How to triple your sales revenue the easy way

For some people selling comes easily and naturally. However for many business owners sales is a nuisance and although important, it’s something many people don’t want to do. Leave it to the professionals, is the motto and although if you have plenty of money in the bank to hire sales pro’s, it’s not for everyone.

But sales doesn’t have to be that difficult. So, if you’re on your own, or working with a team of sales people that may under-perform, here are a few tips and tricks that could help your business to triple sales revenue by simply making it easier for you and your team to deal with potential new and old customers:

1. Use the number of averages – Many people put sales calls to one day a week or a specific time. Trying to do 20 or 30 or more calls to connect with potential clients may sound easy, but in reality how many did you actually get on the phone talking to? Most likely if you’ve done 20 calls you can consider yourself lucky if you talked to 3 – 5 prospects (and I mean getting to the main decision maker). This may sound good but reality is that it might even be less. Some weeks you may even just get to one or none. Turning this around is the key and making sure you make your calls on a more regular basis. Lets say you want to talk to 25 clients per week, divide them by 5 and now take 15 – 30 min each day to call 5 potential customers. You may still have days where you will not reach anybody of importance to you and you may need to add them to a different day/ time to call back. Once you get in to a rhythm however, you will notice that you transform 2 – 3 prospects on a daily basis (on average) either into meetings or sales (depending if you try to get a meeting or trying to get a sale over the phone).

2. Get yourself and/ or your team to go to networking events/ join networking groups. – This is important to spread the message of your business. You need to be out there and you need to be seen. Getting referrals is the goal with networking groups and getting meetings is the goal when you go to networking events. In both cases it is important to have the next step sorted before going/ joining:

3. Have a properly designed sales elevator pitch ready – With the right pitch you will gain up to 50% more referrals. Be specific, and tell people what or who it is that you’re looking for. A sales pitch is also great for networking events. It presents your business within 30 seconds, gives an overview of what it is that you do and how you can help any other business owner or potential customer to solve their problems. (If you need help creating an elevator pitch, you can contact us here).

4. Email/ letter marketing campaigns – Proper email or letter marketing campaigns are another great source to bring more customers to the table. But what’s important to know is that you need to do your research. If you don’t know who to address the letter/ email to, pick up the phone and ask. If you just send out generic emails to a list of thousands of customers, then you are not better than 95% of the other businesses doing just that. If you want to stand out and generate more revenue, you need to be different. Choose 100 of those potential clients, find out what they do, how you can help them and most importantly, who is your main contact and their contact details. Then address a properly designed letter/ email directly to them.

Don’t send all 100 sales letters on the same day. Spread them to maybe 5 – 10 letters daily. You will see why on point 5 and 6.

(If you need a sales elevator pitch and a powerful letter/ email marketing campaign, have a look at our PitchPerfect Programme here.) 

5. Have an inactive and pro-active call to action in your letter/ email campaign. – An inactive call to action is when you ask your clients to give you a call based on the information they received and if they like it of course. This could be something simple such as: If you now, after reading this letter, can’t wait to talk to me, please give me a call on xxx xxx xxxx or please fill in this application form and return back to us.

A pro-active call to action is when you take matters in your own hands. This is usually followed by the inactive call to action and is a simple way of saying, I will be calling you. You could say after your inactive call to action: If however you are like most business owners very busy running your business and may not have the time to call us, then don’t worry. I will call you on date x to discuss this in more detail with you. Our call will not take longer than 2 – 3 min of your valuable time. (make sure that with an email campaign you allow 48 hours before you call, on a letter campaign between 3 – 5 days. Don’t take longer. If you give them 2 weeks they will not remember your letter or you for that matter.

Now it’s your move. You promised a call on that specific day and most people do expect your call. Make sure you keep this in your diary and make that call.

6. Follow-up – It doesn’t matter if you take my advise on point 5 and have both an in-active and pro-active call to action or not. If you don’t follow up with your prospects, no one will. The return rate is usually quite low but if you keep your focus and make those follow-up calls, you will gain better results than any other company that sends generic emails/ letters. In fact, we have measured the success rate with a number of companies that we’ve worked with and it’s anywhere between 30 – 45%. Just by simply picking up the phone and making those dreaded phone calls. The good news is, that if you send a letter or email before hand, it’s no longer considered a cold call. It may not be a hot call, but luke-warm is already good.

7. Ask for referrals – Be it with your networking group or with customers and other business owners that you simply use for referrals, asking for referrals is the best way to keep your business growing. If you prepare your clients that you will be looking for referrals as part of your payment, then they will expect if they sign a contract with you, that you will be looking for referrals from them. Some clients may not be comfortable with it and others may just give you one or 2. On average we found that per client you could gain anything from 2 – 3 referrals that will help you keep going with your business.

