It has come to my attention lately that many of us are sat on mounds of prospects that we have no idea how to contact, what with or why.

You’d think that’s mad right? Lists full of prospects untapped - gimme, gimme!!

It’s true though, the SME market, especially where there has been rapid growth without much structure or process seems to have a struggle with fresh client data. I worked with one company who were very much “we don’t do things like that”, about everything. Change was a tough one and there were hundreds of opportunities to contact new and interested clients but no one was taking the bull by the horns and being accountable for them. I struggled to get my head round that and so did they but actually, the majority of humans just like the comfort zone and the status quo. Good job I’m not in the majority and if you are reading this, you are probably not either.

So what do we do about it?

We create a sales team that loves prospects and new relationships.

We introduce a process for new prospect management

We follow our lead generation for retention as much as we do acquisition

We create a simple welcome process for new clients so that they remember our greeting to them

We encourage and reward our sales teams for the lead generation balance we have designed for our business

We trial, record and review at every stage.

It’s simple really but so many find it tough, not usually through ability but through unwillingness to change or following the herd.

I always loved managing the lone wolfs and enthusiastic beginners when I was in sales, the challengers. A company I was working for made a massive industry changing acquisition and every conversation my team were having in the field needed them to be brave, well informed and committed. Some achieved it with superb grace and confidence and some crumbled under the pressure and just couldn’t approach the customer with exactly what they needed so that the air was clear to get the next order and continue the relationship.

The successful ones were always the ones with the best balance between acquisition and retention but also the ones that had the best relationship with marketing too. Marketing wasn’t a support function it was essential to correct and effective customer engagement. Better marketing at the start helped the sales team to convert through trust and better marketing along the way made them the rock stars and the winners to their customers, the ones to work with.

Are you sat on a pile of prospects that you have no idea how to maximise?

Do you have a sales team who aren’t challengers and are stuck in a black hole?

Make a change today, contact me performance@gemmaangharad.com

Www.gemmaangharad.com