There is a cure for the common cold call. Don’t do it. It’s not that it can’t work but rather that it is a very inefficient method (produces minimum results for maximum effort) that should be used only as a last resort.

Here are some ideas about how to approach an important decision-maker in a manner that has a much better probability of getting a meeting:

• Do research on them to learn about their business and personal goals, interests and experience. The more you know before you contact them, the greater the potential outcome of your interaction.
• Reach out to them through a common connection. This may be through the staff on an Association they belong to, one of their colleagues whom you know or somebody who knows them personally. If you don’t have a common connection, create one.
• Start the relationship in “learn” mode, not “sell” mode. If they want to buy from you, that can be determined after communication begins so don’t assume it. If it turns out that they are not a candidate to purchase from you but they like you (partially because you didn’t try to sell them), they may make a valuable introduction to somebody else.
• Develop a keen understanding of their concerns, which are often shaped by conditions in their industry so that you can speak intelligently with them about their perceived needs
• Email blast short messages with very appealing titles that indicate strong subject matter understanding of their industry, market and needs. If the title is right, the percentage of recipients who read it is dramatically higher.
• Create a new email blast campaign every Quarter and follow up every single email sent with a series of 5 phone calls that span the Quarter: 1 a week later, 2 & 3 spaced a week apart and 4 and 5 spaced a month apart.
• Be active in Associations where your target prospects congregate. Help bring in Members, with Events and make friends with the staff and with Board Members. They know the members and can open doors after you’ve contributed.

Achieveeeeeee!

I woke up showing the after effects of a long hard day. FLAT. The desire wanes, the ambition subsides and the creativity just won’t kick in.  Flat, that’s how it feels. BLAH, sort of numb, you get the picture. Yes, I’m in just such a mood as I look out the window of my small comfortable home office on this DREARY morning (dreary, of course, is not a fact but what I project onto what I see).  And my first reaction to this is to think that it’s a bad thing. “Come on man, get going & create something,” I say to myself. So, I fire up the computer, open up Word and stare at the blank screen. And listen….. and wait…. and smile, because….

I remember that these flat periods are an important part of the creative and productive process. You can’t stay “up” all the time. PAUSE is a good thing. Let your system recover a little. Let your mind not create…. for just a little bit anyway.

RELIEVED of the pressure to produce right at this minute, a feeling of well- being moves in. I know that I’m recovering from the intense exhilaration of yesterday when a series of meetings had better-than-normal outcomes.

As I RECOVER my energy, the zip returns. An old idea that’s been tapping on my shoulder for a while asks permission to have a discussion. A new, really wacky idea occurs to me at which I shake my head and say to myself “won’t work but it would be fun to try.”

WHY does this happen? Simple, the great marketers first of all make greater investments in time, money and resources to ensure that prospective buyers are aware that they exist. They Plan to spend appropriately to achieve the sales results they want. Then, they HOOK buyers with a superior brand promise, competitive positioning and key messages that resonate well by tapping a strong need, desire, fear, uncertainty or doubt (FUD) and then RETAIN them with superior Customer experience by caring, communicating, working proactively and responding nimbly to solve problems as they occur. Your product or service is better? Well, the Customer won’t easily let go because they’re reasonably happy or at least not seriously dissatisfied enough to do something about it. If you’re 10-20% better, yawn. 40-60% or more? Maybe…

A Lucky Strike cigarette commercial from the 1960′s said it well:

“I’d rather fight than switch.” The law of Inertia (as applied to human buying behavior) means unless it’s really important, I’m not gonna switch!

What actionable steps for entrepreneurs does this imply?

• Make a Strategic Decision: you have a dramatically superior product and will live or die by that OR you have a really good product and need to dramatically improve your marketing, sales and service. Which is it? Your resources are limited.  Don’t sit in the middle – CHOOSE!
• If you choose to be a “best product” play, then your highest priority is to locate and start a conversation with buyers whose #1 criteria for purchase is already technical superiority, provide data that “proves” your superiority and capture external validation/testimonials from technical experts whose opinions matter to the target market
• If you choose to be “Good Enough Product” play, then you want to find a niche where you can dominate or you’ll never go far
  • Research your Competition so that you know what they are promising and to whom so that you can create a messaging platform that is superior to your competitors for a specific niche (subset) of prospective Clients. Don’t go head to head against an 800 pound gorilla unless you have high confidence that your “counter offer” to the niche they dominate will resonate well
• Determine the essential Marketing and Sales activities that you must invest in to meet the Goals you’ve determined… and then make those investments.
  • This may mean diverting funds away from product development to capturing sales
  • This may mean investing in a salesperson or outside business development resource even knowing that it could be a year before you break-even on that investment

Singer Sheryl Crowe posed a question in one of her ballads: “Are You Strong Enough to be my Man?”

