Most sales people and entrepreneurs will tell you that they’re good in front of customers. They’re ‘people persons’. “Put me in front of a prospect and I’ll close the sale” is a common statement among salespeople and business owners. In the US, the Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates over 80% of new businesses never reach their fifth year anniversary.
If sales people and business owners say they are great in front of prospects and that they possess the traits of stellar sales people, how can the studies indicate so much failure?
Are the sales people lying?
… No they’re not.
Generating a lead and closing a sale are not the same. When you close a sale you are asking the prospect to make a decision. Making a decision is a commitment. It means risk, responsibility and stress. No matter how smooth and professional you are, closing a sale is stressful for your prospect.
Sales lead generation must be stress-free – the exact opposite of closing a sale. You need to sift through the market and allow all those interested in your offer to stand up and be counted.
Sales lead generation must adopt a soft-sell approach. Your prospect might need something you have for sale. Ideally you want her, someone who doesn’t know or trust you, to step up and introduce herself. No one appreciates being sold – not even salespeople. And without any knowledge of you or your business, every approach will be viewed with skepticism. If you push too hard at this point she’ll run away.
You want your prospect to feel comfortable, relaxed and in control – that means gaining her permission to begin a professional sales relationship. That means offering your prospect a chance to learn more about you without making a commitment. For example, to generate sales leads using a soft-sell approach you could:
Sales lead generation takes time and effort to be effective. Most small business owners don’t have lots of spare time so it should be automated. Your money is made closing sales – not generating leads. You need to automate the lead generating process so you can:
So how can you automate your lead generation process?
If you market online you should consider using an autoresponder. Autoresponders are software programs that allow you to input your contacts, add your sales messages, then program it to automatically email the messages to your list on a schedule you choose.
Set and forget.
Since you decide when to send your messages, you could be on vacation for a week and still have your sales lead generation tactics automatically working for you.
Too many small businesses fail because they don’t manage their lead generation process effectively. Understand the difference between sales and lead generation, make getting in touch with you easy, rewarding and risk free and finally, automate as much as you can.
Follow these three steps and you’ll be able to focus on doing what you do best – dealing directly with new customers and closing the sale.
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We’ve all been stuck in business seminars or workshops, half asleep, and wishing we could be anywhere else. Seminars and workshops are usually seen more as learning tools than marketing tools.
So how can they help make you money?
Well…
They can actually be a great way for you to show your expertise and become the ‘go to guy’ in your prospects’ minds. No one likes to be sold to. The kind of environment that business development seminars or business training seminars provide can help you soft-sell your company – and your expertise – without being too pushy.
Workshops and business seminars allow you to target your market,get feedback as you go, and even get a better understanding of your market through the questions they ask.
And they don’t have to be expensive to run.
It gives you the chance to build your customer base while positioning yourself as the leader in your field by providing answers to common questions and clarifying complex issues. You also get a chance to interact directly with potential customers – building contacts and relationships.
In order to host a successful event, you need to make sure the following things have been taken care of:
You can also use this as an opportunity to offer more free info, a special report, or copies of your notes from the event for anyone who signs up to your list. Obviously the point is to attract more business.
Use your workshop as a chance to get to know people, make new contacts and show that you know your stuff. Take time to answer questions and feel free to do a little soft selling.
Just keep it soft.
What Next?
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