Who will your best client be in 2012? Do you know what they look like? How big they are? What market they are in? What stage of growth or contraction are they in? Which of your products and services will they want or need to buy? What value will you provide to them? What positive impact will you have on their company”s bottom line?
Why am I asking all these questions?
In sales aren”t you at the mercy of fate with who you will work with? Not really. In the past 12 years I have spent coaching and training sales people, some successful, some not so much – the common thread with the intentionally successful producers is their determination and planning of their market early in their sales career. That”s not to say happy accidents don”t happen in your prospecting effort, after all we know that Luck is merely preparation meeting opportunity as quoted by some really smart guy I can”t remember the name of right now. (If you know it, please reply). And then there”s “Hard work is it”s own reward” and countless other quotes that we can all recite…
The point is that if you get sick and tired of taking what life hands you, you can decide instead to act with purpose in your prospecting effort. The best place to start? Determine who will be your best client this year.
But…How?
I”m glad you asked!
Here are the 3 steps you can take right now for intentional success in your prospecting effort.
- Look at who your best clients were last year. Not just the biggest and most profitable, but also the ones you enjoyed working with the most. Who did you invite to your lake house with the family. I mean really enjoy building a relationship professionally and personally. Perhaps you were life changing in your results. Tell me who they are and what they look like and I don”t mean hair and eye color, but mindset of decision maker and company philosophy. Chances are when you have that clear description you can tell me and someone else what they would look like so I can introduce you to someone I know who looks just like them.
- Pick your industry/vertical. It”s always easier to be a big fish in a little pond with your prospecting effort. The narrower your focus is the better your definition of the value you provide can become. You will also find the competitive space becomes smaller and more intimate. This means you can more effectively leverage relationship to oust incumbents to land new clients. The reasons to specialize are many especially in a heavily commoditized market.Let”s say you free casino sell employee benefits. If you work with any size company in any market you compete in an “apples to apples” perspective that makes it easier to base decisions on price. Now let”s pretend your specialty is bio-science and you were a chemistry star and almost decided to become a doctor but dropped out of medical school to sell (work with me here!). When you are having conversation with the CEO of a research facility about the challenges of launching a revolutionary new wound care product that you are intimately familiar with because you actually studied some of the chemical components of in your college research session, what do you think happens? Sudden connection. Now you are developing a completely different relationship – one that is based on a mutual understanding and in-depth knowledge of the product and challenges. This is why my favorite clients are fellow horse lovers. Many show the same type horses I do and our networking events take place on Friday afternoons over trail rides. See how this can work?
- Determine growth stage. Do you like working with big companies? Small companies? Family-owned businesses? Again, define what type client you have been able to accomplish stellar results with. Then find more of them. A great place to look is in various awards programs for companies. Example: One of my clients decided he wanted to work with women executives. Knowing that was his focus, he went to the local Business Journal”s Book of Lists that listed the top 25 women executives in Kansas City. He started with the first two to contact and connect. Next, he rotated his list to pick the next 2 names. By the end of the year, he had met nearly all 25 (a couple of them had moved out of town), gained valuable experience on market approach, landed some new awesome clients and developed relationships with new key Center of Influence relationships that continue to support him.
That”s it. Three simple ideas on how you can make success in 2012 (or any year) intentional and not accidental in your sales career.
I look forward to hearing of your success “On Purpose” – be sure to share in the comments below!