The Key to Incremental Sales… New Business Development

                                       

New Business Development is the buzz word across many companies’ sales forces today. New business comes from two basic sources… finding new customers for your product or service or offering new products or solutions to existing customers to expand and add incremental revenue.

Whether seeing a new prospective client or an existing customer with a new opportunity, research suggests only one in 50 deals are struck at a first meeting.  Yet many sales people give up after just one or two call backs. The Key… A NBD sales strategy will give you a major edge on competitors.

Studies reveal that only 2% of sales occur when two parties meet for the first time.  The 2% who buy at a first meeting actually represent the Thin Market for your product or service…. They have already considered your solution, and already know what they're looking for. You were lucky enough to call on the right person at the right time with a solution that meets their immediate needs. But, in truth the other 98% will only buy once a certain level of trust has been established.

There are many reasons why people who could benefit from your product, service or expertise do not buy. Inertia; lack of time; too many other things on their mind; concern about cost; cash flow; budget constraints etc… None of these is a negative. They are just psychological and transactional realities you must become aware of and recognize - which is why follow-ups are SO important.

Thinking like a customer or consumer, isn't it amazing how often we personally have express interest in a product or service but did not hear back from the sales person or company again? It happens all the time. Research shows, amazingly, that only 20% of sales leads are ever followed up. In other words, 80% of potential opportunities are lost without trace simply due to lack of follow-up.

I was fortunate to spend some time with Brian Tracey on his last visit to Toronto and he shared his company’s research in NBD… Many studies carried out at different times, in different places, by different market research companies over a number of years have reached the same conclusion… that 80% of non-routine sales occur only after at least five follow-ups.

Think about that.  It takes at least five continuous follow up efforts after the initial sales contact, before a customer says yes. There are some fascinating statistics on this:

44% of sales people give up after one "no"

22% give up after two "no’s"

14% give up after three "no’s"

12% give up after four "no’s"

That tells you that 92% of sales people give up after four "no's", and only 8% cent of sales people ask for the order a fifth time.

Once you're aware of these statistics you should stack the odds in your favour by introducing a Five  no’s strategy, where you maintain contact with prospects until each one of them has said "no", or "not now", or "not yet" at least five times. Every time you're in contact you have an opportunity to advance and build the relationship. This is the same methodology we use effectively in the appointment setting phase of our sales process.

There's also the fact that 63% of people requesting information on a company today will not purchase for at least three months - and 20% will take more than 12 months to buy.

Contacting your prospective and existing customers frequently builds trust and professionalism and keeps 'top of mind' awareness.  Several questions beg to be asked… What meaningful communication strategies do you have in place right now to maintain top of mind awareness once someone has been in contact with you?  How do you nurture your clients so that they learn to trust you and see you as a professional organization?

This suggests that traditional sales tactics of going into sales situations armed with a list of “sure fire” sales closes expecting to make sales with every prospect… every time…is unrealistic and outdated. Professional marketers get to really understand their clients and their issues; solve their problems; illustrate projected sales potential and the ROI they can expect to achieve. They build relationships and trust by engaging in a long term client sales strategy.

 

Metroland’ s recent investment in the new Pulse Research program will assist in illustrating how our clients can increase sales and gain additional revenue. We will be able to show the potential number of customers and projected revenue for our clients by business segment or product, how customers are actually reached by our marketing initiatives as well as social media over the previous 30 days etc… and how they can target their marketing investment for incremental business as well as defining ROI in terms of just how many customers they need to see a return on their advertising investment with us.  All in an easy to produce one page presentation tailored to each client by segment. 

For more conversation on NBD or to register for our next available New Business Development course or webinar contact Lauren at lnicoletta@metroland.com.

 

The Process of Success...

We have all started in new roles or jobs...  the elation and excitement comes first then the apprehension about what we need to learn, the new corporate culture, and the new people with whom we'll be working. It is a process we have all been through. I remember my first manager reminding me of the proverb “you have to learn to walk before you can run”. So true...  even our own Donovan Bailey, who held the world record in the 100 meter dash from 1996 to 1999, admittedly grew into success and developed his skills over time.

Even for Donovan, success did not come overnight and few would have guessed he would come out of nowhere and in just under 10 seconds put Canada on top of the track world in the 1996 Atlanta games. Bailey came to Canada at age 13 and even with his tremendous natural ability was cut from track for missing practice and lack lustre performance... preferring to focus on his first love basketball in High School in Oakville. He later opted to pursue a business career but he wondered if he was wasting his athletic potential.

He decided to begin training and competing as a 100m sprinter part-time but without the proper direction he did not reach his potential right away.  Athletics Canada also missed on developing his talent. They didn't take him to either the 1991 worlds or 1992 Olympics. He didn't even run in the relay at the '93 worlds. Not until Glenroy Gilbert, who would later be one of his partners in 1996 Canadian 4 x 100 Gold, introduced him to a coach named Dan Pfaff did Donovan’s star begin to rise. Donovan credits Pfaff’s processes for development with helping him find his way, build on his natural talent, and navigate in a heavily competitive environment... on boarding him to the world of track if you will.

True on boarding is just that a process... an opportunity to focus on the skills and effort needed to reach your potential. We realize you may be relatively new to sales or may come to Metroland with a wealth of experience & natural talent.  Your individual skills and abilities have already been recognized in the recruitment process and that is why we chose you. You too recognized the tremendous opportunities Metroland provides and also chose us. Together we will work toward success for you individually and as a part of the Metroland family.

This year we have launched our newly expanded sales On Boarding process designed to support new sales hires with an initial two week On Boarding session and monthly follow up webinars and in class sessions.

The initial two week session covers Sales Skills training including; understanding Thin Market, Product Positioning, Objection Handling & Closing in the Media & Advertising environment, New Business development, Package & Campaign Selling, Consultative Selling, Layout/Design, Digital Certification, extensive Sales Skills Role Play/Practice & Individual Presentations and Team Competition. Attendees will also gain enhanced self awareness through personal psychometric testing and evaluation using Thomas DISC methodology including 1 on 1 review to plan for success & sales manager post training coaching guides & tools.

Follow up sessions include; Month 2 - Time & Territory Management (2 Hour Webinar), Month 3 - Challenges /Opportunities & Presentation Skills - (Full Day), Month 4 - Negotiation Skills (2 Hour Webinar), Month 5 - Diagnosing Solutions & Individual Customer Analysis (2 Hour Webinar), Month 6 -Consultative Selling & Key Account Management - (Full Day).

When asked what advice he would give Canadian youth who dream of becoming world-class athletes... Donovan responded...  “Set no limits to what you can achieve, shoot for the moon, you have unlimited potential and great resources’, get out there train hard and get ready”... Success will follow.