Day: 17 March 2014

5 TOP TIPS:  Making contact with new prospects

Many people find contacting the most difficult of all sales activities.  This is likely if we are ‘cold-calling’, but if we have manageable list (not so large that we cannot follow-up all the contacts made), and we have a few useful techniques for winning their attention and gaining their interest, then we stand a good chance of doing business with them.
Here are 5 tips designed to help achieve good and profitable contacts every time:

  1/  Make sure your prospecting has been effective and you have identified those who will be most likely to understand why you have contacted them; what you are offering and will have an interest in hearing more from you.
  2/  Try and identify the Decision Maker before you make contact, or at least a named employee.  Asking by title may well draw a blank, whereas receptionists or ‘gatekeepers’ are likely to respond positively if you can use a name.
  3/  Make friends with the Gatekeeper.  They are not interested in fulfilling your need so simply ask for their help.  Many will deny an approach; ‘I need to talk with…’ whereas few will deny a plea for help.
  4/  Apply ‘AIDA’ to the conversation (if this is not familiar email or call and I’ll explain!).
  5/  Try to emphasize the benefits of your product or service which are relevant to the          role of the contact; a buyer will be interested in price and delivery, whereas an MD          (or FD) will be more focussed on return-on-investment and cost-effectiveness.

These are just a few tips; there are many more tips and techniques you can use to great effect.  If you would like to discuss these or learn more, please call or email.

5 TOP TIPS:  Feeding the sales pipeline.

To avoid ‘stop and start’, ‘feast and famine’ sales, where an unplanned approach to marketing fails to attract a continuous stream of prospects or enquiries, here are 5 tips designed to help achieve sales continuity and a steady flow of new business:

1/  Construct a powerful message that really catches the eye and creates interest.  Include special offers, guarantees, value statements, new testimonials etc.
2/  Devise marketing initiatives that work in parallel, not in series, i.e. have more than one promotion operating at the same time.  These could involve a newsletter, LinkedIn, flyer campaign, website ‘latest news’, networking etc.
3/  Link all the initiatives together, signposting from one to the other to reinforce the message and provide extra detail.
4/  Include a system for registering interest; on your website, return form, newsletter feed etc.
5/  Follow-up ALL contacts received, however minor the interest claimed, and try and obtain feedback as to which promotion initiative caught their attention (useful for future campaigns).

This is ‘joined-up’ marketing and, well constructed, can be far more effective at attracting new business.

This is the first of 8 in our ‘5 TOP TIPS’ series. These will be followed by:
Contacting – first impressions that count
Presenting or ‘pitching’ – building interest and credibility
Negotiation – the best deal for all
Closing – introducing the Salient Ultimate Close
Customer Care – developing loyalty
More Time – practical techniques in time management
Smart Networking – making the most of face-to-face contact