With the incredible proliferation of brands in both the b2b and b2c markets, your sales people needs all of the help you can give them to get in the door and make a case for your products and services. It’s obvious. We live in a world in which a “brand” can be launched in an hour—literally—and there can be hundreds or even thousands of competing brands against you.
How can a sales person battle through?
The bottom-line is that the old tried-and-true sales skills are not enough anymore. It takes both hard work and some new tools to compete. Here are three tactics to employ:
1) Know what matters most to your prospective clients and eliminate the rest from your client discussion.
It’s great if your sales team is well informed and can spit out your key sales points—IF that’s what is of interest to your prospects. But what if they are not interested in what you have to say? This can be avoided by researching each prospect to determine what valuable insights you can offer on your first introductory call.
I can almost hear you saying, “But that would take me a lot of time and I won’t make my quota of calls for the day and week!” Right, you probably won’t make your quota, but what you will make are the most effective sales calls you’ve ever made.
2) Be bold in your marketing.
Detail your most recent client successes on your website, in your blog, in your social media channels, and everywhere else you can think of. Caution: talk about your client in generalized terms such as “mid-size manufacturing company located in the Northeast” vs. using a client’s name. Of course, if your client will grant you permission to use of their name, that’s even better, particularly if they are well known.
A key here is to consistently publish client success stories on a basis—weekly, monthly or quarterly—that is appropriate to your business so that your prospects will see and be influenced by them.
3) Shorten your prospect list.
This sounds like another counter-intuitive strategic move doesn’t it? When you need more clients, does shortening your prospect list really make sense? Depends on how you look at it. Which sounds better to you? Having:
a very long prospect list that you rip through with few results, or
a highly targeted, shortened prospect list that includes deep research about each company and the top challenge that you can solve for it?
It takes time to establish a business relationship, to be sure, but having a strategic plan for each one of your prospects will substantially improve your chances of doing business with them. And in today’s tough business climate, you need all the help you can get.
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Tom Wants To Hear Your Branding Issues:
Tom Marin, Managing Partner of MarketCues, wants to hear from you! Follow MarketCues on Twitter for branding and social media tips - as well as the latest trends. Tom also welcomes emails, new LinkedIn connections, calls to 407.330.7708 or visit www.marketcues.com. How can he help solve your branding issues?
Note: If you are a printing company or product/services company serving the print-media market, and would like to be considered for a feature in this blog, please contact Tom Marin for an interview.
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- Business Management - Marketing/Sales
Tom Marin is the Founder and President of MarketCues, Inc., a national consulting firm. He has worked for some of the world’s largest corporations and middle-market firms. Tom’s focus is to help CEOs drive their strategy shifts and strategic growth programs. Follow MarketCues on Twitter. Tom also welcomes emails new LinkedIn connections or calls to (919) 908-6145.