When in a referral or networking group, it is important that you have a properly designed sales elevator pitch but also that you ask for specific referrals. Don’t be generic like: I’m looking for medium sized companies who are interested in xyz. You will not gain much out of that one. However if you ask specific it will make a difference: I’m looking for medium sized printing companies in area x. (If you can and done your homework you could also add:) I’m looking for an introduction to company X-Print in Town Y and company W-Print in Town Z. The only danger here is that if you choose 2 companies, it might happen that no one in your networking group knows anybody in those companies. However, consistency is the key and asking every week (or every time you meet with your group) for other specific companies, then you will get more referrals out of this. You could also ask type specific such as medium sized IT companies with focus on cloud computing or Start ups, Management consultancies, Coaching businesses etc. Be specific and referrals will come.

8. Put a picture of yourself on your business card and letter/ email campaign – People like dealing with people and this simple change can help you gain at least 10 – 15% more traction. People will remember you, they might not remember your business but they will most certainly remember you. If it’s in a good or bad way is of course up to you and your own selling skills but most people will remember your face.

Sales doesn’t have to be a daunting exercise. If you take every day 30 min to 1 hour to connect with new and old customers, you should see an improvement within a very short period of time in your sales revenue.

Some people say, sales is a numbers game, others say it’s not. In fact, sales is a game of averages. Every day you should do some sales related activity (and by that I mean not looking at your facebook page and hoping to get a customer interact with you). I mean real sales activity when you actively look for new potential customers, engage with old or former clients, use proper up-selling and cross-selling techniques and become more and more visible. Be out there, go to networking events, sign up to a networking group, join the chamber of commerce and actively promote yourself first, then your business and you will see a rise in sales revenue. Meet for networking coffees to discuss how you can help each other.

Try out different ways to interact with your customers. If you have a list of old or former clients, talk to them again. Maybe you have some missed up- or cross-sell opportunities, maybe you can get some referrals out of them. If your old clients are happy, they are more willing to recommend you on to somebody they do business with.

Have the right steps in place when it comes to your own sales strategy. If you don’t have one, it’s time to create one. Make it your daily mantra to work at least 1 hour on your sales and your business will flourish. (Just for the people who might say, 1 hour is not enough…we found in our research that the average time spend on sales activity is less than 2 hours per week for most SME’s. Having a focused 1 hour per day will not only enhance the performance of the business but will make it much easier to grow this activity over time to a decent 2 – 3 hours per day. Some SME owners are not able to spend that much time only on sales activity as they are out working with customers. Getting them to spend 1 hour per day on this, is the real challenge).

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Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland. Creating a synergy between consultation, training and coaching helps our clients to achieve the best results.

What to do…what to do…no more leads…

Are you running out of leads? No idea where or to whom to sell your products or services to? I think every single sales person has been at that stage during their career. But what did they do to get themselves out of it?

Here is a list of things you might want to consider:

1. Contact former customers again to discuss future opportunities. You never know, one of your former customers might need to buy additional products or services from you. Or you can inform them about new developments, activities, events or just want to meet up for a coffee with them to see how things are going after they bought from you. Follow up is a crucial part of sales and a proper after sales service can go a long way and generate new business for you.

2. Ask your former customers for referrals. You may be able to combine this with step 1 but most customers who are happy with you and/ or the service/ product you supplied, have no issue recommending or referring you to some other potential customers. This is probably the best option in order to keep your business going. Especially when you’re selling b2b, business owners/ managers understand the meaning of referrals and some might be happy to help.

3. Look over your old prospects, the one’s who didn’t buy yet from you. What was the reason? Maybe they didn’t buy because of an un-established need? Or maybe they just didn’t like your approach. Contact them again and get some feedback. Yes, it might be hurtful (in some cases) but it’s a learning curve. Feedback is valuable and most people are willing to provide you with feedback of why they didn’t buy from you. If it was you, maybe hand the account over to a colleague. We can’t get along with everybody, sometimes it’s as simple as that. This has nothing to do with you personally. It’s business. And if it’s a great sale, maybe you can even share the commission (if possible) or get an account from the other sales reps to deal with some of their clients. Selling may be competitive, but you’re working in the same company so the goal is the same: Increase the companies turnover and ensure future growth.

4. Re-establish your target market. Have a look again at your old prospects and other companies similar to your target audience in your area. If you don’t know your target audience, or you say, everybody should use my product, then think again. You may think your product is suitable for everybody, but who is actually buying? Make a list of your current customer traits and find companies or audiences that are fitting (age/ type/ gender/ company size/ industry/ country etc.).

