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Guest post by: Don Zihlman Become an Author

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Ask any salesperson who has been at it for a while, "Where does your new business come from?", and they will most likely tell you about their cold-calling efforts. There is nothing I hate more than making cold calls. There I said it. I have been in some form of sales for 30 years and I admit it. I hate cold calls. I don't know many people who like them. On the other hand, if I look over my list of clients, some of my most loyal clients and longest lasting clients have been the result of cold calls. As I look back though those calls weren't truly "cold" calls. They were calls that started with some kind of casual conversation or some kind of connection.

Some people refer to these as "warm calls". That's fine. Regardless of what you call them, you have to make some kind of new contacts to either grow your business, or replace business lost because of attrition, or both. But what do you say when you meet with your new prospect? Do you begin to tell them about the features of your business only to discover you haven't said anything that your competition could not also say? Too many sales presentations all sound alike, because every sales person in that particular business has the same things to say. "We have great quality" or "Our prices are the lowest". Perhaps you should instead focus on what makes you unique. So how do you learn what has made you unique? Try talking to your existing customers.

Take some time to ask your current customers about the value you have brought to them. Ask them why they do business with you and not your competition. A few things will result from these conversations. 1) You'll get to know your customer even better. 2) Your customer will have the opportunity to tell you what you do right, and yes even what you do wrong. (Now you have the chance to take a negative, fix it and turn it into a positive.) 3) Your customer will help you learn what positive qualities you have offered their business. Then you can translate those qualities into value that you can uniquely offer new prospects. When you offer someone value, especially after you have taken the time to learn what value they seek, you will greatly increase your chances that you can do business with them.

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