The Christmas and New Year Season is just around the corner. For most businesses, things slow down and people prepare to take time off and travel, perhaps do some home renovation or just relax. People have more time on their hands.

Now is the PERFECT time to meet people who are otherwise too busy through the year. Here are 10 types of lead generating meetings you can have before the Christmas break:

    1.   Meet with customers to review the year gone by and the opportunities ahead
    2.   Meet with people who were clients at a previous company, but moved on to new companies
    3.   Meet with key influencers in your target companies who can refer you to key decision makers
    4.   Meet with past colleagues who can make that all important introduction in the future or share valuable information
    5.   Meet with sales people from other vendors, who sell into your target market(s) so as to trade information
    6.   Meet with LinkedIn connections who might be able to offer valuable information or introductions
    7.   Meet with people with whom you exchanged business cards at a networking function, seminar or trade show earlier this year
    8.   Meet with clients who have become inactive over the last six to twelve months
    9.   Meet with people who are new in your client organisation and could be potential customers
    10.    Meet with replacements for previous key contacts in companies, before they form strong alliances with competitors.

Pick up that phone and book those appointments. Speed up when others slow down this Christmas and get ready to enjoy big results on the other side of your well deserved break!

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Most prospecting methods involve approaching a large number of targets and then filtering out prospects based on their response. It is important to capture, track and continue to work on prospects to ensure the best outcome in the long run.

However, to manage a large amount of customer data well, it is essential to:

• Develop or adopt a system to record prospect information
• Monitor the system to manage prospects through to closure
• Assess and improve the system to meet your changing needs

A well-designed system enables you to prioritise prospects based on their value  and  timeframes.  It also ensures that the information is never misplaced or discarded.

At the prospect’s end, it means:

• They get the information they need in a timely manner.
• The sales person dealing with them follows up regularly.
• The details of their discussions with you are never lost.
• They continue to place more trust in the sales person because of the professional and reliable manner in which they are looked after.

Today, a number of Customer Relationship Management (C.R.M) applications enable all of the above and are a must-have for businesses wanting to manage their customer relationships really well.

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Most new sales people begin with a high level of prospecting activity. However when success comes and the volume of their business grows, they often turn into ‘order-takers’ and administrators. Working with existing customers and managing orders involves less rejection and negativity but still takes up valuable time. So, unless there is a set process to prevent them from doing this, they end up making little or no investment into developing new business. It is only when they lose a significant customer and feel the sobering shock of it, that they regret not prospecting more frequently. Without a replacement for that revenue, it takes a while to get back to their earlier level of success.

You can shockproof your revenue! Here’s how:

• Develop a good sales plan and forecast for the next 12 months, with a provision for revenues from new clients
• Create a prospecting plan with two to three methods of generating a lead base
• Set aside a reasonable amount of time to prospect every week without compromise
• Reduce your non-sales tasks by delegating or outsourcing them so that you can invest in building the pipeline
• Track your progress weekly and find an accountability partner to stay on track

If you can do this, you will be prepared when the unexpected happens. And if it doesn’t, your sales will grow even faster! Have an opinion, question or story? Click the link below to share it! We would love to hear from you.

Last week, we looked at a logical and mathematical approach to determining the level of prospecting required to achieve your sales targets. This week, let's look at the critical stages in this approach and tips on how to improve your ratio of success at each level.

Lets start at the top of the sales funnel:

1. Targeting suspects
Target the markets and niches which have a strong attraction to your product or service, rather than using a spray-and-pray approach.

2. Converting suspects to prospects
Highlight ‘what’s in it for them’ (W.I.I.F.T) or the value proposition of your product or service rather than talking about what the product or service is. For example, let’s assume you provide a direct mailing service, which has proven, higher response rates than impersonal mail. Your service enables businesses to generate a higher return on investment from their marketing efforts, or simply put, generates more sales per dollar spent in marketing. You are more likely to get your prospects attention if you talk about how you are helping your customers increase sales rather than telling them about the mailing service itself.

The W.I.I.F.T principle helps you engage your customers better whether it is communicated in spoken, written or audio-visual form.

3. Converting prospects to customers
After engaging your customer, a thorough verification of their needs, motives and expectations puts you in a position of superior knowledge. Knowledge is power. Having gathered the information you need, tailor your offer precisely to the customer's requirements to make it compelling and persuasive.

4. Increasing customer transaction values or growing customer revenue
Once you earn the right to become a supplier to your customer, it is important to go beyond the day-to-day ordering of your product to further understand their business, its structure, processes and goals. Mapping your product or service range against their departments or potential buyers enables you to plan a better penetration strategy into their company.

In summary, you need to build good prospecting plans and develop your sales skills to enjoy great success.

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