5 Steps to Successful Selling in 2008

1. Sell More to Existing Clients

Existing clients are the easiest group for you to sell to because they trust you. Quite simply, if you deliver a good product or service, your clients will like you. So if your goal is to generate more business, the quickest and most hassle-free way is to sell more to your existing clients. Simply put, your best prospect is your current customer.

Realize that sales and customer service are tightly related. Don’t make the mistake of being a salesman or business owner who works hard to make the sale and then disappears once the sale is made. In my own technology sales career I became the star salesperson not by being the best prospector in the sales team, but by spending hours upon hours working with the delivery team — checking on what was being developed, what the client specifically wanted, making sure client deadlines were met — to make certain we delivered a quality product to our customers after the sale.

Are you a small company that has thousands or tens of thousands of contacts in your database but has virtually no contact with these people for months or years? One communication, at a minimum, every six months — one note, one postcard, one phone call — and contacts will feel they have a relationship with you. Make them feel like you care and they will prefer to buy from you versus buying from someone new. It does not take that much communication to keep people in your network. A note, a call, a meeting once every six months will do it for many. Don’t, however, keep sending notes or making calls saying “just checking in” or “just seeing how you are” — it becomes annoying for the recipient. Instead, call or e-mail with news that might interest them (for example, to my acquaintance the caterer, I’ll e-mail a news item about the new specialty chocolatier opening up downtown). And don’t forget to send the occasional handwritten note telling someone you noticed some positive development or news related to his or her business. Regardless of how you do it, you must have a system of following up with existing clients.

2. Get More Referrals

The next easiest way to find new business in 2008 is to rely on referrals. If you have a good relationship with your customers, don’t be afraid to ask for referrals. Nothing complicated, just ask! “Hi, Joe. Hope all is well. I was wondering if you might know of one or two people you can refer me to whom I might be able to help with my service/ product?”

And remember, too, referrals don’t have to come just from clients. They can come from anyone who knows you, your products or your services. This is where networking comes in. You can build your network in a few different ways, including direct contact, networking events and referrals. Contact the people you want to meet and don’t sell to them: Simply state that you would like to meet them to learn more about the industry or to form a relationship. Ditto for networking events or conferences you attend; scope out specific people you want to meet and introduce yourself the same way. Once you have maintained your communication with people for more than a year, simply ask them for referrals as well. I send an e-mail once or twice a year to 100-200 people in my network and ask them for a referral to people in companies we are targeting.

3. Improve Your Marketing List

Once you’ve maxed out the business you can generate from your current clients and done everything you can to get referrals from your network, you can increase your business by narrowing your prospect list. Golden rule here: Less is more.

The biggest mistake most companies make with marketing is focusing on quantity at the expense of quality. Quality in the lists of people you contact is critical. If you send a fabulous offer to the wrong people you will get no response. I have seen many campaigns in the technology arena where companies have sent 10,000 or 20,000 e-mails (or letters) to a list of contacts from a stale database (i.e., they did not stay in touch with the contacts or just bought a list of names) and generated zero responses.

On the other hand, I have seen companies send an offer to a list of only 300 to 400 contacts and get six or seven leads. Narrow your list by tightly defining who would be most interested in your product (erring on the side of not including people). Clean up your prospect list at least twice a year. Have someone call your prospective companies not only to make sure your list is updated with the correct contact names, but to pick up any information that might indicate the firm is not a good prospect (such as “we’re going through a merger and all our budgets are frozen for the next six months”).

Only after all the updates have been made should you consider this a list worth using for your marketing offers. Keep in mind that although building your list represents a large amount of work, this type of quality list can be used over and over again. Repetition is another key to success.
4. Get to the Point

The bar today is extremely high for gaining anyone’s interest. Therefore, your pitch needs to be very good to get someone’s attention, and fast. Think of your message as an “elevator pitch” — what you say when you’re in that imaginary elevator with the CEO of a prospect company and you have only a five-floor ride to convince them to meet with you.