Are you a reluctant sales person?
Unless you’re a an acclaimed expert in your field, have a product or service people are tripping all over each other to sign up for, are a networker par excellence so are bound to convert some contacts to customers, or have enough business now and in the pipeline to keep you profitably engaged for the foreseeable future, you’re going to have to undertake additional prospecting activities to grow your business.
We’ve touched on this subject before and this is where most people with little or no sales training and limited confidence in their sales abilities start to feel very uncomfortable. What’s more, they don’t want to be categorised as a pushy sales person.
How do you get round that one?
How do you learn to create a potential business opportunity and/ or ensure you can recognise and effectively act on one when it presents itself?
Preparation
- Write down the identifiable qualities of your best customers (company size, type, sector, geographical location, etc.)
- Note who makes up the Decision Making Unit (Decision Maker, Influencer, Buyer, User, etc.) and the job title of each
- Note what influenced each of them to buy from you and why they continue to buy from you (the Decision Critical Factors) - if you don’t know, ask them
Now you’re ready to seek out suspects who closely mirror those qualities
- Go to your Direct Marketing Association (in the UK it’s the DMA)
- Select Find a DM supplier
- Under ANY SERVICE decide whether you want to go to a list owner, manager or broker (maybe you’ll want to talk to some of each)
- Get the name of the individual you’re speaking with and explain your requirements
- Shop around to get the best raw data you can
- Whatever your raw data supplier has told you, don’t expect the list to be anywhere near 100% accurate
- Decide whether you’re going to clean it and/ or enhance it
- Decide your initial method of contact (post, email, telephone or test a number of each approach to see what works best for you)
- Talk to them – use the art of conversational selling to establish any pain that you may be able to alleviate
Now you’re ready to make contact
Now go win, keep and grow business
Happy hunting!
Linda Mattacks is the author of a series of training courses available at SellingForBusiness.co.uk developed to provide easily accessible training for small businesses who are not in a position (or may not want) to take time out to attend formal training sessions.
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