 |
||
|
||
|
 |
|||
 ASI Education offers you lots of business-building resources. In this video, Nicole Rollender, director of ASI Education, and Dana Reaume, manager of professional development, show you just some of the ways you can keep on top of the latest strategies, tools and technology to grow your businesses. Click here to watch the video.
|
|||
|
Formulas to Find Your Perfect Client
Prospecting for new clients is a lot like dating – you’re getting to know a stranger, tip-toeing around serious questions and most importantly, figuring out if you’re compatible. The goal of prospecting is to establish a relationship so that you’re considered for that first project. While working with existing clients is great, there’s a real formula to figuring out which prospects you’ll work with best. When it comes to identifying the perfect client, there are some red flags and clear signs to help you find the perfect match. And don’t forget, just like dating, first impressions will dictate whether you’ll have a long-lasting and fruitful future together.
Paula Sours found a formula that works – sell what appeals to you to markets that appeal to you. Sours, a sales assistant with Superior Business Solutions (asi/339701), found that when she likes a product, she’ll start by learning everything she can about it. By selling what she likes, Sours has been able to target specific clients and form relationships with them. “The worst thing you can do is try to sell something you dislike. If you’re not a good liar, it will show,” she says.
When it comes to prospecting, Sours has also noticed the red flags. “I had one client that was yes, yes, yes, we’re interested, but they kept changing what they wanted. Or, they kept delaying the in-house date. If they say they need to think about it, that’s a big red flag,” she says.
Another rule of thumb to follow when dealing with a new client is to look for loyalty. Denise Knierim, account manager with Show Your Logo Inc. (asi/326179), always looks out for what is best for her company and expects that same attitude from her clients. “If they are not going to be loyal to their company why would they be loyal to me? To me the most important thing is to look at how they value their company,” she says.
So how does she weed out the disloyal prospects? “When people badmouth their company, it’s a sign that they might be looking for another job. You can build off of people who care about where they work,” she says.
The typical view that prospecting is a numbers game is often time consuming and results in few if any qualified prospects. How do you escape the numbers trap and prospect in a way that results in qualified prospects? Carl Eidson, vice president of business development with Wilson Learning Corporation, answers that question. He says, “A lot of salespeople work hard at prospecting, but the problem is they keep looking for gold in the wrong places and no matter how hard they work, they will never be successful. They need to first identify what their ideal customer profile is, look for new prospects who meet those criteria and focus their prospecting energy there.” Once you understand who it is you want to do business with, you can better craft your sales messages in a meaningful way.
|
|
| Top |
Join ASI Education Online
It’s official: ASI Education has a Facebook fan page. When you become a member, you’ll connect with us and lots of other distributors, suppliers and decorators who are developing innovative approaches to sales and marketing. You’ll get the latest ASI Education news, view our latest webinars and educational videos, read case studies and pick other fans’ brains for their most effective strategies to increase your sales – and your bottom lines. Click here to join us now.We’re Tweeting
ASI Education has entered the “Twitter-verse”! Follow our “Tweets” at www.twitter.com/asi_education to be one of the first to learn about ASI Education news, such as ASI Show Keynote presenters, special show events and courses, new webinars and online courses, and more!
|
Simple Marketing Tools to Plump Your Profits
One of the most important ways to increase revenues immediately is to first fine-tune and increase your marketing efforts. After all, new business and new channels of revenue are the result of marketing campaigns that reveal new leads to call on. Whether it’s a new referral program a new online social network campaign or a new targeted print advertisement, distributors have to ramp up their marketing now to take advantage of an expanding market and new opportunities.
Here are five ways that you can expand your marketing efforts right now.
1. Get organized. To effectively market to targeted audiences, distributors first need to get their lists and systems in good shape.
“Coordinate, consolidate and clarify your many lists,” says Marsha Londe, owner of Tango Partners. “Identify your groups by business, title, or information that allows you to sort and target your audience. Once you’re organized, continually update. Then, you don’t have to go through this process again.
“Don’t send a mailing without first confirming or correcting your contact information. If you miss the intended recipient, you’ve wasted time and money, and missed an opportunity.”
