Happy New Year everyone! To celebrate the new year, let’s briefly discuss the eternal search to get NEW clients. There are tons of different methods to approach new customers, but we are going to explore just 4 of the most impactful.

Cold Calling – While not the favorite method of reaching new clients, it can still be wildly successful if done correctly. Research your prospects and their industry – first to make sure that you are contacting someone that would benefit from your services and secondly so that you can prep before your call to outline how you can help them. Prep an opening statement customized to that prospect to catch their attention. Loosely script your call to help you keep it brief and to stay on subject. By talking to the right people about problems/issues specific to their industry that you can help with, you increase exponentially your chance of success with a cold call.

Word of Mouth – Everyone knows that a dissatisfied customer will talk to many more people than a satisfied customer, hence the hyper focus on customer service, right? But good customer service can only reduce your chances of negative word of mouth. How do you actually generate positive word of mouth? Believe it or not, there are a couple of different ways. Get active in your community, professional networking groups and professional associations (see below). Develop a referral network – determine what professions work to complement your services and develop relationships with them. Think of wedding services – florist, photographer, caterer, travel agent – each networks and refers each other so that a referral for one is a referral for all. Finally, make it easy to refer you – whether sending an email, business cards, brochures, etc with your invoice – make it easy for people to pass on your contact information.

Networking – Most people have a wide variety of networks already in place that they fail to take advantage of, such as Alumni Associations, Special Interest Groups, Volunteer Organizations, etc; there are a variety of people within these groups that may have need of your products/services. Don’t be afraid to bring up your business in these groups, even if it is just in your introduction to someone new and giving them a business card. People are much more likely to go to someone that they have met before and shares some life aspect with them, than to risk going to a company that they do not know. Most important to remember when networking is to be sincere, relaxed and to follow up – so if you promised to email an article to someone next to you on a plane, do it. Networking is about building your trust and credibility, NOT about smoozing everyone you meet.

Current Customers – The quickest, most cost-effective way to increase sales volume is to sell additional products/services to your existing customer base. Compare your current service/products offers to those of your competitors. Add complementary services/products. Expand the range of your service/product line. Offer volume discounts, special offers or package deals to up-sell orders. Be a 1 stop shop for your customers as much as possible. Your customers will thank you for saving them time and making them look good. When they do, GET REFERRALS!

Doing these 4 things should help you to reach new customers immediately, but again, there are a million different ways to expand your customer base.  If you have a great tip, feel free to sound off below!

Patience is not often lauded as a virtue in the sales world. Usually the focus is on creating urgency, moving forward and closing deals. Some may even mistake patience as a form of procrastination, however, sales professionals who dismiss patience are overlooking a powerful and little utilized tool. Any successful sales person will be very familiar that building a good sales relationship takes time and persistence.

Now, persistence does not mean calling the prospect each week to see if they are ready to sign yet – you do not want to be a pest. Persistence simply means staying in touch with prospects in a way that builds the relationship and positions you as a valuable resource and trusted advisor.

The Rule of 7 is a fairly well known marketing concept which says: a prospect needs to see, hear, or otherwise be exposed to a message at least seven times before they respond in some way, shape or form. In other words, if you don’t have a contact strategy that touches the prospect at least seven times, you significantly reduce your odds of sales success. Optimally, you should be using a mix of vehicles for those 7 touches from emails, articles, webinars, phone calls and direct mail campaigns in order to reach your contact and get that first interview and begin building a relationship. Try to provide value in each communication in order to gradually move them closer to seeing you as the expert they can go to when needed.

Patience should be utilized in all aspects of your sales relationship. From prospecting to sales calls, to negotiating, to purchases, in this current economy customers have smaller budgets that they are being asked to do more with and are therefore taking longer to make sure they make the correct decisions, consider all their options and get the most bang for their buck. As a sales person, you need to make sure that you have the patience to follow up with them until they have time to talk, listen attentively to all of their problems/concerns and take the time to go through each with them.

Patience shows the customer that you care and that you are willing to take your time with them to make them happy. Customers love to feel that they are special, because they are. The more attention that you give to a customer, the more that they will feel that they are buying a product from a genuine and loyal person who wants to help them make a smart buying decision.

