Important Tips For Building Sales

By Rick Davis, Building Leaders, Inc.

Looking to make a major impact on your selling efforts? Then get serious about cruising the information superhighway and putting your newfound knowledge to good use.

Take time to research your potential customers and you’re laying the groundwork for solid, strategic sales.

Start with these tips for building your sales:

Tip #1: Define Your Target Audience – Focus on your specific target audience to eliminate wasted time and research. Concentrate first on a single audience (such as builders, subcontractors or dealers) and then refine your search. Get as specific as you can in your definitions. Are you looking to sell to purchasing agents, owners, influential architects?

Tip #2: Use the Internet – This incredible tool brings information to your fingertips. Search web sites of associations such as the American Institute of Architects (www.aia.org) or National Association of the Remodeling Industry (www.nari.org) for local association chapters. Identify members in your area and target them for potential sales. You can also use industry association web sites to gain incredible amounts of information on companies, trends and statistics related to your sales efforts.

Tip #3: Brainstorm Your Needs – Free think. Turn off the phone and computer and sit with a pad of paper and pen. Let your thoughts wander related to your target audience, what influences them (i.e.: family, peer pressure, competition) and how you and your product can fit in their “mix”. What problem can your product solve for your target audience?

Tip #4: Pick Up the Phone – Once you’ve defined potential clients, start dialing and set up meetings with key target audiences. Focus on learning about your potential client on the phone, not selling. Use the phone to establish an opening and then push for a one-on-one meeting. After hours, use the phone to leave pertinent messages that show you’re the one working longer and harder for them than your competition.

Tip #5: Write it Down – The information you gather is meaningless if you don’t have a systematic method to manage it. Create a plan to store the information for future analysis. Whether it’s a log of birthdays and sporting event preferences of your potential customers or a competitor’s marketing program you uncovered, write it down. Don’t let it get dusty. Keep referring to your research and updating it. Make the information you gather work for you to help build sales.

Once you’ve taken the time to do the ground work to define and research your potential customers, it’s time to build relationships. Some people think that closing a sale is a huge event. It’s not. Instead, it’s a series of meetings and little victories that start out with the first phone call placed to your potential customer. When done correctly, you can build sales by systematically making inroads with prospective customers.

Try these tips for getting started and then securing the sale:

Tip #1: Get the First Meeting – Don’t try to sell over the phone. Gain a face-to-face meeting a potential customer so you can connect in person. This is the door that opens toward a new account.

Tip #2: Don’t Push for the Instant Sale – Listen carefully as a potential customer explains his or her challenges. Before you determine how your product or service can solve their problems, make sure you truly understand how they run their business and sell their products.

Tip #3: Establish a Reason for the Second Meeting – A second meeting solidifies the relationship. When all else fails, you can always say that you’d like time to digest the information about their company before making a sales pitch. Then, schedule the next meeting while you are still in front of the client to lock it in.

Tip #4: Always Keep the Focus on Your Client – Use a follow-up meeting to reiterate what you learned from a previous meeting. Show how you processed the information and can support their needs. While building a personal relationship, explain specifically how your product or service will benefit their profits.

Tip #5: Follow-up – Use every resource available to you for following up personally with a potential customer. Send a written thank you note, e-mail a relevant article or document, drop off a follow-up package of materials, call and/or leave a message.

When is the sale closed? Maybe when you connected personally while discussing your local sporting team. Perhaps when you sent a written thank you note that demonstrates your professional and personal courtesy. It’s possible the close even happened when the bid was presented and the rest of the sales process was merely an administrative formality. You may never know. However, what you will always know is that by systematically tackling the ground work, you’ve done everything possible to build a relationship that should lead to future business.

Rick Davis is president of Building Leaders Inc., a Chicago-based sales consulting company, and provider of the DriveTime Diploma™ Series of Audio Sales Training. He has written the book “Strategic Sales in the Building Industry” and gives sales presentations throughout the U.S. For more information, call (773) 769-4409, e-mail rickdavis@buildingleaders.com or visit www.buildingleaders.com.

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