5. Try a different target market. I know this one doesn’t correspond to point no. 4, however sometimes if you depleted all your options you may need to rethink your target market and make it more suitable for a new audience. This means, redesigning your pitch, values etc. It’s a lot of work but may be worth your while. If you’re targeting the IT industry for example and you have no more companies to go to (which I doubt but there is always this one sales rep…) maybe a similar market may be suitable for your products or services. Maybe automotive, pharmaceutical, retail etc. could also be a fit for your products. Yes, sometimes we need to adjust certain aspects of our presentations or sales pitches but hey, that’s life. Think why this audience may be able to use your products as well and what are the benefits for them? Maybe they are not in the IT industry, but have an IT department??? Food for thoughts…

6. Go to networking events, join social media networks, groups etc. This will get your name and trait out there. I’m sure a lot of you doing this already but as a sales rep or manager who is employed, how many of you actually go to business networking events to meet new people? A lot of people who are employed wouldn’t go because their company is not paying for it, meetings are held outside office hours / late in the evening or even weekends. If you want to make money, you need to hang out where your clients hang. Easy as that. And if you’re not willing to go the extra mile for your customers, what are you doing in this position? (Sorry for being blunt, but if you are in sales, and no longer have enough customers you need to look at activities that will bring you new clients).

7. Join Networking groups. You can also join local/ national or international networking groups such as BNI (Business Network International). They might be costly, but a lot of people get great value out of it. It’s all about meeting new people and getting referrals, and that’s what those networking groups are all about. Referring business to each other. So, get in there, yes, they are holding meetings usually early in the morning, but honestly, how much do you want to grow your business/ sales?

8. Ask your family and friends. Yes, I’m serious about that. Even if you believe they have no use for your products or services or that they are too expensive for your family and friends. Think about it this way, we all have a network of people and most of us know at least 250+ people that are hanging in our social (media) networks. Besides that we all know between 30 – 100 people which we consider acquaintances, friends etc. Ask them to help you out to introduce you to some of their friends or acquaintances. A lot of sales people don’t want to mix personal life with business life however you are leaving out a massive amount of people that you could easily tap into to get introduced to or do business with. Don’t be shy, get in there. It’s not about convincing your mother to buy your health insurance. It’s about convincing your mother to help you find people who would be interested to buy health insurance from you (I guess you catch my drift here). This is your network as well 🙂

9. Hit the phone. I mean, seriously now. If you have already tried points 1 – 8 and you’re still out of options, then there is only 2 things left to do: Either hit the phone or quit. Sometimes it requires drastic action in order to get back on track. And if that means to open the telephone book or yellow pages to get out there again, then by all means, do it. It will not be the most fruitful time in your life, but usually 1 out of 10 will listen to you and may even invite you over for a coffee to meet. In order to ease the pain of just calling, you could create an email list of companies that you haven’t targeted yet and send them an email first. You may want to do some research but this will take the (extreme) cold out of cold calling. Read my article on successful email marketing and you will see what I mean.

10. Still no luck but haven’t quit yet? OK, here is one last thing you might want to try: PRAY. I mean it, seriously, go to church and start praying. Well, maybe not literally. But talk to your local priest. Even if you’re not a church goer, an atheist, have different faith or religion then what’s locally available, go anyway. Talk to the local priest or pastor. They know a lot of people and they are in the business of guiding and helping people in their most desperate times. Having faith is one thing but maybe the local priest knows somebody who you could talk to to get your business off the ground again? If that doesn’t work you may also want to try chamber of commerce, other business owners/ entrepreneurs, talk to other sales reps even from different companies, join clubs, health and sport clubs etc. Don’t give up. There is a lot of things that you can do that we haven’t even mentioned yet.

A lot of people saying that we as individuals like it comfy. We stay inside the box where it’s cosy, comfortable and nice. But sometimes we have to go to different lengths in order to succeed and need to stick our heads outside of our own box. And most of the times it works. If it doesn’t who’s to say that you can’t take the box, throw it out the window and redesign a complete new box for you? Brainstorm with colleagues, co-workers, managers and/ or other business owners on how to increase sales and get more leads.

You might also want to consider a business or sales coach to help you find new leads.

Thank you for reading. Follow us on facebook or twitter for more current news.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

A simple guide to networking events

Have you been to a networking event recently? Here is what happens most of the time:

People meet at networking events, talk briefly and go their ways. Afterwards not much is happening and many people complain that it wasn’t really fruitful. Nobody contacted you afterwards to do business with you. Nobody send you an email or called you to buy your products or services.

