People want to do business with people that they know. Jeffrey Gitomer has been telling us this for years, and yet, all over the world, there is some salesperson making a cold call right now.
Cold Calls are Dead
Cold-calling is an age-old technique for finding new customers. Businesses have used it since the days of the door-to-door salesman, even though it has the lowest return on investment. Why?
Mainly because it is easy to do, and the low level of historical results gives salespeople an excuse for not selling. That’s right, an excuse. In today’s marketspace there is no room for this kind of lazy thinking. The economy is tight, people are re-thinking all spending, and businesses are squeezing every last drop of value from their vendors and business partners.
Gitomer has 5.5 tips on how to increase your visibility and value in a short video that asks some tough questions:
- How can you bcome better-known in your marketspace?
- How can you provide more value to your current and potential customers?
- How can you create a better outreach program, so that more customers reach toward you?
Watch this video from Jeffrey Gitomer, and pay close attention to the tips he gives. The five solutions offered are invaluable, but to make them work you need two things:
- A way to get your information out to your clients
- Some good ideas that you are willing to share
Without these you cannot implement any sort of strategy to become better known. Join a trade association, Chamber of Commerce, or civic group. This will become your vehicle for delivering your message.
What is your message
Your ideas for helping your customers are the message, and these ideas need to be shared.Make them easy and portable so that your customers can share them with others. You do not have to give away your business, just give away information that your market can use to get the most value out of their business. More often than not it will lead to a customer calling on you for more information. More resources. More business. More sales.
If you need more help getting this going, please send me an e-mail.
SOBCon starts this Friday! It is sure to be an exciting time, with over 100 attendees and some fantastic presenters. Our most excellent sponsors are providing some really cool items for all of the folks that will be there, as well as some virtual goodies that they would also like to share with the entire SOBCon community.
One of my primary goals for 2009 is to expand and grow my new consulting business. Working for myself is an enormous challenge, with a fantastic reward – I get to work one-on-one with some really cool people. And I learn something new from every one.
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