One of the most frequent business mistakes CEOs, presidents and business owners make is not taking the initiative to actively and consistently create new business.
Many business people rely on current clients, referrals, ads (online and offline), social media posts or networking for new business leads. Frankly, if given the choice, most business people would probably rather go to the dentist than initiate new business relationships by prospecting for sales and cold calling.
You may think that with all the internet and mobile technology everyone relies on today for news, social, shopping and business that old fashioned sales prospecting and cold calling is an outdated business practice.
Not so. People are still people. Selling is still selling. Many elements of offline marketing, including actively prospecting for sales and cold calling, are still effective methods of finding and attracting new business.
But the truth is most business people intensely dislike the idea of making cold calls. They don’t like the idea of calling strangers, getting through gatekeepers, dealing with voicemail and most of all, being rejected and having to quickly go on to the next call.
But those who let the concept of cold calling intimidate them are losing out on a wealth of potential new business opportunities.
Even if your business is fortunate enough to receive new business through referrals, you are still missing out on untapped business unless you are initiating an approach to find new customers who otherwise would have no idea about your product or service.
Don’t be naive about your current customer base either. The likelihood is that most customers will eventually, for one reason or another, leave. You want to find those new customers now. Not when there is a gaping hole in the number of customers you have or how it impacts your revenue stream.
Let’s define how prospecting for sales and cold calling can fit with your business.
Most people incorrectly associate cold calling with the kind of calls you get during dinner from someone trying to sell something.
Successful business people realize that cold calling is a matter of attitude and how you go about it. In fact, cold calling is really just an opportunity to tell prospective customers a story about your products or services. The idea is to educate potential customers about what you have to offer and how it fits with their needs.
To have a successful sales prospecting and cold calling program it is critical that you, the CEO, president or business owner, set the example by cold calling and initiating new business. Be proactive. Few want to do cold calls but the practice can turn into thousands — or maybe even hundreds of thousands — of dollars of new revenue. If you don’t set the standard for sales prospecting and cold calling at your company then who will?
Remember: Prospecting for sales and cold calling in today’s business world isn’t about the hard sell or barracuda – used car salesman type of an approach. Instead, it’s about finding the match between the products and services your company provides and the businesses who need them.
Want to improve sales at your company? Talk with Howard! – 888-738-1855 – Howard Lewinter guides – focuses – advises CEOs, presidents and business owners to MORE success and MORE profit.