Well, here is a shocker: One of the most important fundamentals of networking events is the follow up that comes afterwards. You may have made great connections but if you don’t follow up with them, no one will.

Here is a few tips of things that you can do before, during and after the event:

Before the event takes place:

Get your 60 second pitch ready. Yes, have a pitch or elevator pitch ready that you can deliver in 60 seconds or less. Make it interesting and make it count. Rehearse the pitch until you perfected it. If you need help designing a pitch for you then I would urge you to do some research.

Dress for success. Dress for the occasion. Business smart is good but (for men) a suit would be better. Proper business attire is the key for both men and women and it doesn’t really matter what your profession or business is all about. You want to get in with investors, meet new potential customers, get business referrals etc. In order to get those, you need to look the part. Nobody is referring someone who is dressed like a teenager that want’s to score.

 

Show up before. Make sure you show up on time, maybe even 5 – 10 min early. This could give you a head start by already talking to some potential new customers before others are joining the group. I personally make it usually about 30 – 45 min earlier. And as people come in, I’m already there to introduce myself before the event starts and have time to talk to more people.

During the event

Use your pitch. You have rehearsed your pitch now talk to potential new customers. These events are usually filled with different types of businesses and may not even resemble the target market that you have however this is about making connections. Maybe they are able to introduce you to some of their key customers. Keep this in mind when talking to people.

Go around. Don’t spend too much time on one or two people. We all tend to find the people who are a bit like us. And networking events are no exception. We may have the best intentions to introduce ourselves to everybody however we mostly stick with the people we either know or meet who are like minded. This is not (only) about meeting like minded people. This is about looking for business opportunities with as many people as possible. You can mingle afterwards if you wish but use the time wisely. Many business networking events have a set agenda such as speed networking or any other games that will engage the crowd. If this is the case and you followed my advise of being early, then you already have made a good bunch of connections and can enjoy the games of the evening. (Just a thought…)

After the event

Send an email. A few days after the event (no more than a week after) send an email to each of your new contacts. Introduce yourself again and of course mention that you’ve met and ask if they are available to meet for a coffee. Don’t make a big pitch of why they should meet you or what the benefits are to your products or services. Keep it short and simple.

Use the phone. Max. 2 days after you’ve sent your email, pick up the phone and again, introduce yourself, mention that you’ve met during the event and that you’ve sent an email and you were wondering when it would be best for them to meet with you. Here you may need to have a small pitch ready because some people might wonder why you would want to meet up. Many people however will most likely agree to meet with you especially if you had a connection with them during the event. But in general keep it simple. Having a coffee to find common business interest goes a long way and doesn’t scream sales right away. Yes, you may want to sell your products or services but you may also get some referrals out of this in case they are not interested. And obviously this goes both ways.

Prepare yourself. Book the meeting and prepare a small agenda of what you would like to get out of this meeting. This is mainly for yourself. You may want to send it over to your new contacts to give them a chance to prepare something as well. Remember, they give you the courtesy to show you what you’ve got so it’s only fair that you provide them the same benefit.

No sale at first meeting. Key again is to not make a full pitch. The first meeting is not about selling your products or services but to see if there is a general or common interest. Yes, you may want to be prepared for somebody telling you straight away, that they need exactly what you’re selling, but honestly, how often does this happen? You can show off what you do, who you are, what your company does, benefits, strengths etc. but take it slow. Also give them the time to tell you what they do. Afterwards establish the grounds of going forward. Book another appointment if they want to hear more about the products or services you offer, or see if you can exchange customer details in form of referrals. If you provide a handful of customers to them, they might do the same for you.

The key point I would like to make is that barely anybody follows up after networking events and wonder why no business comes out of it. It is vital and important to keep business going and if you want to not waste your time going to those events, then maybe it’s time to follow up with your new connections. Because barely anybody really follows up after those events, there is a lot of business left undone. If you’re one of the people who will follow up you can be rest assured, that something positive will come out of it. Give it a try and let us know how you got on.

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Thank you for reading.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

How to find the right sales job

There is a lot of confusion of what would be the right sales job for me. Well, I can tell you that there is not really a right or wrong to this. However there is something like a preference. In today’s world we have multiple choices of different sales careers.

Here is a list of some of them:

Sales Account Manager

Field Sales Representative (B2B or B2C)

Business Development Rep/ Manager

Lead Development Rep/ Manager

Telesales (inbound/ outbound)

Retail sales (assistants, managers, clerks etc.)