My question is: “Are you Good Enough to be my Product?”

Learning and adapting is usually a good idea, particularly if your results weren’t as you expected. But what are the best ways to learn from your mistakes, plan, and adapt to a new market condition?

This post explores how some of the smartest small companies in the Baltimore, Maryland, DC, and Northern Virginia markets are planning their 2010 business development strategies.

The tried and true. There are certain business development strategies that just plain work and I’ll go over some of them below. These are things that have been working since the beginning of (business) time and they will very likely continue to be effective until the end of (business) time.

If you are not currently using these strategies in a consistent and meaningful way, I very strongly recommend that you start.

Find your ideal customers. With the gigantic number of sales prospects available to almost any company, it doesn’t make sense to target any that are less-than-ideal for you. If you haven’t already, take the time to define your perfect customer in very specific terms.

• What industry are they in?
• What customers do they serve?
• How many people do they employ?
• How much revenue do they generate?
• Where are they located physically?

To get started, take a look at some of your existing customers that you consider to be a really good fit for your company. What are some of their characteristics?

Don’t overlook existing clients. When people think of business development strategy, a lot of the focus tends to be placed on new accounts and new clients. The truth is that it is many times easier to develop deeper relationships with existing clients than it is to start new accounts from scratch. Particularly if you’re target market is a larger company, there are almost always opportunities to sell up, down, or sideways within organizations.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions like, “Are there any other departments/people here that you think would like this?” or “Who else do you know that can benefit from this type of service?”

Don’t overlook new business either. Unless you have an extremely hungry base of existing customers, you’ll probably have to look outside of your existing customers to meet your 2010 revenue goals. There are so many ways to find and target new opportunities and in all likelihood, you are not doing as effective of a job as you could be. The key is to keep an open mind and think outside-the-box. Most organizations become very comfortable with their existing methods of developing new business, when in reality, they could be doing better with other strategies.

• Referrals
• Paid lead services
• Email campaigns
• Blogging
• Exhibitions
• Networking events
• Sales contests
• Direct mail
• Webinars

How many of those are you using? Which do you think would be best to integrate into YOUR 2010 business development plan?

Take a step back. Being a CEO or managing partner in a business can often cause you to look at your business in a way that’s much different from how others may see it. By removing personal biases and ideas from the equation, you can gain some real insight into important areas of your business.

Often, CEOs are so close to their companies that even when they try to do this, they are not able to. If that’s the case, get another set of eyeballs. Either bring in a trusted colleague to help you with this, or consider hiring a professional business consultant with a strong track record of success.

Plan it out. CEOs, executives, and leaders throughout organizations sometimes have a tendency to discount the importance of the strategic planning process, which is a big mistake. Smart companies take the time to plan their business development strategies very thoroughly, including areas like sales and marketing, human resources, and general corporate growth. When planning is conducted properly, it always proves to be time very well-spent.

A SWOT analysis is a good way to do this (SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats in case you’re not familiar). Have a look at an example SWOT analysis here.

Use all available human capital. Human beings never cease to amaze me. We really are incredible creatures, particularly when we’re in an environment that allows us to perform near our potential. You might be surprised to find that if you build a team of good people around you and then incentivize them to do what you want them to do, they will do a splendid job – often better than you could do yourself.

The two keys here are to 1) properly incentivize (Note: incentives don’t always need to be monetary – a lot of employees feel very strongly about things like fun, learning new things, and feeling as though they’re part of a larger goal) and 2) communicate clearly what you want them to do (leaders have a strong tendency to assume that the other person knows exactly what they’re talking about even though they used a minimal amount of explanation to get the point across – don’t make this mistake. Communicate clearly and then confirm that the other person has an understanding by saying, “Okay, let’s go over the goals” and then being quiet and inviting them to do the talking.)

