I’ve been asked a lot of times what I would think is the most important part of the sales process. The answer might be shocking but simple: Prospecting. How do you initiate first contact? Start prospecting. Here are the first steps that will help you find more customers.
Define Who You’re Prospecting To
Every product or service can be defined in a niche market. If you already know what your niche is, great. Move on to step 2. If not, make sure you define what it is that you are really good at.
What benefits bring your products or services to your customers? Why should they buy the products or services and most important what need do they fill for your customer.
Define Your Target Market
It is important to know who your target audience is. Not every product or service is meant to attract every single person. Make sure you know your target audience. Your niche can help. By establishing a niche you can find customers who either offer similar type of products (make sure you are not competing with them) and could benefit the customer if implemented or bought from you or you attract customers who could use your products/services because they are looking at your niche in particular.
Look at your current customer base. What do they have in common? Now find similar type of customers. Because if one car manufacturer can use your product, maybe there is another one (again, just an example). I understand, that if you are just starting out and don’t have any customers yet, you might be in for a challenge. But this is what it’s all about, isn’t it?
Do Your Research
You shouldn’t spend too much time researching your customers but to know a bit about their business goes a long way. What do they do? What is their product range? Who is the decision maker in that company for your products/ services? Who is the gatekeeper? Did their sales figures improve or decrease compared to the last year(s)? Knowing your customer can go a long way in order to help you sell your products. And don’t dismiss the gatekeeper (aka receptionists, secretaries, assistants). They can become your most important ally in order to place your products/ services with the company. If you get them on board then usually the decision maker is ready to listen to you as well. (Create a list of potential customers)
Develop An Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch should not be longer than 60 seconds. The pitch should contain who you are, what you do, the benefits to your customers and a close (in order to get more attention or to book a meeting). You can find 3 great elevator pitches at speakingppt.com. Make it unique and interesting for potential new customers to get to know you better.
Start Prospecting
Now the real fun starts. You have to start prospecting. This can be done in several ways but one thing is for sure: Most of the time it should end with you calling your potential new customer.
In step 3 you created a list of potential new customers. This is your money making machine. If you don’t feel comfortable just cold calling them, do one of the following:
a) Send an email first with a short pitch. Make sure that pitch is short and to the point. You don’t want to waste anybody’s time. However, the likelihood that your email will be read is very little to none.
So, after you send the email, make sure you follow up with your customers a day max. 2 days later. Now you have a reference that you can revert back to and your cold call becomes much easier. Warning: Sending an email will NOT result in your customers calling you nor is leaving a message resulting in your potential new customers calling you back. You have to do the first step: pick up the phone and call.
b) Invite them to a free or low cost event. Create an event in eventbrite.com (just as an example) and send invitations to your potential customers. Again, after you send the invitations it is important to follow up with them. You won’t get any sign ups by just adding an event. Make sure you share it and market it. But again, use the phone to follow up.
c) Create a social media marketing strategy. This will take some time but once you have build an audience on social media it should become part of your daily routine. Post regularly and inform about events, special offers and other things that you do. Here you have to follow up by making sure you monitor comments and likes. This time there is no need to phone unless you have their numbers already. This should only be a small part of your daily sales activity. You don’t want to waste too much time looking or waiting for comments to come.
d) Create a newsletter/sign up page or blog. Writing can give you more exposure, and as a result, more potential prospects. So make sure you write about something that you do and are passionate about. If you have a maintenance business write about what you do for your customers, outcomes, what could happen if certain things are not done correctly etc. This is all about exposure and interact with anybody who comments or maybe even likes your page.
e) Lead generation tools. A lot of businesses offer lead generation or you could even use certain tools that might help you get more exposure or even clients. These cane be costly but depending on your business and audience you can also find some that are great and free of charge. Do some research.
f) Make sure you have a website. A lot of small businesses don’t have a website and believe it is not necessary. But having a page, even a simple one, can make a massive difference to any business.
Websites don’t cost an arm and a leg anymore unless you get it done professionally. A website will give you additional exposure and you can use it as a tool to refer customers to. They might even take some of the hassle out of prospecting.
g) Go to networking events. Business networking events are usually done in every country, county or town and most of them are being held on a regular basis. Some of them require a small fee.
However, some of them are even free of charge. This is a great way to meet other business owners, entrepreneurs and like minded people who share a common interest.
h) Join a local/national or international business network. Business networking is great and could bring new business to you on a regular as a result of being an active member of the group. Referring business to each other is a great way to improve your sales and will help you stay on top of the game.
i) Chamber of commerce or other business related networks. Most countries have support for start up or small/ medium sized businesses. You should make sure you know what you are entitled to and how they can help you grow.
j) Get a business/or sales coach. Getting help should not be the last step a business owner does before he goes out of business. Waiting until it’s too late is the worst you can do for your business. Have a mentor, or coach, that you can go to either regularly or whenever you need to in order to discuss business growth. A coach is definitely the way to go for increasing your business turnover.
Prospecting is the number one process any sales person, entrepreneur and business owner could do on a regular basis (at least in my opinion it is). The more you prospect, the more you will sell, as a result of your prospecting. This is especially true when it comes to closing the deal, however without prospecting there will be no deals to close. And if you are in retail, you might think that you can’t prospect. Every business can and has to prospect. Using the right prospecting rather than doing nothing is key to success.
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