This is just a handful but it represents most of the current sales jobs available on the market. Here is what you need to know about those jobs:

Sales Account Manager – This role is usually a more passive sales role. You mainly deal with current customers/ clients also known as install base customers. You usually get assigned a territory and a list of accounts and it’s up to you to keep those customers happy and informed. In most cases they already purchased from the company and you need to provide maintenance renewals, contract renewals, additional product information etc. Why passive? Well, you do have to call or visit them (depending on the preference of the company you want to work for) usually at least once a quarter to build a relationship and to keep those customers happy and buying from you but normally you don’t have to develop leads. This is a great role for people who are strategic in thinking and are capable of implementing up-selling/ cross-selling techniques. Closing a deal might still be part of your job but the main focus is to make sure these customers will remain customers to the business. Usually paid a higher base salary and commission (60/40 split is quite common).

In rare cases you might need to develop new accounts as well but again, this is depending on the company and their route to market.

Field Sales Representatives – This is a more active role in selling. You are responsible to sell directly to either business clients or consumers. It involves booking meetings with potential new customers, create small campaigns to drive sales such as email campaigns or events. This is an outgoing role and usually not suitable for people who have a fear of cold calling or door to door sales. If it makes you uneasy this role might not be for you. However if you like being out of the office most of the time, travel a lot (either inside the country or even outside) and have unregulated working hours than this is a great job to be in. The rewards? Usually high commissions but a very low base salary. Some companies offer additional benefits such as a company car/ petrol card/ laptop and mobile phone.

Business development representative or manager – This is also a very active role. It might not require you to travel as some companies offer this role as a inside or internal role. But it does require you to make new connections on a daily basis. You are usually free to network and implement new ideas in order to drive customers to the business. However it needs to be pointed out that this role has it’s rewards of medium commission and a higher base salary. The 60/40 split is also very common in this type of role.

Lead Development Representative/ Manager – This role is usually done in larger companies such as medium to large size multinationals. It requires people to be constantly on the phone and generate new business through certain lead generation tools. This could be that leads are coming in through a website that need to be followed up and qualified, re-qualify old leads or even some cold calling or follow up on email and other marketing campaigns. Again, this is more an active and outgoing role that requires the rep to deal with new potential customers every day through phone conversations. The lead development rep is usually not in charge of driving campaigns and is merely there to initiate contact with potential new customers. However it needs to be pointed out that this is a very low paid and ungrateful role to have. As a lead development rep you are usually not required to close deals but just to generate interest. You will have a low to medium base salary and low commission or a bonus. In many cases leads get handed over to sales reps or sales account managers. Relationship building is usually not part of the role and you will talk every day to new potential clients. Many companies even have a min calling rate that you would need to achieve (such as 40 or 50 calls per day).

Telesales (inbound/ outbound) – This role could be pro-active or in-active depending on the organization. If you are applying for a job as an inbound Telesales rep then all you have to do is take calls and close the deals over the phone. Providing information is key and asking for the sale is a must in this role. You will also have up-selling and cross-selling opportunities to increase your sales revenue. As an outbound rep you might have to do some lead development on your own but usually you receive a list of clients that might be interested in the products or services offered by the company. Your job is to just call and see if there is a real interest and then close the deal. In many cases outbound telesales reps need to do a lot of cold calling. In both cases the salary is a medium base and medium to high commission. One of the main aspects to look out for is the commission structure. Most companies offer capped commission. This is on 100% of the target and some might offer an additional bonus if you achieve more than 100%. However capped commission also means that you may not be able to earn more. If it’s uncapped commission the one thing I would urge you to do is to look at the teams performance. How likely is it to achieve target and what is the highest that people can earn? Many companies claim that their commission structure is uncapped however the target is rarely achievable. So, do your homework and look out for these things.

Retail sales – Retail is one of the purest forms of selling. For most people (unless you are the business owner) it doesn’t require much prospecting work. Customers are coming into the premises and (hopefully) leaving with some new products that you are selling. The downside to this? If you are a trainee, clerk or shop assistant you might only get a base salary. Commission is rarely offered in retail (which I have to say is a real shame). But it still provides a decent enough income and lets you deal with potential new customers as well as “regulars” on a daily basis. Product knowledge is asked and many retailers establish themselves in a retail niche market. Such as electronics, computers, toys, men’s or lady’s wear etc. you can nearly find anything in retail. However a lot of retailers are suffering from not knowing their products well. This is the downside to retail. Too many products and competitors out there. In order to make a difference to your shop it is important to keep you and your team well trained and informed on new products. Knowledge is key in retail as well as driving a great service and friendly staff. As a business owner it is vital to get customers into the premises. This can be achieved by looking at your shop and make sure it attracts the right customer (gender/ age). However prospecting doesn’t stop there. Your staff is also required to prospect however this again is a different type of prospecting. It requires your staff to be outgoing and actually talk to the customers. Over 80% of customers leaving retail premises because of low or no attendance from the shop assistants/ owners.