Set S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Goals.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Timed
• Exciting
• Recorded

If you need a business development strategy consultant and you’re in the Greater Baltimore Washington area, JACOBY may be able to help you personally. Our CEO-experienced Partners have decades of combined experience and a success rate of over 90%. Contact us by filling out this form to learn more.

If you are outside the Maryland, DC, Virginia area and want our assistance with your strategic planning efforts, JACOBY can help you remotely with phone and/or skype conference calls. There are a variety of other useful posts on our blog, along with some business analysis tools we have developed, and our famous 2-minute business lessons that can help you. If you would like strategic planning help specific to your business, call us at 410-744-3900 and we can set-up a time for a free consultation.

Until next time,

Art Jacoby

View other posts filed under Business Development

Go back to the main Blog page

Go back to the BusinessGrowthConsultant.com homepage

If done right, implementing these strategies into your daily business practices (Disclosure: that’s not the easiest thing to do) can make a great impact on your top and bottom lines.

So grab a drink, sit back and explore our Top 7 Powerful Small Service Business Marketing Strategies

1. Set Sales Goals And Keep Track Of Them. This is one of the most fundamental concepts of business and yet it’s surprising to me how many of our clients neglect this.

It’s extremely common.

And it has nothing to do with the client knowing that they’re supposed to do this. Almost every small business owner knows that they should be setting yearly – and ideally quarterly and monthly – sales goals and keeping track of them.

The problem is that it’s difficult to keep up with when there are so many other things flying around your head on a daily basis. Owning or managing a small services company is not the easiest thing in the world to do.

But the reason that this goal-setting principle is so effective is that it forces you to imagine your goals in a vivid and emotional way.

If you HAVE to think about your goals on a regular basis, after a short period of time, the process of imagining them will tend to get you excited – "pumped up," if you will. And this in turn has an overall motivating and positive effect on most entrepreneurs and managers.

2. Harness Technology As Much As Possible. The technological sophistication of new gadgetry never ceases to amaze me these days. Companies are relentless in creating better, faster, more effective ways for companies to get things done. It’s important that you don’t fall behind the curve.

It’s true, sometimes new technology that comes out ends up fizzling out. Sometimes what everybody thinks will be the next big thing, ends up amounting to nothing. But that’s not a good reason to tune out technological innovation.

I may venture to guess right now that some technology exists that could help you streamline a portion of your business, or to earn a lot more money from your existing marketing efforts, that you simply haven’t heard of yet.

It doesn’t matter what you do, when it comes to small service business marketing strategies, they can always be aided by harnessing the latest in technology.

But the problem is that many of us don’t have this capability in-house. Many of us are even hesitant to pursue the latest in technology as it can become intimidating as we grow older.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that there’s help.

There are entire companies that do nothing but advise small service companies on the intersection of technology and marketing. They do obviously charge fees, but any consultant worth their salt is going to earn money for their clients.

In other words, any money that you spend with a good small business consultant will be a worthwhile investment.

If you would like to meet some good consultants, some consultants that will earn you money, we know a few. Contact us to talk about your main challenges.

3. Use Email…And Your Business Cards. If you’re a small service company, either you or somebody at your company is probably attending a fair amount of networking events (if you’re not, you probably should be). When you come back, you’ll usually have a pocket full of cards. Cards that – if you’re like most business owners – you’ll never use effectively.

Most small service companies don’t have lists of email addresses because they don’t realize that email addresses are the equivalent of money. It’s true, email addresses are the equivalent of money and I’ll tell you why..

Because if you have a large list of email addresses (I’m talking legitamite, opt-in email subscribers – I do NOT advise spamming) and you send them all an email with a particular product or service offering…SOME of them are going to open it and read it.

And of those ones that read it, some of them are going to think about it…

Or of the ones that read it, one of them may have someone in their life that may needs that very same product or service that they were just reading an email about…And mention it to them.

It may sound far-fetched, but it happens every day for smart service companies that work their email lists.

The ROI on email marketing is pretty outrageous.

And if you’re looking for small service business marketing strategies that work, you should try email marketing. If you would like to get started, but have no idea how, I will be posting a more detailed post soon.

In the time being, you can contact one of our consultants to get some guidance.

Where Can Your Company Improve?

