Sales Tips and Marketing Strategies

Eatontown, NJ –EAS LeadGen, a lead generation and appointment setting company specializing in setting face-to-face appointments with qualified prospects for sales organizations selling business-to-business, launched an online survey to find out how professionals gain new clients. This survey proved the point that face-to-face meetings are the most effective way to gain new clients.

EAS LeadGen posted the question: “As a professional, what is the most effective way to gain new clients?” The respondents were given a choice of five categories to choose from, on activities that would help them gain new clients. The following is a list of activities that they chose from: Meet Prospects in Person, Talk to them via Phone, Email Prospects, Follow-up with Prospects over Time, and Speak to Groups at Conferences/Trade Shows. In the era of unpersonalized media, emails, texting, Twittering and voice mails, the activity that surpassed the others by far was meeting the prospect in person. This is the number one choice by professionals in the Business Development, Sales, Marketing and Accounting industries. Human Resources chose to Follow-up with Prospects over Time and the Academic sector chose to Speak to Groups at Conferences.

Looking at the survey as a whole – 52% chose to Meet with Prospects in Person, 26% chose to Speak to Prospects at a Conference, 15% chose to Follow-up with Prospects over Time, and 5% chose to Contact Prospect by Phone. The survey was also segmented by gender, which females split in thirds between Meeting in Person, Talking on the Phone and Following-up over time. However, 71% of male respondents chose to Meet Prospects in Person, with 29% of the respondents choosing to Speak at a Conference.

After reviewing the results, the value of a face-to-face meeting outweighs other activities to gain new clients. Getting those face-to-face meetings can be a challenge – and that is where professionals, such as EAS LeadGen come in – making the appointments for the meetings. A team of professionals that work directly with your sales, marketing or business development team to schedule appointments to help boost sales. The EAS LeadGen team speaks your company lingo and is a seamless extension to your organization.

EAS LeadGen is an executive appointment setting and lead generation company. LeadGen was founded in 2006 by a group of professionals, with over 200 combined years of executive appointment setting experience, with all of the professionals based in the United States. LeadGen’s primary objectives are to increase the flow of qualified prospects through face-to-face appointment setting, act as key sales support to sales professionals, facilitate the “leg work” of the business development process, and support marketing campaigns by adding a measurable follow-up element to every campaign. For more information about EAS LeadGen, please visit http://www.easleadgen.com/ or call 732-982-8514.

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There are several times in your sales process when customer follow-up is critical.

1. When your customer is in the decision stage of the buying process.

Perhaps your customer did not buy at the time you showed them your product. This could be for many reasons – maybe they needed to talk it over with a spouse, or maybe they needed to save up some money. Maybe they went on vacation and forgot about you. There are many reasons why your customer may not buy from you the first time you show them your product. You owe it to that customer to remind them that you are still there ready to help them.

2. After your customer has purchased a product from you, it is imperative that you follow-up with that customer to see how the product is working out for them.

Perhaps you would eventually want to show them some additional features that they may have overlooked or forgotten about. You need to assess their satisfaction with your product for two reasons. If they are unhappy with the product, you want to make sure you find a way to make it right. Either they should receive a full refund, or another product, or something so that the last experience the customer has with you is a positive one.

If the customer is happy with your product, you need to ask for a referral to other people they know who might like your product. You also want to ask for a testimonial from your happy customers. Testimonials are valuable to add to your marketing materials.

3. Finally, if a customer has purchased from you before, and they were happy with the experience, they are likely to purchase from you again if you have additional products or services that match their needs.

It is up to you to continue to follow-up with information and relevant suggestions for products that will help your customer.

You Need a Customer Follow Up System

Have you developed a plan for customer follow-up yet? If not, this section will help you get organized. Is the desk in your small business office overrun with business cards to search through every time you need a phone number? Perhaps you are using a day timer or on-line calendar. Perhaps you are using a contact manager. These are good tools but you need a better follow-up strategy.

If your customer follow-up system consists of boxes of business cards or names scribbled on writing pads I have a plan for you.

Continue reading ‘Customer Follow-Up is an Important Key to the Sales Success of Your Small Business’ »

I’ll give you a hint: It’s not their fault. CSO Insights conducted a study of 1800 sales executives and found that sales people only spend 37% of their time selling. Can you believe that? I can.

The sales process is designed with sequential steps that, if followed, should lead to qualification of an opportunity either “in” or “out”. If qualified “in” the next steps should lead to the sale. The sales person should have multiple deals working at the same time each following the steps of the sales process. That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

Sales people rely on the support of their entire organization to allow them to achieve the customer satisfaction that will ultimately result in the ’sale’. And, yes you guessed it, the ’sale’ will lead to the achievement of company revenue and profit targets. Continue reading ‘Why Do Sales People Waste 63% of Their Time?’ »