasing your cost of sales.
"Word of mouth" is one of the most valuable forms of advertising. It's powerful, effective, and very inexpensive! Your satisfied customers can be your best spokespeople and biggest cheerleaders. However, even happy customers can use reminders that they should "tell a friend." How can you encourage customers to do it? Here are some ideas...
Create a formal "tell a friend" program, which rewards your customers for spreading the word.
Include a flier about your business and the products and services you offer with each purchase; encourage customers to pass this flier onto a friend.
If you have a "bricks and mortar" office or store, place an attractive sign in a visible place encouraging clients to tell their friends about your business.
If you send out regular emails to your customers, add a P.S. suggesting that they forward the email on to others who may be interested.
Order a roll of pre-printed "We love referrals" or "I'm never too busy for your referrals" stickers, and place these on your letters, envelopes, brochures, invoices and other printed materials.
Ask! A great time to bring up the subject is just after your customer has expressed their satisfaction with your product or service. "I'm so glad you're happy," you could say. "Do you know of anyone else who could benefit from our service? I would certainly appreciate the referral!"
A positive testimonial about your company - delivered directly from your satisfied customer to a potential customer - is one of the most powerful forms of advertising. It pays to encourage your customers to tell their friends about your business.
Sign-A-Rama - Kearny Mesa in San Diego
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