This is by no means an exhaustive list of business marketing strategies for small services companies but I wanted to give you some things to think about. It’s important that you are constantly looking at yourself and your operation and asking the question, "How can I do this better?" or "How can I make this take less time?"

A major key to business success (and personal success, for that matter) is to continually seek improvementy. Companies and people that are constantly seeking improvement and refusing to accept the status quo, often end up becoming great.

Sometimes it can be hard to determine the areas that most need improvement. Sometimes we’re so close to our own lives and our businesses that we fail to see things that are completely obvious to others.

There can be a huge value in a 3rd party perspective and that’s part of the value that we add here @ Jacoby Consulting. We’re not just a provider of small service business marketing strategies and business growth strategies; we’re coaches, objective advisors to our clients.

And the value of that can sometimes be worth exorbitant amounts of money.

If you think your small service company could benefit from these ideas and you’d like help implementing them, you need to contact us. Or, if you think you can benefit from some fresh eyes (almost everybody can!), definitely contact us.

Go back to the main Sales and Marketing category

Go from Small Service Business Marketing Strategies back to the homepage

• Is your business slowly dropping sales and losing profit?
• Are you looking for a long-term strategic plan that will help your business earn higher profits?
• Are you a young company looking for a stable foundation?
• Or maybe you’re an established business looking to take your business to the next level.

Profit growth and projections are clearly important to the growth of a company. If your business is not “lighting up the boards” – that is, making a bunch of sales, then hiring a sales growth consultant might be one of the best decisions you can make for your business.

Especially in a recession.

But can we afford it?

The bottom line is that any sales consultant worth their salt will not cost you money. They may be an expense in the short-run, but the beauty of sales growth consultants is that they quickly produce returns on the money you invest with them.

Not only will a good sales consultant reinvigorate you and your sales force, but they will give you actionable, proven ways to increase your sales NOW! Not to mention help with training new sales people.

There are many different strategies and techniques a growth consultant could use to help your business, which ones will work for your company?

Choosing the ideal sales consultant

When looking for a sales growth consultant you should consider the background of the specialist and their past credentials.

• Have they helped companies like yours before?
• Do they have references you can talk to?
• What was their career before they started consulting?
• Do they have a good reputation in the area?
• Have their techniques had demonstrated success in improving company revenues and profitability?

Where can I find a consultant like that?

Jacoby is a Business Growth Consulting firm specializing in sales growth that’s located physically near Baltimore, Maryland. But we have clients are from all over the country, from California to Texas to Boston.

In addition to decades of combined experience, the reason that our clients excel is because of our passion for helping clients, and seeing them succeed.

Aside from sales growth consulting, we have the expertise and know-how to solve complex business problems that can help your company prosper.

Call 410-744-3900 or fill in this contact form to get started.

Other users who viewed this article also liked:

The Jacoby Business Assessment Test – answer 7 questions and find your probability of generating real wealth

SWOT Analysis Examples – learn how to perform your own SWOT analysis

How Much To Pay For Consulting – how to determine if you’re paying too much for consulting

Go back to the Sales & Marketing category

Go from Sales Growth Consulant back to the homepage

This post will examine some of the most common mistakes executives make when creating sales training programs, along with some “DO’s” and “DONT’s” you should keep in mind to ensure the success of your future sales team.

DON’T Get Overwhelmed. It’s easy to start feeling like there is so much to do with not enough time. Realize that the creation of this sales program does not have to be finished in a day or a week.

DON’T Reinvent The Wheel. There are thousands of companies that have already created training programs for sales people with phenomenal success. Why start from scratch when you can easily leverage the work already completed by sales masters?

DO Read! Why not pick up some Zig Ziglar? Or take another look at the legendary “How To Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie? There is a gigantic wealth of knowledge at your fingertips, especially in this digital age. Harness the resources available to you.

DO Consult. As you’re designing your training program for sales people, take a lesson from the most successful sales organizations in the world, and create consultative sellers. What does it mean to be consultative? In a nutshell, it means asking meaningful, relevant questions, and listening more than you talk.

There’s a reason we have 2 ears and only 1 mouth.

DO Tweak. Just as it’s not possible to create a sales training program for your company overnight, it’s not going to be possible to absolutely nail it on the first time, either. We live in a world of hyper-fast change. Your business is changing at light speed as is that of your customers. This hyper change is inherently going to present itself in your company’s sales training.