Selling is tough. Just remember that what we do is difficult and the relationships essential to success are not forged overnight. It takes time to build trust and credibility and prospects are going to engage you when they are ready. You can’t force them into meeting with you or buying from you. You need to have patience to guide them along the decision-making process and persistence to not give up. Sooner or later the prospect that took you 10 months just to get a meeting and another year to close could mean tons of repeat income to your firm.

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”  Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

“He that can have Patience, can have what he will.” Benjamin Franklin

This article was written by Tracie Gilbert, VP of Business Development at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Tracie direct at Tracie@cosmeticpromotions.com.

It is important to a customer that they feel you are knowledgeable about your product, your competition and their problem. Following are a few tips to becoming an expert:

SEEK KNOWLEDGE – To become an expert in your field, you need to seek knowledge at every opportunity. Talk to people in your industry who have experience. Research and read everything you can on your specific field – the internet makes this almost too easy these days. Become an expert on trends in your industry. Learn about technology that is changing business processes.

KNOWLEDGE GAPS – As much as you can become an expert in your field, you cannot know everything. If you do know everything – congrats, you can stop reading here. However if like the rest of us, you run into a question that you do not know the answer to, admit it. Promise to find the answer and get it to them shortly. Do NOT make up an answer or not answer at all. The customer needs to trust that you know what you are talking about and if you fib or prevaricate, then you run the risk of losing that trust.

KNOW YOUR LIMITS – It is always better to under-promise and over-deliver than the other way around. Some sales people think that their product/service can fix everything under the sun and then some, which is just not possible. Know your product, know your customer and determine their problem. Figure out if your product/service is a good fit for their issue. This can mean the difference between a repeat customer and years of partnership or one-time only sales and negative word of mouth.

KNOW YOUR DIFFERENCE – How is your product set apart from others on the basis of superior performance in one or more areas? Your ability to differentiate your product or service probably is one of the most important factors in the customer’s decision. Why should they use you instead of their current provider? Know your competition and their benefits as well as their downfalls.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER – Know your customers most common problems. When are they most likely to happen? What are the causes? What can be done to solve them? Make yourself valuable to them by becoming their problem solver for a specific set of issues and making their job easier.

Helping your customer by being their own personal expert in that field will help you to create repeat business and increased sales. If you are satisfied with where you are or think that you have nothing else to learn…well, you probably wouldn’t be reading this, would you? Instead, seek to be the best, strive for knowledge and try to become an expert in your own little corner of the world.

“Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience.”  Denis Waitley

This article was written by Tracie Gilbert, VP of Business Development at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Tracie direct at Tracie@cosmeticpromotions.com.

Listening may seem like the easiest part of the sales call, however, this is the part where most sales people go wrong. Customers do not have the time or the patience these days to listen to sales pitch monologues blindly listing ALL of the benefits of a product or service. Instead, they are seeking solutions to problems they may have. It is up to you to get a conversation flowing, LISTEN to what they need, THEN to tell them how your product or service fills that need.

It’s been proven that people think faster than they listen. While a customer is talking at an average rate of 125 words a minute, the average salesperson is thinking at a much faster rate. Often we are thinking about what we will say and can miss completely what the customer is actually telling us. A sale can be easily lost if you miss a key point. Listening rather than talking in a sales situation is easier said than done though. Some people are born listeners; unfortunately, most of us are not. However, with some practice and patience, you can improve your listening skills:

•  Listening does not mean that you avoid talking at all in the conversation. Rather, it means that you take the time to absorb and understand what your customer is saying before you respond. This is how you discover the problem(s) so that you can provide a solution.

•  Questions are a vital part of listening. Don’t interrupt unnecessarily, but always ask questions to clarify things that you don’t understand completely. Again, successful sales are based on determining what a customer needs and providing solutions to these needs. Always focus your questions on moving toward a greater understanding of your customer’s needs.

•  Never interrupt the customer, even if you feel you already know what they are going to say. Most people like to talk about themselves or their company, so give customers a chance to fully express themselves. You never know – they might surprise you and say something different than you thought. Also, they should be more likely to listen to what you have to say if let them have their say first.

•  Be ready to take notes when important information comes up. There is too much information on a case by case basis to try and remember it all. Don’t be afraid to refer to these notes as the conversation continues. Accuracy and attention to detail is always appreciated and will give your customer confidence in your fulfilling their order correctly.

