Reputation
Advertising is an essential aspect of ensuring the growth of your business, but the best advertisement you can have is a satisfied customer.
Too many people stop trying once the sale is made. This is really stupid. It's what happens after the sale that builds your reputation.
If you were a buyer, for example, getting the lowest possible premium on an insurance policy might make you feel good for a while, but if the company is difficult about paying claims, or if they take six months to send a cheque, then you'll wish that you'd gone elsewhere. Or if you find that the bargain you got on your new micro-computer means that you have to assemble it yourself, and that you have to send it to Taiwan for repairs, then you might decide that it wasn't a bargain after all.
If you really care about your customers, and give them the type of service you'd like yourself, then your reputation will grow and so will your sales. A basic maxim of selling is "No trust, no sale" and trust develops out of honest, efficient service before and after the sale. Don't forget it!
Record Keeping
An important part of developing an effective prospecting program is to stay aware of the possibilities, and to keep easily accessible records of the stage you have reached in your contacts with the people you have identified as potential buyers.
One way of providing a visual stimulus is to use a whiteboard in your office to record new and possible sources of business. It can hold press cuttings, business cards, brochures you have collected, and anything that is a guide to a possible sale. It's a stimulus to action, but it isn't action, so be sure you also include an action column so that each day you can do your pre-call planning around your new business whiteboard.
It's true that you could keep the same information in a notebook, but the whiteboard puts the information up where it can't be ignored. If it's impossible to avoid seeing the things you should be doing, it's much harder to avoid or forget this very important aspect of promoting sales. Do it now!
Continued in Part Nine
Part Eight - Prospecting for More Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Lawrence Atkinson's Website.
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all levels, across a variety of cultural
and industry settings. This includes, for
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