Want More Sales, More Profits? Go Deeper / PromoJournal - Cliff's Notes
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I question the sales and marketing activity of most salespeople. Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of sales professionals, in the process, I have found most deal with their existing clients at a surface level at best. They often spend an inordinate amount of time searching and hunting for new business when the fertile sales ground is right below their feet. Make no mistake, it is important to generate more sales leads, but the best opportunity is right where you are currently working, and who you are currently serving.
Most of us believe, (or want to believe, that our clients love us), it is a natural thought, however, I would ask you to consider and analyze your top 10 clients, then ask yourself, ‘What percentage of business are you generating from these clients?’ What do you think that number would be? My experience has taught me, at best, you have about a 10 to 15% market share. What are the potential reasons for this?
1. Client may not want to place all their ‘eggs in one basket,’ they want to diversify their purchasing.
2. They have no idea all the things you can do for them.
3. They want to keep them all to themselves, not interested in sharing you as an asset.
There are many ways to overcome these and other challenges, consider these options and ideas:
1. Go deeper within your existing clients, based on your bandwidth, consider limiting your prospecting for ‘new’ clients, focus on the companies you are currently working with. Furthermore, focus primarily on your top tier clients, A and B level, do this by:
a. Doing a deep dive on their website, find additional contacts.
b. Utilize tools like ZOOMinfo to seek out more details.
c. Create an event calendar, work with your clients to determine all the events/programs they will be working on throughout the year so you can be proactive.
Validating this process, I had the pleasure of working with a friend, Gary Goodhart, MAS, at my former employer, he shared a story with me of helping a distributor with a deep dive via ZOOM. The distributor had been working with a healthcare facility and had seven buyers he had worked with for some time. After doing a ZOOM deep dive, Gary was able to uncover a multitude of additional buyers. They created a strategy to target those internal prospects and during our last discussion, the distributor had over 67 buyers in that same healthcare facility. Amazing. The biggest take-away here is most salespeople deal with their clients at a very thin surface level, by having a deeper swath of clients within an organization, one can sustain one or two people leaving and going elsewhere. Something to consider.
2. Analyze your client base, and once again, focus on the A and B level clients who have stepped away from your business. Create a marketing strategy and creative piece to assist in getting those clients to come back. Then refer to the previous point and activate that program.
3. Develop an awareness program of the services you offer and make it known, market those services regularly. I have done this with several of my clients, we named it the; “Did You Know?” program.
a. Highlight your services individually, not all at once.
i. Launch it via e-blasts, consider using the DASH platform, it is amazing, or your current emailing platform.
ii. Push it out on all your social media – you should be connected with your top clients on your social channels.
a. Look at your existing contacts, if you are doing a stellar job, your contact should be willing to give you a referral.
b. Get testimonials, use these in conjunction with your marketing and social media posts.
My friends, if you're considering doing what I am suggesting, you WILL see an exponential spike in your sales and profits. The key though, is to keep this process moving, making it a part of your everyday marketing and sales strategy, doing so will generate enormous success!
If you would like to discuss further, send me an email, cliff@quicksellspeaks.com happy to chat –
Until next time, “Go Deeper”.
For nearly 40 years, Cliff Quicksell, MAS+, MASI, with his company, Cliff Quicksell Associates, has been speaking, coaching, training, and consulting both nationally and internationally to associations and small business groups, on more effective ways to market themselves, their products, and services; as well as motivating their personnel. Recognized by PPAI for his creativity, he has won the prestigious PPAI Pyramid Award over 30 times, the Printing Industry's PSDA’s Peak Award for creativity 5 times, and Regional Association CPPA’s Peak Award 3 consecutive years. Cliff has coached countless others with the same result. Cliff received PPAI's Ambassador Speaker of the Year Award six consecutive years; and was the inaugural recipient of PPAI's Distinguished Service Award. Named one of top six industry speakers and trainers, he was recognized by PPAI in the book, "PPAI at 100", as having a significant influence in education in our industry. He was recognized by Counselor Magazine as one of the Top 50 Most Influential People in the Promotional Products Industry. Cliff’s BLOG 30 Seconds to Greatness won the Award for Most Passed Around Content. Cliff’s most recent book, 30 Seconds to Greatness, is available on his website www.QuicksellSpeaks.com Connect with him on LinkedIn or via email at cliff@QuicksellSpeaks.com Cliff will be launching his 30 Minutes to Greatness PODCAST in the next couple of months geared specifically for small business owners and entrepreneurship. Connect with Cliff to get connected to this free podcast.