This is only a handful of potential sales roles out there in the market. However one thing is for sure: No matter what type of sales role you currently have or are looking for, make sure it is the one for you. Nothing is worse than being in a sales job that you hate or don’t like because of the nature of the role.

Prospecting (making connections every single day) is a big part of sales no matter what type of role you’re looking for. Just because you are looking to become an account manager doesn’t mean that you don’t have to prospect. Prospecting in this case is just done in a different way and you still need to be outgoing enough to make this job work.

I hope this is helpful in finding the right sales job for you. If you need more information or require help in finding the right job for you, you should consider taking our Selling Style Profile Analysis.

Thank you for reading and please follow us on Facebook or Twitter with more current sales news.

Carsten Schnier

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

The good old days

Every organisation, entrepreneur and business owner is looking to increase sales turnover. Back in the old days or lets say when I started out in sales things such as facebook, linkedin or other social media didn’t existed or were just in the starting phase. Sales people used to do the hard work or what we call now the old fashioned way. But why is it that this good old ways don’t work anymore? Or do they still work?

I am a sales and business coach/ trainer and I started my business a little over a year ago. I’ve tried both ways of getting sales and this is what I found:

First I started to use social media. I created a facebook page and invited all my friends and family to like the page. I also developed pages on other social media such as linkedin (or my personal linkedin page if you want to connect) twitter etc. (Feel free to like or follow me and my company on any of them).

It wasn’t long until I got my first client and started building the business from there. Or so I thought. After my very first client signed up with me, that was kind of it. No more interest. Yes, I got the sympathy likes as I call them but not much has happened. So, I decided to join a business networking group, went to networking events and again, got lots of contacts and interest in what I do. (I had my elevator pitch all prepared and ready to get some clients).

My thinking was, that I had a great product, fantastic service and I could even guarantee an increase in revenue. But it seems that there was no interest in what I did. I mean, don’t get me wrong, people seemed interested when I talked to them but as soon as I followed up and tried to make an appointment I was hit with the usual: No time, no interest, no money etc. And although I used all my converting techniques it seemed that I was failing at the simplest things. After a few months not getting any business and redesigning everything the way I thought would be good, still nothing happened.

And then it hit me. What if I went against everything I was advised not to do? What if I go back to what I originally learned on how to get customers?

Just to give you some thoughts of what people told me not to do:

– Cold calling doesn’t work anymore. It’s a waste of time.

– Knocking on doors doesn’t work anymore. It’s a waste of time.

– Being pro-active and getting clients doesn’t work anymore. It’s a waste of time.

– Coaching is an utter waste of time.

– There is already plenty of training and coaching companies that offer sales training. Don’t go into that field. It’s a waste of time.

It seems everything was just a waste of time. Now, I knew I had the right product. I knew I was the right guy to help increase sales. In fact, because of my background and that I was educated in sales in Germany and had a multinational view on things I knew that I could turn things around for companies. I could see things in businesses that no one else could. I could create a vision of success for others and help them implement it. If they let me in and if they are willing to change.

But for that I had to change my approach. So I took all the advise I got from so called business mentors, other sales training professionals and marketing & pr people and threw it in the bin. In fact, giving advise to start up companies and telling them that they shouldn’t cold call or knock down some doors is in my personal opinion the worst advise one could get. If you have a product or service that no one knows about and you want to get the word out, unless you have already millions on your account and can spend hundreds of thousands of Euro in marketing and advertising your options are a little bit limited.

So, I combined both new and old methods as I do believe once you have a name you will get customers through social media. But you need to get there first.

So, here is what I did:

I knew my product SPQ Gold (Sales Preference Questionnaire) is for everybody out there who is in sales or want to sell something. I also knew that my workshop (Fear-free self-promotion and prospecting) is one of a kind and state of the art and helps people to retain over 12 times more information than any other kind of workshop or training out there. Which also means, that once you attended my workshops you were able (mostly with a little bit of follow up coaching) to implement what you’ve learned on a daily basis and this would help increase your revenue. This is what I had, and I knew it was powerful. But I needed to filter the companies I wanted to work with.

So, I defined my niche even more with salesclinic.biz and use coach-clinic.com only for personal development. Once I had defined my niche I was ready to get some clients.

I looked at companies that are very sales driven and focused only on SME’s (small to medium sized enterprises). I didn’t bother with large multinationals although this was my main expertise but their process is very lengthy to get approval for training and coaching. So, I avoided them up until now.

