We are now selling in difficult times. I believe that down markets mean sales life is shorter: shorter lines of customers, shorter time to get their attention, and shorter amounts of patience for your service. Here’s the good news: someone, somewhere is buying something even as you read this. The truth we search for is not whether the market is down but whether we can become more efficient in our sales effort. Face it, as a company, you can handle most problems, but if sales stop, everything stops. In short, your entire company should be a selling organization. The goal shouldn’t be predicting the market but targeting strategies that will help your company sell better in shorter time frames. There are several strategies we will talk about in the future but today let’s focus on developing business. First, no more cold calls! They don't give enough of a return, and we typically have the wrong people doing them (the new hires). Instead, let’s try Six Degrees of Separation for business. If the world is truly “connected,” — and it is — why make cold calls when we can find connections to people who can deliver business to us? Instead of calling strangers, let's spend that time targeting two areas: One, who do we know who we’ve done a good job for? Chances are they are connected to people who would also buy from us. Two, who do we want to do business with? We know someone right now (within six degrees) who can introduce us to potential customers. By using this strategy, we can shorten the sales cycle. The benefits are many but two stand out: One, your sales team sells with a higher level of esteem. Two, you become much more efficient in your sales effort and increase new business regardless of market conditions.
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