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HOME » NEWSLETTER & ARTICLES » NEWSLETTERS & ARTICLES ARCHIVE » Don't Miss the Recovery, October 2009
Don't Miss the Recovery
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Bill McCormick
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"The recession is very likely over at this point."
- Ben Bernanke at the Brookings Institute on 9/15/09
I’m not sure if you fully agree with Ben Bernanke’s recent assertion that the recession has ended, but hopefully you are finally seeing signs of improvement for your sales efforts. To ensure that you don’t miss the recovery, now is the time for sales professionals to work harder and smarter on new business development.
This month’s newsletter provides some advice on the best methods to identify new leads, based on surveys and consulting work that we’ve done this past summer with several different sales organizations.
What is the Most Effective Method to Generate New Leads?
When sales professionals are polled, “Ask for referrals” continues to becited as the best method for generating new leads. After all, it does little good to identify new leads if you can’t gain access to the decision maker. By far, referrals wereselected as the most effective method at getting a new client to actually speak with you. Yet, many salespeople are either uncomfortable with asking for referrals, or fail to use this method to its maximum effect.
Asking for a referral works best if you specify the type of person that you hope to be referred to, AND you match your request to fit the person you are asking. Three examples:
1. If I'm speaking to a Sales Manager at a large company: "Can you think of 2 or 3 other sales managers in your firm that might also benefit from Negotiation Skills training for their sales team?"
2. If I'm speaking to a higher level sales executive (VP ofSales, for example) and Ifind out that the VP is responsible for another group that could benefit from a training workshop: "Would you be willing to refer me to a few of your distributors? It would be a win/win if we could teach their salespeople the same skills that your direct salespeople are learning."
3. If I'm speaking to an HR Manager who is well-networked: "Would you be able to give me the names of a couple other HR managers at other companies who would be interested in the type of training that we provide?"
If you would like some assistance on how to ask for and use referrals, we can help.
What Other Methods Work Well to Generate New Leads?
Many sales professionals still rely on some older methods of lead generation, such as cold calling and drop in visits. These methods do work, yet there are more effective ways to generate leads today that take advantage of technology and allow you to reach more leads with less effort. Here are three examples:
1.Use a live webinar to teach an informational session or to do an interactive demonstration of your product or service. The cost and complexity of webinars has decreased dramatically, and is a very cost effective way to reach out to single key accounts or to larger audiences made up of multiple prospects. A webinar eliminates travel time and expense for the seller, and allows the prospective client(s) the opportunity to sign up all interested parties, even if they are located at different locations.
2.Use a recorded webinar as a follow up sales tool. It is very easy to record a live webinar or to create a specially-recorded webinar. You can then use the recorded webinar in a variety of ways to support your prospecting efforts. For example: (1) the recorded webinar can be a great follow up action after you have an initial phone call or meeting with a prospective client; (2) you can use the recorded webinar as a way to reconnect with your current clients and to advise them of a new product or service; and, (3) you can do a targeted email blitz that contains a link to your recorded webinar.
3.Optimize your web site to make it easier for new clients to find you. STAR has found that the most frequent way that new clients find us, by far, is by searching on Google or Yahoo and then finding our web site at www.salestrainingandresults.com You do not have to be a huge company to optimize your web site, but it does take time and effort. If you don’t have the time or effort for this step, at the very least you need to improve your web site so that you can use it as a sales tool. Too many web sites are electronic brochures only and don’t include newer features such as blogs, recorded webinars, articles and links to other sites, and so on.
Once you’ve optimized your web site, there are many ways to use this in your sales efforts. For example, when you send an email to a client or prospect, be sure to include a link to a relevant page in your web site.
Where Do You Go From Here
STAR uses all of the methods mentioned in this newsletter, and can consult with you on how to do any of these actions for your organization. In addition, if you wish to read a related newsletter, click on this link to read a recent STAR newsletter titled How Can You Tell When Your Sales Are Poised To Rebound?
Hopefully, you can use most of the methods summarized in this newsletter to jump start your new business development. There certainly are other methods that can be used as well. Now is the time to get back in touch with prospects, dormant clients, and other potential sources of business. Start acting now, and take advantage of the recovery in its early stages. Extra effort today should help you end 2009 on a strong note and will position 2010 to be a good year.
About Sales Training And Results, Inc.
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