Once I had my target audience defined I started compiling a list of contacts. It took me a while but after a few weeks I had over 500 companies listed, with the following contact details:

Company name, main business, website, address details

Name, telephone and email from receptionists

Name, telephone and email from decision makers

Name, telephone and email from sales managers/ directors/ company owners

This process took me nearly a month to complete and I had also done a lot of research on those companies in the meantime. But I haven’t called yet. Except if I couldn’t find the information I needed on linkedin or on the company’s website, I called quickly to obtain above details. I didn’t want to talk to any decision makers at that time. I only contacted the receptionist or whoever picked up the phone and asked questions in a market research style. And this was well received. People were really helpful.

Then I was ready and started to call. I already had most of the information that I needed and finally was able to get to the right people. And to my surprise my cold calling worked. I got meetings with high value decision makers.

Now it was up to me to present my information to them and get them to buy my test SPQ Gold or SSPA Test (Selling Styles Profile Analysis) my workshop and coaching. I didn’t get everybody of course. As with every sales pitch, my first few I actually blew. But I got better at it and after only 4 meetings I got my first order.

I believe it is important to say that I overdone my research. And I didn’t need to do that. But for me it was a time to reflect and change my ways. I wanted to show people that this could be done and that with hard work and lots of follow ups you can get the meetings and sales that you require.

If you are just starting out with your business and no matter what your business is, what kind of product you’re selling or services that you are offering, don’t give up. But don’t just go for the new ways of selling. If you are like me and don’t have thousands of Euros or $ lying around then you may want to consider going back to the old ways.

Do your research, define your market (or niche) and target audience and make sure that you don’t give up. Success will follow if you prevail and keep doing the things that need to be done in order to make your business a success. Cold calling and door knocking is still a great way to sell and I realise that not everybody is comfortable doing that, but if you own a business and want to make it successful, then stepping outside of your comfort zone is just the beginning.

Thank you for reading.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales coach based in Cork, Ireland 

Start Smart

Top 10 Tips to start your own business

Have you ever considered starting your own business? What are the key ingredients of making a business successful? I’ve asked myself this question numerous times and here are the answers I came up with:

1. Have a clear vision

No matter what you would like to do, when setting up a business the one thing that every good entrepreneur will need is to have a vision of what they would like to achieve. Setting a goal is one of the most important parts of setting up a business but you can only set a goal for yourself (or your business) if you have a clear vision of how you are going to achieve it.

2. Be enthusiastic about your business

You have to love what you do and if you have any doubts in your mind either get rid of them or don’t do it at all. If you do something half heartedly it will not work. Commitment and enthusiasm is one of the key areas to make you and your business a success. If you haven’t found what you’re passionate about keep looking. Once you find it, ways will unfold and doors will open. Keep believing in yourself and your business idea.

3. Prospecting, prospecting and more prospecting

I call this the 3 P’s. No matter what business you are in, you have to sell your products or services. If you don’t sell, you will not make it. There is probably a lot of people who believe that their products and services will sell itself. Let me assure you that this is not the case. Yes, you will at some stage build a reputation for yourself and your business (hopefully a good one) but until such time comes you will need to go out and look for customers. If you do this right from the beginning then it will not be so hard to continue once you have a good reputation. And if you continue with your prospecting activities even after you build a great reputation you will increase on your sales figures tenfold.

4. Be resistant 

There is always ups and downs in business. Sometimes you make money and sometimes you have to go days, weeks or even months without making any. Be committed to your goals and tasks and keep going. Don’t give up even in the hardest times. It will be worth it in the end. Now you need to be smart about it as well. Sometimes we have to do the things we don’t like doing just in order to survive, buy food, clothes etc. If an opportunity rings, take it. If you have to get a part time job (or full time employment) in order to get your business off the ground, take it. Don’t be ashamed if something doesn’t work to change your business idea as you go along. Adjustment is hard but it is sometimes necessary in order to keep going. A business is never boring or easy. Business lives from change and adapting to that change is one of the most important factors to consider.

If you want to succeed and something doesn’t work, change tactics.

5. Networking

Networking is a great way to connect with like minded people and other businesses. Sometimes you can go to networking events (I’m sure they have them all over your country as well) and they are usually free of charge. Join networks such as BNI or any local networking organization. SFA (Small Firms Association Ireland) is also a great way to get started (look for local networking groups in your country.). The important part is to throw yourself out there and let people and other business owners, managers see that you exist. If you persist in it, you might get some future customers out of it.