•  Pay attention to facial expressions and body language. If on the phone, listen closely to the tone of voice. Many times people say one thing, but are thinking another. Becoming an expert on non-verbal cues can help you to determine where to probe and where to pull back.

•  Be sincere. Just like you can learn to tell what people are saying non-verbally when you really listen, so too can those same attributes come across in your voice or expression. Be sincere when you are listening to customers and trying to help them solve their problems.

•  Periodically, restate the major points communicated by the customer. Rephrasing or summarizing what has been discussed shows that you’re listening and it also helps to make sure that you are interpreting correctly what the customer is saying.

•  Know your responses to common objections beforehand. This will allow you to listen more effectively as you will not be trying to mentally compose your response while the customer is still talking and possibly miss something important.

•  Finally, FOCUS. Do not do email, IM, or internet surfing while on the phone. Do not mentally compile lists of things to do on the way home, other calls to make or think about how behind you are while in a meeting. Many of us have more to do with less people to do it, but while with a customer – give them your full attention and they will return the courtesy.

Today’s successful salesperson is ultimately an effective problem solver. Practice your listening skills and you will quickly realize that as you strive to help your customers, you will be helping yourself and your sales as well.

This article was written by Tracie Gilbert, VP of Business Development at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Tracie direct at Tracie@cosmeticpromotions.com.

Whether you have been selling for years or are just starting out, the current economy is a tough sell. When the economy is booming and there is extra cash flow, almost anyone can sell. However, now is a market where the customers are more selective with their budget, more careful with their large spends and more conservative overall. Now is the time to brush up on the fundamentals and hone your skills. Let’s go back to selling basics:

ASK. LISTEN. BE SINCERE. Seem too easy? Well, this is one of the most overlooked aspects of selling. Most ramp up their product knowledge, competitor knowledge, proposal offers, etc and get so excited about their product or service that they just jump into the sales pitch as soon as they reach a prospect. But you may be highlighting points that are irrelevant to the prospect while convincing them that you have no idea what their needs are. Ask the prospect what aspects of their business they have problems with and then find a way to help them see how your product or service can help with that need. Ask. Listen. Be sincere. In today’s market – you are not a sales person, you are a solution provider.

USE OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS. Remember this age old axiom? Well, it became that way because it works. Never ask a question that can be answered with a Yes or No. Customers often don’t like tense sales situations any more than you do and will attempt to escape them as quickly as possible. “Do you like your current supplier?” A customer could easily answer “Yes” and walk away. Instead, if you ask, “What do you like about your current supplier?” They now need to think about it and give you an answer.  The more the customer talks, the more information you’ll get to make the sale.

BE THE EXPERT. Know your product or service, know your prospect and know your competition. Customers need to feel secure that you know your product and their situation. Your product or service should address an important issue that you learned from your questions, such as reducing costs, improving revenues or avoiding a problem- something that will move their business forward. Your product or service offer should be tailored to address the buyer’s business problem. In addition to solving a compelling problem, you need to understand the kind of deal the buyer is used to or expects, such as cost, terms, discounts, incentives, etc. It is important to know the expected, to be an expert, even if you hope to create a different arrangement.

BE PREPARED TO WAIT. Follow up. In today’s market, customers are not willing to make a decision on the spur of the moment. They want to be sure they are spending their money in the right place. They want to know their options. They want to be sure that you will do what you say you will. Don’t become a pest, but follow up with them on a regular and timely basis and be prepared each time. Review your notes from prior conversations so that you are not repeating issues and wasting their time (or yours!). Summarize problems you solved together and find out if there is anything else holding them back. This will also show the customer that you are organized, responsible, conscientious of their problems and are willing to go the extra mile in order to gain their business.

Finally, you have to believe in your product. If you do not believe in your product, how do you expect your customer to believe in it? Just remember though, no matter how great you think it is, your product isn’t going to sell itself. You need to make contact, find out the customers problems and how you can provide them with solutions. Remember, you are not a sales person, you are a solution provider.

This article was written by Tracie Gilbert, VP of Business Development at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Tracie direct at Tracie@cosmeticpromotions.com.