Don’t be fooled by cliché approaches to valuing accounts, either. Many salespeople will blithely tell you that large-volume accounts are less loyal than small accounts. In reality, large-volume accounts usually display strong patterns of loyalty due to the nature of their businesses. When a large-volume builder signs up for your program, the company is obligated to its marketing and production departments. Model homes are built, ordering procedures are put in place, and production systems are created, which typically makes a sudden change of suppliers inconvenient at best or, at worst, a lot of difficult work.
Whatever criteria you choose to use to evaluate the value of your prospects and customers, recognize that they are factors that can be observed and measured with some degree of accuracy. After you have identified the criteria of the “perfect” customer, you are ready to go to work.
Proactively examine the box of resources—i.e., the territory. For many people, prospecting is a secondary priority. But great Sales Leaders proactively set time aside to devote to prospecting activities such as phone calls, examination of target lists, involvement in local associations, and other methods. Become a Sales Leader by scheduling prospecting time before you schedule all of your other weekly activities. It is not merely a “fill-in” activity.
Using the Yellow Pages, association directories, or other prospecting lists, you can discover hundreds of untapped opportunities. Many salespeople work in companies that have long lists of former customers that have purchased nothing over the past 12-month period; these are ideal candidates to contact first! As you make more contacts and learn more about the prospects in your territory, your sales power will increase.
Create opportunities for instant productivity. Just as a stage is set behind the curtain before a play begins, success in the field begins behind the scenes. Prepare yourself for successful sales calls by taking information about customers and prospects with you. There is an abundance of technical tools that make it possible to carry prospecting information on the road. Great Sales Leaders minimize travel times while maximizing time spent in front of customers and prospects by investing the time—visit that “one extra” prospect or customer while in a geographic area instead of making long drives that create wasted efforts. A ready-made list of prospects—with phone numbers, addresses, and important notes—will assist you in this quest.
While you may find success by accidentally stumbling onto opportunities while busy in the field, you will feel more gratified if you can do it on purpose. Take time to examine all the potential, untapped jewels of opportunity and watch your profitability soar.
Rick Davis is president of Building Leaders, Inc., a Chicago-based sales training organization. 773.769.4409. E-mail: rickdavis@buildingleaders.com