Are you still waiting for business to fall in your lap? If so, good luck. The day of the order taker is over. It is up to you to make it happen.
Unfortunately, salespeople feel that the company is obligated to provide them with prospects or, at the very least, a list to call from. There are several things that you can do immediately to generate new prospects with little to no effort or cost.
- Make one customer service call a day to an existing customer to make sure you are meeting his or her expectations. You have now created an opportunity for additional work or to ask for a referral.
- Network strategically. Don’t waste time in areas that are not providing you with a return on your investment.
- Fish where the fish are. Make sure that you are spending time with prospects that have a high potential of doing business with you.
- Consistently ask for referrals of new customers or even from prospects who don’t buy from you.
- Last but not least, don’t be a secret agent for your company. Some of my best clients were acquired during nonwork hours. Make it a focus for 2011 not to wait for your ship to come in — swim out to it.
Marvin Montgomery is an author, speaker and sales training consultant at ERC, where he has assisted hundreds of organizations in improving their productivity. You can ask the Sales Doctor a question at [email protected].