2. Coordinate a targeted mail campaign. “Coordinate the product with the message and determine your packaging,” Londe says. “The most important element is that the product they select has to have a reason or a purpose. It has to complement or coordinate the messaging. Who’s the audience, what are the objectives, and what’s the budget and time frame?”
3. Fill the pipeline. Londe suggests that distributors plan out their next year’s worth of marketing efforts now. The reason? To fill your sales lead pipeline in case you run into a slow time.
“Suddenly there can be lull in sales, and you don’t have anything in place because you haven’t planned,” Londe says. “If you plan ahead, come July or August, which is a really typically slow time, you can gear up for the holidays. When you’re going through next year’s Christmas list the December before, then you have one step out of the way. It’s organizing, sitting down with your team, and making a plan of what you’re going to do.”
4. Get involved locally. While it’s a good idea to join the local chamber of commerce and make networking part of your new marketing efforts, just joining these organizations and showing up to meetings usually isn’t enough to get noticed.
“I joined a local chamber of commerce a couple of years ago, and nothing happened,” says John Zalepka, president of Corporate Brand Inc. (asi/168854). “I paid for a bold listing in the directory of all of the chamber members – still nothing. Then, I joined the golf committee. I attended a few early-morning meetings, where I met other local businesspeople with similar interests. Next thing I know, they needed a giveaway for the outing, and they had a $5,000 budget. This proves that sometimes, all you have to do is get involved.”
5. Market yourself consistently. “Being busy is no excuse for not marketing yourself. Sure you’re busy now, but what’s your forecast for the slower months?” Zalepka says. “You need a pipeline of qualified prospects that you continually work until you convert them into clients. Pick up the telephone and call some people. Make the follow-up calls after meeting people at a networking event. Call your top 10 clients and ask them for a couple of referrals, then make those 20 calls another day. The bottom line is, do something everyday.”
|
|
| Top |
Cracking the Code to C-Level Selling
You might not be the largest firm out there, but that’s no barrier to catching big fish. Small- to mid-size businesses can indeed attract interest from large companies – and even get in with their C-level executives – to secure an anchor account.
Kimberly Rodgers, president of Jungle Promotions (asi/237854), wondered how he would react. Would the interested prospect from a multinational firm still want to use her services once he learned that her company had just 10 employees?
Her solution: “I did a ton of research about their recent financial performance, product lines, industry trends and what types of programs and products they utilized in the past so that I could show that my company was big enough to handle their business, but small enough to personally care about each project from beginning to end.”
Cris Nigro, principal at Proforma Creative Precision (asi/300094), thinks that Rodgers played her hand exactly right, and deserves the payoff that comes from hustling up such a major account. “Targeting a large company takes a lot of time, so you have to really stay with it and be consistent – always thinking about who you’re contacting, what you’ve said and used in your past contacts, and what you’ll say and use in your next contact,” she says. “But if you do that well, the result can be incredibly worthwhile.”
If a rep wants to make an impression on a C-level executive in a big company, doing extensive research on that company and its industry is critical. But where the challenge really differs from trying to win over top-level people is in the pitch itself. There is no room for error.
“It’s so tempting to talk first about all the interesting products you offer, but that is poison with the occupier of a C-level office,” says Tony Parinello, a sales trainer and author of Selling to VITO, the Very Important Top Officer. “Forget product, especially the features and functions. Focus instead on what results you can bring to this executive. Think about what they want and need, which are ideas that improve the corporate economics or shareholder value. Yes, your ideas and products can create greater brand awareness or loyalty or whatever, but that is someone else’s job in that firm. This top officer’s job is about gaining market share and wallet share, and controlling costs. So what measurable and intangible results will your ideas result in, and over what time frame? Tell these executives your story, but in their language.”
|
|
| Top |
Looking for Dynamic Speakers
Do you have what it takes to be a top-notch industry educator? Do you have a passion for sales, marketing or business management? Are you an industry consultant or skilled ASI distributor? If so, the ASI Education team is looking for you!We’re looking for candidates who can deliver compelling presentations on the most effective tools and techniques used in business today. We want you if you’re a thought-provoking sales, marketing or business-building guru who can showcase your talents at the 2011 ASI Show education programs. This is a priceless opportunity to help brand yourself as an expert in your field – and also provide amazing networking opportunities to grow your bottom line and your career.
Click here to fill out a Call for Presentations form.
|
