Driven to Business with Eddie Mayfield

Learn this; customer attrition is a fact of life. No matter how good a job you do, you will lose customers. People die, companies go out of business, they get merged into other companies, they go a different direction, someone outsells you, or a myriad of other reasons.

Consequently, you must hunt new customers. Let’s review some terms.

• A SUSPECT is someone that fits the general demographic of a customer, but with whom you have had no interaction
• A PROSPECT is someone with whom you have had some type of interaction. Could be from a website, phone call, email, or personal meeting.
• A LEAD is a prospect that you have qualified as a potential customer.

To begin; define your best prospect.  Don’t fall into the trap of thinking “we sell to everyone, so everyone is a prospect. ”  Trust me, they aren’t, and it’s dangerous to buy into that myth.

It’s not true that the bigger your market, the bigger your opportunities.  Truthfully,  the bigger your market, the more time you will spend spinning your wheels with people who are never going to be customers.

The more you can define your market, the more focused you can be, and the more effective and enjoyable your sales experiences will be.

Here’s a start, list your top customers, and look for common threads among them.  Are they all from the same industry?  Do they share common demographics, priorities, or workflow?

For each one,  WHY do they buy from you?  Don’t hurry through this, involve your team and get a consensus.  Once you take these steps, you will know what traits you should be prospecting for and what your selling proposition should be.

Here’s an example from my world of electronic motor drives (See our website if you need further explanation of the technology)

• Many of our competitors are large multinational companies. Often they are very bureaucratic and slow to respond to customer needs.

Our customers buy from us, in part, because we respond quickly, and can make modifications or adjustments to their equipment without weeks of approvals.  So, that is one of our selling propositions.    We target customers that have become frustrated with the bureaucracies, and work hard to  ensure they are happy with our service.

While compiling your top customer list, take care to do it correctly.  The top billing customer, may not be your most profitable.  Take things into account such as how much hand holding they require, if they beat you down on price, if they pay on time, and etc.  All customers are NOT equal.

Once you determine what a prospect looks like, you can begin to concentrate on how to reach them.

Are you in a mature or an expanding market?

Generally, in a mature market, you will only get new business by taking it from a competitor.  In an expanding market, you can get new business that didn’t exist before.

Here’s a good, and I hope encouraging question:  How many people would use you IF only they knew you existed?  Marketing is information, and information is marketing.

You can often uncover new prospects simply by being intentional about letting the market know you exist.   This can vary from signs, to mailings, to trade shows, to traditional advertising, to websites, to social media.

Here’s a warning, prospecting is hard work.  Sorry, it just is. However, it will pay huge dividends for you as time goes on.

So, get after it!

Eddie Mayfield

Driven to Business hosted by Eddie Mayfield is heard every Saturday on Atlanta’s business radio, Biz 1190 AM.  The show is streamed live on biz1190.com and podcast on eddiemayfield.com and itunes. 

Simply the best business radio in Atlanta.  Driven to Business.