Are you the CEO of your company? If you’re a sales person and answered “no” to this question, think again. To be successful you must have a CEO mentality. All successful sales people view themselves as a business within a business. Never forget that the company you work for writes your check, but you fill in the numbers. Always take responsibility for everything. You are the CEO.
What does a CEO do?
First of all, a CEO designs a marketing strategy. How do you get your business? In-bound phone calls, repeats, prospecting, networking, referrals, follow-up, affi liate marketing programs, database mining, database swapping, niche marketing, seminars, Web sites, e-mail responses with auto responders and sequential auto responders.
Do you have at least one strategy for utilizing each one of these? You can catch and pass the most productive sales people with dedicated strategy and smart actions. Top sales people gain and maintain their results through many avenues. When you are new, you spend 80 percent of your time gaining new customers and 20 percent maintaining them. As each month goes by, your goal will be to reverse the time used to 80 percent maintaining current customers and 20 percent gaining new ones. To do this, you must develop a marketing web with multiple streams of lead generation. Lead generation = dollar creation.
From now on, excuses are not allowed. What is your strategy for lead generation? Do you have a process? Does anyone besides you follow up with unsold customers? Are you utilizing monthly planners or productivity software that allows you to automate your follow-up of sold and unsold customers by phone, mail and email?
Do you have a monthly newsletter or, better yet, an e-mail newsletter that reaches your customers unobtrusively and at zerocost? There are companies that will set up auto responders with pre-set messages to be sent at certain intervals to your e-mail list. This automates some of your follow-up to the point that it is being done while you sleep.
Have you set up affi liate programs with other businesses to share customers? Example, “Who does business with whom I want todo business?” Ask that question fi rst to thinkof businesses that you can set up reciprocal agreements with to provide a value proposition to their customers with enough leverage so they will want to call, fax or e-mail you to getwhat you sell.
Most businesses utilize one-stage marketing. This requires running an ad and asking someone to buy. For many sales people, this is expensive and not effective. A better strategy is to form two-or three-stage marketing techniques. You are asking a customer to respond that they are interested and want more information. Here are some examples:
Give a be-back CD to every customer who does not buy and ask them to play it on the way home. The CD should have two to five minutes of information that thanks them for the opportunity and providesthem with specific reasons why they should buy your product from you, at your company.
Give the customer an incentive to call you back. Arrange with a local restaurant that you will provide a coupon to every customer who shops or services with your company, an offer for two-for-one at the restaurant. In return, ask the restaurant to also reward their customers by giving each customer a coupon with their bill that provides a special offer from you. Provide seminars for local groups on the subject of,
“How to get a loan and not get ripped off.” Do you know where the last 10 customers who have bought from you work and how you can set up lending programs with their employer? If you let your mind expand, your wallet will follow.
You have two choices. You can use excuses like, “My managers won’t let me do anything,” “I don’t have the time,” “I have to make money right now,” or a million other excuses. Or, you can think of your business as a business and become the CEO with a long-term, committed strategy to grow expeditiously.
For more information see my other blog at www.marktewart/wordpress.com or view my websites at www.marktewart.com or www.tewart.com or www.viptewart.com or http://credit.viptewart.com
You can contact me at: 888 2Tewart or (513) 932-9526 or fax (513) 934-4588 or info@tewart.com
Tags: Mark Tewart, Marketing, Sales, Sales Management, Sales Marketing, Sales Training, Tewart Enterprises Inc, Tewart Management Group Inc., Wealth Building