6. Write a detailed business plan

It is important to write your business plan (you can download a free template of a business plan by clicking here and scroll down to the bottom) and if possible in every single detail. There is a lot of people who think they only need to write a business plan in order to get funding or loans from the bank. This is just one advantage to have if you want to go down that road. But even if you don’t want to get funding or investors coming on board etc. it is of the utmost importance to have written your own business plan. The reason being is that you will find faults within your business that you then can eliminate immediately. You will also get a much better understanding of your business, your competition, your products and services and most importantly your future customers.

You don’t have to follow any rules in order to create a business plan (unless you do want to get funding). You can download a template from the internet if you want to or just start writing your plan on word or in your journal. No matter how you decide on writing your business plan, make sure you include points 1 – 5 (see above).

7. Get help

A lot of people try to create a business on their own. This is great because nobody knows the business better than yourself. However when you consider opening up your own business, you should always surround yourself with people who are supportive and want to help. Of course you will find many likeminded people in networking groups and this is a great way to start. Some people may even consider having a business partner or (when creating a limited) a board of directors who could help building the business.

But no matter if you are alone or with a team, get the help of a business coach or business mentor. A coach is a great way to help you stay focused and will encourage and enable you to think outside the box. A coach will also be able to help you get a better understanding of your business (even if they have no idea about what you do). This is a great way to make sure your business will succeed. They will challenge you and make you think in ways you can’t even imagine right now. Getting a few coaching sessions with a business coach doesn’t cost an arm or a leg but it might save you some trouble down the road, or even some mistakes you would’ve made without the coach. Yes, we learn from our mistakes but we can also learn in a safe environment with a coach and this could ultimately safe you a lot of money. Many business coaches have usually great offers for start up companies so don’t be afraid to ask what they could bring to the table.

8. Do your research

This is probably one of the most vital parts of any new business venture. Understanding your market. I came across a lot of people who just think, I want to sell product xyz and my market is every citizen in my country…so, there you have it. Market research done…Well, not really. It is important that you define your market a bit more. Look to consider the following: Private or business use, age group, male/ female/ children/ girls/ boys/ families etc., competitors, selling locally, county wide, country wide or internationally, needs analyzes, pricing, talk to your potential clientele, would they need/ use your product or service, test clients, feedback from your test customers. When testing your product or services with people don’t just test it with family and friends.  Test it with real customers, people you don’t know. That’s the feedback you can value. Your family and friends don’t want to hurt your feelings (or maybe they do because they’re envious of what you do?…). So, don’t rely just on one group of people. Understand your target audience before you start your business.

9. Create a niche market or make your business unique

Creating a niche market or making your business unique is a key factor. Even if you sell products or services that other companies offer as well (or similar items) it is important to let your customers know why they should buy from you. What is unique about your business model that no one else could offer? What is the additional service that makes you stand out from the crowd? Think about this for a while but again, don’t over-think it. Giving your customers a great experience should be part of any new business in order to survive and don’t be afraid to tell them why they should buy from you. Don’t just try to fit in everything in your business. Creating a core niche for your business is vital and you will see that you can manage this far better than trying to juggle your business in every direction. If you can’t think of a niche or why your business is unique then go back to point 7 and find a business coach or mentor. With a great coach you will be able to discover the uniqueness of your business even if you can’t see it right now.

10. Just do it

Don’t delay. If you have all the ingredients, you’ve done the market research, you lined up some customers then just go for it. You will always find things or people that could or want to stop you. Family and friends may tell you that this is crazy. You have to deal with revenue, taxes, VAT, employment issues etc. There is so many things that when you look into it, you will most likely say it’s not worth the hassle. I’m not saying that you should ignore those but you will always find excuses and you can google as much as you want of why you shouldn’t open your business. If your customers want your product or service, if you have a unique idea, or always wanted to do something on your own and you feel really passionate about it, then go for it. Get an accountant to sort out taxes etc. You need to concentrate to grow your business. There is other people and businesses out there that will concentrate on the rest for you. If you are unsure about compliancy ask your local Enterprise board. They can always help you. So, make sure you have completed all necessary steps but once you’ve done everything you need or want to do in order to take your business off the ground, then the final step is doing it. Don’t over-think your business.

I feel these are some of the most important factors to start your own business. Is this everything? Probably not. Whatever you want to do, be committed to it, persistent and passionate about what you do and success will eventually follow.

I would be interested to hear any thoughts on this, if you agree/ disagree or if you even have other points that people who start a business should consider?

Anything you can add could be of value to any other entrepreneur out there. Thank you for reading and if you do consider starting your own business don’t be afraid. There is far more scarier things out there than doing what you love to do.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of  Coach Clinic and professional sales coach based in Cork, Ireland