Waiting for the Phone to Ring?

Is this your corporate sales policy? Staring at a phone that used to ring regularly and now wondering if there's a problem with the line. I honestly can't tell you how many times sales managers and company owners tell me this is the posture of most of their sales personnel. Estimators, sales reps and project managers have developed this sales technique as a reflection of a strong business climate for quite a few years. Guess what? Not gonna work anymore.

Even well established companies with years of presence in the marketplace are finding out there are no customers in their office. The first response is usually to start with a little telemarketing and then schedule meetings to figure out what the heck is going on.  Let me give you a strong piece of consulting advice for free, get off your behind!
      

Trying to figure this whole economy out, sitting waiting for your bailout or wondering what the new President is going to do for you is a colossal waste of time. You need to take control of your company's sales effort and begin to generate activity.  Get moving and start the ball rolling. Stop having meetings to schedule meetings. Get your focus off all your internal issues and realize your biggest need in this climate is to go out and MAKE the phone ring. I find little customer insensitivity mistakes everywhere. Why would you not have your name and greeting on your voicemail? Sure seems arrogant to me. If your phone answers "you have reached 314-123-1234" how do I know it's your number? Maybe I dialed a wrong number. I'll just call someone who'll let me know who he or she is.  AND quit having someone else record your greeting you lazy bum! I want to hear your voice not your secretary's or the phone services computer.  Maybe it's just me .... Nope!
       

Another thing, why wouldn't you have your cell number on your business card? Certainly wouldn't want to be accessible to your customers now would you?  Did you skip Christmas cards this year? I'm sure your clients appreciated your non-wish of Season's Greetings.  Have you cut out lunches, tickets, giveaways or happy hours? Sure the customers haven't noticed. I recently did a seminar in New York City where I spoke on selling through tough economic climates. You know what seminar topic that preceded me? "How to cut your costs to the bone." Wow! Raise the white flag. That's okay, I'm sure your customers will understand your corner cutting and will go right back to where they were when things get better.
      

If it sounds like I'm being sarcastic, you're right. Unless you're in line for a government bailout, you're going to need to generate your OWN revenue. This means expanding your customer base, diversifying your offerings to the clients and focusing on their needs not your own.  I don't care what size your business is you need to be firing on all your sales cylinders. ALL your personnel need to understand every order, job or opportunity is crucial. Customers are the most valuable commodity we have. They need to be cultivated, respected and listened too.  Attitudes, laziness and arrogance have no place in anyone's company at this point.

I'm really not sure when they really ever are acceptable.  I see countless examples of half efforts, lack of improvement and no sense of urgency prevalent amongst contractors, suppliers and service organizations. This business climate has changed, you must as well.  Sitting in the office waiting for opportunities to come to you from your "established" clients will guarantee a drop in business.  This is not rocket science but you will need to develop a course of action. Just throwing money at the problem doesn't work either. The good news is the cost of making a splash in sales has actually gone down with the advent of technology, if used properly in conjunction with good ol' sales tactics. Do you know how to enact the plan? Do your people understand it? Do you have a great mission statement or catchy tagline? Which of those grabs your customer's interest? Have you spent more time on employee engagement as opposed to customer engagement? (Reference US automobile manufacturers)
       

Take this as an alarm sounding if you are still sitting by the phone.  I'm trying to help you here. Get out with your clients and let them know you love and appreciate them. You value their business and want any opportunity they have. You want to prove your loyalty to them instead of your expectation of them keeping your company in business. That's your job! Make that phone ring!
             

 

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