DO Embrace Change. Realize that if you neglect to change, or if it has been a long time since your company has changed, you’re probably falling behind. Because the competition is changing so quickly, if you’re doing the same things that you were doing ten years ago, you can’t possibly expect the same results. Know that success comes to those who are most willing to embrace change.

These are some of the many lessons I’ve learned over the past 20 years I’ve been selling professionally. We will be releasing our complete “Sales Optimizer System” which will be tremendously valuable for anybody tasked with creating training programs for sales people.

If you’d like a free copy of the system to preview before its official release, or if you’d like help coming up with your company’s sales training program, contact us here and let us know what’s on your mind.

Other things you may be interested in:

Is your business destined for major success? Take the 90-second business assessment test and find out instantly!

Top small business consultants in Baltimore

Business consultant prices and how much you should be willing to pay

Using growth consultants to devise plans to grow

An overview of corporate growth strategies

Go back to the Business Growth Consultant homepage

Welcome to the World of Marketing Seminars

“Buzz word, buzz word, buzz word!! Trendy, Trendy, trendy!! Learn it here and make lots of money!” Welcome to global marketing and sales pollution.

Common sense, business basics and hard work trump trendy marketing buzz words every time. Much of what’s presented as state-of-the-art marketing is either worthless drivel or plagiarism of concepts that have been around for years. If it looks too good to be true…Well, you know.

In teaching smart, practical marketing and sales strategies and tactics to several hundred SMBs over the past 20+ years, I’ve avoided big words and stuck with the basics. Yes, you need the occasional bit of magic sprinkled in but marketing and sales seminars that don’t emphasize the basics are doing a great disservice and worse, are misleading businesses.

Rather than learning the acronym du jour, invest in expert assistance, developing a customized sales and marketing plan that optimizes YOUR business, taking into account your industry, competitors, products/services, team, etc. You can get a general understanding of concepts from good marketing and sales seminars (if you can find them) but translating them into results in your business is another matter.

Most generalized training does not have sustainable value. Your probability of success goes up dramatically when you engage the services of dedicated experts to build a Plan and help you execute the Plan effectively. The karate practitioner “sees” through the board — its all about follow through.

In football, the basics start with strength, speed and leverage — the physical laws of nature. You don’t see offensive line coaches telling the right tackle to forget about how he places his weight prior to the snap. The same is true in sales and marketing. The basics that worked when Dale Carnegie wrote “How to Win Friends and Influence People” — still the definitive business advice book — in 1936 still apply.

Marketing and sales seminars will leave you wanting almost every time, so instead, get the expert, personal attention your business deserves.

Go back to the main Sales and Marketing category

Go from Marketing and Sales Seminars back to the homepage

That’s a mistake.

And it’s a shame because sales can be one of the very best career professions – a true craft that provides a deep and lasting sense of personal satisfaction and superior financial rewards. And, few people have the job security of the person who excels at sales.

As in every profession, there are people who excel with ease, but I don’t believe that salespeople are born. I am a thoughtful, private person whom you would never expect to be a master salesperson. ANY willing person with ability, drive, common sense and good manners can succeed in sales. You need a smart sales system to follow, a well trained and effective manager and proper training—including individual sales coaching—to learn the ropes and continuously improve.

Some companies provide regularly scheduled group training and others offer it sporadically. Group sales training is very valuable in that it provides you with a process to follow, builds a sense of team, improves communication, facilitates cross learning and is an efficient and economical way to share information.

But to optimize your sales performance, the coup de grace is intensive, one-on-one sales coaching. The group experience does not address personal nuances and that is where “A” level performance is born.

Sales is like an individual sport and just as top athletes in every individual sport – golf, tennis, swimming, track & field – have coaches, great salespeople have individual sales coaches as well.

There are things that you can’t see about yourself that a skilled coach can see. And a great coach will put you through exercises and practice that ensure your greater success “on the field.” Group training will have you hitting singles. Individual sales coaching shows you how to add extra bases.

In the one-on-one coaching sessions, you can open up completely so that your Coach can effectively collaborate with you on your every need. Your behaviors are fine tuned until you learn how to put yourself in an authentic, comfortable zone whenever you want.

Want freedom? Get expert individual sales coaching from JACOBY Consulting today!

Go back to the BusinessGrowthConsultant.com homepage