Episode 127, The Proven System to creating new customers!

Simplify Your Sales and Business meetings. Lisa Thal is an Author, Speaker, and Business Coach. She has over 34 years of marketing, sales, and leadership experience. She wrote the book "Three Word Meetings."  Lisa coaches leaders on simplifying sales and business meetings with fun and interesting 3-word  topics to get your sales team motivated and inspired.

 

Episode 127, The Proven System to finding new customers!

 

Last weekend we all turned our clocks back an hour, and many of you are listening, maybe excited about gaining another hour of sleep. ( Sign me up) Others may be saying I am not a fan of the clocks turning back because we lose an hour of sunlight at the end of the day. 

 

Well, we may not be in control of Daylight Savings Time, but we are in control of not letting our business fall back. 

 

There is a mindset to how you approach your day and your customers. It is taking control of your day and not letting others distract you from progressing. It's your approach to how you run your business. We have to pay attention to our daily activities that allow our business to move forward, grow and not fall back because we can't afford to be in that space of compliance.

 

One sure way to assure your business doesn't retract to make sure you are focused on your pipeline of clients. Each one of us will face some level of attrition. The typical percentage thrown around for years has been 20%. The percentage will vary, but it's coming. So what do you do to protect your income and success? Every day, you have to spend time looking for clients with a problem you can solve, have the resources to implement your strategy, and meet with a decision-maker who can say yes!

 

How do you build the pipeline of new customers? It becomes a part of your solution selling DNA. A University College London study reported, "It takes 66 days on average for a person to get accustomed to a new habit." It is the routines you create that keep your business from falling back.

 

Let me ask you a question.  

Is keeping your sales pipeline full become more challenging?

 

I am meeting my budget and having a great year. 

 

Maybe you are focused on closing your current business? But if you don't have any prospects, you can't close any deals.

 

Or are you so busy you can't find the time to prospect?

 

I have been selling and managing for over 35 years, and one thing I can be sure of is that your current client someday will go away! Your one phone call away from someone canceling. Yes, that cancellation has nothing to do with you and your product or services. But it does impact you and your income. So how do you take control back?

 

So I was thinking about what you can do today to assure you have a strong sales pipeline.

 

What is a sales pipeline?

It's a list of new prospects, customers, opportunities that have determined that you can confidently help solve a problem! The secret is that they just have not met you yet. But you will if you take action to meet them.

 

Why Should your Sales Pipeline Always Be Full

Because you want to control your business, having plenty of sales opportunities prevents you from relying on your current customers or the price-sensitive clients, or the clients that consume your time spend very little. A focused sales pipeline allows you to confidently set the price your product deserves, knowing that there are plenty of other opportunities you can fall back on. 

 

Always be prospecting

Spend time every day to look for new leads on LinkedIn, look for buying triggers in the news, and reach out to new prospects. Your prospecting efforts need to be consistent. Please don't fall into the trap that I am busy with my current client's needs. Or my day is slammed, and I will prospect tomorrow. You see, if you let yourself take a day off one time before you know it, you won't have new leads in your pipeline anymore.

 

Hold yourself  accountable to prospect daily—whatever it takes to make it a habit. Try blocking some time on your calendar, set your phone to remind you that it is time to control your destiny! Ask your manager to hold you accountable or challenge another salesperson to join you in building their pipeline.

 

Be More Social.

Social selling is necessary to survive and thrive in today's modern, digital sales environment. The sooner you embrace this, the faster you will meet quotas, grow your pipeline, gain introductions to decision-makers, maximize profitability.

 

Ask for referrals.

Your current customers are the best source of your next customers. They believe in your product or service, and more importantly, they believe in you. Linkedin is a platform full of introductions to you. You have to identify whom you want to meet. Spend time reviewing your top spending clients on Linkedin to see whom they know too that you see an opportunity. You then ask for an introduction or the ability to use their name when calling or emailing for a meeting.

 

Go Vertical! 

You have account categories that are having tremendous success with you. Build off that success? You own that Vertical. You invest more time becoming an expert in that category. Interview your current client and ask them for the top three challenges they are facing today. You may discover a new challenge that you can help them solve. Use those challenges as opportunities to create a dialogue with new prospects. You will build momentum and have the ability to learn something new from each call. Set up google alerts on that category, so you stay on top of all trends and news on that category.

 

You have to be intentional when building your pipeline of clients. Creating and maintaining your sales pipeline takes focused time and energy. It has to happen when your sales or soaring, not just when your sales are sliding.

 

Pipeline prospecting has to become a way of life for you.  

It is the one thing you do have control over!

 

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Learn more about how to Simply Your sales meetings using 3-word topics at http://www.threewordmeetings.com .